Damascous pendents

TE Metalwork Damascus pendents

arrowheads:
$40 shipped
made out of Raindrop Damascus
1/8 thick
handmade and handfinished

crosses
$65 shipped
1/8in Raindrop Damascus
handmade and handfinished
comes with hemp Cord with leather and SS available at additional cost

All orders are made to order and may require 2-3 weeks to work on the piece
payment options: Paypal, USPS money order
these are handmade items and there may be slight variations in different pieces

Email to order: Thomas.ervin51@gmail.com

Copper Pendents

Here is a bunch of copper pendents that i made and are available for purchase
more is to come


arrowhead pendents
Regular arrowhead pendent- 20shipped
filed arrowhead pendent-30 shipped

Rectangular pendents 
large rectangular pendent: 20 shipped
small rectangular pendent(option of hammered finish or smooth finish) 16 shipped

accessories
leather band: +6
braided leather band +6
Sterling silver chain: +6
Fluted Bail +2.50

please email me for inquires

Ontario Rat 1. A woodsman folder

Ontario Rat 1
A woodsman folder

3.5 inch plain edge blade
Knife Closed Length: 4.5-Inch
Knife Open Length: 8.5-Inch
Weighs 5 ounces
Made of AUS-8 Steel


Grading criteria: 1-really bad-10-excellent

Today we will be looking at a folder with excellent value
The Ontario Rat-1

Overall: 8.8/10
steel: 8
ergos: 9
Fit and finish: 8
Price to performance: 10
EDC: 9

TLDR:
Best sub 50 dollar folder out there. Buy 1... or 2... or 3

Steel:8
Aus-8 is a Japanese stainless steel similar to american made 440 line of american steel.  The edge retention and toughness on this blade pretty good.  Resharpenablity is also very good it was easy to reprofile and draw back the edge.

Ergos: 9
Not much to bad here to say.  i have medium sized hands and the knife fits me great.  Even carving up some really hard wood was not a big deal.  No major hot spots or blisters developed

Fit and finish: 8
The fit and finish on this knife is what you would expect on a knife of this price point: Not perfect but nothing that would make me not want to use the knife.  No side to side or up and down play.

Price to performance: 10
These knives can be had for around 25-30 dollars on amazon.  At this price point this knife is amazing.  decent steel, rock solid lockup, quick manual deployment, comfy handle.  I personally decided to carry this knife more that my Para 2 on most occasions.  I think this knife is a great first knife for a kid, a cost conscious boy scout, a beater EDC, secondary woods knife(to a fixed blade),  minimalist backpacker, the list goes on an on.

EDCablility: 9
This knife is a great EDC knife.  With its .110in thick 3.5in blade and relative light weight this blade is a decent cutter out of the box and can be a laser beam when you thin out the edge a little bit.  It is also easy to carry with other things in you pocket, it is not too thick and does not get in the way.  The price point also makes this a very attractive EDC option as you can beat the heck out of it and it wont really matter if you mess it up.


A woods EDC: The attributes that makes this knife a great woods folder is that is has a good amount of belly for slicing and making feather sticks and such.  The grip is comfortable and it is easy to deploy one handed.  This along with the decent steel and very reasonable price point makes this a very very good knife to take out into the woods.

More pictures incoming as i dig them up
Thanks for reading
Feedback is always welcome
Yall gear up for a awesome axe review coming out in the next week or so
you get fake internet points if you can guess it.

Best regards,
Thomas

Sharpening services available

hey guys
I think im a pretty good sharpener so i thought i would offer my services to you guys.   i usually sharpen freehand convex but can do V-edge
 my price chart is as follows
1-3in blade 10 dollars,
3-4.5in blade 15 dollars,
4.5-6in blade 20 dollars,
6-8in blade 25 dollars,
8-10in blade 30 dollars
 The buyer pays shipping one way. Payment is via paypal goods and services  Thomas.ervin51@gmail.com if you have any questions dont hesitate to ask


 Picture of edge
H and B forge large camp axe picture

TOPS TEX CREEK HUNTER XL

Tops Tex Creek hunter XL

O/A Length: 11 1/8"

Blade Length:6 1/8" Thickness: 3/16"

Steel: 1095 HighCarbon Steel

Handle: Black Canvas Micarta

Blade Finish: Black River Wash

Sheath: Leather

Weight: 9.5oz

Weight w/ Sheath: 11.7oz

Designed by: Leo Espinoza

Today i will be reviewing one of the most functional looking options in my opinion by Tops at this time

Grading criteria: 1-really bad-10-excellent
steel: 9
ergos:8
Fit and finish:10
warranty:8
Price to performance: 9
sheath: 5

overall: 8
I consider this knife for someone who wants a good field knife for a good price.  The 1095 steel is easy to work with and holds a very good edge.  Tops has done a very good job on steel.  the fit and finish is outstanding. the ergos are good but not RMD good. although the warranty is not as good as other top companys it is still very good.  while the sheath is sub par in my opinion it still works.  overall its a keeper in my books

Steel: 9
the dif. heat treated 1095 that tops uses does not disappoint.  it keeps its edge and is easy to resharpen
i would put it on par with ESEE's 1095. An like all carbon steels you need to maintain it with a light coat of oil to keep it from rusting

Ergos: 8
The handles of this knife are comfy.  No hotspots were developed while testing.  The handles are also slightly contoured so you don't have a boxy handles like esee likes to put on there knives.  The handle is also designed to give the user maximum control of the blade without putting a choil on the blade which would sacrifice blade length. There is also oversized jimping on the spin of the blade and on the handle.  this serves its purpose and is not too sharp.

Fit and finish: 10
this knife is coated with Top's proprietary black river wash coating.  which both looks good and after some pretty heavy use it did not really wear much and after a good cleaning looked darn near brand new. i believe it is a ceracoat based coating.   the coating really impressed me.  this is superior to both esee's and busse/kin's coatings.  the fit of the knife was very good with no spaces in between scales-steel and liner

Warranty: 8
the Tops warranty is good but it only covers the original buyer and a proof of purchase is required and can be void by "abusing" your knife.  the definition of abuse is at Tops discretion.   wish that they have a no questions ask warranty like other top companys (bark river, busse/kin, and esee)

(top to bottom- DMD,Tex creek, ESEE 6)

Price to performance: 9
at 150 dollars shipped off of Amazon. This is just on the creast of what i would consider spending for a 1095 production knife.  This knife is designed very well and the 3/16 thick blade is the sweet spot for most people.

Sheath: 5
the sheath is made out of leather and the retention is by friction.  the only reason that i give this sheath a 5 is that it will not retain the knife upside down.  this is a big turn off for me because if i am doing any activity I have to worry about my knife flying out of the sheath.  if you are just hiking or walking around camp you will be fine but if you need to move around more(climb, jump, run, ect) i would recommend a spec ops sheath or a custom (Godspeed tactical,Glockcrazz,buybrown,aswelks,ect)

final notes: there is a smaller 4in bladed version of the tex creek.  so if this is not your size requirement i would look into the smaller version

If you have any questions or concerns please don't hesitate to contact me

Swamp rat Rodent 3

this is a departure from my traditional reviewing style
tell me what you think-good or bad

overview: a excellent EDC/small camp knife knife that can take some punishment

Uses that i have had good results with: cleaning fish and cutting bait,EDC,fire making,bushcraft,camp chores
ease of use: for me (i have med. sized hands) i am able to get a 3.5-4 finger grip. the micarta handles are grippy even when wet and don't look bad in the aesthetics department either

steel: SR-101 steel is a very good tough steel that can take a fine edge and hold it for a good amount of time. think the ease of sharpening of rowen/esee or kabar's 1095 but with more edge retention if that makes sense

company/warranty: swamp rat knife works is part of the bussekin family which includes busse knife co. scrapyard knife co. and swamp rat knife co. swamp rats have a unconditional lifetime warranty or directly from the website; "lifetime guarantee. All Swamp Rat Knives are covered against any and all unintentional major damage for life. Period." the consumer service department is also very polite and easy to deal with.

Sheath: the sheath is not included but you can get a good quality custom sheath from any of the excellent sheath makers out there Example-godspeed tactical,Buybrown,Azwelke,Pawpaw kydex, Glockcrazz ect.
if you buy from them tell them about this blog.

added note: the knives are made to order and take 2-4 weeks to ship but you could go on one of the many forums see if they are on sale

CGFBM review

CGFBM review
1- very bad 5-average 10-perfect
Categories:
portability-3
ease of use-10
cutting-7
chopping-9.5
batoning-9
price to performance-2



average-7

this blade is a good all arounder.  It chops like a beast and batons like a champ.  if you can get past its price and can deal its size this blade may be for you… that is if u can find one.
happy hunting

-Portability-3
This is a big and heavy blade.  at .25in thick the thing is a beast to have on your belt.  it does alot better in a pack but is still not a light tool.  if you dont want to lug around a big knife look elsewhere



ease of use(ergos)-10
The handle is SUPER comfy.  no hotspots were developed when i was chopping,cutting or batoning

Cutting-7
cutting performance was not really great.  i could not really get a good feather stick with it.  and the heavy blade made notching and other similar tasks difficult.  that being said the blade was not as sharp as it could be.



Chopping-9.5
as far as choppers go this is darn close to as good as it gets.
the blade is very well balanced for chopping and its not so heavy that you get tired quickly

Batoning-9
with the length of the blade and the thickness makes this a very effective splitter able to split some very big logs.  could not ask for something better as far as  knifes go.



price to performance-2
this is where this blade and most other busse blades suck at(and this is also why there is a thing call scrapyard knives :p)   You can get 98% of the performance for a fraction of the cost with something like a bk9,SYKC 911,R9 ect.  for me the performance does not constitute the cost but others mileage may vary.

Tasks:
camp tool-9
backpacking tool in a 2 blade system-7
Survival blade-8

average-8


camp tool-9
as a camp tool this blade is amazing.  you can do just about anything with it and a folder.  making kindling: no problem.  making tent stakes: no problem.  cutting massive amounts of bacon: no problem. Making a shelter: no problem.

Backpacking tool-7
this makes a great tool to keep in your pack because most go out with a 3 blade system- a large knife like this one, a medium sized knife(esee 6,RMD) and a small belt knife/folder(esee 3,izula, PM2 ect).  this lowers your weight by cutting out(lol punny) some weight

Survival blade- 8
 While this blade is not the best for small delicate tasks this blade would do you fine in a survival situation because it can do it and it can accomplish much harder tasks that a smaller/less robust blade could not with ease.  and in a wet environment you don't have to worry about rust as much.  as well as being able to be sharpened easier