Ferhman knives Thru hiker

Fehrman knives Thru Hiker

Today i will be reviewing the Fehrman knives Thru hiker

Specs.(taken from Fehrman's website)

Blade Size: 3" x 1.25" x .19" 

Overall Length: 7.5" 

Steel: CPM-3V 

Hardness: 57-59 Rc 

Handle: Skeleton (No Slabs)

Short Review:  This knife is awesome.  The ergos without handle scales are among the best out there.  The 3V steel is tough and has good edge retention and pretty darn stain resistant.  the hardness of the steel can be both a pro and a con depending on your sharpening skills.  The kydex sheath that comes with it has very good blade retention and is high quality.   There is one major downfall to this knife:Price to performance: you can find alot of blades in this category that will do the same job for alot less money

Pros:

Ergos

Steel

warranty

Sheath

Cons:

Price

Steel

Ergos:  the ergos on this knife are amazing.  the combination of a thumb ramp and then a thumb depression and a choil make this knife very controllable.  i cleaned a squirrel with it and was not surprised how comfortable is was during that process (note: i have med. sized hands)

Steel:  This is my first and only knife in CPM-3V and so far i am really impressed by its performance so far.

i have carved,cleaned animals,and cut boxes/paper with this knife for over six months before now having to sharpen it.  it came with a razor sharp edge and kept it for a long time before going down to a working sharp

i would put it on par with SR101 in edge retention

1.3v,SR101

2. A2

3.1095

Sharpenablity:  this steel quite a bit more difficult to sharpen compared to 1095 and A2 and is about on par with SR101 in my experience if you are not very good at sharpening you might have a bit of difficulty sharpening it.   If you generally know what you are doing you will be fine

Warranty: from what i have gathered is that the warranty is very good in practice and the CS at Ferhman is very helpful 

(as taken from Ferhman's website)

Our Guarantee

Fehrman Knives are Guaranteed not to fail… for life.

If you unintentionally damage your knife, we will recondition or replace it.

Sheath: very good blade retention and is thin.  no problems here

Price to performance and possible competitors:  this is the area that in my opinion are where this knife suffers.  you can simply find many knives that will do the same job just as well.

Ex

ESEE izula

KABAR BK 11 and 14

SURVIVE necker

BARK RIVER bravo necker 1 and 2

Ect.

for 155 shipped the price is a bit high for what you are getting

but if you have that money and want something from ferhman or in 3v look no further.

added note you can look around the forums and see if one will pop up used

here is a pic with the knife in the sheath

the knife

choked up grip

regular grip

hope the review was helpful and informative

if you have any question,concerns, or if you are an knife manufacturer wanting to get a honest review

let me know by email or the comments

Thanks

Thomas

Swamp rat RatManDu

Today i will review quite possibly one of the best knives to every come out of the bussekin shop
the RatManDu
i will also compare it to its possible competitors: the ESEE 5 and BRKT bravo 1.5 rampless and ESEE 6
Grading criteria: 1-needs work-10-excellent
steel: 8
ergos:10
Fit and finish:10
warranty:10
Price to performance: 7

overall: 9/10
the ergos is the reason this knife has really gotten a following with the busse/kin following.  combined with the good steel and great warranty.  This is a great choice for a 5in fixed blade knife.  the cons are minor and mostly avoidable if you take care of your knives

specs:
( as taken from SWKW website)
BLADE LENGTH: 5-1/4"
BLADE WIDTH: 1.35"
BLADE THICKNESS: 3/16"
OVERALL LENGTH: 10-1/4"
GRIND: Saber
STEEL: SR101
HARDNESS: 58-60Rc

Steel: 9
SR101 is a modified ball bearing steel(52100) with the Jerry Busse's heat treat.  The heat treat makes a already excellent blade steel even better.
the steel is very tough and i have not had any problems with chipping or rolling
the edge retention is also very good.  it is better then esee's 1095 and just a bit better then bark river's A2
 the only sector were this blade steel suffers is rust resistance as it is a carbon steel blade. 1095 is just as bad.  A2 trumps it with a bit more rust resistance.  but if you take care of your blades, it should be fine.

Ergos: 10
this is were this knife shines.  It just fits.  I have experienced no hotspots using it.  the choil is either hit or miss for alot of people, some like them. some hate them.  i think it fits this knife but it could go without one.

Fit and finish: 10
no problems here.  it is excellent.  the tolerances are tight there is no gap or play between the scales and steel.
note: the scales are non removable but you can send it in to the shop and get them to change the scales if you want

warranty: 10
on print the warranty is excellent.  and from what i have gathered it is very good in practice as well.
on par with ESEE's no questions ask and maybe even a bit better then bark river's (note i have only used esee's warranty personalty)

Price to performance:7
while this blade is not cheap at 172 shipped without the sheath in my opinion the ergos and the steel makes the knife well worth it.

but that goes without saying that there are other knives out there that would do the job just as well for a little less money. EX. ESEE 6,ESEE 5,multiple TOPS knives,ect.

Comparison
RMD vs ESEE 5
camping: ESEE 5; the thickness makes the esee an excellent spliter and since the weight is not a major concern i would take the esee 5
hiking: RMD; i would take the RMD on a hiking trip over esee because of the weight.

RMD vs Bravo 1.5
camping:Bravo 1.5: the bravo 1.5's thickness and extra blade length helps with camp chores i would take either or.
hiking:Tie: the weight on the 1.5 is very close to the RMD and is not a major concern.  the real deciding factor would be situation/environmental; in a wetter climate the coating of the RMD helps keep rust at bay while the bare finish of the 1.5 might develop some rust.

RMD vs ESEE 6
camping:RMD; i would take the RMD over the 6 because of the ergos.  the handle of the 6 are not nearly as ergonomic as the RMD.
hiking:RMD;  the weight on these two knives are very similar and not a major concern.  But once again the RMD trumps the esee 6 in this sector because of the ergos.  Im not saying the 6 is a bad knife but it is a bit too boxy of a handle.  still comfy but not as comfortable as the RMD

Sheathing recommendations:
kydex: Godspeedtatical and Glockcrazz and buy brown; all of these guys make excellent sheaths and have very good customer service
also there is the spec. ops brand sheaths.

here are some pics:

if you have any questions or concerns please email me or comment down below
thanks
Thomas

Rodent solution knife reveiw

Swamp Rat knife works 

Rodent solution

Specs:

Overall Length: 8 1/8"
Blade Length: 3 1/2"
Thickness: 3/16"
Blade Width: 1.10"
Steel: SR101 / 58-60 Rc

Review:

The swamp rat rodent solution is basically swamp rat version of the very popular ESEE 3.  both of the knives are used in the same role by most people: EDC and camping/bushcraft chores.

in these tasks they preform quite well and when i used it no hot spots developed.  EDC:  while the knife is a bit long in my taste for horizontal front carry because the handle sticks out a bit too much and people can see it.  but for IWB carry it works great it very concealable and comfortable in that configuration.  if you are in a area that are more sensitive to these types of  tools the RS is a small knife and should not make people freak out. but use proper judgement when taking out your knife.

Camping/bushcrafting: the RS is excellent at feathering wood for a fire and shaving the bark off for making a bow or making a spear.  i also used it for food prep and while i got some odd looks from my buddys it worked in that role very well.

Sheath:  if you are new to the bussekin world you will soon find out that the knives do not come with a sheath. while this might annoy some people it is really not a problem because with a bit of research you will find many high quality sheath makers that can make you a custom sheath for an excellent price.   I will include sheath makers that are either highly recommended on the forums or i have used in the past.
If you do not want to spend a bunch of money everytime to get a custom sheath made you can with a bit of money start making your own sheaths out of kydex or leather i will also include a link to the site that i use to get my kydex supplies
Sheath makers:
https://sites.google.com/site/bayoucustomsheaths/home
http://azwelke.com/
http://www.buybrownholsters.com/
http://www.godspeedtactical.com/

Sheath making supplies
http://www.knifekits.com/vcom/index.php?cPath=41
Here is my RS

here is a pic of the Reg. RS

if you have any questions or things that i have forgotten please let me know
Thanks,
Thomas