Thursday, February 26, 2009

JK Bushcrafter Passaround Knife Review

Knife arrived today! :)

Not killer sharp out of the mailer. The fatwood was not scared in this pic.
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The passaround JK Bushcrafter with a bunch of friends.

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JK Bushcrafter with some scandi ground Kosters (1st run Bushcraft and Koster Kit Knife Nessmuk)

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Closer up view of the JK and Koster Bushcraft(er)

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Some handle comparison shots.

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Quick comparison with a Spyderco Military S90V

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Now I'm on my way to use this bad boy! :)

Response to Bladeforums reply:

Roger that. I did a bit of mouse pad sharpening (150, 220, 320, 400, 800, 1000, and 1200 grit wet/dry paper) then onto a green chrome charged leather strop. That was a really quick sharpening just to get me out of the house. It was good enough for what I had time for today.

Response to Bladeforums reply:

You're not kidding. The handle is really beefy. It's substantially thicker than my usual handles. The scales are beautiful and have some subtle contouring. I had hand surgery a couple of years ago on my right hand and I can't bend the joint closest to the tip of my pinky and ring fingers on that hand. For me the scales are a bit too thick at the butt, and really comfy for my thumb, index and middle fingers.

Here is the walk in to my site along the frozen pond. There were cat tails and milk weed along the pond on the east side, so I collected some on the way.

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Here is the JK Bushcrafter with a Blastmatch

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I found a sun dried strip of bark on the ground, so I used it as my base/display. Here are some small wood I split, a couple of quick attempts at some fuzz sticks, a little pile of cat tails and milk weed seed, and two little tent pegs I made up with the JK Bushcrafter.

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A close up of the pegs

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Okay, I did not hear back from Stomper before I left for the woods, so I did not use the JK Bushcrafter to spark this fire attempt. The spin of the JK has had the edges "softened" so I am not sure it will work, but I will be certain to give it a shot and let you know on my next outing.

I had the Blastmatch along and put it to use. Nice tool. Here are the fire picks.

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Here is the walk out.

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Sorry I do not have any in use picks, as I typically go out on my own. Oh, and the JK Bushcrafter came with a sturdy leather sheath, but that instantly went onto my belt when I opened the mailer so I will fill you in on that later.

So just to start a little list:

- Glamour picks with friends :thumbup:
- Quick sharpening :thumbup:
- Little batoning (with no edge deformation)
- Couple of little fuzz sticks (my skills obviously need to improve, the knife was great!!!)
- Little natural fluff collection for firestarting
- A bit of fire

I'm pretty happy with how day one went. :D

Had a chance to do some kitchen cutting today and here are some shots.

JK Bushcrafter vs. Banana

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Immediate oxidation when used to cut the banana. The banana juice turned black and started to stain the blade. I wiped it off quickly so no major damage.

It’s been so long since I signed up for this that I can’t remember what type of steel and wood was used to make this knife. Stomper if you could fill us all in that would be much appreciated.

JK Bushcrafter vs. Lettuce

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The edge is convex (mouse pad sharpening) and is a bit thicker than I typically use in the kitchen. Paring the oxidized end off of the lettuce was not as effortless as I prefer. I did accomplish every kitchen task I presented to its edge.

I plan to shoot some final glamour pix tomorrow to show the sheath, current edge, and spine/handle.

First are the sheath pics. This was really comfortable and I wore it all day long everyday since I started this thread.

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Here are the spine pix which explain the trouble sparking.

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This is how the edge is after I sharpened it and used it for a week.

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Here is a little glimpse of the handle thickness and contouring.

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This is shows the scars of surgery.

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Here is an in hand pix.

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So to wrap up:

This is a really well made bushcraft tool. All of you convex edge gals and guys would really enjoy using this knife. I hope this review has been interesting, helpful and informative. If you do not care about measurement details, I would suggest moving on to any response posts so you do not get bored. 

Measurement details

I found it a bit thick at the edge which measured .056 behind the convex edge bevel I put on it. As you may have noticed in my group shots, I have some scandi and “V” grind beveled knives that I am more familiar with right now.

The thickness of the ricasso is .119 and the tallest part of the blade is .9875

The handle thickness at the first fastener closest to the blade is .863, the second fastener is .878 toward the blade and .940 toward the butt of the knife, and the lanyard tube is .935

The handle height at the first fastener is .856, the second is .989 and the lanyard tube is .872

The scale length was 4.180 and the blade/ricasso length is 4.139. There was only about 1.250 distance for a minute distal taper from the point.

Thank you all for sticking with me on this review. It has been my pleasure and again I want to thank Stomper for such a great opportunity.

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About Me

Happily married to Jenn since 2001, currently driving a 1994 Jeep Cherokee Sport.