Practical use knives

 Practical Use Knives

Seen here is a jumble of practical knives. The manufacturers are: Work Tuff Gear, Wanger Linder, WithArmour and Extrema Ratio. You will note that no blade exceeds 6.5". With the exception of the WTG knife, all are of stainless steel. Although the WTG model is now available in Böhler  K329. With the exception of Wanger Linder, all of the above manufacturers also produce ginormous (quality) knives for those who just have to own one. For example the mega sized destroy all monsters Zeki Menacho beast from WTG (shown below).

or

The super excellent FKMD RIMOR, which IS a big knife and CAN handle the wilderness just fine but overkill for general hiking and camping.

This is what no one wants to acknowledge.

"Most people will never require the use of a big knife. Big knives are only practical in serious wilderness and even then there will be little difference between a modern big knife's performance and that of a locally made parang or machete. The main difference being cost and that cost difference could easily equate to over one months food and or accommodation/transport in the tropics". 

I've been on many a tropical adventures and let me tell you I've never taken anything more expensive than a multitool with me, in fact the single most expensive item other than a shit hot expedition tent, was an almost indestructible carbon fibre take down fishing rod (because it was def mission critical as we were on an island with no boat!)

If you are not doing this sort of thing then possessing the kind of knife shown in these images, you will not suffer on any other kind of adventure from lack of a practical knife. In fact for all hiking and camping purposes on known trails, a small knife is best. This definitely goes for hunting purposes as well unless you intend to butcher an entire elephant!

What makes a Knife Practical?

Shown above are ALL practical and great knives to satisfy ALL outdoor activities.

Not in any order, here are 4 pretty good reasons to what makes a "practical carry knife":

1/  Ease of carry

If it's a pain to carry then more than likely you'll leave it at home or in the trunk fo the car. No so with the Kizlyar Supreme Dominus (AUS8) Kraton grip

2/ Ease of maintenance (no tools required). Unfortunately MOST knives do not satisfy this criteria unless using an over moulded TPE or Forprene or Kraton type grip permanently affixed to the tang. (see below).

The Kizlyar Vityaz T (AUS8) sporting an over moulded TPE grip. There are Zero parts to come loose or fail. Also this knife has an incredible temper and quite a different bevel angle of 15 degrees.

The superb skinning knife from WTG 

3/ Comfort during excess use (no gloves required)

No acute edges to be found on the handle of Extrema Ratio's Sethlans

OR on this beast, an all day user

4/ Can be used to eat with and prepare all foods.

Simple un coated D2 tool steel, resistant to most food stuffs, even acidic pineapple juice. (Manly Knives (Bulgaria) Model Drugar.

Ego knives (Bulgaria) Perfect EDC knife (made with D2) with a super ergonomic grip and concealed lanyard hole).

A practical knife is an uncoated knife or a knife coated with a food safe material such as certain PVD compounds. Since an uncoated knife (if stainless steel) will basically be un-reactive to any food acids, water, (fresh or salt).

A practical knife should not possess areas which are difficult to keep clean and free of food particles and or raw meat/fish/guts.

To be totally honest after all the years of camping, trekking and hiking around the globe, a synthetic handled knife is one of the most useful items to carry. The exception being on length here is that, my trusty ONTARIO Spec Plus clip point has been one of my most trusted camping knives albeit at 7" length, it fairs well in the Australian bushland and cut it's teeth in the Western Australian wild coastlands along with  New Zealand's wild regions.

Remote beach Australia (WTG Lamigo) in D2.

Manly Knives (Bulgaria) Drugar  A Wanger design. German D2 perfect for cutting close to or in the dirt. Mushrooms, Amethyst Deceivers, Boletus edulis, Lactarius. sp.  Totally at home in the "European forests"

The Superb Kizlyar Supreme YETI (PGK steel)

More than strong enough for the Aussie bush after hacking  down a palm tree to get at the edible "palm heart", the Kizlyar Supreme STURM

But I want a strong knife?

All of the knives shown here in this blog are MORE than strong enough even for THE most arduous tasks (just watch my reviews) however if you want some extra assurances......

Can you have almost indestructibility with a  small size knife? Sure you can, see here for just 3 examples. 

This is one super heavy duty small fixed blade from the Super Edge series) Wanger Linder.

New from With Armour, the CAJO I BK,  a San mai constructed scandi ground powerhouse of a knife using their WASTEEL. 420J2 sandwiching a Vg 10 core.

The mighty Kizlyar Supreme URAL, Above and below) , a full convex ground hunting and camp knife. Built like a tank!

Coastal duties with the Extrema Ratio T4000C (yes, it's a coated blade in this instance and I also own the Satin finish version (totally food safe). Do as I say, not do as I do!

Limited edition WTG Mini Nomad made with Hitachi ATS-34. A superb small knife. 

BCT

Why the Citizen Eco Drive is King and a Major marketing Blunder?

 Why the Citizen Eco Drive is King or Is there such a thing as a Watch being Overpriced?

Consider the following:

Approx cost of a Citizen BN176-08 E* approx $750 USD second hand from the bay.

I've beaten the daylights out of this model ( I bought mine second hand over 4 years ago), diving, caving, adventuring been around the globe several times etc. You get my point.

BTW I still have my original 200m Eco Drive, perfect time countless dives, water action, caving action, canyoning action etc. 25 years old now! Still going strong, OK, I lost a bezel after about 22 years of the above action! Never had a service, never leaked.

So what does Citizen's latest 300m model look like?

Latest 300m Professional diver's model from Citizen BN1024-01E approx. cost $580 USD brand new! 

This is the limited edition model (BN1025-08L LIMITED EDITION shown above) of the new  BN1024-01E. You can see the similarity of the design to previous 200m models and this is evident in the bezel design. In fact there is nothing outstanding about this new model at all and even the sapphire crystal can not save it from looking like a regular 200m (much cheaper Eco Drive.

I have to say it doesn't look as cool as the BN 176-08E, it just looks like a beefier version of the regular 200m, they kind of admit this anyway. I think it's a marketing blunder and not distinct enough, sorry Citizen!

accuracy +_ 1 sec in one year!

Can you see the difference?

Although the above model is NOT that dissimilar in appearance (and therefore does not stand out against the following model:

 

However at a considerable cost increase. Ok, sure, we have a sapphire glass in the new 

BN1024-01E and

there is just a regular mineral glass in the BN0156-05E

 What's disconcerting is that already this new model is available second hand on the Bay! Ok they could be stolen etc. who knows and certainly there are many Japanese sites selling watches which are all FAKE as they simply use the same pictures but the sellers all appear to be different. WARNING! Either none of them actually have the model (usually the case) or they are all as i said crooked! Caveat Emptor!

For serious diving, the bezel design from the award winning 200m Aqualand (you can read about it here) is far better to grip and the surface finish to this watch bezel is far superior to that of the new model which is just bare stainless steel.

Shown above just after a dive, the BN0176-08E (immediately below the camera) and the Aqualand 200m BN 2026-00E (this was a "special edition" model with a TiN coating (note Suppaparts adapters I added).

with gloves one than the 

BN0156-05E

As is the bezel for the the BN 0176-08E 

and it's 300m sister model with the fluorescent green minute hand.

What do you get for 300m water resistance in terms of time performance?

Rolex Sub Mariner

The straight stainless steel model

approx. $11, 219 USD! No mention of accuracy only crapping on about what they did back in 1953! That's almost 20 watches of the above model citizen. I know which watch will last longer and require less servicing!

Sure a Porsche out of the show room will drive better than  Subaru out of the show room. However, a Subaru modified will give ANY Porsche a run for it's money, I know, I had one LOL. BUT we can't modify watches in the same way as we can for cars.

I'd bet the above Citizen Eco drives can take a hell of a more beating than ANY Rolex watch.

It's physics. There are fewer mechanicals within the guts of an eco drive, this means less things to go wrong. In terms of accuracy, NO automatic watch can compare to the crappiest of quartz watches, even no name brand ones when it comes to time keeping. 

No, one buys a Rolex, to tell the time. One buys a Rolex because it's a Rolex, not to tell the time accurately, only to: show off to your mates you've either made it, blew the family savings (and hence about to encounter even more  debt because now you face divorce proceedings), expect to get you arm yanked off by some desperate robber and finally incur massive (and they are) service charges (out of warranty), if you manage to ward off the thief. 

It definitely will not tell the time better than the above 2 Eco Drives.

What's even more frightening that for such a ridiculous price, the warranty is but for 5 years!

Let me tell you right now, it will not be under warranty if you are playing ball games with it on your wrist or batoning a knife, using a jack hammer etc. (probably the Citizen won't be warrantied either for the jack hammer action but the service cost will not cause a rise in blood pressure either.

BCT

*The Eco-Drive PROMASTER AQUALAND is compliant with both the ISO 6425 Dive Watch and the JIS B 7023 Watch for Diving standards.

Why San Mai makes sense

 Why San Mai Makes Sense

I think from what I saw at IWA this year is that there is no doubt in my mind that there are now many quality knives coming out of Chinese manufacturing facilities. I'm not talking about people who have been OEM-ing for years for big name USA companies etc.- sure, I'm talking about people with high tech equipment and good design ideas giving the west a run for it's money. 

The business key here  is collaborating with foreigners who want to bring their designs to light but find it financially impossible to do so using local manufacturer/s. Making knives other than "one offs" / ie custom designs require a lot: of skill and science, art for design aesthetic and understanding of biometrics even if that only means understanding comfort and basic ergonomics.  Contrary to what many suggest, it does not require the black arts ie magic! To get reproducible results for production quantities, thus requires such an approach. 

Some of these manufacturers, their pricing is not outrageous nor is it "cheap" either but I would argue "fair" in line with the current economy in China. It's now the same story about what people used to say about bicycles, 30 years ago, being made in Taiwan and that they had to be crap. I remember a guy who once joined our cycling club and he was crapping on about this when another bloke said, there was no reason that a Taiwanese made bike frame (in relation to a downhill bike frame) was going to be crap as they were using exactly the same materials, exactly the same CNC machines, the difference was they were operated by guys who looked different and the bike was welded by robots far more accurate for such a product than any human hand. That shut him up. 

No, products especially from Chinese and or Taiwanese manufacturers can be just as good as any western manufacturer doing similar, eg take the semi conductor industry as a current example.  However, this is NOT to be confused with ANY companies just trying to rip off other's designs.

There are many camera grip manufacturers and optical manufacturers in China producing cutting edge camera and optical equipment. For example: ZentronOutdoors comes to mind as a producer of some seriously fantastic thermal imaging hunting scopes (yes I've used them, hunting friends I know have used them and I still use them).

The propaganda images and notions that these companies can only do this by torturing their staff and or paying them next to nothing is exactly that, western propaganda, that when bandied about these days seems totally boring and only shows the lack of understanding those who say this in the west, has for what is going on in the economy in China today.

Anyway I'm getting distracted.

Let's get back to the title of this article about San mai constructed knives. Why I wanted to discuss this was that several days ago a viewer on my Youtube channel was, I suspect, pointing out to me that there could not possibly be any claim to "proprietary" or trade mark San mai steel  from a  recent company's product I reviewed, since this steel according to them had been in use from a famous Swedish (beginning with F) company (albeit, according to him at a lower HRC) for over  20 years! I was  quick to point out that that famous Swedish company never actually manufactured  that particular raw  material themselves but imported it from Japan, where the "technology" if you like has been in use for centuries! So there is nothing Swedish or original about that!

I mean, what exactly does Proprietary mean?

According to Cornell University, their definition in regards to the law is the following:

and one can see straight away that this word is intimately linked with "Ownership" of something. That something may be a trade secrete on some manufacturing process etc. So just about anything can be "proprietary"! 

What about Trademark?

Well in this case WithArmour are stating that the WASTEEL is a Trademark, they tell me that they import the raw materials (presumably from Japan) and create the San mai construction in house. That's my understanding from correspondence from them. If that's the case then I guess they can def trademark their steel construction.

The Design of the WithArmour CAJO I BK

The point is that this San mai constructed knife is very well made. I've field tested it!  We don't bother testing rubbish products. But what about the design? The design is by a German guy living in Bavaria by the name of Andreas Löfflmann, and this design of his is very interesting for the following reasons:

It's a small knife which is easily carried by the hiker or hunter. 

It possess a lanyard hole, such an important feature of ANY knife purporting to be used either "tactically" or in "the Outdoors" end of story, no lanyard hole, you can loose it in the snow, down a hole, in the lake etc etc.

Because WithArmour are using "chain ring bolts" to secure the carbon fibre impregnated G10 scales, it's possible to use the middle bolt (because by nature they are hollow) as a "top cap" in the fire bow drill setup.

The knife weighs an incredible 275 grams but because it's a SCANDI grind, such a thick 1/4" blade is very useful still for carving and cutting tasks. If it had a straight edge bevel then it would simply be too thick for anything IMHO. Now the fact that it has a scandi grind and it weighs almost 300 grams and is very comfortable to hold, means that one can actually chop with this knife making use of the momentum you can develop from such a small knife. See this video.

There are absolutely zero hot spots on this knife. Someone recently commented that their " 2 buck fishing knife could do the same". Ok after I recovered from laughing and then picked myself off the ground, I was about to write a serious reply but chose to write a somewhat ambiguous sarcastic but none the less truthful reply about multi use of a "fishing knife" ie other than strictly for fishing purposes, one could indeed use the same knife as a: screwdriver, paint scraper and or removers of  battery terminal corrosion from the boat batteries, etc. etc.!

A very nicely rounded spine!

Now back to the no hot spots, what this means is that one can apply huge pressure to the spine without damaging your thumb and this is very important for any outdoor knife to be of long duration use. I say "long duration" because sure, many a knife can be used for carving and cutting but for how long???? Plus all of this changes once the hands and or fingers are wet and cold. Don't forget this otherwise you will only be going outside during warm weather and ok, maybe that's your thing, no problems.

So I had better actually answer why San mai makes sense?

To add to the features of this knife, a San mai construction is well known as basically an indestructible laminated construction when it comes to undue lateral forces, ie it's difficult to break such a knife blade and there have been countless social media demonstrations over the  years showing just this. (and no I don't mean JOE X) there was a guy many years before him who ore overall and a Hockey mask. Joe X, simply copied him.

So there you go, I think I've emphasised the salient features of this new product from WithArmour and it's probably all sold out now, who knows as I have number 2 of 100, first production run. Hopefully they will continue with another run? Such a good value knife I believe.

And if you are reading this Andreas Löfflmann then let me tell you I'm also a passionate fisherman too!

BCT

A great San mai Blade

 

WithArmour Knives

Featured model:

CAJO I BK

A knife design by Andreas Löfflmann

First Production run 02 out of 100

Way Back in May I visited the WithArmour booth at IWA 2025.

To be honest, I'd never heard of them before. 

That's because behind  but separate from WithArmour is DAV GEAR, a long established OEM knife manufacturer for many well known global brands. You might be surprised who is making these well known brands. Anyway this is what a company employee told me about WithArmour

"WithArmour stands apart as our own high-end brand—focused entirely on delivering innovative, durable, and purpose-built tools for serious outdoor use. It reflects our vision and capabilities beyond OEM, combining top-tier materials, cutting-edge design, and field-tested performance."

I think the key words here are "Beyond OEM".  So this appears to be the case here for WithArmour.

I had no appointment with them, their knives on display caught my attention out of the many new exhibitors present. I was indeed scouting for quality and innovative (if possible) products to review for you all!

I also noticed that they were making knives for German knife designer  Arthur Brehm. 

I picked   up and handled some of the models on display and carefully examined their designs and construction. Certainly, they looked well made and useful! 

Enough for me to inquire further....

I approached them to see if I could review something.

I asked to test the following model: CAJO I BK

BTW, "CAJO" (this happens to be the name of the Designer's, Andreas Lofflmann's dog!)

Ok let's start at the top: The Presentation.

A sturdy all cardboard presentation box, no foam of any kind was present, no Nd magnet lid catches, just a good old constructed box with a slip on/off lid. Ok, they have a funky company logo with some sort of diffraction grating in the text giving it a rainbow of colours should one wave their box lid about! 

The knife and associated articles (Kydex scabbard, mounting hardware, diamond steel, belt clip and a small amount of paracord, were securely all placed within individual profiles cut into a layered corrugated cardboard insert (not shown). The knife (only) was inside a small plastic bag. There was some sort of moisture absorbing film within the box as well.

Ok so straight off, I liked the fact that the box wasn't full of non-bio degradable plastic/foam inside that would end up in the trash and take the next 100 years to break down, if ever? The amount of plastic appeared to be kept to an absolute minimum. 

As people who enjoy the great outdoors, these small things are important, plus when I think that once people used to buy milk in glass and shopping bags were made out of  (tough) paper!

Next we saw some paperwork, which included  a card with a message from the the manufacturer, in particular the CEO of the operation,  Davis Zhang, who has a background in Engineering and Business degrees from Cornell and Nanjiing Universities. BTW there is just a picture of him on the card, it's not littered with text stating he's the CEO etc etc. Just a picture of a bad ass looking guy holding a big knife!

It's probably worth reading (I'm not going to rehash the text here) and reflecting upon what it says. But to give a summary (from which my 14 year worked out in an instant), basically they are proud of the quality of their products. I'd say that sums it up!

The next card I picked up was  the all important warranty card. Now the warranty is something like this like this: let's say you open your box to a defective product, unlikely?), you can return it within 15  days obviously with proof of a defective product and if the same model is available you will get like for like if not a similar model. The knife itself is warrantied for 5 years for defective workmanship with replacement/repair (obviously if not abused or natural wear and tear). 

After 5 years the warranty will enable one to have their knife repaired for the cost of the necessary parts. (don't loose your warranty card or your receipt and or proof of purchase!). 

Just a quick note here for those not familiar with "warranties", any genuine warranty, the cost thereof must be "buried" within the sale value of the product in order for the manufacturer to be able to honour the said warranty conditions without incurring excessive over costs in doing so should these occasions arise. 

The third card which is basically  "a call to action" (a very smart business move) encouraging customers to share their stories of outdoor exploits on the official WithArmour social media.

Finally there was a small glossy card (not shown) showing WithArmour's latest products, although not as late as this knife being reviewed here!

Now To The Actual Knife!

My very first impressions "out of the box"

Well it was immediately clear that this was a quality product and this was reassuring as it was of similar quality to the knives I had handled at IWA in Germany. 

What Is The CAJO I  BK  Made From?

A proprietary San mai steel called WASTEEL 

Let's take look at this:

WASTEEL is a proprietary steel, developed by WithAmour. It is essentially a "san mai" type steel for which 420J2 clads a core of VG10. For those not familiar with Japanese, "San mai" means three layers of steel.

According to WithArmour.

"The knife blanks are vacuum heat treated to prevent oxidation and decarburization (ie loss of Carbon). The process also removes phosphorus to provide a clean finish." 

The VG10 obtains a hardness of approximately HRC 62 with the 420J2 reaching about 56-58 HRC to provide a "tough sandwich".

Are These Steels Produced in China?

The raw materials such as the 420J2 and VG10 are imported and are then combined as stated above to produce the proprietary trade marked WASTEEL, thus assuring total quality control.

The Knife SPECIFICATIONS

Cajo I-BK (here after refered to as just CAJO)

The CAJO is sort of a bushcraft type knife constructed around a beefy Scandi grind geometry using a proprietary  San mai constructed blade as mentioned above. The spine is very thick but not unwieldily at 6.01mm (my measurements) which is 0.24" , so just shy of 1/4", so I'd say 1/4" thick. 

The width of the blade is 26.64mm ie 1.05", ie 1" wide. The blade is basically 100mm long ie 3.9" ie 4" long. 

The scales comprise of a carbon fibre G10 composite and is apparent when  twisting the handle in bright light, one can just make out very small carbon fibres glinting in he sunlight. This arrangement gives the scales an interesting pattern. 

The scales of the #WithArmour Cajo I BK are affixed to the tang via 3 (Two the same size and one slightly smaller) stainless steel chain ring bolts made from UNS S41600 stainless steel. The inner layer (an accent) of G10 is bright red and this makes the handle look the part IMHO.

The knife fits perfectly within the scabbard with a distinctive "clack" sound.  There is a small drainage hole at the base of the scabbard.

The blade is partially PVD coated with an anti reflective Black Titanium. The carry system is belt carry, left or right handed.

HOW DOES IT HANDLE?

WELL THE Fit and finish is absolutely great. The comfort is great too. The knife is heavy for it's size however, this also speaks of great robustness. The knife alone weighs in at  275 grams, ie almost 10 Oz.! it is marketed under "Tactical"

Well the blade angle, simply demolished any wood I presented to it. In fact one had to be careful trying to generate feather sticks as this edge simply bit into the wood like some cosmic knife, seriously and the next thing I knew was that I'd almost cut the stick in half!

Seasoned cottonwood

There are zero hot spots on this knife (including the gimping on the part of the spine. 

Gloves are simply not necessary unless using the WithArmour CAJO in sub zero temperatures.

 Who is this knife for?

Anyone who wants a super robust "wood eater" super scandi ground knife and extra tough because of the WASTEEL San mai construction, synonymous with strength when it comes to knife blade manufacture. I can see it very useful for hikers, campers and hunters and just for overall bush crafting!

(Yes they are indeed .308 shells)

The knife also comes with a diamond rod.

This knife will easily handle up to medium sized game eg wild goats etc.

Stick around much more to come!

ok here it is!

@BushCampingTools