Kizlyar Supreme ECHO knife in Bohler K340 ISODUR

Bohler K340 ISODUR is an amazing knife steel. You can read about it here in Bohler's technical papers.
Kizylar Supreme are using the high end ISODUR product of K340 too!

First off, I am a long time owner of the ECHO made with AUS8, which came with a hollow grind.
Now in possession, of yet another version of the very popular ECHO, this one made with Bohler's K340. K340 is a much improved alloy over D2 tool steel. 

WHAT IS K340 ISODUR?

K340 ISODUR knife steel is:



1.1% Carbon
0.9% Silicon.
0.4% Mn
8.3% Cr
2.1% Mo
0.5% V
trace Nb and Al.

(see technical bulletin for the explanation of the Al's function-very interesting!)



"High Cutting Edge retention" is listed at the top of the features of K340 ISODUR.
Better wear resistance than D2!
"Outstanding toughness"

Certainly under random (compared with laboratory experiments) field tests, K340 ISODUR in the Kizlyar Supreme Echo performed like a dream. Cutting and carving season hardwoods (Eucalyptus species- extremely hard!).
Repetitive cutting onto hardwood food preparation boards had zero effect on the blade edge over a period of 2 weeks!



K340 ISODUR is produced by the high tech ESR (Electro Slag remelt technology).

Feathering on hardwood, easy as!

This late model ECHO also sports the popular flat grind (sabre flat). The overall shape has remained the same because it's a proven shape for a useful field knife. A full tang knife that you can feel this beefiness once in your hand. Extremely comfortable handle in any  position. 

Overall, I'm very jazzed about this K340 and super jazzed that Kizlyar Supreme brought out a flat ground version of the already popular Kizlyar Supreme ECHO.

See my field review here

Telling it like it is on BushCampingTools
When it comes to reviews,
I used to subscribe to many a YouTube channel, where the presenter spoke authoritatively about the stuff they were reviewing; they got popular, their subscriber number increased and what followed was that clearly once popular, they began to get asked to review many different products. That's great and that's what happened to my channel too. However, I don't review products, that I have no experience with. The reason is simple. If I have no experience in this field,  It would be totally inappropriate to speak on such a topic as I'd be speaking out of my rear end so to speak LOL!
Although there are numerous outdoors products that I do have lots of experience with and as yet I do not review, such as: compound bows and bow hunting for example. I could also review caving and climbing gear as I've been into these sports for over 30 years as well. 

Almost 99% of my reviews are done when I've got to be somewhere else for other jobs that also involve the outdoors in some way or other. On a personal level, that could mean "a family outing"

I was subbing to many big channels but when the BS started flying, I had to be honest with myself too and un-subscribe because once the BS starts, it never stops and IMHO you can never trust the channel again. Now if you are new to the outdoors then spotting the BS may not be easy and that's where problems will occur. 

It's kind of contradictory too when you get scout masters; and are not "knife fighters" or "martial artists" accomplished in the art of edged weapons fighting etc. etc. reviewing knives designed purely as weapons for killing humans. Mmmm, good message for your kids. Or people reviewing guns inappropriate for hunting purposes, such as sniper rifles. No serious hunter lugs a sniper rifle around hunting unless they are clearly showing off to their mates. Or presenters advising on how to use equipment they have obviously never had the slightest bit of experience with (except that of using the said product!). Or presenters reviewing every product line the company has, and guess what? All the products are great! 

This behaviour is quite prevalent on the social media avenues such as YouTube as the anonymity (at least to the general public) is some sort of license to bullshit your way, as a formula to keep up the ratings. 

Many ask why I don't review crap products or give bad comments. LOL, well for that very reason,  if I think they are crap or not useful for my audience then of course I'm not going to buy and or request them to review them and end up with a house and shed full of junk- that spells divorce (if you happen to be married). Plus I do not believe that any one company produces 100% great products. That's a fact of any industry. I like Subaru cars (and even drive one, but that doesn't mean I have to like ALL SUBARU Models!) I'd know, I've been a Product Manager for many years and I knew (along with all the management) that we produced "flagship" models but for the most part many other products were always difficult to sell and some were just no good and plagued with problems. The cutlery industry is no different.
That's why there isn't a plethora of products being reviewed on BCT because simply I don't know everything about ALL outdoor equipment, how could I?; and not all of a company's products are great as we all truly know.

I state up front in my "About" (on YouTube) exactly that, details of about me. It's there for all to read. No need to BS about it, I've done, and do my time in the outdoor adventure arena. 

A BIG THANK YOU !!! That brings me to a big big thank you to all out there for supporting BCT over the years. It especially makes my day when I receive comments like: "The only channel that matters", "I love the fact there is no Bullshit on this channel" "Keep up the good work!" etc. 





So to all of my loyal followers thanks for watching!




BCT

More about BushCampingTools


You also won't see any "Mall Ninja" style knives on BCT. Even my fellow Aussies like Hardcore Hardware, shame on you guys, making Mall Ninja knives, Spines that can only get the user in deep poo (like serving to get stuck into whatever you plunge the knife (except water!), no good as saws, no good as wire breakers, good for some Sci Fi movies and hey, those guys do make good movies!- Maybe that's why they simply never answered their emails from me LOL! They were frightened I'd expose them.

When will people wake up? But seriously there is a great market for mall ninja's and it's never been better with the plethora of Sci Fi/ Fantasy movies currently out there! 

At BCT we only talk about what we know and have extensive experience with. So I'm not going to be talking about push daggers and daggers etc as i'm not a soldier (and not all soldiers carry them either believe it or not), nor am I some kind of social media knife fighter, Secrete Service wanna be. Push daggers feature in just about every action movie there is currently out there. But I wonder how many soldiers actually carry them? I'll have to ask some enlisted mates and get some facts on that. If you are an enlisted person reading this please feel free to make a comment.

RAIDOPS AQUILO SRN FIELD REVIEW COMPLETE. Followup Summary.

RAIDOPS Titanium Frame Lock AQUILO SRN

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO 

Here is a followup of my thoughts after using the RAIDOPS AQUILO SRN for a couple of weeks:

A superb little very capable frame lock knife.

Chunky look, but secure feel and not too big to carry discretely in your pockets.
There are no rough or acute edges to damage pants pockets! This to me is pretty damn important.

I'm always amazed at the rigidity of G10 composite material. You may think you can flex these "thin bits" of "plastic" but NO WAY! it's tough stuff.

Are there any gripes after carrying it around now for almost two weeks? Only the one which is not really a gripe but something for all to note (if you already didn't know this) that using frame locks, one must be careful of really expending a lot of force on the blade, since your hands are in direct contact with the locking mechanism and this should always be remembered to avoid any movement of the blade.

So I'd have to give the thumbs up totally for the RAIDOPS AQUILO SRN, very well made, appears durable (time will tell-like all knives), 10 out of 10 for me. Plus it's really quite a good value I feel for a CPM S30V blade and titanium frame lock bearing the RAIDOPS Design mark.


BCT

MS FORCE LED Headlamp HL-350 Headlamp

The MS FORCE LED Headlamp HL-350, was sent to me for review from DanForce a type of e marketing company for cheap outdoor gear.

This headlamp boasts 5000 LUX on the website of Danforce (a seeming faceless company). 5000 LUX is not written on any material anywhere to be found. Ok they have a web site but try and truly locate who they are.

Let's get right into it.

There are 3 LEDs in the headlamp. The main LED appears to be an SST 90 type LED (it's not of course). Now the genuine SST 90 LEDs are THE most powerful LEDS money can buy and most of us have only heard of CREE but let me tell you the genuine Luminus SST90s are death dealing LEDs. I used to work with LEDs professionally and have designed LED lamps of death dealing brightness that make most but not all of the commercial LED torches look pathetic and the SST 90 is the one you want. The drawback with using SST 90 LEDs in torches is that the SST 90 draws a huge current for a LED. That's because it is 9mm square and of it's special design. Now this cheap headlamp appears to sport an LED of similar size but not the same architecture of these LEDs as the main LED. Again, nothing is written in the literature as to what types of LEDs are being used, so my guess is that they are all "clones" of the popular types?

I turned it on via a rubberised push button switch and WOW! Just as bright as my 9mm square Luminus SST90 lamps! Now the SST 90 can be driven at various currents and voltages- Yes, that is correct. The batteries in this lamp are wired in parallel giving 3.6Amps or 3600mA. I know from my other work (the real daytime job) that these LEDs can easily be driven at 3 amps and low voltage.
The lens can form a focus of the actual chip surface, which also appears to similar in style to the surface of an SST90 chip. (It's NOT an SST 90 design at all!)

The output is hazardous! The focus is via click stops of a metal (Unknown but appears to be cast aluminium alloy-not described anywhere in the literature, neither were the LEDs for that matter) bezel, which felt firm and repeatable. There are two extra smaller LEDs, impossible for me to determine what type or make, other than that they were certainly not typical 5mm LEDs but rather some type of high power LEDs. They are also housed in plastic but no metal parts. I know the SST90 must have a heat sink according to the OEM otherwise this type of LED can be damaged from overheating. 


There is a "glow in the dark" (Phosphorescent) material (green) visible once these outer LEDs have been switched off and this makes the headlamp easily visible once it is turned off. The entire light module (the three LEDs) can be tilted/angled, the pivot is via a socket head bolt. The ratchet mechanism is simply some indents moulded in the plastic. It looks no less sturdy than many of the headlamp modules currently available from well known manufacturers but also tacky with silver painted parts made to look like metal which clearly aren't.



The MS FORCE LED Headlamp HL-350 Headlamp is a re-chargeable Lion battery headlamp sporting two large 18650 Lithium ion batteries 1800mAh in a parallel circuit within the plastic battery compartment. There is a flimsy looking rubber (Synthetic?) cover, which despite it's flimsiness does stay stuck to the compartment how it should. The batteries are generic Lithium ions with no branding other than the battery specifications. The batteries can be dislodged if the battery case is not sitting against your head (as in being transported in a pack). The charging unit had a US plug and was poorly made, mine, the exiting cable grommet was very loose allowing the cable to easily move about. I didn't like this and would think that this part (which is crucial but not essential- as you can buy separate chargers for these types of batteries from other manufacturers) would easily soon fail (if too thrown in a pack).

I quickly discovered there are numerous headlamps of exactly the same type of design but under different brand names of course, all originating in China. No surprise there.
This company Danforce, are saying their lights are not "Knockoffs" but it's impossible to tell who is knocking off who when it comes to products coming from faceless companies in China.
The construction of the headlamp itself seems to be ok, elasticised straps. Undefined plastic  and metal material for all other parts. 

Test results:



The enclosed literature said to charge the batteries for 5-6 hours (the red light turns green when ready) before using the light.  I've had them on for over 6 hours now and the red light is still red. The charging socket in the battery compartment is also a bit loose and this would also fail over time. If you remove the charging plug, the led in the charger turns green!


Let's look at the results: of the torch.

seen here on BushCampingTools


BCT

RAIDOPS SOLDIER SPIRIT RD
Review

RAIDOPS Soldier Spirit RD* thick G10 scales and scale bolts flush with the grip, a high sabre flat grind and superb tip.

RAIDOPS 


A Korean company producing some very funky and practical designs. Established in 2005. They manufacture in Korea, Taiwan and Italy. (see my previous article about another great knife from RAIDOPS).
The company ethos encompasses ergonomic but also survival and functional design. In light of this, my observation of this blade is in agreement with that company ethos.

The RAIDOPS Soldier Spirit RD,  a  full tang fixed blade of D2 tool steel, with a listed HRC of 57-59,

As the laser engraving says........

perfect for "survival" "Outdoor" pursuits. At 6mm thickness, this is really the upper limit of sheet thicknesses I'd ever recommend, as a thick blade is a heavy blade. 

6mm thick, chunky but comfortable gimping, chamfered/beveled  edges and a black stone wash treatment form part of the Soldier Spirit RD's defining features.

You know you have this knife in your hands when you put your paws on it!


Initial thoughts

The Soldier Spirit RD came deadly razor sharp out of the box.
The sheath is a horizontal carry only and this totally makes sense as the Soldier Spirit has what could be a vicious butt end and a horizontal carry will avoid any conflict with ones elbows if it was carried vertically. I like this little design thought here too. I also like horizontal carry options.

No, that's not a missing rivet! It is for a small accessory Krab according to the knife manufacturer (I did of course check!).

It's a "Tek Lok-like" belt fastener  and fully adjustable and works just fine.

Various belt widths are easily accommodated although like all of these types of belt locks the standard tactical belt works best and or smaller in size but certainly no bigger.

The "lock" bar (my finger pointing towards it) to prevent accidental release of the clamp. However, you have to  really squeeze these things pretty strongly in order to disengage the catch.

At just over 500 grams (including Kydex scabbard), it's not light for it's size (it is after all 6mm/1/4" spine thickness) BUT the high sabre grind does allow this blade geometry to slice food items well from vegetables to meat.

We do have an appreciable blade angle allowing good transition from the initial cut/bite to follow on through with the remaining cutting stroke-without you having a stroke!

Cutting up meat was no problem for the deadly razor sharp RAIDOPS Soldier Spirit RD 

What about other general food preparation? 

Like I said a field knife is useless if it's only good for hacking down trees at best.

Chopping ginger, garlic and parsley, no problems!

For such a weighty knife it is paramount to provide a grip which is exactly that, grippy! The design here does not fail this aspect. There is NO chance of the Soldier Spirit RD slipping from wet or dry hands, gloves on or off!

Heavy duty camp knife, with the "survival" ethos behind it in design.

 * "RD" stands for Real Dominator!

As there is a a glass breaker (bottle cap opener) at the butt, the weighty grip can only be an advantage for developing momentum for smashing glass. I noted the Box that the Soldier Spirit RD came in was labeled as "RAIDOPS Urban Tactical Knives"

Yes You can open bottle tops with it Or lids or pry objects with it.

The blade finish.

The edge bevel was even along the entire length of the blade and deadly sharp.

Well I'm not hung up on a blades finish as I'm a user not a collector and so my blades soon loose any of the original finish that they came with but I feel I should mention something about this blade's finish.

Stone wash black Finish

Stone washing is essentially the application of abrasive materials (stone) and a chemical reaction to change the surface nature of the steel. 



The RAIDOPS Soldier Spirit RD (433gm) has the weight of a similar sized Becker (422gm) -(the Soldier Spirit is about 10mm longer) but the blade design IMHO (I've used the Becker BK22 enough to know) of the Soldier Spirit is much better as the sabre grind is higher than the Becker. Since the Becker is also a weighty knife, it's smooth grip is not grippy at all once the hands are wet, not so with the Soldier Spirit, you will not loose it from your hands at all.


Not too big not too small

Just a fraction over 5 inches long, the RAIDOPS Soldier Spirit RD, is not too big and not too small!

Chopping open this coconut was no problem at all and the handle was quite comfortable either cutting into it or chopping.

The BCT "Coconut Test" for chopping and cutting through fibrous materials. The RAIDOPS Soldier Spirit RD passed with flying colours!

How about any of that bushcrafty stuff???? Like feathering?
Ok I tried it out on some plum, both the heart wood (the darker material) and the softwood. This was NOT seasoned wood, those tests to follow!

Easy to feather PLUM wood with the Soldier Spirit

Ok this was just a "taster blog" on the RAIDOPS Soldier Spirit RD just to whet your appetite! Stay tuned for the video review on BushCampingTools.

RAIDOPS

Preliminary Review of the RAIDOPS AQUILO SRN Frame Lock Folder

RAIDOPS 

Presentation box (outer pictured here and inner heavy cardboard box pictured below)

is a company that I've had my eye on for a number of years. Established  only about 13 years ago in South Korea by Nam Deuk Kim, otherwise known as Andy Kim, who is also the Director of the company.  The current Key people are:
Daniel Noh (Designer and Engineer), Lino Min (Marketing Manager) and Jack Jeon (Designer).

Design takes place in Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ) and products are currently being manufactured in: Korea, Taiwan and Italy at present.


What attracted me to this company was the simply great design of their products.

RAIDOPS products are not only funky but well designed and practical. The company emphasis is on survival and tactical ethos.
That means if one is going to follow that ethos, the products need to reflect this in practical use. Full stop.

On top of that, Original knives made during the early days are now much sought after collectors items. It's easy to understand why once you lay eyes on the said knives, and they are like any sought after items commanding very high prices too!
RAIDOPS products are manufactured in: KOREA, TAIWAN and ITALY.

Some basics about Frame locking knives

Firstly if the frame lock is made from a titanium alloy (and many are done this way) then it is totally wrong from an engineering perspective to have the titanium frame directly contacting the knife tang. Once wear and tear has set in, slop will develop in the locking mechanism and the frame would need to be replaced. Look at one (there are others) popular brand, very poorly made (poorly mated surfaces and lack of precision engineering), frame locks suffering innumerable problems, with stories abounding about customers having to return them to get their brand new out of the box knife repaired!

In order to avoid this situation, a different material (but a separate piece) with proper hardness and proper mating surface and angles must be incorporated into the frame lock. This means extra work (extra parts) and of course means more production costs. But this is in my mind the only way to properly construct a frame locking knife system. Plus a frame lock really has to have exacting tolerances, not to rely on all this after sales manipulations. The titanium alloy must be correctly machined and heat treated in order to obtain a proper "spring" characteristic of the alloy. You simply can't bend a bit of titanium and expect it to act like a spring!

 RAIDOPS AQUILO SRN. Frame locking EDC folder

WOW!!!

My first impressions out of the box and a day outside with the RAIDOPS Aquilo SRN.

Number 1
Expertly engineered, with exacting tolerances.

Number 2
Pivot point

Using  washers on the blade pivot.

Number 3
Construction materials

Grade 5 Titanium alloy (T 6Al-4V ) used for the frame lock- a good alloy of Ti for making springs and it is also very strong.
See here for general information regarding Grade 5 Titanium.

The precision mating surface bolted to the Grade 5 Titanium spring frame is 420 stainless. 

Precision engineering for a precise fit of the mating surfaces from the tang and the 420 surface attached to the titanium frame.

The proper way to produce a frame locking knife is to use a separate piece of metal to engage the knife tang as in the RAIDOPS AQUILO SRN, seen here and in the above image.

Note: Perfectly flush surfaces in the lock (and below image)

This type of construction is a must for a precision lockup on a frame lock knife. The RAIDOPS Aquilo SRN locks up perfectly with a confident sounding large "click". There is ZERO slop unlike in a certain brand i alluded to above lacking this proper design feature.

A chunky but lightweight G10 composite plate for the opposing frame. Learn more about the physical and chemical characteristics of G10 here. Suffice it to say a chunk of G10 this thick is strong!
G10 is a very strong and rigid composite material. 

The Business End

The blade alloy

S30V a CPM (powder metallurgical) martensitic steel alloy with high Vanadium carbide content from Crucible LLC. This is a very good knife alloy. In this case, I have the serrated (SRN) version as I prefer partly serrated blades. Crucible LLC know what they are doing with alloy chemistry, it's in their company blood!

Deadly serrations in the CPM S30V blade make short work of cutting ropes and cordage (note optical illusion of the serrations: are they facing out or in???!)

Crucible Metals Powder metallurgy stainless alloy S30V

1.45% C  14% Cr  4%V   2% Mo yields a high percentage of tough wear resistant vanadium carbides with good corrosion resistance. HRC listed as 59-61

At just a little over 4 inches in folded length, the RAIDOPS AQUILO SRN fits easily in the hand.

Using S30V in  an EDC type knife like the RAIDOPS Aquilo SRN is a smart choice. As this type of knife is likely to get used heavily and the last thing you want to do is to having to keep sharpening it.

Main pivot bolt sits flush with the the frame, a very nice addition to the design to this knife and adds to it's "slickness" despite a chunky looking folder.

Generous Lanyard hole

Notice the blade alignment, perfectly centred

Nice tough looking, chunky but light compact folder the RAIDOPS Aquilo SRN Frame Lock Folder.

I love the versatile blade shape. I've used many folders on the job (aerial rope access) where I needed to routinely cut climbing ropes and or dirty carpets, reinforced PVC materials etc and having a small folder with serrations simply gets the job done asap. I don't want to be sawing away, I want the material I am cutting to be cut immediately.

The pocket clip is made from 420 stainless.

The opening action was a bit stiff to begin with but as they indicate in their literature this is done on purpose and the action will become fluid once the knife is opened several times. I found this to be exactly as described and for me too I don't want a folder whoose blade can easily come out and injure  me. (ie without me having to flick it open). The RAIDOPS Aquilo SRN is not such a blade and the ball retention works perfectly with little chance under normal circumstances or even trying to force the blade open by appying an accelerating force to the folded knife, it remains safely within the frame. That's what I want to see in a well made folder like the RAIDOPS Aquilo SRN.

The RAIDOPS AQUILO SRN designed in KOREA and manufactured in Taiwan. I can't fault this knife in my initial observations and basic tests.

I attempted to twist the blade to see if there was any signs of lateral slop: negative.

I attempted to rock the blade back and forwads to see if "Rock lock" is present (pointless test as this only really occurs when a knife is poorly desinged and made and the AQUILO SRN is NOT in this category.

The blade locks up (perfectly every time) with a reassuring loud click! That's how it should be with any locking knife.

The overall construction appears to be very good, flush surfaces, good torsional stability ( I tried to twist the frame- pointless really as it simply doesn't twist!)

So far, I've only cut plastics and cardboard boxes with it but I will be doing my usual full on field testing of the RAIDOPS AQUILO SRN and producing the video results and summary for all to see on BushCampingTools. Very excited about this very cool little knife.