BLACK FOX BF 710

MODEL:

VESUVIUS

AFREDO DORICCHI DESIGNED: BUSHCRAFT KNIFE IN 440C STAINLESS STEEL FROM BLACK FOX KNIVES

THE VESUVIUS

Black Fox knives is a division of Fox Knives in Maniago Italy.

Black Fox are premium quality knives produced in Asia for Fox Knives. The build quality of this Vesuvius is top notch, including the scabbard made from Kydex.

The Black Fox Vesuvius features a full tang blade made from 440C martensitic stainless steel.

Full tang 440C stainless steel

Some of you will no doubt be familiar with other designs of Alfredo Doricchi's such as the well-known FKMD Parang amongst others.

The Vesuvius or BF 710 is marketed as a Bushcraft knife and I'd say it's pretty handy as a camping knife. Let's face it, 440C was and still is a great choice of steel for knives. It can be hardened to a high Rockwell and still be very tough. It's resistance to corrosion is very good (it's used in dive knives by many manufacturers). In this case the listed HRC is:
57-59.
The blade thickness (max) is 4.72mm (I measured- which rounded to the nearest 10, equates to 5mm or 0.186".
I measured 104.56mm it's listed length as 105mm or 4.1" in length, with a total length of: 22cm or 8.6".
The handle is made from 2 slabs of black G10,  with a very fine surface texture which provides a sure grip even with wet hands. There is a palm swell and even better the handle tapers nicely towards the butt which makes it very easy to hold. There is a lanyard hole but no pommel, you don't really need one in reality. Because the butt end is smooth you can easily place your palm of your hand over it to drive the knife forward.
The scales are fixed to the tang by tubular rivets of stainless steel. The rivets are not seamless and you can see the weld marks within the rivets. Being a stickler for quality production, I checked at high magnification for the presence of any cracking of this seam when these tubes were peened over but there wasn't any, indicating the welds are quality welds.

Stainless tube rivets securing a slightly textured G10 handle.

The Vesuvius is typical of a "Bushcraft style" knife with a full flat grind, this model is a "stone wash" finish. The overall knife is well finished and has a nice weighty but not too heavy feel to it.
The scabbard is of Kydex and included is a fire steel. The attachment to a belt is achieved via a type of Tek lok, (Black Fox list it as Teak Lok) the actual brand on the lock says "by DOTS Pat. P" and is also made in China. It looks strong and well made. There is some kind of spring mechanism within this locking system that could see trouble should dirt or fine sand/dust enter and prevent or encumber the release/function of the lock but I guess if you don't intend on rolling in the mud with the knife attached then it should be absolutely fine.
All in all, the Black Fox Vesuvius or BF 710 so far for me appears to be AN EXCELLENT BUSHCRAFT/CAMPING KNIFE!

Overall, the Black Fox Vesuvius or BF 710 handles very nicely in field tests conducted by myself to date, soon a video to follow showing it's capacity in real situations.

The Black Fox Vesuvius also came with two short pieces of Para-type cord.

But you be the judge of the video field review soon to come on BushCampingTools.