EGO Knives Preview!

 EGO Knives

Made in Bulgaria

This model is called the City Rat, made with D2 tool steel and G10 scales (out with me for a spot of fishing!)

I'm always on the look out for new and interesting, quality made knives to get, so I can let everyone who follows BushCampingTools know about them and also the public in general. 

To that end, about two weeks ago in my travels, late one night after dinner during a walk I came across something nice in a shop front window, a bunch of all good looking medium sized fixed blades! All looking like they belonged in my place LOL!

 But alas the shop was closed, so I had to salivate until the next day when I met the owner of the shop and found out some details of this knife brand called EGO. To be honest, I had never come across this brand before.

An under 3 inch EDC blade length of the Ego Knives City Rat will appeal to many.

Some background:

Bulgaria has a rich culture of hunting, so it is no surprise that one should be able to find quality made hunting and camping knives there.

After some quick intel I arranged to meet up with the owner of the company, Mr Tihomir Miloshevski. 

He invited me to come and see his factory which is about 230 m2 (about 2500 square feet).

On the  factory walls were some very nice professional photographs of some of his hunting knife models. When I inquired as to who arranged these photographs, he smiled and said he did! I needn't ask any more as this simply told me a lot about Mr Miloshevski's eye for composition and design!

The City Rat is a total EDC knife, at home out and about fishing and hiking and general stuff around camp

The razor sharp edge had no problems even carving into seasoned mulberry wood and still deadly sharp afterwards! A small but ergonomic handle on the Ego Knives City Rat.

Food preparation (wild succulents, onions and sausages and potatoes-alas no fish!) for the evening camp meal wasn't a problem. The D2 edge was deadly hair shaving sharp and the profile of the G10 composite scales made a sure grip with wet hands!

A stone wash finish is seen here. The logo is electrolytically etched into the blade surface.

Was there edge dulling after about 1 hour of cutting stuff on a hardwood board? NO!

How about after carving hardwoods?

NO- clearly to me they have their heat treatment dialled in!

That's seasoned mulberry wood (last years cut), the edge was still razor sharp about about 20-25mins of carving (not just on this piece obviously! Even for a small handle it was very comfortable to apply great pressure (Mulberry is very very hard wood-like many fruit tree woods and any knife can carve green wood, the test is seasoned hardwoods!)

One of the many tasks a EDC knife gets used on, no good pulling out some great big chopper to do this, you'll look like a fool or Jason from Friday the 13th!

Day 2 of fishing and hunting

Zero birds (missed 3!)

one fish and a handful of wild mushrooms!

Small river fish but very tasty, would have been better if I caught more LOL!

Gutting scaling, cutting up more wild vegetables and homegrown spuds from farm #2 LOL, the EGO Knives City Rat, still has a deadly edge. That's more than enough after two days of trialing this small EDC to convince me of it's worth.

The Kydex scabbard

The EDC City Rat features a Kydex and leather scabbard. The Kydex has a fibre plate reinforcing and stiffening the scabbard. (see below). A small lanyard loop of paracord is attached internally and enables the knife to be secured to a longer lanyard to prevent loss, for example, when working over snow or deep water. The slot at the base of the scabbard could be used to affix a tape lanyard and the knife could be worn around the neck (me personally, I don't like wearing knives around my neck, I just think it's asking for trouble).

A fibre insert acting as both reinforcing plate and spacer for the construction of the scabbard.

Underside view showing some finger gimping detail

This leather strap enables rapid fixing and removal from one's tactical belt (see below). I was really impressed with the quality of the leather products being made for hunters in this workshop/factory and they are fully kitted out for such quality production.

Horizontal carry of my Ego Knives City Rat as seen on a standard tactical belt (5.11), there is no need to remove your belt in order to carry this small EDC knife.

All too often knife manufacturers do not give enough attention to scabbard production, not so within the EGO knives factory.

Underside detail of the City Rat.

Out and about during a bit of fishing

Mushroom gathering (young puff balls)

Cutting wild mint to make a brew

Tihomir has been designing and making knives for a bit over ten years and just recently they have released some very new models for 2020 (as seen here, the City Rat being one of them). He has a Degree in Arts and has worked as a jeweller for many years before embarking into knife making and this came as no surprise to me regarding his skill in design from prototyping to the finished products and as I alluded to earlier on, he has a great eye for composition; all important to be capable of designing something with not only function but aesthetics.

All grinding processes are done by hand, there is no CNC milling. I examined several of the same model randomly taken from the production line an amazingly (well not really since the staff are highly skilled) the tolerances (I measured them, they handed me a digital vernier calliper) were within less than 1mm deviation, for example of the hand ground G10 scales (yes that's right not milled out with a CNC mill!), highly skilled staff.

EGO Knives models

There are many knife models available from EGO Knives and way too many to mention here, so I will concentrate upon the factory and this particular knife the EGO knives EDC City Rat, because there will be more to follow as I'm pretty impressed with his products.

Here are some facts about what goes on in the factory.

There are 5 staff members including Tihomir.

Firstly, EGO knives are made in Bulgaria.

The blanks are cut by a factory in Sofia (Capital of Bulgaria) specialised in CNC LASER cutting, then travel up north to the EGO Knives factory.

Every process that follows is done within the factory. There are key staff who specialise in particular aspects of production, such as grinding, profiling, sharpening, handle profiling and assembly and heat treatments.

Heat Treatment

EGO Knives are using a German made D2. D2 in case you've forgotten is a high chromium content tool steel with excellent edge retention and toughness for the industrial manufacture of cutting blades and tooling equipment. The composition of D2 is one of Carbides in a soft ferritic matrix with secondary carbide formation in the form of Chromium and Vanadium carbides.

Heat treatment is done in house using an Argon gas (inert gas) protective atmosphere furnace to prevent oxidation and or decarburization of surfaces, at 1030C°. The D2 blanks are air cooled/hardened under a hydraulic press to ensure total dimensional stability of the heat treated blanks. Double tempering is conducted in an adjacent oven at 190C°.

Castings (for their mainstay hunting lines)

Brass bolsters and guards are all designed by Tihomir and they have a special lost wax casting area and furnace system to manufacture various the designs. He hand carves all of these wax models! They crucible facilities up to 1kg of metal and can perform up to 20 castings at a time.

The scabbards/sheaths

Most of the factory's heavy equipment is made in Germany and this also includes the industrial sewing machines, which have also been modified with special speed controllers to enable custom fine tuning for their particular applications.

The factory also has a millimetre accurate German made Fortuna machine for cutting the various hide thicknesses for scabbards and various leather parts. It was very impressive to see in operation and works by a large rotary cutting band with a deadly sharp edge (sharpened within the machine itself). 

Dedicated staff also sew the scabbards. The cow leather is top quality grade, locally sourced and the sewing is all double stitched, last construction with heavy gauge thread. In fact the scabbard quality was excellent.

Another area was dedicated to leather surface finishing.

They also have a custom made (in house design) Kydex press and forming area for all Kydex sheath manufacture. 

Most sheaths I saw were multipurpose in terms of carry positions and some even had well made pouches for sharpening stones, danglers and the included option of tradition belt carry and or horizontal carry.

There are various custom designed heated hydraulic presses for leather craft as the factory also produces several (soft) product lines for the hunter, such as cartridge holders to take the popular sporting rounds such as .30-06 (7.62X63mm) but they make pouches for other calibre's. They also make quality leather rifle straps as well!

As for knife production, there were several custom designed grinding stations using in house designed magnetic bevel jigs to obtain perfect edge bevels whilst hand grinding the edges, along with polishing stations, large hydraulic presses,  a (mandatory) Rockwell testing rig and other grinding machinery along with abrasive stone  surface finishing, sandblasting equipment, and specialist magnetic polishing machinery. Have I left anything out? Yes, plenty but that will have to wait for the production of the video factory tour of EGO Knives!

There are about a dozen new models for 2020 featuring G10 scales, D2 blades heat treated to 58-60. As to the other knife models, they feature beautiful handcrafted hardwoods such as American walnut, European oak, decorated brass guards and handcrafted 925 silver fittings. These blades were hunting orientated and are very popular within the Bulgarian hunting fraternity. There is too much to mention. I just want to whet your appetite by introducing you to this quality brand.

Pending the factory tour, you can register your interests here:

as a new website is in the making.

BCT

Work Tuff Gear Mini Tayal Sneak Preview

Work Tuff Gear Mini Tayal Sneak Preview

Hunting and Skinning Knife

A full size grip with a short thin blade featuring a upswept tip and continuous curvature to the tip, makes this a "proper skinning knife" IMHO.

Clearly the knife shows an excellent "attention to detail" as shown by the mirror finish along the edge. Zero grind marks are evident to the discerning eye.

This probably comes as no surprise if one is already acquainted with Products made by Work Tuff Gear.

Mirror polish finish on a convex hand ground edge WOW, just look at that edge!

Spine thickness is just right for effortless use on medium game and presents minimal friction but at the same to more than adequate strength for the intended tasks at hand during gutting and skinning.

Blade is 4" long, trailing point, G10 scales and Japanese SK85 tool steel

My (test) model did not come with a belt clip however, this doesn't worry me as this sort of knife would be in my pack until I need it or rather I've actually bagged something. Besides that the actual model is supplied with a belt clip, Tek Lok style.

The WTG knives are now featuring a production date laser engraved upon the blade/s.

 

Stay tuned review coming soon.... date depends upon the success of hunting!

BCT

FENIX SUPER RAPTOR HM65R Edition

FENIX SUPERRAPTOR HM65R Edition

New from Fenix, the SUPER RAPTOR a modified version of the HM65R. This model featuring an upgraded driver circuit and a change in color temperature of the LED's.

A 5 year warranty appeals to me along with a "Lock out" function to prevent accidental powering on of the lamp whilst in a pack or pocket. or any luggage for that matter.

Run times are battery dependent and mode dependent.

There are two CREE lamps, one with a lens to form a "Spotlight" beam and the other to form a "Flood light" beam.

The lenses are  made from toughened glass.

The main body has been constructed from a magnesium alloy, which is lightweight but durable. The battery (18650 protected) of the Fenix Super Raptor can be charged in situ via a USB Type C connector (ie a thunderbolt type connector) which are much less prone to damage than the Type B micro USB plugs and also Type C is symmetrical, therefore there is zero chance of incorrect insertion due to an asymmetrical plug design.

It takes approximately 3 hours to charge a flat battery via the USB cable. One light on indicates: 21-40% charged; 2 lights on 41-60% charged; three lights on 61-80% charged and 4 lights on 81-100% charged. One light flashing, you're in trouble if you are still underground and no spare batteries LOL, but seriously, it means 0-20% charged! By pressing a combination of the switches (see manual), the approximate charge can be determined at any time.

Diagram on the casing indicates the correct insertion of the battery.

The unit is waterproof to 2 m for up to 30 minutes to satisfy the IP68 test requirement. The Super Raptor is supplied with a spare O-ring as well. 

A full set of easily understandable (At least it was easy for me to understand) operator instructions in several languages was supplied along with a warranty card

The Fenix Super Raptor can be powered by 2 CR123A non rechargeable batteries and generic 18650's however, Fenix recommend the use of quality made protected 18650 batteries. There is no warranty against the incorrect use of any type of battery and or resulting damage from such use.

The light came with a 3500mAh 12.6watt 18650 battery.

The Fenix Super Raptor is indistinguishable from the previous model except for the model markings on the opposite end cap (non removable) to that of the battery. There it is marked as: "SUPERRAPTOR EDITION".

An O-ring sealed battery port provides an IP68 level of water resistance to 2m pressure for up to 30 minutes submersion.

During charging there is a LED indicator which enables the user to determine approximately the current charge capacity  at any one point in time.

Construction materials:

Aluminium, polycarbonate and magnesium alloy, elastic and silicone material for the head band.

There is a small "plate" which partially covers the two switches to help prevent accidental switching. This is only in effect when the light is not in the tilted position.

I'm not going to write out or paraphrase the comprehensive operating instructions, suffice it to say I found them easy to read and understand and they are available in: Polish; German; Suomi; Chinese and English.

The Fenix Superraptor comes with a Type C USB cable, spare O-ring and Headband. Optional accessories are a special helmet mounting plate.

Why did I get this lamp?

I wanted it for caving and will test it thoroughly. To be honest it will comprise of a main light until I can get a hold of a more professional caving lamp (from WISDOM, who manufacture mining lights and are approved in this area with certifications such as MSHA, IECEX etc.)

Dual beams ( not a necessity for caving) but waterproofness to at least 2m is a definite must have for caving. Dual lights may provide some redundancy for LED failure or more likely switch failure, as it is a mechanical switch system.

In case you are wondering the Flood light is the smaller of the two lights. The casing gets slightly warm to the touch when charging from dead flat (totally normal). As for operating temperature, this I will determine during the real field test of some caving of course in the coming months where we will be entering some large systems in the Northern hemisphere ( not that we don't have any big systems in Australia LOL!

What's the difference between this Superraptor and the previous model? Well the previous model did not have a constant current drain and as such the Lamps were said to dim over their published working times, hence a different driver circuitry. The colour temperature of the LED's is also said to differ. As to these claims I can only report what I have read so far on the internet both officially and unofficially as I don't own the previous model.

Finally, can the light be powered on whilst charging is taking place?

During charging, the Medium power level of either the Flood light or the Spotlight can be selected. Once charging is complete, the light will not automatically power on.

No where is it recommended or suggested otherwise in any of the FENIX literature that the SuperRaptor is suitable for caving purposes. For me this seems strange but there may be a reason?

Supposedly it is 97 hours duration at 30 lumens in spotlight mode. This, I'd have to see as I don't believe that! 30 lumens is more than enough light for caving unless one want to light ginormous caverns and or highlight particular speleothems some distance away from the viewers or highlight a tricky manoeuvre for safety. If one is not bivouacking underground, then 20-24 hours of caving in a sports type cave is a long time, so this would be like 4 trips underground before a recharge. The literature also states that longer runtimes are possible with bigger capacity batteries. The supplied battery is rated at  3500mAh 12.6 watts.

It should be noted that when ALL FOUR LEDs are lit on the power switch, this DOES NOT mean fully charged cell, it merely indicates a cell which has a charge anywhere between 85-100% capacity. 

Time will tell as to the overall durability of this light for the demanding use during caving. 

Availability:

Currently NOT available in the USA.

and many pictures show different body markings

for example: where the words SuperRaptor appear on the main torch body unlike my model where the markings are on one of the end caps.

BCT

Latest News!!

Check the first caving review here of the Fenix Super Raptor

HM 65R

Fenix E15, why I think this is a good caving light

Fenix E15, why I think this is a good caving light (using more than one of them of course) plus usual backup lights.

My well-used Fenix E15, still sporting "caving mud" on the lamp bezel! The Fenix E15 (I reviewed it a while back) is a well-made torch from Fenix. Solidly constructed, can take a beating, only one "O-ring" Spare O ring supplied upon purchase. In fact this handy light has also been used a a "Table top" lighting lamp for lapse photography in my "daytime business" as a filmmaker, many many times- bet you didn't know this light was suitable for that eh?

I've been a caver now for well over 40 years now! I started with el cheapo lights (using carbon batteries and globes) as a beginner in my teens to using Petzl kabooms and Oldham headlamps and MSA miner's lights for the serious stuff, as a uni student; later including two caving expeditions. Lots has changed with LED's dominating the source of illumination now for cavers and miners alike.

But what of caving lights?

What could fail (and did, depending upon the globe type)  in the old lights was always the globes, so one  needed to take spare globes for long caving trips (eg 20 hours plus underground) and  to know how to change out a bulb in complete darkness, if necessary.

Today the LED really can't fail (if correctly placed on the circuit board and reverse polarity protection is in place) so there is not problem there. In a cave, one can not have enough "light power". No lights, you aren't getting out full stop.

Small LEDs digitally controlled, constant current driver circuits provide long burn times at reasonable brightness and heat output. Good quality reflectors are all part and parcel of many quality LED lights these days.

The old style cap lamps of miners had a fool proof switch which was basically impossible to fail even as a mechanical device. it simply rotated a shaft of sturdy metal and another sturdy contact perpendicular to that shaft acted as a switch and the light came on or off.

LED lights which are popular in today's outdoor market, most have some sort of mechanical switch which is usually but not limited to a "push button" actuation. Divers lights can feature almost the same but the better ones feature a "magnetic switch" where there is no actual connection between the switch and internal region of the torch/flashlight, in order to not compromise the integrity of the torch.

Some dive lights are "twist on twist off" and these also offer good protection against any "mechanical failures during diving, especially night diving. The downsides to this latter kind of light is that they are better used by experienced divers, so as not to accidentally unscrew the head and cause a leakage.

As for caving small twist on twist off light with basic waterproofness of about 2m submersion can offer long run times per battery: for example up to 9 hours per batter such as a Fenix E15 (I've owned one now for about 2 years and used it for caving in a very large cave system-not just one light of course:))

There are zero mechanical parts to fail, a long life LED and 9 hours per charge. If we compare this to a "proper" Miner's lamp of today where a "burn time of 13 hours is approximately standard on constant full high beam/full power; that's not too bad from a very small light of which the total lumen output is approximately 450 lumens at full power (not to be run constantly at this setting for the E15-it's gets hot if not submerged) to 30 lumens for approximately 9 hours using a 700 mAh 16340 rechargeable battery.

One can easily have two of these lightweight torches fitted to their helmet and not even notice the weight. So each fully charged battery is like 9 hours of light! 30 Lumens of light doesn't sound much but even 10 lumens (when not negotiating some crazy dangerous traverse/ climb etc is more than enough in the darkness of a cave. 30 Lumens is brighter than a Petzl Kaboom running at low pressures (big canister, 3 hr of Carbide in the charge).

Something to consider.

BushCampingTools

Puma Knives made outside of Germany.

The movie knife of choice for a classic survival movie:

The Sands of the Kalahari starring Stuart Whitman as the maniac survivalist brandishing an original PUMA WHITE HUNTER

What really bugs me is that all of these PUMA knives made in Spain just look like other Spanish made knives from all the familiar Spanish companies and there is nothing German about any of them, except the name.

Maybe it's like Siegfried Rosenkaimer (from LINDER Knives) once said in a 2007 interview that the knife industry in Germany regarding Solingen production, can not compete with the overseas market due to the high cost of labour.

Nieto (in Spain) for example are making PUMA knives and so is Cudeman from the looks of these generic designs, along with Aitor. Some of these so called PUMA's are identical to the same models but in Spanish from these manufacturers, just with different LASER engravings.

PUMA no longer seem to manufacture with their famous jacaranda wood either, they used to use, now just using wild plum or plum wood. It looks good the plum wood but not as good as jacaranda and let's face it jacaranda grows like weeds and it's easy to get large trees. Ok maybe not grown in Germany because it is too cold.

BCT

Design characteristics of 2 similar but distinct Extrema Ratio Models: T4000S and Giant Mamba

Design characteristics of 2 similar but distinct Extrema Ratio Models: T4000S and Giant Mamba

Similar shaped profiles as seen viewed side on, the Extrema Ratio Giant Mamba and the T4000S make for an interesting comparison.

 At first glance these two knife models look similar, the similar handles of Forprene moulded around the Extrema Ratio signature ergonomic grip. Some slight modifications can be seen on the handle of the new (for 2020) Giant Mamba, mid way the angle of the moulding is a little more steeper than that of the original design as seen on the T4000S (right hand side image).

The blade width of the Extrema Ratio T4000S is slightly wider than that of the Giant Mamba and as shown below, slightly longer too. The main differences are the following:

1) Blade thickness is much greater in the Giant Mamba, a full 6mm to almost the tip, compared to a 6mm tang thickness, quickly narrowing to a 4mm spine thickness after the hilt region, tapering spine starting to thin to a point from approximately 40mm back from the tip on the T4000S.

2) Both blades feature a double sided fuller/blood groove.

3) The T4000S is a lighter and thinner blade capable of cutting more effortlessly through hard thick substances, simply due to less "forcing" due to it's thinner blade profile

4) The tip of the T4000S is more acute and "pointy" than that of the Giant Mamba but of course also thinner.

The difference in spine thickness is clearly evident between these 2 models. No gimping is present on the T4000S however, the spine is slightly raised above the Forprene material (this avoids unnecessary damage to the handle should the knife be struck here with a blunt object).

The method of securing the handles are very different. The Giant Mamba does not use a centre handle bolt but a non-captive nut placed within the tang which accepts a pommel bolt. This nut can be lost if the handle is carelessly removed for cleaning unless the user modifies the nut (loctite, or some other non-permanent adhesive to prevent accidental loss). If this nut is lost then it would be very difficult to attach the handle again, not impossible but very difficult. This is a custom made nut and can not be found in one's local hardware store, nor can it be easily field modified from other parts. Unlike losing the bolt from the standard handle assembly, one simply ties some cord through the pommel lanyard hole and the handle can be securely attached. So owners of  the Giant Mamba take note: Do not disassemble your handle in the field unless you take precautions not to lose this small nut (I  put adhesive tape on mine and it works just fine to retain the nut. One could use a semi-permanent Loctite as well).

The main edge of the Giant Mamba is almost straight whereas the main cutting edge of the T4000S has a slight curvature to it. Both have a hand ground convex edge and both are easily kept sharp.

The tips are very different with the Giant Mamba sporting a much steeper angle and slightly more pronounced curvature compared to the T4000S. I think in practical terms both sets of fullers do little to really lighten these blades.

The handle of the Giant Mamba covers more of the tang than that of the T4000S, this makes the handle less likely to suffer damage due to greater supporting material, although the rigidity of the particular Forprene formulation (shore hardness) is quite adequate.

Conclusions

The T4000S is better suited (if chosen) for "outdoors" work than the Giant Mamba due to its thinner blade construction and slightly deeper profile. There is no generalist task I can not do with this model in the outdoors.

The Giant Mamba is better suited to a more "abusive" environment such as a military/tactical arena as there is little chance of tip breakage on this model and the overall blade is clearly of a stouter construction. As I have shown one can certainly perform outdoor tasks with this knife, albeit it is not an outdoor knife by any means however due to it's relatively short length, it can be manipulated with some dexterity for camping/outdoor tasks (again as above, if chosen to do so).

BCT