Bad_Omen
03-22-2007, 11:57 PM
Just got me a brand spanking new knife and I thought I'd share my impressions of it with you, A review of sorts.
My trusty (very) old K-bar has spent the last year or so in storage in my garage with a good portion of my worldly goods while I try and turn the barn we bought in France into a habitable family home. Unfortunately the box it was in got damp and caused a fair amount of rust. Not terrible amounts but enough. For instance the press-studs on the sheath were eaten away. Anyway, I spent some time cleaning the knife up and repairing the sheath and all in all it's looking pretty good. However there’s some pitting on the blade. Not vast amounts but enough to mean I can't get a perfect edge without taking the edge way back. I as I've had this knife for more years than I care to count (15+) I figured it was time to retire the old girl and invest in a pup to take her place.
So the search for a new survival/camp knife began in earnest. The criteria were fairly simple. Not too big, not too small, comfortable to use and it had to have a serrated edge. Oh year and the price had to be right, I'm not in a position to spend a couple of hundred Euros on a new knife at the moment. The Mrs would use it on various parts of my anatomy that I'm rather attached to before I'd get to give it it's first sharpen.
So, with all that in mind I set about trying to find the perfect knife. There are no real camping shops round here so my choice was fairly limited. Nothing fitting the bill could be found. So I started looking on-line. Not ideal as there are certain things I feel a man should hold before he buys and a knife's one of them. During my search I must have looked a hundreds of knives but the one that kept catching my eye was the Schrade XT1B, part of their X-Timer range. I looked into them and although the company has gone belly up (never a good sign) the knife ticked all the right boxes.
Well I decided to take the risk and bought one. It certainly didn’t break the bank at $37.74 inc. shipping all the way from the good old USofA to France. Shipping took a little longer than expected but I think that’s the fault of French customs rather than the shop. I’d ordered it on Sunday 04 March, 2007 and it arrived this morning, Friday 23 March 2007, so about 20 days. Not bad in the scheme of things. I have to admit to getting a bit worried by the delay and sending a few mails to the shop asking incessant questions about the shipping. All mails were answered and they gave all the help they could, so full credit to them. I’d happily recommend them to anyone looking for a knife but I’m not sure of the rules because I guess it’s kind of advertising another website. If Oliver says its ok I’ll share it with you.
On to the knife itself. It arrived well packed from the shop and upon ripping the box open like a kid at Christmas I was presented with the box proper. Nothing too exciting there and I’m sure you’re not that interested in Schrade’s packaging. Inside was the knife in it’s sheath and some very rudimentary instructions. Here are some pictures I nabbed off the net so you can see what we’re talking about.
My trusty (very) old K-bar has spent the last year or so in storage in my garage with a good portion of my worldly goods while I try and turn the barn we bought in France into a habitable family home. Unfortunately the box it was in got damp and caused a fair amount of rust. Not terrible amounts but enough. For instance the press-studs on the sheath were eaten away. Anyway, I spent some time cleaning the knife up and repairing the sheath and all in all it's looking pretty good. However there’s some pitting on the blade. Not vast amounts but enough to mean I can't get a perfect edge without taking the edge way back. I as I've had this knife for more years than I care to count (15+) I figured it was time to retire the old girl and invest in a pup to take her place.
So the search for a new survival/camp knife began in earnest. The criteria were fairly simple. Not too big, not too small, comfortable to use and it had to have a serrated edge. Oh year and the price had to be right, I'm not in a position to spend a couple of hundred Euros on a new knife at the moment. The Mrs would use it on various parts of my anatomy that I'm rather attached to before I'd get to give it it's first sharpen.
So, with all that in mind I set about trying to find the perfect knife. There are no real camping shops round here so my choice was fairly limited. Nothing fitting the bill could be found. So I started looking on-line. Not ideal as there are certain things I feel a man should hold before he buys and a knife's one of them. During my search I must have looked a hundreds of knives but the one that kept catching my eye was the Schrade XT1B, part of their X-Timer range. I looked into them and although the company has gone belly up (never a good sign) the knife ticked all the right boxes.
Well I decided to take the risk and bought one. It certainly didn’t break the bank at $37.74 inc. shipping all the way from the good old USofA to France. Shipping took a little longer than expected but I think that’s the fault of French customs rather than the shop. I’d ordered it on Sunday 04 March, 2007 and it arrived this morning, Friday 23 March 2007, so about 20 days. Not bad in the scheme of things. I have to admit to getting a bit worried by the delay and sending a few mails to the shop asking incessant questions about the shipping. All mails were answered and they gave all the help they could, so full credit to them. I’d happily recommend them to anyone looking for a knife but I’m not sure of the rules because I guess it’s kind of advertising another website. If Oliver says its ok I’ll share it with you.
On to the knife itself. It arrived well packed from the shop and upon ripping the box open like a kid at Christmas I was presented with the box proper. Nothing too exciting there and I’m sure you’re not that interested in Schrade’s packaging. Inside was the knife in it’s sheath and some very rudimentary instructions. Here are some pictures I nabbed off the net so you can see what we’re talking about.