Linder Knives made In Germany Trapper Knife, a classic Camp knife

Carl Linder Nachf.e.K. Made in Germany Trapper Knife (Nr. 178515), a classic Camp and Hunting knife

Carl Linder Nachf.e.K. Serious outdoor knife, model "Trapper" Nr.178515. Made in Germany.

First impressions out of the box?

WOW!

I've had my eye on the TRAPPER fixed blade knife from Linder knives in Germany for a while now. Why? Because it looked good on paper and in the flesh is as expected. The construction and finish of the Trapper is just what I would expect from a "made in Germany" knife and from Carl Linder  Nachf.e.K.

The construction:
Rich dark Cocobolo scales held on a full tang with brass rivets. 

Beautiful Cocobolo wood scales , a premium grade hardwood timber renowned for its' hardness and durability amongst craftsmen throughout the world.

The Carl Linder Trapper is a full tang knife utilising a 5mm thick sheet of 440A.

A lanyard hole, is provided via a hollow brass rivet.

A super strong tip isn't going to bend.

The Linder Trapper knife looks the part. In fact the Linder Trapper looks like what the term "real knife" embodies, that is traditional in style, yet constructed with quality components for the modern adventurer. 

The handle provides a comfortable grip and being wood, is not cold to the touch. The aluminium guard doesn't add unnecessary weight to the TRAPPER knife. The tip is rounded enough too for skinning if need be.

Heat treatment

This is my second knife from Carl Linder  Nachf.e.K. that uses 440A stainless steel alloy. 440A for those who do not know, is from the 440 series of high carbon stainless steels. 440A has a much better resistance to corrosion than 440C! Here is the typical analysis of 440A:

Data courtesy of Carl Linder Nachf.e.K.

Carl Linder Nachf.e.K. are hardening this steel of the Trapper knife to HRC57 in a vacuum furnace and then cryo tempering.


HAIR SHAVING SHARP!

My Linder Bowie features the same alloy and was deadly sharp out of the box and remained so throughout all of my outdoor tests. How was the TRAPPER? Well it easily shaved (DRY!!!) the hairs off my legs!!! 

This is great German quality.

The fit and finish is perfect, just look at these seamless joints!

Perfect matching of aluminium bolsters to the Trapper's tang. Notice the evenness of the gimping grooves and the chamfers along the spine next to the gimping! All indicators of a well-finished handmade knife. 

The Carl Linder Trapper is a great design for heavy duty camp work. Just check out that sharpened spine, perfect for hacking jobs and cutting through joints.This upper edge can be used for all the hack work to help preserve the main edge and hence durability of the main edge. 

This region (as indicated by my finger) has ben sharpened and carries an edge of equivalent finesse to that of the main blade edge. It's not one of these pseudo sharp swedges, it cuts!

The back spine can be used for "Hack work" and help to keep the main cutting edge for cutting and not hacking

The Carl Linder knives Trapper in "camp" Dried meat is delicious to take out.

The Carl Linder Trapper features a full thickness tip and hence a great weight distribution for lightweight chopping and hacking jobs. The weight  is downward when the spine is directed against an object. This tip will take some abuse too, such as levering actions, cracking shells of crustacea and nuts etc. While this knife may look like some sort of collectors knife by its finish, don't be fooled into thinking so. All of its design features are practical features.

The Carl Linder Trapper knife is well balanced too. The fulcrum is at the region of the small choil (when measured by placing ones finger perpendicular to the choil).

Now what about the scabbard construction??

Full grain cow hide, perfectly stitched, standard belt carry in the vertical position. The scabbard is constructed from a single piece of leather skilfully designed.

The color matched sheath adds to the "style" of the TRAPPER knife.

Inner press stud rivet covered by non abrasive material, so as not to scratch the knife unnecessarily.

Perfect stitching and an added rivet for extra strength at the top of the sheath. Note too that this sheath design is constructed with the minimal amount of stitching to preserve the overall integrity of the design.

Ok so these are my first impressions and the knife has gone out into the field for some serious testing. So stick around!




Hardcore Knives and Tools for Wilderness Camping


OK update the field review is now complete and you can see it here at BushCampingTools
 

My most used outdoor knives and why

 My most used outdoor knives basically fit into two sizes:

Around 7" fixed blades and 5 inches or so fixed blades

Modern 5" or so fixed blades (LINDER knives ATS 34 bladed Bushcraft Super Edge series and LINDER Hunting knife) perfectly at home for hunting and camp duties. I say modern as they incorporate polymer handles and high tech heat treatments.

Just sub 5 inches fixed blade (Manly knives "Drugar") totally at home in the bush and well-proven in my hands.

A modern classic 7 inch fixed blade (Extrema Ratio MK 2.1) of military styling works just fine for extreme off the track wilderness or in-frequented hiking camp trails but more so wilderness where fires maybe allowed and wood preparation a definite part of camping. Remember many spots only fuel stoves could be allowed and chopping or using of any wood could be forbidden during certain times of the year. Check you country's laws, don't abuse them, they are there to make the next person's trip just as enjoyable as your own. No one likes arriving at a campsite that looks as if it's been hacked to the ground, especially when only fuel stoves were/are meant to have ben used.

The 7 inch blades get taken where I generally will rarely meet any other campers, hikers or hunters. My 5 inch sized knives go all places. That means for me the smaller knives are used more often as I simply don't always have the time to venture into pure wilderness and it easier going on pre made tracks and frequented or semi frequented campsites, as apposed to blazing trails and setting up campsites where there were none before, or extremely old and basically not used any more.

Seven inch knives for me are a good handleable size for what I call a big knife (of course anything bigger is a really big knife- you know that stupid Paul Hogan line: "That's not a knife....." 

A 7" knife of quality, sturdily built will serve you well and can easily undertake any imaginable (real world)  task in both tropical and non tropical environments. I know, I've been there done that with these knives and know they will perform just fine.

Lighter build 7 inch knives will also be useful away from the tropical environments, where simple cutting tasks will dominate your outdoor activities as apposed to hacking into coconuts, or cane etc.

Extrema Ratio's 7" long T4000S, at 4mm across the spine, this capable knife is just fine for non- tropical duties, although saying that, it easily dispatches hard tropical food stuffs but it won't be good for hacking into coconuts not without slow careful effort, where a large Golok or parang/machete would be the ideal choice if consuming many coconuts*

* see my blog about deserted island survival

A 5" knife is a great hiking and camping knife, which won't frighten newbie campers or people not used to seeing knives being used. It can prep wood for fires and gut and butcher meat and fish in skilled hands and won't place a burden on the pack weight.


Taking a "hunting" styled knife as in the LINDER (shown above as an example) can easily work a multi-role of camp kitchen, butcher knife, hunting knife and general purpose knife. Good hunting knives by their very definition should be stress free to use, ie simply comfortable during extended non stop usage; and they need  to keep sharp also after extended use. You should carry a knife with a tip that is sharp. A sharp tip will help you gut fish and game. Blunt tips even on the most expensive knives, render them useless in my opinion. In other words spend some time to learn how to sharpen your knife properly.


More to come


BCT out.