My k-bar has been mostly used for wacking weeds and vines and light camping work on occasion. I figured it was a good all around utility knife that has both a heritage, and practical use.
The is this bush outside of my apt, and they only beat it back maybe twice a year. I needs it 4 or 5 times a year, so I use the k-bar for that. I don’t know what that bush is, but it grows crazy fast.
Sounds like Jeb.
Those aren’t necessarily for fight bears. I got a huge ass chopper knife from Thailand a couple of months ago. It’s … pretty big. Don’t plan to fight bears with it, but it’s very suited to make short work of hard pumpkins to cook or to clear branches from trees. Cleaned a lot of hard bushes with it, far more convenient than a short axe or branch shears.
people make fun of my tiny dive knives too:
I keep one of these on my BCD inflator hose and that’s it. Since being certified in 1999 and diving 100s of dives, I have never needed more
I did carve a pumpkin underwater with it, not the best but it got the job done.
Ha. You almost got me with that.
Why are diving knives blunted? Because they are more likely to be used to cut rope or netting and not stab something with them? For some reason as a kid I imagined them used to pry open giant clam shells that snap on your flipper.
I refurbished an old “scout” knife I had lying around — hollow pressed-tin handles with thin celluloid “mother-of-toilet-seat” covers.
Disassembled:
Blade reshaped, surplus bits discarded, ready to reassemble. The new yellow scales are acrylic, sold by Lee Valley Tools, mostly for turning fountain pens.
Final knife. There’s too much blade play, but I’m afraid to peen the pivot any more for fear of swelling the pin and jamming the blade. As it is, it opens and closes with a nice snap.
Lessons learned:
Would using shims help?
Nice work! I like the new blade shape.
One challenge I find with these reviews is the goal of finding a best all rounder. Maybe I’m just a knife nerd (I have way to many of the brands in that review ;), but its hard to pick just one if you have multiple hobbies and tasks that need a sharp object.
I have a opinel which is a terrific knife but not what I bring for tasks requiring durability and easy opening. (It’s hard to beat for picnics…)
I also have a benchmade (mini crooked river). Once you get used to the lock I have yet to encounter anything (that is legal in Canada) that I can open and close more easily with one hand. This comes in handy when one hand is occupied (e.g. holding a fly rod, holding something up with one hand buidling or dissasembling things.). Also I dont feel like I have to baby the knife, edge retention is plenty when hacking away at hard materials. But admittedly it isn’t my sharpest knife. (Absolute sharpness is not always the goal and edge geometry can favour different uses)
Also you cant underestimate the tactile enjoyment some people get from having a well made smoothly functioning product. These aspects are missed when taking a more utilitarian approach to comparing items. I still have a Chris Reeve Sebenza on my list of wants even though functionally it won’t do something that cant be acomplished for a very small fraction of the cost.
No, the problem is not getting the scales too tight and pinching the blade. The problem is that as I hammer on the ends of the pin the body of the pin swells (“upsets”) and binds in the blade hole. This was already starting to happen when I quit.
That’s the trade off. Carbon steels are generally easier to sharpen, but you will need to sharpen them more often. Once you start getting into steels like D2, or many of the whiz bang modern crucible or particle metal tech stainlesses, they often do have better edge wear characteristics, but are (unsurprisingly) harder to sharpen/maintain (because what’s sharpening really, other than planned and controlled edge wear?).
I lose pocket knives, even with clips (which is really sad, as I won’t even carry one of my own handmade folders because I’m afraid of sitting wrong and losing it), so my solution has been relatively cheap Kershaw pocket knives with 8Cr13MoV steel. Stainless, with good edge wear, not brittle, and relatively easy to sharpen. Good balance of properties.
I’ve found opinels pretty late, but I think they are good EDC because they are pretty cheap. Not yet in the disposable range (which I try to avoid whenever possible).
If I’d loose or wreck one, I’d be slightly miffed, but simply buy a new one.
Another benefit of the Opinel as an EDC knife is that it does not look like something designed as a weapon.
Knife laws are oddly complex and in some regions legality is defined by assumed intent. An Opinel just looks like a simple tool, and I imagine it would be a hard argument that it was carried for defense vs utility. Plus with the corkscrew option you are truely ready for any realistic situation 
Well, it’s legal in Germany. Over here they are concerned with blade length and them not being able to open one-handed.
The version with the ring to lock the blade isn’t in France.
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