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Post: Blades for a 3000-mile hike this summer, Part II (56k warning!!!) (Topic#792236)

tradja
Journeyman KnifeNut!
tradja

Loc: Central Oregon
Reg: 02-22-06

03-31-07 21:45.27 - Post#1194728

As some of you may remember, in spring 2006 I posted here to get some advice about a blade for my end-to-end hike of the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) last summer (see this thread ). I got a bunch of great advice, and ended up meeting Murray Carter at the Oregon knife show.

After I told him about it, Mr. Carter made me a great knife for this trip, his Muteki neck knife. 7.25 inches long, with a 3.5 inch blade and 3 inches of edge. In my original thread, I made a big deal about weight (weight is very important on these long hikes). I know the exact weight of every bit of my gear, but I made a conscious decision not to weigh this knife. I actually only weighed it right now, and I am surprised to find that it is only 2.5 oz (with sheath and lanyard 3.5 oz). It feels much more substantial than that.

The blade is a core of Hitachi carbon steel with "400 series" stainless laminated to it. Since these steels are out of the mainstream steels that we talk about every day here, I didn't know what to expect. With the carbon steel and what I thought to be "lesser" stainless, I was worried about rust, but I only found a few tiny spots once this summer, and they easily rubbed off using a stick like a pencil eraser. The knife came sharp and takes a sharper edge than any of my other knives.

I foolishly thought that it would hold a hair-popping edge for all five months of daily moderate to hard use during the hike, but after a month it was noticeably less sharp. Thus began my quest to try every cheap sharpening gizmo available in every tiny town along the trail in MT, ID, WY, CO and NM. Finally I found a decent generic ceramic v-sharpener, but the sticks were relatively coarse. It maintained a good serviceable edge, but was far less than the potential of this blade. When I got it home and onto the Sharpmaker, it finally got *sharp*. Looking back on it, I should have researched a portable lightweight sharpening system before the hike.

The handle is desert ironwood. You can see in the pics that it started the hike with a rich medium-reddish tone, but after a summer of sweat, rain, snow, peanut butter, cheese, etc it is much darker now.

The Wharfcliff blade shape turned out to be very useful for food prep and gear repair. It seemed like when I really pushed, the point and edge was "up front" and cut agressively (see shoe pics below). For minor first aid, the wharncliff allows for very precise, scalpel-like cuts, especially with a pencil grip.

It was handling the knives at the show that immediately drew me to Carter's knives. It is lightweight, sleek and somewhat elegant, comfortable and balanced in the hand, but when you grip it and bear down on it, it can really cut. The pronounced choil is awesome. For most general purpose cutting I used the choil. To really get some leverage, I can just get a 4-finger grip behind the choil too.

The kydex is great. It was totally comfortable against my skin all summer, and the knife is securely retained. It loosened up ever so slightly over the course of heavy daily use, but it's still quite secure and draws smoothly.

Mrs. Tradja and I started hiking south from the U.S.-Canada border in Glacier National Park on June 15, 2006, and after 3000 miles of hiking, we finished at the U.S.-Mexico border on Nov 21. It was quite an adventure!

We never ran into any real survival situations, but this knife was very simply a pleasure to carry and use during the trip. Mostly I used it for food prep, heavy shoe modding and gear repair, but I used it for fuel prep on the handful of nights we had fires, mostly to melt snow for water. None of these nights were emergency, start-fire-or-die situations. But, on one rainy/snowy night the fire was a very welcome treat. I batoned wet wood to get to the dry interior. Against my better judgement, I really hammered the heck out of this knife, with no problems. Examining it the next day, the edge and spine were fine. On that night, starting the fire without a knife of this caliber would have been much harder.

In southern New Mexico, a few weeks before the end of the hike, I picked up a Spyderco Native. I wanted to put it through its paces in a thru-hike situation, before the thru-hike was over! It was sharp, and we enjoyed having it, but I wasn't blown away by the ergos or fit & finish. After the hike I traded it off for a Delica 4 that I really like.

On our way back to Oregon after the hike, we were lucky to be invited to lunch at knifeforums own Mtnfolk Mike's place, where we enjoyed the afternoon with him and his family, drooling over his enviable collection of fixed blades!

Following are some knife pics from the hike.

Map, book, knife, compass: this became my essential CDT EDC Rig. This is much less than I EDC back home!

We found these wild onions throughout southern Montana

Note how the wharncliff really bites and dives

SPAM Holder

Wharncliff tip slips easily under summer sausage casing

Mom-in-Law sent us this cheese.
It sat in a hot PO for three weeks, then we carried it for two more.
It was AWESOME.

One Stop Shopping

Chops Garlic Too!

Matti the Hard-Guy German Eating Tuna with his Awesome Fallkniven F1

Some of our friends on the trail, posing with our knives at the "Knife Edge" in the Weminuche Wilderness, southern Colorado
L to R: Tradja (author) with Carter Muteki, Matti with F1, Love Barge with her $1 flea market liner lock serrated hawkbill, and Mrs. Tradja with SAK Classic.

Matti Sharpens His Fallkniven F1

Cactus Spine Removal, Spyderco Style

Cutting Spectra Line

30 Miles north of Mexican Border, 2nd from last night of the hike.

deathtakeslast
Master Member KnifeNut!

Loc: Columbus,GA
Reg: 02-19-04

03-31-07 22:10.33 - Post#1194741
In response to tradja

WOW THAT LOOKED REALLY FUN.

"The times when you have
seen only one set of footprints in the sand,
is when I carried you."

US Army Infantryman

45govt
Master Member KnifeNut!
45govt

Loc: San Jose, CA
Reg: 04-08-04

Re: Blades for a 3000-mile hike this summer, Part II (56k warning!!!)
04-01-07 00:17.58 - Post#1194805
In response to tradja

I am more than impressed.

That looks like a fantastic trip.

By the way, what did you think of the Fallkniven?

Don

RKS# 4465

BRKCA# MIKE4570

...the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed...

Edited by 45govt on 04-01-07 00:19.11. Reason for edit: No reason given.

mtnfolk
Master Member KnifeNut!
mtnfolk

Loc: Santa Cruz mtns. CA.
Reg: 10-20-05

Re: Blades for a 3000-mile hike this summer, Part II (56k warning!!!)
04-01-07 00:42.41 - Post#1194809
In response to 45govt

great pics john...glad to finally get a chance to check them out.... that looks like a ton of fun....

murray carter makes some awesome knives.... this necker is amazing....

defenitely one of the better neck knives i've seen...

mike

>>>>----LIFE IS A KNIFE------>

www.ramanon.com

Bob W
Master Member KnifeNut!

Loc: Raton, NM, USA
Reg: 11-29-99

04-01-07 01:49.56 - Post#1194824
In response to mtnfolk

Great pictures! And that knife looks very nice - not too large and the weight sounds reasonable.

Did you encounter any cutting tasks that couldn't have been accomplished with a smaller knife?

Was there ever a time in the 3,000 miles you wished for a larger knife or different cutting tool altogether?

And how did the blade shape suit you?

Best Wishes,
-Bob

Free_Trapper
Master Member KnifeNut!

Loc: Plainfield, IN--USA
Reg: 03-21-05

04-01-07 04:35.44 - Post#1194848
In response to Bob W

Great pictures! I'm awed by the mountain shots!

It's the years AND the miles!

scaatylobo
Master Member KnifeNut!

Loc: WesternN.Y.
Reg: 09-05-06

04-01-07 06:58.15 - Post#1194883
In response to Free_Trapper

Same question,larger knife/smaller knife and GREAT PHOTO'S,truly looked like fun time.Thanks for sharing.

" A Bad Day Living,Beats A Good Day Dead"

fishshooter
Master Member KnifeNut!

Reg: 06-10-04

04-01-07 09:56.45 - Post#1194962
In response to scaatylobo

Man, what an excellent post. Amazing photos of an amazing trip !

mtnfolk
Master Member KnifeNut!
mtnfolk

Loc: Santa Cruz mtns. CA.
Reg: 10-20-05

04-01-07 12:12.36 - Post#1195049
In response to fishshooter

john- love the hairy chest/neck knife shot....

>>>>----LIFE IS A KNIFE------>

www.ramanon.com

tradja
Journeyman KnifeNut!
tradja

Loc: Central Oregon
Reg: 02-22-06

Re: Blades for a 3000-mile hike this summer, Part II (56k warning!!!)
04-01-07 17:28.41 - Post#1195262
In response to 45govt

Bob W Said:

Did you encounter any cutting tasks that couldn't have been accomplished with a smaller knife?

Much to my surprise, yes: almost all of the shoe mods. Try to cut up an old running shoe with a pocketknife sometime! The multilayered sole is unexpectedly tough, and much of the rear of many shoes has a burly polyethylene stiffener inside. The Spyderco Native did fine with this, though. Other than that, I really had to search for things that the SAK Classic couldn't handle.

Oh, yeah: spreading peanut butter with a SAK Classic sucks too.

Bob W Said:

Was there ever a time in the 3,000 miles you wished for a larger knife or different cutting tool altogether?

No. I never wished for an axe, hatchet, saw, or shovel. And I'm certainly glad I didn't have to carry any! It *was* a wilderness experience, but we were hiking long miles, not doing bushcraft.

We used the scissors on the SAK Classic a fair bit for paper and trimmng nails.

For the two weeks we had the ice axes, we did use the adze (hoe-like end of the head) to dig catholes every day.

We each carried large pepper spray cannisters until we got south out of griz country in central WY. We and several other thru-hikers got attacked by dogs on several occasions, and I wish I had a smaller pepper spray at those times. Rocks and kicks did us fine, but only just. Most of the others got bitten.

For the last few days in southern NM, I kinda ended up wishing I had my 1911, but it was fine.

Bob W Said:

And how did the blade shape suit you?

Great. I am a big convert to wharncliff blades, especially sharp ones! Very precise, easy to sharpen, and aggressive (relative to a pronounced upswept blade, the wharncliff is almost like halfway to a hawkbill). I might start hunting a bit, so I'm glad I've got some upswept blades for skinning.

mtnfolk Said:

john- love the hairy chest/neck knife shot....

Can't help it, comes with being a manly guy.

Thanks for the kind words, folks!

Edited by tradja on 04-01-07 17:35.13. Reason for edit: clarification

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