What I look for before purchasing a folding knife.

 What I look for in a folding knife BEFORE I buy it.

From Left to right (as seen above): Kubey Max Tkachuk Design (liner lock); SOG Terminus XR (axis/roller lock); SRM 258L-GB & -GN (axis/roller lock); FKMD Predator 1 FX-446 ODS & FX-446 GR (Liner locks/LAWKS system); Nieto Fighter (traditional lock back) and Extrema Ratio RAOC (roller/axis lock).

Let's grab a coffee and get started?

These are the following things I look for in folder before I purchase it.

The lock up

Perfect lock up regardless of the mechanism and what materials the knife has been made from (In other words don't be swayed if the whole construction is from Titanium etc.- it doesn't make the knife) although more important for liner locks and frame locking mechanisms.

A thorough lock up can be seen in the above example of a liner locking type folder

(knife shown is the Kubey Max Tkachuk Design in AUS10, G10 and Titanium)

 Above example shows a "roller" type "axis"  lock bar mechanism (SRM 258L-GN). Some say patented/pioneered by benchmade. Whether that is/was the case is not the subject of this blog. Numerous knife manufacturers (and not just Asian) as using such a design.

All frame locks must have a removable hardened steel insert at the end of the lock bar in order to be able to replace it after wearing.

(I own one frame locking knife and it's not with me right now- a very good one from RaidOps)

For liner locking knives, if the liner barely engages the back end of the blade then that is it for me, I'll put it back on the shop's shelf and call it a day or look at some other models. 

I don't care if it is made of printed titanium alloys and sports a 154CM blade cryo treated on Mars, it means nothing if the lock up is poor, simply because you may as well be purchasing a slip jointed knife. If you have to fiddle with the locking mechanism right after you purchase it ir even before hand then the locking mechanism was rubbish, end of story.

For example on certain FKMD folders, the back end of the blade which engages the locking liner has been treated in such a way (it appears to some sort of EDM but I'm not sure and it's probably a manufacturing "secrete") as to provide extra long lasting friction between it's surface and that of the end of the liner, 

(Above example from FKMD FX-446 ODS)

so that when under pressure the liner will not want to move back across the back end of the blade and thus disengage under heavy reverse loading (ie trying to close the blade whilst it is locked open). Small design features like this only add a an "extra" when I'm looking to purchase. I guess this is why I own 2 of such folders.

Also it is indeed possible to be "overbuilt" but still of small structure as can be seen here (see image below) in this FKMD folder which sports very thick liners (almost 2mm!) and even a very thick lanyard pin!).

(Above example from FKMD FX-446 GR)

What about the actual frame of the knife?

A partially closed back or fully closed back. Generally all classical lock back knife designs 

Above, classical lock back knife design. (Nieto "Fighter" in Sandvik 12C27)

have a fully closed back due to the way the locking mechanism is constructed, and despite the plethora of locking mechanisms out there, this type of lock design and or slight modifications of it has stood the test of time.

An example of a "partially closed back" (Extrema Ratio HF1T now currently discontinued)

Above image showing a range of folders from medium sized to large.

From Left to Right: Partial, Partial, Fully closed back (single one piece 'Mono Chassis" design new from SRM Outdoors), Fully closed back and Fully closed back; 

Personally, I'm not a super fan of the pillar type standoffs (Eg TB outdoor, a French company are still making knives like this it's a cheap way to make a folding knife (I thoroughly checked them out at IWA 2024 and personally didn't like them and don't believe they would go the distance as military knives (as many models are marketed as-yeah maybe if the soldier doesn't have to purchase it themselves and it's a freeby) as they provide the least amount of contact for the knife scales/body. besides this, it's an "Old fashioned way" now of folding knife construction IMHO.

Although this type of "pillar/standoff" construction) probably makes for the lightest possible construction although it could also be argued that there are more screws and or bolts involved. To be honest the only folders which have ever failed me were ones constructed in this manner when a small screw came loose and the frame scales started to move and this only caused other screws to loosen. With CNC bending machines folding knives can be constructed without

Medium to large, it doesn't matter your preference, as long as you don't buy a folder and have to continually fiddle with it to get it to work properly. Ok maybe you like pulling apart your folders and fiddling with them, personally I don't want to have to buy something and pull it apart all the time (ok, with few exceptions-maybe tuning a car?)

Small to ginormous range of folding knives Far right knife (Extrema Ratio RAOII "Expeditions model).

Note, that despite the the slight variation in handle sizes, the blades shown above are all pretty much similar in length and thickness.

I could be argued however that the pillar construction allows for easier cleaning of a folding knife.

The mechanism by which the blade is prevented from moving upwards when downward pressure applied. 

Generally, this is referred to as a stop pin; 

(see below) A super thick stop pin sandwiched between two almost 2mm thick liners.

where a horizontal circular cross section pin will be inserted between the two liners. (this is absent in the radically new designed "mono-chassis" from SRM-where the chassis forms also part of the "regular" stop pin.

How thick is this pin? How thick are the liners to which this pin is inserted? 

The stop pin or stop mechanism should be adequate for the knife design. Under a pressure of at least up to 30kg it should not fail. It should not be so thick as to stop a ten tonne truck. The knife world is full of over designs whereby any such attempts by the user to fulfil gigantic and ridiculously disproportionate loads upon a folding knife would result in severe injury to the user's arm/hands before any collapse of the folding knife's mechanisms-in reality.

A You Tuber/Blogger at IWA 2024 Post Impressions

 A You Tuber/Blogger at IWA 2024 Post Impressions

Recently I visited IWA 2024 for the first time. IWA is basically an abbreviation from German for what is supposed to be a largest  weapons exhibition and all connected to hunting and personal security on the planet.

Or as IWA states:

"IWA OutdoorClassics is the worlds leading exhibition for the hunting and target sports industry".

Mmm, ok let's leave it at that because I saw a whole lot more weaponry than just for hunting purposes and target practice LOL.

Mixed reactions.

Most small companies were all to glad to speak with me and tell me about their products and in some cases strike up some collaborations with me.

However, what was interesting for me, was that many large manufacturers were not particularly interested in any liaison with the likes of me. Actually to be fair it wasn't just the likes of me but just a "YouTuber" as most did not even ask anything about my channel. Let alone what my channel was called. As soon as I said "Influencer" or YouTuber, or social media, it was goodbye time for me. (and yes I wasn't asking for anything).

This of course was not the case for those large companies of whom I've had long standing associations and great collaborations with over the years. Those companies, I was welcomed with open arms etc. and this made me feel quite welcome there at such a ginormous exhibition.

Nor was it case for companies looking to publicise their products. These smaller companies (well they weren't really that small I guess) 

Most of the negativity was from quite old and established companies I found. 

For example: I was told by one particular company that since I had seen a video already about their products in Czech that there was clearly no need for any English based videos or need for any other collaborations with influencers. 

Ok I couldn't argue with that and although the "translator" function on Youtube is far better than it used to be for us "only English speaking " peasants, it's still not the same thing as watching a video in your own native tongue.

Although for these products, I'd wager not many, if any English speaking folks have even heard of them. Anyway no big deal. There was so much choice at this years IWA.

I was there to catch up with others, get a feel for the current industry and social media role these days, and see how I can improve my channel. Anything else would be a bonus. 

So were there any bonuses you ask?

Yes indeed and I hope to show some of these exciting new products as time goes by; in fact you may have already seen some of them on my channel or FV or Instagram posts just recently.

 

Dirk Wanger Brings Back the Linder Super Edge Series in ATS-34!

 Dirk Wanger Brings Back the Linder Super Edge 5 Series in ATS-34 (with a few slight changes)

lets have a look at this knife in detail.

I measured a 4.97-4.82mm blade thickness, ie 5mm thick spine.

The grip is still that of a TPE polymer however, this time around Dirk Wanger is offering it up in the "Easy Track" orange color, something which wasn't available before (ok it was for the hunting series). The eyelet/lanyard hole goes through the tang and the tang still sports (you can't see it unless you destroyed the knife handle) the keyways in order to "grip" the over molded handle and prevent it from ever coming away from the tang.

The blade is still being made from the fantastic Hitachi ATS-34 steel and with the special heat and tempering treatment they can achieve an optimal HRC for this blade (60-61 HRC)

I'm a big fan of the "Easy Track" color as even in low lighting, this is an easy knife to spot. let's face, you will at some point put this knife down and the last thing you want to do is to loose it in the fading light after a successful day out hunting-which will then add some expense to your trip and put a "bad taste" in your mouth!.

Nothing much has changed with the no nonsense scabbard. Easy to clean blood and guts and there is a leather version as an option.

Ok so what has changed?

The spine is more acute in order to strike a fire steel upon it (Wanger Messer- actually state this). The laser engraving on the blade has changed slightly, still sporting the Linder brand name, Solingen now appears and so is ATS 34 in smaller text. You can see the older original model below, where all the details are laser engraved upon the top part of the blade. Arguably many don't like to see the type of alloy being used in such large letter's personally I never had a problem with this and for me it is a mark from the manufacturer saying they are not trying to hide anything from the consumer. The text "ATS 34" in the below image was hardly "too large" IMHO.

This model I suggested to Stephan Rosenkaimer (at LINDER) at the time to produce it with the easy track color but alas it never came to pass but now we see it from Dirk Wanger's "new" version.
There is also now a more distinct choil present, which was not present on the original model. I believe the YouTuber "jackknife" had some input into the "revamping" of what i considered already to be a great outdoor knife. Also you will note, "Super Edge" no longer appears on the new models.

So there we have it! Some new color schemes available (Hot pink-limited edition- yes I bought one too for Mrs BushCampingTools- she loves it (A Super Edge 6), a sort of funny colored green??? TPE grip is also available. 

SO if you didn't get one before, and despaired when LINDER announced they were "closing up shop" and they were no longer available, yes you can get one now, albeit it won't have any serial numbered blade like my old one above however, the quality is still there in a product made in Solingen Germany.

If you didn't see my original review of Linder's Super Edge 5 then check this out

@BushCampingTools

PS, yes you will see this Orange Thing in future videos @BushCampingTools

BCT

PS here is a peak at the Super Edge 6 series (new from Dirk Wanger.

New (ish) from FOX The FX-611 NATIVE BUSHCRAFT KNIFE

 New (ish) from FOX The FX-611 NATIVE BUSHCRAFT KNIFE

This is the FOX FX-611 NATIVE Bushcraft knife from Fox knives in Maniago Italy. I've had my eye on this blade for some time and now I'm going to tell you all about it and later as usual show you it being used as intended. Firstly, it is a design from Andrea Todesco. It has been designed for the horizontal carry position ( you can avoid handing your rucksack up on it -like what can happen if you carry a big big knife vertically - ok it depends really.

The Carry System

So as you can see down below is a beautiful leather scabbard, welt design and thoroughly stitched.

The retaining strap can be easily switched for either left or right handed carry positions.

Here we can see the straps for the horizontal carry.

Even strong looking stitching throughout the construction of this scabbard.

Now for the Real Business

A knife blade made from D2 and micarta scales for the grip. A shape with good curvature that could be used for skinning, a good weight distribution for chopping. The semi sabre grind lends itself for good cutting.

The blade is essentially 7"/17.5cm long and the spine almost 5mm/ 0.2"thick.

The D2 blade has been coated with Idroglider Teflon treatment.

Now to the Really Interesting Features of the FX-611 NATIVE

You can't really have a knife intended for bushcraft if it is not comfortable in the hand for along duration. That being said, all the right areas have been rounded where any hand pressure might occur under severe usage. (Specifically, note the images below).

CONTROL

However in keeping with a good grip and control there is a generous amount of finger/thumb gimping were it counts. This gimping, I'm sure I will be able to use to strike a fire steel against.

Again for a knife designed for bushcraft, one does not want a pommel that is going to injure the user, so we see a flat and slightly smooth pommel/lanyard hole/slot at the butt end.

Smooth comfortable grip with a palm swell. stainless steel fixtures throughout construction.

Ok, enough talk let's put the FX-611 NATIVE  into action. 

So stay tuned @BushCampingTools

What was one of the best things I did to gain hunting skills?

 Q: What was one of the best things I did to gain hunting skills?

A: It had nothing to do with what model bow I shot or what model gun I shot!

Ok let me break it down.

A long long time ago, or shall we just say, "back in the day". I really got into shooting stuff but with a camera. That stuff happened to be animals of all shapes and sizes, as I really didn't know what I wanted to shoot in photography at the time but wildlife stuff seemed (like I guess it is to many) to me to be very alluring. So basically it was soon apparent that in order to get anywhere near close enough to what I wanted to shoot, I needed to learn several things. One was simply about the behaviour of what it was I was trying to photograph and once I had understood this the next phase was to practice stalking skills because I cold not afford as a student some ginormous telephoto lens* to keep my distance.

 

The Exceptions To The Rule

Stalking skills does not mean crashing through the undergrowth like a bulldozer on steroids. You may be laughing saying, well no one hunts like this but you may be surprised. I was such a person who thought this until  one such bow hunt where we were after wild goats and there were 4 of us who split up to begin with for the greater part of the day  and then all met up again at the end of the day to continue hunting but as sort of 2 groups. I was with "Uncle Kevin". 

He wasn't my uncle actually but we sort of called him that behind his back as a sort of affectionate joke. He was indeed the uncle of one of my mates who was on this particular bow hunt. Now Uncle Kevin at the range was a crack shot. I mean the shots he could pull off, especially at distance up or down hill were nothing short of remarkable. Don't ask me what bow he shot I can't remember but of course it was a compound and I seemed to remember he had it wound up to 70lbs because one day at the range I asked if I could have a shoot. Well that was a laugh as I couldn't even draw it back LOL! 

Ok, so here I was with Uncle Kevin and Uncle Kevin literally broke all the rules for hunting; I mean he was walking  and breaking sticks all the time, smoking constantly (ok the wind was always in our favour) and too much talking for my liking too! But I was assured by his nephew that he was indeed a very successful bow hunter. So this day late in the afternoon, him and I came to the edge of a large tree lined depression which reeked of "goat sign", as we neared the top I saw a prize winning billy with horns I thought at first were part of the tree branches LOL. A difficult shot from above with many medium sized pine trees between me and the quarry. It had to be a high shoulder shot into the lungs, preferably the heart; distance maybe 15 meters. As I manoeuvred into position and about to draw, I hear from behind me: "Look out Franky" I turned slightly and it is Uncle Kevin, bow drawn and in the next instant that goat was shot (from a slightly different angle of course)- avoiding every tree; and going down. The cigarette smoke still swirling before my eyes as he had no doubt let out a breath before firing. What to say, that was (god rest his soul) Uncle Kevin!

Ok, seriously, the skills I had learnt creeping around trying to film animals was a huge help in getting close to animals to hunt them. I guess one doesn't have to go the photography route in-order to become successful at hunting. Because the other thing we used to practice was simply creeping up upon animals (no bow) to see how close we could come to them ie within a fair shooting range, if not get right on top of them as a bit of a joke and startle them. Yeah it might sound childish but you really hone your stalking skills like this, trust me.

ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY

The other key thing one must learn and totally understand is the anatomy of the game you are hunting. No understanding of the anatomy (and don't want to learn), then you had better give up now before you even pick up a bow or a gun. 

A quick note from the author:

I guess what inspired me to write this article is the sheer number of people posting videos to the shorts feed etc of their supposedly "hunting trips". Many such videos of course get tens of thousands of views if not millions of views; I've noticed people are publishing anything even clearly poorly shot animals with many comments, pro- suggesting that the animal doesn't even know it has been shot (ok this can sort of happen bow hunting but it is extremely momentarily- not for minutes etc.) with a bullet, this is BS. In my experience rifle hunting in Australia (large kangaroos, for the pet meat trade) you shoot them properly, they drop on the spot, not wander off many many meters away, not continue to graze etc. AND certainly you DO NOT shoot them (Bow or gun) multiple times! if you need a guide other than for simply showing you where the game is at, then you are not skilled enough to be hunting IMHO. Let's not give those "ammunition" who would bring about the demise of this activity/sport because of stupidity.

(* Nowadays I'd still have to mortgage the house to buy one of those lenses-ok not quite, I exaggerate a little bit!) .

REXIMEX RP 0.22 Cal Comments and what is in store for the future?

 REXIMEX RP 0.22 Cal Comments

Quick Background

The REXIMEX RP has now been on the market for over 2 years globally. Reximex is a large (as in physical) company based of course in Turkey. 

Since the model has been out for so long it should have had any serious issues dealt with now by the company. According to early You Tube reviews, I would say they (REXIMEX) have indeed addressed some issues some of these youtubers raised several years ago about the performance of the REXIMEX RP.

At first glance it seems to be well made and presented. All exterior machining appears to be spot on. The comfort is very good too although it might be small for large hands (>size 9). The great thing is the gun is built around a stable platform of CNCed aluminium receiver , unlike it's competitor the JET from HATSAN (another Turkish company) for which the JET is mainly made from structural polymers, albeit it appeared in a debut as a CNCed Pistol but clearly production models were to be made from plastic.

Under full pressure in the REXIMEX RP I purchased, there were no issues with leaking air. Several Youtubers reported such problems with earlier models.

 It looks the part, although I'm more concerned with performance rather than "looking the part" as looking the part doesn't mean to say it can shoot accurately or precisely.

For example the Zoraki HP 01-2 ULTRA may not look the part (actually I think it does!) but it comes with a test firing sheet/data; something lacking for the REXIMEX RP, confirming it's ability "to shoot straight".

This is a testament to the confidence of the manufacturer about their product. And indeed the Zoraki HP 01-2 ULTRA is an excellent performer with a very well made barrel and good ergonomics along with an excellent and highly adjustable trigger. Plus loads of power if you happen to own the "02" higher pressure version, which is company certified to be pumped X4.

A Copy?

The Reximex RP is a definitely a copy/clone of the Russian ATAMAN P16 and if you know this Russian PCP model you will see the similarities are obvious.

The trigger of the REXMEX RP is not easily adjustable and came out of the box with a very "grating" feeling. This is probably attributable to the sears requiring some attention to detail as has been demonstrated by many a You Tuber, notably from Russian channels, who have recently published completely stripped down the mechanism to demonstrate where the attention to detail has been lacking.

I should say at this point, maybe some of you are saying: "Hey this isn't a very expensive air gun what do you expect"?

I would say with all of the modernistic machinery available to REXIMEX staff, even to mass produce such a PCP, these aspects and attention to detail should have been addressed at the factory and if the Chinese can do this, so can this Turkish company.

Now this brings me to the fact that it appears to be a PCP which can be easily worked upon to improve the functionality of it and bring it up a much higher specification with little effort. If however, one is only "plinking away" at a lousy 10m in your backyard then you probably aren't concerned with such details. (it is also then just an expensive toy). On the other hand if you want performance from it at say 25m then you may have to work a little on it; maybe. I say "maybe" because it seems dependent upon where you purchase your REXIMEX RP will depend upon the overall performance. (it shouldn't matter upon where one purchases it from!).

Talking about performance, I will speak briefly about the cut down version of the is model, ie the MITO which is a sort of restricted version of the RP to satisfy the government laws of certain countries, notably the United Kingdom comes to mind with their "sub 12" limitations, ie sub 12 ft lb of energy at the muzzle. Like buying a restricted Mercedes only capable of going 100 kmph. Ok, sorry I see no point as the cost of the PCP is identical to that of the non neutered version. I have no idea, and I bet that whoever set this rule also has no idea as to why this should be restricted to 12ft lbs. UNLESS the powers that be figured that UK citizens would be firing this thing in their backyards (if they have them) and a lower power may not "accidentally" penetrate their fence and injure a neighbour but I would argue with a lower powered air weapon there is an increasing danger of ricochet due to the lower energy projectile not being able to stay within a target and this in itself presents a danger shooting at such short ranges as 10m and under. JMHO.

 Quality Control in more depth.

As to quality control I have a problem with this as despite it coming with some sort of tag signifying that someone from QC saw this gun before it left the factory, mine arrived with 2 magazines which featured cracks in the plastic housing. Whilst at present these cracks have not impaired the functionality of these magazines, they (the cracks) will no doubt eventually propagate through to the edge of the housing and render it unusable. These cracks were easily visible to the "naked eye" and should definitely have been pulled and replaced by non defect magazines. The tag had a QR code, which I thought would locate it to some QC thingy on the REXIMEX site; no such luck, it was merely a QR code to take me to the REXIMEX company site! Mmmmm?

The glow stuff in the iron sights on my model were/are woeful, I noticed not one gun on display at IWA 2024 had bad fibre optics in them and in fact they were all pretty good. I looked at probably 7 different models.

So I really need to replace my ones with some better materials.

Talking of new models coming out. By the end of 2024 we can expect a 6.35mm (0.25 Cal) version of the RP; they told me that they will revamp the receiver, put a longer barrel on it and a bigger air tube. let's wait and see eh. They (and me) seemed pretty excited about this!

Ok back to performance of the RP. I digress.

AIR

Despite saying they have removable air cylinders, it appears globally they are hard to get a hold of (at least this is what many YouTubers are saying). Although the cost benefit of having such spares to "hot swap out" have to be compared to using a much larger air cylinder for refills in the field and or carefully tethering this PCP to the said cylinder.

A high pressure PCP, ie greater than 200 BAR.

This is a rather high pressure PCP pistol, with a safe working pressure of 250Bar. Shooting 18gr JSB pellets my gun seemed to perform nicely from about 250 until just a tad under 150 Bar. It should not be shot under 100 Bar according to the manufacturer, lest the user end up with a pellet jam.

As to the business end, ie the barrel, well this could have been made a little better and it is clear that REXIMEX are in the business of mass production rather than attention to fine detail.

On a new gun i found the inside of the barrel to have slight chatter marks from making.

 However, this did not affect the pellet (18gr JSB) trajectory over 25m with a pressure above 150 bar on the high pressure side. It's not easily measurable the regulator pressure as there is no gauge present for this part of the airgun. The crown of the barrel was ok and symmetrical however it was not finished as well as the crown on my ZORAKI HP 01-2 ULTRA.

How about the "bang"?

The REXIMEX RP shoots loud so if you plan on shooting this thing around others eg neighbours, then it will need to be silenced. I found an excellent silencer to be the UMAREX K3 NEO, it works very very well and did not affect pellet trajectory at all. It looks cool if you want a cool looking device but more importantly it functions as it should. approx 90db to 77db! dependent upon environment, sound recorder and distance from the closest ear of the shooter to the device. We measured this approximately 20cm away from my left ear, device facing the muzzle.

The RP comes with a good carry case and an extension which sort of converts this pistol into  a rifle configuration, the latter is preferable to use at all times as this will give you the best chances of accurate shooting; it works well as intended and is easy to mount and dismount, although I would add that one should not pick up/ carry their gun by simply holding onto this plastic add on since it is only locked to the pistol in one place and you will soon find that the upper plastic extension from this rifle mount coming out of the pistol which may damage it.

So far so good only time will tell.

The REXIMEX RP came with some spare O-rings, a moderator adaptor made out of Aluminium, an air adaptor (male/male) and a quick fit adaptor. Plus an Allen key, aka hex wrench. The  bag is good and has plenty of space for a moderator of your choice and a cut out for a red dot site of the "reflex sight" design.

The Future??

Reximex will be focusing upon their real firearms production withy many new models coming out but they informed me they will still be supporting the PCP production and i got the distinct impression this part (PCP's) would form a less of an important market for them (as could be expected).