Knives Illustrated September - October 2017

When I think of wilderness survival and bush-crafting, there are certain names that come to mind—Mors Kochanski, Ray Mears, George “Nessmuk” Sears, Horace Kephart, Les Stroud and Ron Hood. Each of these individuals have left their mark on the world and given a wealth of knowledge to the aspiring wilderness adventurer. Adding to their legacy, they have each also left indelible stamps on the knife industry, by taking their knowledge of survival and creating the knives that they felt best-served the purpose of deep woods backpacking. Having had a personal relationship with Ron and still maintaining a close friendship with his wife Karen, I have a personal favorite in his design, the Hoodlum, as I have carried it for years. Ron was a prolific knife designer with many outstanding designs…

They say, “timing is everything.” It’s certainly true that bad or unlucky timing can leave you with nothing. Knife Rights recently celebrated a big win in Texas under circumstances and timing that could just as easily resulted in a big loss. How they accomplished that is illustrative of just how important it is to have these pros on our side. Tragic Road Block As you may recall, Knife Rights already had two big wins in Texas prior to this year’s effort. In 2013, they repealed the state’s switchblade ban and then in 2015, they passed knife law preemption. Unfortunately, they fell just one vote short of getting another bill passed in 2015 that would have repealed the ban on a host of “illegal knives” under Texas statute, including Bowie knives.…

“…THE BALANCE POINT OF THE KNIFE IS AT THE FORWARD END OF THE HANDLE, MAKING IT SEEM NIMBLE IN THE HAND.” Frills. They do not often enhance the performance of tools, so I am a big believer in simple tools. More important than artistic or fancy are characteristics such as sturdy, durable, and inexpensive. When it comes to knives, I have a few fancy art objects, but most knives that I use would hardly be described as elegant. Among my newer edged tools is one that belongs in the latter category, the Spec Alpha Plus from Ontario Knife Company. Tale of the Tape Having a fine edge blade that measures 5.0 inches long and 0.190-inch thick, the Spec Alpha Plus is a knife in the mid-size range. It measures slightly…

“…THE EDGE RETENTION AND GEOMETRY GAVE ME A VERY NICE FEATHER STICK THAT WOULD BE PERFECT FOR FIRE PREP.” The old adage holds true, never judge a book by its cover. In the not too distant past, I was fortunate enough to be able to make a trip out to my home-state of Colorado, while there I took advantage of an invite to the Spyderco headquarters in the nearby town of Golden. During my visit I was introduced to the Junction. Considering that it is intended to be a bushcrafting knife, at first glance of its extremely narrow profile, I was dubious about how comfortable it would be for any kind of extended use in the field. Fortunately, I recently received one in the mail and got to find out…

“BRAD’S GUARDIAN SERIES CONSISTED OF FOUR DROP POINT FIXED BLADES IN LENGTHS FROM 3 TO 6 INCHES, A FLIPPER FOLDER, AND A WHARNCLIFFE FIXED BLADE.” I was a little surprised that this was the first interaction I have had with them. When my editor asked me if I wanted to check out a knife from Bradford Knives, I had to admit that it was a company I wasn’t familiar with, at first. I did some research though, and found that Bradford has been around since 2012, when Brad Larkin decided to combine his years of manufacturing experience and his love for knives, and started up Bradford Knives. Brad was able to leverage his manufacturing contacts to construct hand-assembled knives sourced from American materials and American vendors to produce precision blades…

I always say, no matter how fast you are with your pocket-clip folder, you cannot beat the knife with the blade already out. Many other people who rely daily on a pocket knife have gone to the fixed-blade EDC. For those of you who work in an office, carrying an EDC fixed-blade knife will most likely be frowned upon, with many in an office environment sharing the sentiment, “I know you have a knife, but I don’t want to be reminded each time I see you.” But for the rest of us the EDC fixed-blade makes some real sense. Following are six great fixed everyday knives, regardless of your budget. 01 Schrade Model SCHF14 To me the Schrade SCHF14 is a cool-looking small knife. The 3.4-inch blade is…