Work Tuff Gear Fixed Blades Feature Article

Work Tuff Gear  Outdoor Knives

Feature Article!-Part 1

Five great new models from WORK TUFF GEAR

 Work Tuff Gear is a Taiwan knife manufacturer with over 20 years engineering and manufacturing experience and also offering OEM and ODM services in the fields of Industrial Design, 3D printing to mention just a few.

Work Tuff Gear are a modern high tech company. It comes as no surprise then that the following knives are very well designed.
Work Tuff Gear are using Bohler K110 in the manufacture of their current outdoor blades. The heat treatment comprises of vacuum ovens and specialist blade finishes. Work Tuff Gear also offer custom blade finishes, utilizing techniques learnt from Japanese knife master Kiku Mastsuda; his famous "splash" technique.
Work Tuff Gear Knives are hardened to 57-59 HRC perfect Rockwell hardness for durable outdoor knife edges. On top of all of this each knife is hand ground with a convex edge! All of the above knives were deadly razor sharp out of the box. All knives are full tang in design.
Work Tuff Gear make a good array of outdoor fixed bladed knives, covering: hunting, camping and survival and combat activities. There are currently at the time of writing, 6 different models, with several options within each model line. I'll talk about 5 models here just briefly as I'm busting to continue my field testing and bring you the full reviews shot in the field.
I'm going to say that these knife models are absolutely FANTASTIC! and they embody what I think good knives should be like!

(Can u tell I'm excited!?)

Let's look at them more closely:
Not in any particular order:
The "Cuyamaca" is a 6.4" fixed blade, drop point full flat ground knife with convex edge. The knife only weight is: 380 grams or 13.4 Oz.

The CUYAMACA drop point model from Work Tuff Gear is made with Bohler K110/D2. D2 is the alloy of choice. Partially rust resistant, with a greater than 1% carbon content, D2 has long since proven itself as a great outdoor knife steel. Note the "Kiku Splash" blade etching!

Funky lime green scale liners for the olive green drab G10 textured scales on the Cuyamaca drop point knife from Work Tuff Gear Knives.

Convex ground edges are standard on all of the models shown here. Convex edges are the choice for being able to support severe work loads and still retain a good edge.

The first thing which I actually noticed was that the grips are not of a uniform surface! Fantastic, as many manufacturers are placing completely smooth grips on such sized knives and this is a problem/mistake (IMHO) when the hands are wet, greasy, covered in blood and guts, fish guts/slime, and/or swinging the knife if used for chopping. 

All knives come with useful lanyard holes and butt ends.

Textured 3D milled G10 scales provide good comfort and excellent grip

Having a textured surface allows for better grip but at the same time, if the profile depth of the texture isn't large, the grip will still be comfortable. This is exactly what is presented here in this model (in fact all their models-I've jumped a bit ahead of my reviews here!). There are currently 3 options for grip color (ALL scales are super tough G10). The surface texturing is in EXACTLY the regions you need to have it, end of story.

The Cuyamaca features a high flat grind and a convex cutting edge for maximum blade abuse and a Kydex sheath is included. The spine has a 90 degree angle so that one can easily strike a fire steel against it. K110 or D2 is a great steel for an outdoor knife. We have a high carbon alloy, with just enough Chromium to ward off quick corrosion-like a semi-stainless, and combine this with a black oxide finish to help resist corrosion, their knives are solid performers.

Work Tuff Gear Cuyamaca used to split seasoned Birch timber from logs, no problems!

Feathering same timber with the Cuyamaca, also not a problem. This is a very comfortable knife with any hot spots.

So far.......31st October

Ok, I've been using the Cuyamaca for a few days now and can safely say, it's a top performer. Extremely comfortable to use in a camp situation, holds an edge very well, no chipping, easy to do basic wood working with. This knife can also handle some abuse, as I bashed the daylights out of it with a hazel baton into very seasoned birch timber, so certainly no heat treatment problems as the blade is still perfectly intact.

Chopping up Sugar cane is no problem for the Cuyamaca from Work Tuff Gear

Work Tuff Gear Cuyamaca drop point in D2

Next up the THE LAMINGO

The Lamingo is a large flat sabre ground, convex edge drop point.

3D milling of the G10 scales, provides a "just right" amount of grip verses comfort.

The Lamingo is a large (436 gram knife only), flat sabre ground, convex edge drop point. This is one beefy blade. Equipped with milled scales of G10 allowing for not only a comfortable grip but a secure grip too! Made from the Bohler K110/D2. The Lamingo features a choil like the Cuyamaca and two tie in holes. The butt end is useful as it's not sharp or pointed and can not damage you hands. The scales are also milled just in the right places, ie up front where one's thumg will rest and towards the back end where your little fingers will rest. This little bit of texturing can make all the difference between a comfortable knife which is slippery or a comfortable knife which is grippy whether hands are wet or dry.

Scales are milled exactly where they need to have grip.

The Lamingo as I said is a large sabre flat grind drop point with a tapering swedge which starts about a bit under half way towards the tip. Thumb gimping is present and comfortable to use. Swinging the Lamingo, one can instantly feel this knife will perform nicely at chopping tasks being slightly forward weighted. Just past the thumb gimping the spine is at 90 degrees, so here a fire steel can easily e used. The Work Tuff Gear Lamingo is marketed as a "survival" type knife and I'd have to say at this point, I would have a lot of confidence in this knife. All of the knives that I'll talk about here are very comfortable to use in a "safety grip" for carving wood, with zero hot spots. In fact the manufacturer states this but my findings only corroborate theirs.

The fourth model I want to showcase is called the:

ELBRUS

The Work Tuff Gear ELBRUS is a large approx 7 inch spear point, 12.2" overall length fixed blade. Fluorescent Orange G10 scales make the knife easy to see in low light, or if placed upon the jungle/forest floor.

The Work Tuff Gear ELBRUS, is marketed towards a outdoor survival multi-purpose knife with tactical combat applications. There is a big convex ground cutting edge. Spear point to enable good penetration. The main edge (before curing to the tip), is dead straight (ease of field sharpening) and the upper swedge, whilst starting only about just under 2 inches from the thumb gimping, leads to a beefy knife tip.

Since the blade is almost 7 inches, a finger choil doesn't go astray, allowing fine control of the business end of this great feeling knife. 

The Elbrus is a big spear point.

Generous grip size to accommodate all hand sizes- here shown with hand size 8.5

Moving down size a little but no less in toughness appeal we have the KOA.

To avoid an overly heavy smaller knife, Work Tuff Gear have milled a double sided fuller/blood groove into the spine. This interesting modified drop point keeps the over all weight  balance perfectly centred around the ricasso/hilt.

The KOA is a deep profiled modified drop point. This type of design has some interesting benefits I believe from my own 35 years plus experience: Having a deeper blade there is a leverage advantage when having to push cut/lever through thick objects such as large fish or animal bone/joints. The blade angle is slightly less steep than the Lamingo and the Elbrus. There is an absence of a choil, as a blade of this length there is no necessity to have one and maximum power can be applied to cutting strokes in a standard safety grip (ie the fingers facing towards the body, blade facing away). Without adding too much weight to a small knife the knife can still swing well due to this modified spine geometry.

Grippy but comfortable scales of milled G10. Notice the curvature of the grip.

Like all of the models here, an anti-reflective stone wash has been applied to the K110/D2 surface. This image taken with photographic flash, zero reflectance from the blade surface.

Finally, in this super quick preview is the Taroko. The Work Tuff Gear Taroko, is a stout but functional hunting, camping and hiking knife. Easily carried, convex ground, high sabre geometry with a clip point. Full tang, what more to say? With a comfortable grip, there is no way your wet hands are going to slip off this handle.

Work Tuff Gear Taroko with a 4.3mm/ 0.17" thick spine.

Lightly textured in a  kind of wood pattern, the G10 scales provide a comfortable yet secure grip.

With a clip point blade design, the Taroko should be more than capable of hunting duties.

All of these models, the fit and finish to the smallest detail was second to none.  

Ok that's all I'm going to say at this point as the testing has been limited to chopping hardwoods and some feathering, all very basic tasks. I'll take them all out in due course and see how they continue to perform. Based upon their feel, and design, they look damn good, not to mention appear to be very competitively priced for such good quality. You can in the meantime see them here on the manufacturer's site.

BCT