Want to buy a rucksack but have no idea of what to look for? I'lll tell you about the key features you should look for such an investment, because buying a rucksack is indeed a investment and you'll want to spend your money wisely. So you will get a long service out of it.
Check out Definitive Buying Guide for Rucksacks
A Detailed Report on the Halfbreed Blades Emergency Rescue Knife the ERK-01 TOPO
After spending considerable time in the field with the Halfbreed Blades Emergency Rescue Knife the ERK-01 TOPO, here's what I have to report.
At first glance, the Halfbreed Blades ERK-01 TOPO is obviously "A saw back knife". There are saw back knives and saw back knives and in my experience with saw back knives which dates back to over 40 years ago, I would say there are only 3 manufacturers who currently make a saw back knife which can actually saw anything.
The first manufacturer who comes to mind is AITOR. Let's face it ,from a commercial point of view they were probably the first, and it is the design which is featured upon their iconic OSO line 
and that too of the Jungle King series along with another early AITOR combat knife (now discontinued), the Aitor Combat TEC.
This design was a proprietary one and I have to say cut exceptionally well both artificial materials, green and dead wood. Some of my subscribers also tell me it also cut through animal bone very well too!
The next saw back design that I found worked very well for dry materials is from FKMD as seen on their Spartan Leonida Combat Survival Knife. This design cuts through rigid plastic sheeting, plywood, MDF and other similar materials with ease and actually less drag than the AITOR saw but of course removes less with each stroke due to small teeth.
Seen above the FKMD Spartan Leonida Combat Survival Knife, there is some retention of "sticky" material. This is probably one of the first knives to feature on "BushCampingTools" and I have actually reviewed it extensively on the channel and this blog over the years. It certainly satisfies all the features of what a combat survival knife should embody.
Finally, the third design can be found upon the spine of the Halfbreed Blades ERK-01 TOPO Emergency Rescue Knife.
Of course the FKMD can do likewise albeit via the barbed wire cutter function of the knife and scabbard combined and something it does well too.
The Halfbreed Blades ERK-01 TOPO Emergency Rescue Knife has a full non flexible tang as this knife is intended to be also used as a small pry bar. Certainly there was zero flex in the handle as I applied a force of greater than 70kg (full body weight until my feet were off the ground).
I do not know what loading would cause failure, and do not plan to destruction test it as that would be nonsensical as it would only be a sample size of one and thus statistically not valid. However 70kg across one's hand is an awful lot considering it is not the bar of a bar bell you're hanging on to!
In terms of comfort and grip, the deeply scalloped G10 scales on the Halfbreed Blades ERK-01 TOPO Emergency Rescue Knife are very grippy and very comfortable even without wearing gloves and no hot spots for my paws.
Here's how: Cut out a thin strip of relatively thick PET plastic
from any one of the bazillions of PET bottles laying around, bend it with your fingers to fit the inside
of the Kydex sheath (I have also done this for my AITOR knives with saw backs in the leather scabbards.
I also slightly modified recycling of old credit cards to line the inside of my FKMD wire cutting scabbard with a small piece of credit card plastic to prevent that saw back from damaging the scabbard.
If you're like me and actually use your knives a lot then these small hacks work like a dream and will continue to work until knife manufactures can come up with a better idea.
Although saying all of that in regards to the Halfbreed Blades ERK-01 TOPO Emergency Rescue Knife, such a tool may not be getting extricated from it's scabbard on a regular basis and as such, the longevity of the kydex would not be in question.
Now how about those deadly serrations on the Halfbreed Blades ERK-01 TOPO Emergency Rescue Knife?
Simply put they cut like some atomic knife LOL!
See my videos if you have any doubts here about a serrated edge's cutting power.
How about that funky Teflon coating? Is it tough? YES indeed, it is very very hard wearing and can take high abrasive forces. Yes it does wear because if you use the saw enough it will wear off on high contact areas. has it worn off from the blade though? no not yet. ALL coating regardless of what they are made from or how they are applied will wear off if you USE that knife. FACT.
What about the Factory Edge?
The factory edge came mirror polished and the hardness stated as HRC 59-60. I have no reason to doubt this based upon the great edge retention seen after using this knife extensively against very hard hardwoods and dirty forest materials for both cutting and chopping actions. When it came to touching up the edge I simply used either a ceramic rod or a ceramic flat stone.
Job done.
In Summary
It's heavy enough to chop with, you can definitely pry stuff with it, the serrations cut like a cosmic knife and those saw teeth really cut. I'd say in summary this is a very versatile knife/tool that I would have no problems to grab if it was the last thing I grabbed as I went out the door. It's a kind of cross over survival type knife, although saying that halfbreed Blades does in fact also manufacture 2 types of survival knives, one a drop point and other a tanto type point. As with ALL saw back knives one must be careful not to injure themselves due to the very sharp protrusions on the spine.
BCT
If you're looking for a first knife and want a quality product which will serve you for years and years to come, look no further (seriously) than this knife from Work Tuff Gear; the RED WOLF.
Each knife comes with the month and year of manufacture and steel type, which I think is very cool!
Manufactured using Böhler's K329 stainless steel, a modified AISI A8 alloy.
The Red Wolf is a medium to largish drop point full tang knife with a superbly ground and mirror polished convex edge (see below).
Specifications at a glance (by my measurements)
Blade length: 5" or 127mm Spine thickness: 4.5mm or 0.186"
Total length:10.25" or 25.5cm
Knife weight only: 307gm or 10.8 Oz.
HRC: 57-59
Just look at that edge! Not one grind mark in it!
It's hard to reinvent the bicycle frame and the same goes for proven knife designs!
The "Jessmuk knife"
The moment I laid eyes on the Jessmuk knife I thought immediately about the "Nessmuk knife" and that's saying something for an Australian, as the Nessmuk knife is NOT part of the outdoor adventures of Australia but of North America.
And one could be easily forgiven for thinking this. However, before I start to talk about the Jessmuck knife I need a quick explanation of the Nessmuk knife and it's origins.
Nessmuk is of course a person's name and that person has become a well known figure in American history regarding adventures in the out doors to say the least!
Nessmuk, whose real name was actually George Washington Sears, who lived from 1821-1890, who wrote under the pseudonym of "Nessmuck" for Field and Stream magazine during the 1880's.
According to a living relative in 1942, Mazie Sear Bodine (a niece), where she wrote an article based upon quotations from Sears' book, "Forest Rune" Sears stated that anything which was his favourite thing was called a "Nessmuk".
A picture appears in Field and Stream showing what was supposedly Sear's favourite combination of tools he would take into the wilderness.
The design easily sliced into this dead birch wood creating "feathers" with relative ease due to the scandi edge grind and curvature of the blade affords a different section of cutting edge encountering the wood as the knife passes down through the timber. The pronounced belly is of course perfect for skinning, you have a point for piercing objects and the spine is acute for it's useful edge, so a fire steel can be struck against this surface.
The textured "gator skin" G10 3D milled scaled handle is longer than the blade for maximum control and provides excellent grip in bare hands.
The full production is about to come out soon this year so if you are interested, I'd keep an eye on the Work Tuff Gear site if i was you.
The steel is Böhler's K329 stainless alloy, a modification of AISI A8 stainless steel.
Ok field testing to follow so stay tuned!
An Interesting Social Experiment Regarding Camouflage and the Perception of Colors
I'll start off by stating, I'm not a human behavioural scientist. However, as a neuroscientist and just a curious person by nature, I thought I might try a little experiment which would last for at least a year, which would look at how people perceive (or don't) what they can plainly see in full sight. But before I begin to explain what I did, I must state the following:
I do not encourage nor suggest anyone should repeat this experiment. It was merely to prove a point to myself and test out the following hypothesis:
Colors which are associated with infantile toys and by which we have been habituated to recognise as exactly that, harmless toys, these color schemes/patterns present whatever they decorate as harmless objects.
Therefore using these colors to "decorate" non harmless objects should render them not noticeable for anything other than a harmless object.
Introduction
In many societies today, the general public's awareness of someone with a knife has been overly heightened via irresponsible media, in association with those who would want to ban everything if they could. Even a folding knife in the closed state is easily recognisable even if you don't even own a knife.
We perceive what it is via it's shape and color. Since camouflage has long since been used to 'break up patterns" and hence disguising objects as part of the natural surroundings, could it be possible to use colors in a different way and that is, rather than to make the object "disappear" into it's background, make the object stand out but as something recognised as a harmless object?
Materials and Methods
In short. I painted a large folding knife with colors and stickers commonly associated with infantile toys. The said object was then openly carried (closed of course) and placed in general view of the "non outdoors" public, a public which has been chosen as conditioned to "Notice" such objects as knives and be wary of them.
Results:
The results were amazing.
After a year of running this experiment, it was clear that no one paid one bit of attention to what appeared to be a children's toy, especially when it was waved about in front of my kid, (they were an active participant) as if it was indeed a toy. and thus no one paid any more attention than a cursory glance if that. It was not deemed necessary to test the opposite, ie
Conclusions.
Of course I do not believe that this form of camouflage/deception would fool any who are familiar with a knife's form either closed or open. It was just a social experiment looking at conditioning.
Of course This is no different to an "umbrella" or walking stick" being weaponised without coloration.
There are neck knives and there are neck knives! Which one?
I've got a bunch of neck knives but I only really usually carry two because the others are really finger knives. I think a neck knife to be of any use you must be able to grip it with most if not all of your hand whatever size your hand is. If you can't do that then your neck knife is really a finger knife. Let me elaborate:
Finger knives are generally thicker in spine and heavier although not always for example but of course not limited too:
This Pohl Force knife has a spine as thick as a regular fixed blade knife.
Their latest VERSA (Expeditions model). Built like a tank in that it is now 6.3mm thick
but still flat profile due to a lack of any handle scales, so it sits easy around your neck.
Plus the Versa (expeditions model-Black) also has the ergonomics of the "tactical groove!
Here seen compared with the Satre, it's "little brother" if you like! The Versa is just a fraction longer than the Satre and as I indicated a little bit thicker. Don't forget they are still VERY small knives and are limited in use but big on versatility (LOL Hence "Versa" as in versatile).
Recently I took both a larger fixed blade and my Versa out on a 15km plus hike, well you might say to really keep the weight down I should have left the Versa because the versa can not easily bust up logs to make a fire in an emergency but the larger fixed blade can. Yes this is true, however the Versa is just way more convenient to use for preparing my meals.
So the thickness warrants it's use over a similar sized open folder as probably my smallest closed built like a tank folder would be my now discontinued Extrema Ratio HF1T, a veritable beast of a folding knife which can be locked open via a pin and of course open is way bigger than the Little Dvalin knife.
Although there is no argument on how handy a neck knife can be especially on "day hiking trips" as seen below.
More to come on the Extrema Ratio Versa Expeditions @BushCampingTools
