Seeing as bb is down
Here is a little review of Zackerty's amazing investment cast that will go up in there as soon as we can all get back in
No trees were harmed....much
Slideshow
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v102/Tantalus/Zackerty/?action=view¤t=1181565007.pbw
Plain pics
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v102/Tantalus/Zackerty/
A short review of some pretty hard testing.
I believe knives are made to be used, and am lucky enough to have the opportunity to use them on occasion. Perhaps this is why Zackerty has trusted me with one of his babies to put through its' paces.
First if you haven't already seen these have a look at the thread going through the design and manufacture. (Search British Blades for "Investment Cast" when it comes back up .
I dont think I have seen another knife made in quite this way before, and I have to say I am truly amazed at the thing.
Pictured here with 2 of his other knives, it is the black handled hawksbill shaped one in the middle.
The cream coloured Tanto was the first one I wanted, partly because I have a thing about tantos, their shape makes them interesting to use and easy to sharpen. As you can see from the pic this one is a bit of a monster, bigger than I had expected and sadly so far unused, mainly because I haven't been able to slope off to the woods for far too long. Must remedy that soon
.
Then I spotted the little green handled Gherkin in a pic here and asked if it was for sale, much to my delight it was soon winging its' way round the globe to me. I really wanted a little utility knife and for keeping in a pocket just in case I stumble across a rabbit or a trout or any of the little other cutting tasks life in the country involves from time to time.
On to the latest addition and the real reason for posting. The blade is a little over 3 inches and lightly etched to highlight the stunning crystalline structure of the steel. My pics do not do it justice. In the sunlight there is almost a jagged mother of pearl effect.
There is a lot of steel in this knife, the full tang is nearly to 1/4 inch thick all the way down the 5 inch handle, it balances with my finger just to the rear of the front rivet to give you an idea of the geometry. In my hand it feels hefty solid and very comfortable. Not too thick to hold securely , not too thin to cause a lot of strain if it is being used.
The handle is plain black micarta rubbed to a satin finish, surprisingly good grip even with sweaty hands, and as you can see 2 big "they aren't going anywhere" stainless rivets.
So now I have a problem, not being a huge fan of either destruction testing or cutting competitions, how do I test it in some kind of meaningfull way ?
To be honest this thing would probably be able to gut an elephant but I didn't have one spare. While I do shoot and fish from time to time , rabbits and brown trout really don't need this kind of tool (and that is why I wanted the Gherkin).
It is an odd shape for me , perhaps not my instant preference. The casting as you can see from Zackertys' pics produced a much different shape and I am only guessing here that Zackerty just went wild with the grinder on this one and had a little fun.
Well a couple of weeks ago my Dad mentioned he needed to remove some Tree Guards in a small birch plantation............ cue lightbulb moment from Tant.
These things were sold as tree protectors, and intended to biodegrade, unfortunately perhaps due to a bit less hot sunshine in Scotland they seem to be fairly bullet proof, as the tree expands they completely fill the tube. Now sometimes they do burst open under pressure but sometimes they don't and strangle the tree, they also trap moisture around the trunk above ground. Some of them literally fill with water and algae, bottom line is they need a little help to come off once the tree reaches a certain size.
The plastic is hard and tough, probably about as tough as cable ties, constructed like carboard packaging with parallel tubes all the way up and down the pipe. Add to the fact that the bottom inch can be just below soil level and I think if anything is going to blunt a knife this is the stuff to do it. It must be cut, pulling at the tubes when only cut part of the way down will result in a lot of muscle strain, these things do not just pop off. And rarely do they split across the "grain" of the tube, again if somehow it has become embedded in the ground or the trunk the best I can suggest is cutting as much as will come and leaving a bare minimum.
I wont bore you with more tree guard details, I think you get the point there is a lot of tough plastic to cut here.
Not wanting to damage the trees is also a bit of a factor, sometimes the only way to remove the guard was to insert the point through the guard and into the surface of the trunk and just slice all the way down. Others had a little more space allowing me to use pretty much all of the blade.
So just to compare I started with a piece of nylon reinforced garden hose, the curved blade helped me none at all here but it cut clean and easy enough.
Then off to the trees.
One glove to hold sharp edges of cut tube and pull, other hand bare to hold knife.
Dad appeared to take a couple of pics for me and to give it a shot too, having done the same job himself often enough he was very impressed with the way the knife cut through the tubes. I hesitate to say like cutting butter because nothing cuts these tubes like butter.
Rest assured this is not really a fun or easy task.
Now I have a confession to make, it was too flipping hot and not long after the pics had to give up and go for a drink of water. So that was 2 hours cutting, next day another 3 hours saw me pretty much out of time again (it took me 30 or 40 mins to walk there and the same again to get back and Mum had a meal on the table). But 5 hours of cutting plastic is a pretty good test I reckon.
Did a last couple of hosepipe cuts back at the house, definitely a lot harder to cut but still getting clean cuts, although with a lot more effort.
My hand ? not even a muscle twinge today from my exertions. Which says more than I can put into words about the comfort and weighting of the knife.
The blade itself ? Well lets have a couple more pics.
Understand that nothing I know of will dig into stony soil and not take a ding or 2. The edge will sharpen up with little more than a couple of swipes in my opinion, certainly it has survived without being trashed.
Also check the sides of the blade, I would have expected it to be scratched to hell with the plastic equivalent of paper cuts. It looks and indeed is virtually unscathed, even the crystalls are still visible.
Apologies to Zackerty for treating his investment cast with such cruelty, in my opinion this is one investment that is too good not to use.
A very impressed Tant
Here is a little review of Zackerty's amazing investment cast that will go up in there as soon as we can all get back in
No trees were harmed....much
Slideshow
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v102/Tantalus/Zackerty/?action=view¤t=1181565007.pbw
Plain pics
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v102/Tantalus/Zackerty/
A short review of some pretty hard testing.
I believe knives are made to be used, and am lucky enough to have the opportunity to use them on occasion. Perhaps this is why Zackerty has trusted me with one of his babies to put through its' paces.
First if you haven't already seen these have a look at the thread going through the design and manufacture. (Search British Blades for "Investment Cast" when it comes back up .
I dont think I have seen another knife made in quite this way before, and I have to say I am truly amazed at the thing.
Pictured here with 2 of his other knives, it is the black handled hawksbill shaped one in the middle.
The cream coloured Tanto was the first one I wanted, partly because I have a thing about tantos, their shape makes them interesting to use and easy to sharpen. As you can see from the pic this one is a bit of a monster, bigger than I had expected and sadly so far unused, mainly because I haven't been able to slope off to the woods for far too long. Must remedy that soon
.Then I spotted the little green handled Gherkin in a pic here and asked if it was for sale, much to my delight it was soon winging its' way round the globe to me. I really wanted a little utility knife and for keeping in a pocket just in case I stumble across a rabbit or a trout or any of the little other cutting tasks life in the country involves from time to time.
On to the latest addition and the real reason for posting. The blade is a little over 3 inches and lightly etched to highlight the stunning crystalline structure of the steel. My pics do not do it justice. In the sunlight there is almost a jagged mother of pearl effect.
There is a lot of steel in this knife, the full tang is nearly to 1/4 inch thick all the way down the 5 inch handle, it balances with my finger just to the rear of the front rivet to give you an idea of the geometry. In my hand it feels hefty solid and very comfortable. Not too thick to hold securely , not too thin to cause a lot of strain if it is being used.
The handle is plain black micarta rubbed to a satin finish, surprisingly good grip even with sweaty hands, and as you can see 2 big "they aren't going anywhere" stainless rivets.
So now I have a problem, not being a huge fan of either destruction testing or cutting competitions, how do I test it in some kind of meaningfull way ?
To be honest this thing would probably be able to gut an elephant but I didn't have one spare. While I do shoot and fish from time to time , rabbits and brown trout really don't need this kind of tool (and that is why I wanted the Gherkin).
It is an odd shape for me , perhaps not my instant preference. The casting as you can see from Zackertys' pics produced a much different shape and I am only guessing here that Zackerty just went wild with the grinder on this one and had a little fun.
Well a couple of weeks ago my Dad mentioned he needed to remove some Tree Guards in a small birch plantation............ cue lightbulb moment from Tant.
These things were sold as tree protectors, and intended to biodegrade, unfortunately perhaps due to a bit less hot sunshine in Scotland they seem to be fairly bullet proof, as the tree expands they completely fill the tube. Now sometimes they do burst open under pressure but sometimes they don't and strangle the tree, they also trap moisture around the trunk above ground. Some of them literally fill with water and algae, bottom line is they need a little help to come off once the tree reaches a certain size.
The plastic is hard and tough, probably about as tough as cable ties, constructed like carboard packaging with parallel tubes all the way up and down the pipe. Add to the fact that the bottom inch can be just below soil level and I think if anything is going to blunt a knife this is the stuff to do it. It must be cut, pulling at the tubes when only cut part of the way down will result in a lot of muscle strain, these things do not just pop off. And rarely do they split across the "grain" of the tube, again if somehow it has become embedded in the ground or the trunk the best I can suggest is cutting as much as will come and leaving a bare minimum.
I wont bore you with more tree guard details, I think you get the point there is a lot of tough plastic to cut here.
Not wanting to damage the trees is also a bit of a factor, sometimes the only way to remove the guard was to insert the point through the guard and into the surface of the trunk and just slice all the way down. Others had a little more space allowing me to use pretty much all of the blade.
So just to compare I started with a piece of nylon reinforced garden hose, the curved blade helped me none at all here but it cut clean and easy enough.
Then off to the trees.
One glove to hold sharp edges of cut tube and pull, other hand bare to hold knife.
Dad appeared to take a couple of pics for me and to give it a shot too, having done the same job himself often enough he was very impressed with the way the knife cut through the tubes. I hesitate to say like cutting butter because nothing cuts these tubes like butter.
Rest assured this is not really a fun or easy task.
Now I have a confession to make, it was too flipping hot and not long after the pics had to give up and go for a drink of water. So that was 2 hours cutting, next day another 3 hours saw me pretty much out of time again (it took me 30 or 40 mins to walk there and the same again to get back and Mum had a meal on the table). But 5 hours of cutting plastic is a pretty good test I reckon.
Did a last couple of hosepipe cuts back at the house, definitely a lot harder to cut but still getting clean cuts, although with a lot more effort.
My hand ? not even a muscle twinge today from my exertions. Which says more than I can put into words about the comfort and weighting of the knife.
The blade itself ? Well lets have a couple more pics.
Understand that nothing I know of will dig into stony soil and not take a ding or 2. The edge will sharpen up with little more than a couple of swipes in my opinion, certainly it has survived without being trashed.
Also check the sides of the blade, I would have expected it to be scratched to hell with the plastic equivalent of paper cuts. It looks and indeed is virtually unscathed, even the crystalls are still visible.
Apologies to Zackerty for treating his investment cast with such cruelty, in my opinion this is one investment that is too good not to use.
A very impressed Tant
