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Then I looked at the Katanaboy 500, and it was just too expensive at $170. Well I kept watching it on Walmart.com and Amazon, and about a week ago they were both selling the Katanaboy 500 for $125 shipped. So I went for it.
Let me tell you, it is a serious tool. 20" blade, 5 TPI, weighs 2 lbs. Has a safety lock, and a safety stop when closing. You definitely want to be paying attention when you close the blade, not to have any fingers in the wrong place. The blade locks closed, with all teeth covered.
Not the tool of choice when counting ounces, but might be a viable choice for packers, or a trail maintenance trip. I see myself using it mostly for around the property doing tree pruning, and vehicle camping.
The long handle makes it really comfortable to work at different angles, and gives plenty of reach. The saw cuts on the pull stroke. You don't want to muscle the blade forward or if it binds you could bend it or maybe break it. It isn't fragile by any means though, just a different user technique as compared to a bow saw.
A few pics,
I took it to the log pile for a test drive. Serious cutting power,
Shane
Statistics: Posted by MontanaMarine — Sun Mar 05, 2017 2:55 pm
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Statistics: Posted by kevin_t — Mon Feb 27, 2017 9:39 pm
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Bought a Peltonen M95 Sissipuukko. It's a Finnish military knife, historically used by the elite units.
I have a few outdoorsy knives, but wanted one with about a 5-6" blade, flat spine, reasonably tough, not too heavy, not overly expensive.
So after looking over a few different options, I stumbled onto the M95. This looks like a knife made to order. Just what I was looking for.
I ordered this from Varusteleka.com, in Finland. It arrived today, seven days after I placed the order.
Of course I had to put it to work immediately. Here are some pics.
Here's a pic alongside a KA-BAR, and a Mora Companion, for a sense of scale. Blade is 6" long, flat scandi or saber type grind. Spine is .17" thick. Steel is a high carbon with teflon coating. Grip is Kraton, tough and grippy. Overall geometry is quite similar to the Mora Companion, only bigger. I don't have a small scale, but the weight is advertised at 12 oz including the sheath. Price was $83 shipped.
Here are a pics of the ambi sheath, with a strong roller lock, and provisions for wearing vertical or horizontal, or strapped to gear. I like the slim and functional design.
Batoned up a 6" piece of lodgepole, no problem.
Shaved up some tinder for woodstove real slick too.
Overall, really pleased with this choice. Look forward to using it a lot.
Shane
Statistics: Posted by MontanaMarine — Mon Feb 27, 2017 5:03 pm
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Statistics: Posted by kevin_t — Sun Feb 19, 2017 1:09 pm
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Statistics: Posted by Woodsboss — Fri Feb 03, 2017 9:38 pm
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Shane
Statistics: Posted by MontanaMarine — Fri Feb 03, 2017 5:46 pm
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Statistics: Posted by ktimm — Fri Feb 03, 2017 5:15 pm
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I went out and did some quick cutting/batoning to see how they would do. Seemed to work well on 4-5" diameter stuff. It was only about 10F outside, so probably things a bit frozen.
The little saw blade is about 8" on the toothy part. Weight is about 7.5 oz. It blazed through the small log I put it to, about 4.5". Very happy with it. No comparison to the Gerber sliding saw, made the Gerber look like a bad joke.
The RAT-7 batoned well on this roughly 4.5" size wood. The knife has a 7" blade and is 3/16" thick and flat along the spine. Seems like a tough knife. The micarta scales are nice, and fit perfectly. I'm not really a serious knife junkie at all, and this is my largest knife. About the same length as a USMC KA-BAR, but built heavier overall. Specs say it weighs 12.5 oz.
I see a larger Silky in my future, for big production, and a tool around the property for cleaning up trees, probably a Bigboy or maybe a Katanaboy. Seems a great product.
A couple pics with the Silky Super Accel 210, and the Ontario RAT-7, with a Mora for scale.
Shane
Statistics: Posted by MontanaMarine — Fri Feb 03, 2017 4:57 pm
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I've been looking over some knife designs with batoning as a big part of it's use.
The Ontario RAT-7 has some things I like. Specifically the flat spine with minimal drop near the point. I like the overall size/weight too, very similar to the BK-7.
The swedge on the BK-7 looks like it might chew up a baton to some degree, maybe a non-issue though. I have a couple USMC KA-BARs, they have a fairly sharp swedge, not sure how the Bk-7 compares in that regard.
The BK-9 and Bk-7 both have a flat saber grind. That looks like it would be inherently stronger than the full flat grind on the RAT-7.
The BK-9 looks like an awesome tool, but it's fairly large, and getting heavy. Seems like overkill for splitting typically 3-5" diameter stuff.
Then the Gerber Back Paxe II. It looks like a little splitting wedge with a handle. Might be a great little batoner for SXL size firewood.
Shane
Statistics: Posted by MontanaMarine — Mon Jan 30, 2017 2:08 pm
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To be fair though, the sheath it comes with it crap, and the handle ain't that great either. But a little duct tape and some cord to wrap the handle with would make both way better w/o a lot of work or weight.
Statistics: Posted by Camber — Mon Jan 30, 2017 4:01 am
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