KIZER CAMP 180 made with AEB-L and G10, Kydex Scabbard

 

KIZER "CAMP 180" made with  AEB-L and G10, Kydex Scabbard. 

Knife Design by:

Jonathan Styles

      

The steel

A seriously robust camp and hunting knife (I'm saying this!), made with the industrial knife steel designated: AEB-L.

Drop point design, 7.7 Oz. or 218 grams, this is a light weight field knife.

Composition: Contains approximately: 0.67% Carbon, 13% Chromium, and 0.60% Manganese. 

Manufactured by Böhler  (Uddeholmstrip) 

According to the literature:

DESCRIPTION
UHB AEB-L is a stainless grade with 13% chromium that is our No.1 choice for knife applications.

ADVANTAGES
» Superior cutting properties
» Close thickness tolerances
» Best available wear resistance
» Good corrosion resistance
» Consistent and uniform quality

Some good old tip abuse and drilling holes into seasoned Cottonwood (never recommended  unless absolutely necessary!)

Feathering Seasoned cottonwood

Feathering seasoned oak

Kizer is a Chinese knife manufacturer based in Guangzhou, China, They import some raw materials such as knife steels.

This knife, the Camp 180 was super comfortable to use and I tested it's edge holding capacity on seasoned oak (hardwood) and season Cotton wood (medium hardness) timber during the course of the day. I used a baton on the spine to split through seasoned birch timber (with a knot) 

and also to split and break apart pine fat wood (below)

Abusive torquing/levering action on this AEB-L blade!

All of this operation did not blunt the blade as evidenced by me being able to effectively slice through some dry reeds at the end of the day.

The manufacturers rated Rockwell hardness is given at HRC 58-60.

Seasoned Oak

The handle

The grip is super comfortable and when working with very hard woods such as Oak, this is important as no hot spots were found and I don't wear gloves as a rule when testing knives or even when not.

The tang is fully enclosed within  olive green drab G10 scales. This for me is an added bonus as this knife could be used without gloves in sub zero temperatures as there is no  exposed tang onto which to freeze you fingers should you get this knife wet. As to wether this design might make it harder to remove any water which might enter between the actual join, this I will have to present the long term data at another time.

The scabbard is made from  kydex and has an excellent and somewhat "tuneable" lockup system whereby one can make some small adjustments to the lockup via a Phillips head screw and rubber washer assembly. My knife scabbard came with a perfect lock up as far as I was concerned and there was no chance of accidental falling out of the knife. Also I might add, I did not need to use brute force to remove the knife! There is also a small drain hole on one side of the scabbard.

The lanyard hole is created between the G10 only and does not pass through any steel tang. Thus the construction of this knife does not allow for any exposed tang, so if banging the butt end of your knife against hard objects is your thing, then this knife is not for you.

Ah, the smell of good old Australia Eucalyptus oil!

Feathering seasoned birch timber, no problems!

The pommel is only G10, so not for bashing anything. The upside of this is that it is comfortable when the palm is pressed against it.

This model the Camp 180 has a slight touch of a Japanese-esque feeling to it and I think this is evidenced by the oval guard.

The Camp 180 is perfect for hunting duties and will suit anything from small to medium game. 

In summary*: The Camp 180 by KIZER  holds an excellent edge after working very hard oak and bashing into seasoned birch timber plus cutting dry grasses (full of abrasive silicon) and bashing my way through knots on oak! I put it through some abusive tests such as two handed twisting into fat wood stubs. AEB-L has been around for a long long time and like D2 should not be discounted as some sort of crap knife steel, because in reality, in the field, it isn't and that's a fact.



Other stuff:

The knife came very nicely packaged in a sturdy cardboard box with minimal plastic and a short length of black paracord (about 1m), and a  cleaning cloth like micro fibre material and a sticker.

The warranty period is "Limited Lifetime Warranty" 
ie against everything except abuse and modification and normal wear and tear.

*Whilst I never talk about pice in the channel or here, I must say for under $100 USD, this knife represents exceptional value for money if one is looking to get a good quality hunting and camping knife.

Extrema Ratio's NEW F.O.K. knife

 

Extrema Ratio's NEW F.O.K. knife

The FOK is new from Extrema Ratio's line up of knives made with a Nitrogen enhanced steel hardened to HRC 58. 

I can say with total confidence after the abuse I have put my RAO STEEL knife edge through (same steel) and have only felt the need to once hone this blade in about 1 year, I'm no longer hung up about "what exactly is the flavour of this nitrogen enhanced steel?" Because it works, ie it holds a damn good edge working across various different materials in the field and doesn't chip.

Anyway, I don't personally own a portable X-ray fluorescence spectrophotometer which I could use to determine the alloying constituents immediately- it's not  necessary!

Please: no jokes about the name eh?*

Now the F. O. K Extrema says is based upon essentially an Italian military (Folgore) model, lightweight but capable of hard use in the field. 

Folgore by the way means Lightening in Italian!

The Spine

4.8mm thick spine (their measurements), my knife  I measured 4.83-4.86mm, ok that's 5mm!  For me 5mm is the sweet spot for very "useable" blades for all things outdoors. 

Sure, I like 6mm thick blades and they are good and very robust but at the same time come at a price with weight always going against their carry. Ok we could argue about this aspect until the cows come home and maybe I shouldn't say that!

At this point in time in regards to "hard use" I'd say no problems as the spine is 4.8mm in thickness. More than enough to take a real world pounding but at the same time not so thick as to make this knife unwieldily as a cutting tool, since that is what outdoor knives are supposed to be good at, ie cutting. So let's qualify what I mean by "outdoor knife", ie capable of prepping:  foodstuffs such as: game meat and  fish; vegetable preparation,  carving sticks both green and seasoned, skinning if possible, light to moderate batoning if necessary. 

Must hold a good edge for long time use. And of course possess a good tip, necessary for gutting fish and game.

On the subject of taking such a knife hiking, the F.O.K. is not too heavy to carry and not going to frighten off other campers.

The Extrema ratio F.O.K. is perfect around the campsite

I've seen all too often the reaction of others when some joker pulls out something for the jungle around other campers using nothing but folding knives. This F. O. K. is guaranteed not to frighten off such campers (unless a bunch of total wooses!) and why wouldn't it? Because of the shape and size of this knife, that's why.

How about handling? Well the Extrema Ratio F.O.K. has a small but satisfactory guard and this I very much like in an "outdoor knife". 

Not only does a guard prevent any accidents if a hand slips but it also helps to prevent some fingers getting mashed (ok somewhat depends upon how big ones fingers are of course- and for my hands and fingers, this knife works well).

The handle is minimal and no nonsense with a design reminiscent of the Scout 2 (still in production- and BTW nothing to do with the Scouts at all-anyone saying that has no idea what they are talking about), also from Extrema Ratio.

There is currently only one version of the Extrema Ratio 

F. O.K. and that is in a kind of Ranger green forprene grip and a satin washed blade finish. This way this outdoor knife can satisfy all those who are worried about 'food safe coatings" as this isn't any coating on this knife. 

Since it's a bit cammo (and  black only scabbard) , they have included a small piece of fluorescent orange paracord to help you find the knife should you put it down 

Easy to spot if you put it down (you're not meant to of course!)

and not remember where you placed it. Trust me, this can help a lot! But the inclusion of such a thing is hardly a big deal. I put bright paracord on all the knives I'm regularly taking with me outdoors anyway.

Let's talk about the carry system. Extrema Ratio are known for producing robust very well made carry systems and I say "carry systems" as apposed to scabbards as they are indeed carry systems. The kydex scabbard is light weight and bare bones, either neck carry 

or traditional vertical belt carry. 

For the neck carry there is supplied a generous length of black paracord and a cord lock toggle. 

The retention strap can be reversed (velcro is used) for left handed carry. personally, I would not remove the retention strap as whilst the "lock up" within the scabbard is good, it is NOT good enough for a vertical carry without that strap affixed to the scabbard. If you want such a knife without a retention  strap then I would look towards their specific neck knife range, eg The SATRE or the VERSA models.

Needless to say these are ALL made in Italy.

Ok, so these are first impressions, now it's time to take it into the field and let it rip!

The edge finish is great with a mirror polish!

@BushCampingTools

* Folgore Outdoor knife"?? Field Outdoor Knife? or something else???