Blog about outdoor products I personally believe fit under the category of "HARDCORE" By this I mean not only well-made but totally functional for serious pursuits, either on land or beneath the seas. As a diver, caver and scientist, I want to be able to rely upon my gear.
Monday, 27 October 2014
Kizlyar Supreme Kid Knife Field Test and Review English language
Hi everyone, here is yet another great little knife from the people at Kizlyar Supreme. The KID is made in 440C stainless steeel. Now I'm going to say right now to all of you who think 440C isn't any good. What you mean to say is that 440C is simply not in vogue as a knife steel these days. I want to see all those pictures of this micro chipping in 440C blades. Where are they??? That's right it's all here say or it's simply by knife makers or manufacturers who don't know how to heat treat their products properly. The KID did not suffer any of this micro chipping, in fact I've had knives made from ELMAX that micro chip and ATS34 made knives that microchip too. Let's get over it shall we??? When 400C was being used in knife production everywhere what happened to all the bad publicity regarding micro chipping way back over 20 years ago? Yes there maybe better knife steels out there but we need to define what is meant by better steels, otherwise it's just a pointless comparison and straight out and out slagging. Firstly you need to ask better for what application. Better meaning: harder?? Tougher??? resistant to chipping??? ( the harder it is the less it will resist chipping) and under what circumstances? A lot of steel manufacturers are quoting data that pertains to industrial applications of tooling and machining with flowing lubricants!!, not banging away at bits of hardwood impregnated with dirt. Yep, dirt, you know that stuff that has loads of abrasive (depending where you happen to be around the world- but mainly abrasive) material covering a non homogenous natural product/s, not some chunk of plastic being machined at high speed.
You need to be able to easily sharpen a knife too.
Ok I'm getting side tracked here. The KID I found to be a comfortable knife to use even for a bit of butchering albeit, just one leg. Yes it's not a butcher's knife and I'm not trying to say it is but you can do some skinning with it and some butchering and even a bit of carving wood work due to the short, strong and pointy blade. It cuts well as it's a hollow ground geometry but it has a lot of "meat" in the blade as it's almost 4mm thick along the spine. The other nice thing is the rounded spine, you can really apply a lot of pressure here without getting blisters over your thumbs.
I'm not a big fan of hollow rivets and would rather see screws in place of rivets holding on the slabs of nicely scalloped micarta. BUT the handle wasn't coming off. Being 440C you don't have to be in big rush to clean off this blade in fear of corrosion. Good chance of getting salt on the blade if you're like me and like to salt those skins back at camp and then realise that you really should have removed more crap of the skin and that means putting a knife back there (provided you haven't got something else).
Anyway check out this short video if you haven't already. The KID by Kizlyar Supreme is a nice little knife with good practical value.
Wednesday, 22 October 2014
Kizlyar Supreme Alpha Field Test and Review English Language
Hi all in this video I review Kizlyar Supreme's Alpha model second version with serration's. The Alpha comes under the banner of Kizlyar Supreme's Tactical Echelon Series of knives. Clearly an operators knife in design, ie large false edge, anti reflective coating and fully Molle compatible carry system, I field tested this knife for general strength along with it's practicality in usage for tasks other than pure military.
The Alpha is a full width full tang knife, ie the only metal missing from the tang is where the bolts go to anchor those Kraton/ABS slabs to. This gives the knife a hefty feel as soon as you pick it up. I tried to bend or break the handle by applying a load of about 75kg directly across the ricasso. (ie I hung off the blade shoved into some bricks of an old farm house. No chance of breaking here. This model I tested was made with D2 tool steel but the same design like so many of the Kizlyar Supreme range, is also available in AUS8 as well for better corrosion resistance if working near a wet environment all the time.
Despite the Alpha being almost 5mm thick and having a a narrow blade profile, because it is a hollow grind, it cuts really well and of course this is what it should be doing. If the knife had a flat grind and still retained the narrow blade width then the blade angle would be too steep for good cutting and I guess that's why Kizlyar Supreme designed it thus. If you're like me and like to use military style knives for outdoor work then the Alpha could work for you.
Many people don't like serrations but I find them very useful for outdoor tasks. I don't baton much and really have never felt the need to do this to start a fire anywhere except maybe in some parts of Europe where the wood can be really wet then i'm batoning to let it fry out for a couple of days before I decide to light a fire.
Anyway I think after using the Alpha for about a couple of weeks it was a nice knife to handle. I don't think it's suited to Jungle deployment as the narrow blade is not going to be good here. Better off taking a larger knife and proper machete, JMHO though based on some quick tests. For those too that are hung up about scratches on the blade, well that Ti ceramic coating Kizlyar Supreme are using is pretty tough. Though I couldn't careless about a blade getting scratched i use my knives, none of them are hanging on a shelf somewhere.
Friday, 3 October 2014
Thinking of taking a hunting knife into Australia, then you should read this!
There used to be time when you could bring into Australia in your checked luggage a hunting knife for hunting and camping obviously. If it wasn't a dagger or automatic knife or other banned weapon, No problems, just show the customs officer by declaring it and that's it.
Not any more. The rules have changed. You now require permit to import a sheath knife even if it's for hunting purposes.
Don't get caught out or you may find your knife gets confiscated even if it's not an illegal weapon.
Addendum: Best to seek out the approval of Customs and the latest is this single edged knife is Ok to bring into Australia in checked luggage but the rules are different for importing (presumably for resale as apposed to just personal usage)