MagiKelly
04-06-05, 06:07 PM
This is a review of my new Allan Blade Bushcrafter. It is almost his normal current unit. The only difference from his current design is that the blade is 90mm long (3.5 inches) instead of 100mm (4 inches).
http://www.magikelly.co.uk/mb/bushcrafter.jpg
First some history. Early last year I was just getting back into the outdoors and was looking for a good knife. It was during this search that I found both British Blades and BCUK. Searching through both sites I found references to a lot of knifes (surprise!) but was taken with the Allan Blade Bushcrafter. It seemed good value and when I contacted Allan he had a spare one in his current batch so I only had to wait a couple of weeks for my new knife. I was very pleased with my Bushcrafter but it turned out there was a problem with the heat treat. The edge of the blade kept rolling. When I asked Allan if this was normal he confirmed that it most definitely was not. He got me to return the knife and sent out a replacement. This took a couple of weeks but I could not fault his customer service. The new Bushcrafter had no such problems and has served me well.
Much as I loved my Bushcrafter and as well as it served me there were a couple of things that after extended use I felt could be better. I am talking here about the specification of the knife, the workmanship could not really be improved. I felt that the blade was just a little too long, In Mors book he recommends a Blade as long as your hand is wide. By this measure my Bushcrafter blade was too long for me. I am 6 foot 3 inches tall and have fairly big hands, so was surprised by this.
http://www.magikelly.co.uk/mb/hand_b.jpg
Also the handle on my Bushcrafter, along with the kydex sheath, made it look a bit tactical. So when Allan brought out his Scandi PackPal I ordered one with a Maple handle and mosaic pins. This certainly looked less tactical but the handle was slightly smaller than the Bushcrafter and not as good for extended use with my large hands. The maple handle was okay but not really to my taste. I was still looking for my perfect knife. A few months later I ordered a Runt from Allan and after some deliberation I asked for a “dark wood” handle. The Runt was going to be for use in my canoe so I asked for the multi carry clip on the kydex sheath for attaching to my PFD. When the Runt arrived I knew this was the handle material I wanted on my ideal knife. The multi carry clip on the sheath was brilliant. In one fitting it gives you virtually unlimited carry options. So here is where I was.
http://www.magikelly.co.uk/mb/blade_family.jpg
My Bushcrafter had the ideal handle size and geometry, the blade was the right thickness. the shape of the blade was right but too long, the PackPal and Runt had the edge grind right up to the handle, which I liked and the Runt had my ideal handle material. The way forward was obvious. I contacted Allan and ordered a Bushcrafter with Cocobolo handle, mosaic pins and a slightly shorter blade than normal. The length of the blade is exactly half way between the usual Bushcrafter and the PackPal. The blade was the usual 01 tool steel with his new antiqued finish.
And this week it arrived. Straight out the box it looked great. All I had hoped for.
http://www.magikelly.co.uk/mb/bushcrafter_and_sheath.jpg
Checking the size and it passed the Mors test.
http://www.magikelly.co.uk/mb/hand_mb.jpg
Before I go into the use ability of the knife let me talk a little about the quality. The grind it even and consistent. The………. forget it. It is too difficult to accurately describe these things. Let me show you an example. The handle is formed in two halves then glued together around the coffin tang. Here are a couple of pictures from above and below where the blade meets the handle. Can you see the join between the two pieces of wood?
http://www.magikelly.co.uk/mb/handle1.jpg http://www.magikelly.co.uk/mb/handle2.jpg
I’m holding the knife right now and I can barely see it. If I did not know it had to be there I would never have noticed it. Also notice how symmetrical the shape of the handle is at both sides where it meets the blade. The blade is first class but does not arrive shaving sharp. A couple of passes on a leather strop and it soon is though.
The quality of the workmanship in the knife is reflected in the sheath. Allan is renowned for the quality of his kydex sheaths and rightly so.
http://www.magikelly.co.uk/mb/sheath1.jpg
The kydex has been formed without any wrinkles and has been shaped with clean smooth lines. The firesteel holder is secure and easily accessible. With the firesteel in place you can grip the handle of the knife with your fingers and push your thumb against the end of the firesteel handle to release the knife. Sounds complicated but it is a very easy and convenient way to release the knife with one hand. Usually you would need both hands to release the knife, as the sheath is very secure but not overly so. Allan advises that if you want to loosen the sheath you can heat it with a hair drier but I have not needed to try this.
http://www.magikelly.co.uk/mb/sheath2.jpg
Of course if you are using the excellent multi clip the sheath will most likely be securely attached to something so you can just pull the knife free. I use the clip to carry my knife in a horizontal position on my belt, attached to the strap of my rucksack, attached to my PFD in the canoe or even carried upside down with a piece of paracord through the clip in a neck or baldric carry. Like I say it allows almost limitless variation of carry. The only criticism I could make is that Allan provides the clip with only the holes drilled for vertical carry. You need to add your own holes for the horizontal or canted options. No big deal but worth knowing. Also my first sheaths from Allan had a more textured kydex where as the current one is smooth. Makes no difference that I can notice to the performance.
So how is it to use? Quite simply, a joy to use. If you look at the comparison with the original Bushcrafter you will notice there has been a change to the grind. Two changes actually.
http://www.magikelly.co.uk/mb/bushcrafter_comparison.jpg
The first change is that the grind extends all the way to the handle. This means that despite the shorter blade of my modified design the cutting edge is not that much shorter. The other change is that the grind is only about a third of the width of the blade as opposed to half the blade in the old model. As both blades are the same thickness this should mean the new model is not quite as sharp as the old but it should have a more robust edge. Well I can tell you that in the use it has had so far I cannot see any drop in performance. The opposite would appear to be true. I cannot comment on the lasting ability of the edge at this point but see no reason for this to be an issue. I tried my hand at a feather stick when out last and the result was pretty good, well for me anyway.
http://www.magikelly.co.uk/mb/mb_feather.jpg
Considering I only got is this week I have actually used it quite a lot and the handle is very comfortable to use in a wide array of grips. The handle is the same dimensions as my original Bushcrafter so it has been easy to adapt to. Just a different texture really. At 4mm the blade is well up to heavy duty tasks. Battening etc are all taken in its stride. The only negative regarding the use of the blade is that it was useless at casting sparks from a firesteel. This was quickly sorted by filing it with a diamond file and now it showers sparks with the best of them. I can light my trangia all the way down in the clickstand with it now.
http://www.magikelly.co.uk/mb/clickstand.jpg
I was going to do a conclusion paragraph but what’s the point? If you have read this far then you know I think this knife is a first class piece of kit. So let me tell you what the future holds for it. I will be getting Mike from Scottish Knifes to make a leather sheath for it, just like the one he made for my Runt.
http://www.magikelly.co.uk/mb/runt.jpg
Well maybe not exactly the same but similar. I have some ideas for some alterations to the sheath. Combined with the sheath I think this will be as unthreatening a knife to carry in the woods as possible. It will clearly look like the practical bushcraft knife that it is. Obviously I will post pictures when it is done.
How silly of me, I forgot to mention the price. Well I have to confess I did get a discount. Allan did the mosaic pins for free, since I had bought a few knifes from him. This would have added an extra $5. The cost was $79 plus $9 post. This worked out at just under £47.50!!!! Yes less than £50. So that is about 20% of the cost of a Woodlore. Less than half the price of a Micarta WS Woodlore but I am willing to bet that it performs at least as well as any of these knifes. I have said it before and I will say it again. Allan could double the price of his knifes and they would still be exceptional value. I should of course point out that the exchange rate has helped this a bit. When I bought my first bushcrafter the cost to me was nearer £75 but still far lower than any of its contemporaries.
If this review is to have a conclusion it is simply that this is the last Bushcraft knife I ever expect to buy for myself.
http://www.magikelly.co.uk/mb/bushcrafter.jpg
First some history. Early last year I was just getting back into the outdoors and was looking for a good knife. It was during this search that I found both British Blades and BCUK. Searching through both sites I found references to a lot of knifes (surprise!) but was taken with the Allan Blade Bushcrafter. It seemed good value and when I contacted Allan he had a spare one in his current batch so I only had to wait a couple of weeks for my new knife. I was very pleased with my Bushcrafter but it turned out there was a problem with the heat treat. The edge of the blade kept rolling. When I asked Allan if this was normal he confirmed that it most definitely was not. He got me to return the knife and sent out a replacement. This took a couple of weeks but I could not fault his customer service. The new Bushcrafter had no such problems and has served me well.
Much as I loved my Bushcrafter and as well as it served me there were a couple of things that after extended use I felt could be better. I am talking here about the specification of the knife, the workmanship could not really be improved. I felt that the blade was just a little too long, In Mors book he recommends a Blade as long as your hand is wide. By this measure my Bushcrafter blade was too long for me. I am 6 foot 3 inches tall and have fairly big hands, so was surprised by this.
http://www.magikelly.co.uk/mb/hand_b.jpg
Also the handle on my Bushcrafter, along with the kydex sheath, made it look a bit tactical. So when Allan brought out his Scandi PackPal I ordered one with a Maple handle and mosaic pins. This certainly looked less tactical but the handle was slightly smaller than the Bushcrafter and not as good for extended use with my large hands. The maple handle was okay but not really to my taste. I was still looking for my perfect knife. A few months later I ordered a Runt from Allan and after some deliberation I asked for a “dark wood” handle. The Runt was going to be for use in my canoe so I asked for the multi carry clip on the kydex sheath for attaching to my PFD. When the Runt arrived I knew this was the handle material I wanted on my ideal knife. The multi carry clip on the sheath was brilliant. In one fitting it gives you virtually unlimited carry options. So here is where I was.
http://www.magikelly.co.uk/mb/blade_family.jpg
My Bushcrafter had the ideal handle size and geometry, the blade was the right thickness. the shape of the blade was right but too long, the PackPal and Runt had the edge grind right up to the handle, which I liked and the Runt had my ideal handle material. The way forward was obvious. I contacted Allan and ordered a Bushcrafter with Cocobolo handle, mosaic pins and a slightly shorter blade than normal. The length of the blade is exactly half way between the usual Bushcrafter and the PackPal. The blade was the usual 01 tool steel with his new antiqued finish.
And this week it arrived. Straight out the box it looked great. All I had hoped for.
http://www.magikelly.co.uk/mb/bushcrafter_and_sheath.jpg
Checking the size and it passed the Mors test.
http://www.magikelly.co.uk/mb/hand_mb.jpg
Before I go into the use ability of the knife let me talk a little about the quality. The grind it even and consistent. The………. forget it. It is too difficult to accurately describe these things. Let me show you an example. The handle is formed in two halves then glued together around the coffin tang. Here are a couple of pictures from above and below where the blade meets the handle. Can you see the join between the two pieces of wood?
http://www.magikelly.co.uk/mb/handle1.jpg http://www.magikelly.co.uk/mb/handle2.jpg
I’m holding the knife right now and I can barely see it. If I did not know it had to be there I would never have noticed it. Also notice how symmetrical the shape of the handle is at both sides where it meets the blade. The blade is first class but does not arrive shaving sharp. A couple of passes on a leather strop and it soon is though.
The quality of the workmanship in the knife is reflected in the sheath. Allan is renowned for the quality of his kydex sheaths and rightly so.
http://www.magikelly.co.uk/mb/sheath1.jpg
The kydex has been formed without any wrinkles and has been shaped with clean smooth lines. The firesteel holder is secure and easily accessible. With the firesteel in place you can grip the handle of the knife with your fingers and push your thumb against the end of the firesteel handle to release the knife. Sounds complicated but it is a very easy and convenient way to release the knife with one hand. Usually you would need both hands to release the knife, as the sheath is very secure but not overly so. Allan advises that if you want to loosen the sheath you can heat it with a hair drier but I have not needed to try this.
http://www.magikelly.co.uk/mb/sheath2.jpg
Of course if you are using the excellent multi clip the sheath will most likely be securely attached to something so you can just pull the knife free. I use the clip to carry my knife in a horizontal position on my belt, attached to the strap of my rucksack, attached to my PFD in the canoe or even carried upside down with a piece of paracord through the clip in a neck or baldric carry. Like I say it allows almost limitless variation of carry. The only criticism I could make is that Allan provides the clip with only the holes drilled for vertical carry. You need to add your own holes for the horizontal or canted options. No big deal but worth knowing. Also my first sheaths from Allan had a more textured kydex where as the current one is smooth. Makes no difference that I can notice to the performance.
So how is it to use? Quite simply, a joy to use. If you look at the comparison with the original Bushcrafter you will notice there has been a change to the grind. Two changes actually.
http://www.magikelly.co.uk/mb/bushcrafter_comparison.jpg
The first change is that the grind extends all the way to the handle. This means that despite the shorter blade of my modified design the cutting edge is not that much shorter. The other change is that the grind is only about a third of the width of the blade as opposed to half the blade in the old model. As both blades are the same thickness this should mean the new model is not quite as sharp as the old but it should have a more robust edge. Well I can tell you that in the use it has had so far I cannot see any drop in performance. The opposite would appear to be true. I cannot comment on the lasting ability of the edge at this point but see no reason for this to be an issue. I tried my hand at a feather stick when out last and the result was pretty good, well for me anyway.
http://www.magikelly.co.uk/mb/mb_feather.jpg
Considering I only got is this week I have actually used it quite a lot and the handle is very comfortable to use in a wide array of grips. The handle is the same dimensions as my original Bushcrafter so it has been easy to adapt to. Just a different texture really. At 4mm the blade is well up to heavy duty tasks. Battening etc are all taken in its stride. The only negative regarding the use of the blade is that it was useless at casting sparks from a firesteel. This was quickly sorted by filing it with a diamond file and now it showers sparks with the best of them. I can light my trangia all the way down in the clickstand with it now.
http://www.magikelly.co.uk/mb/clickstand.jpg
I was going to do a conclusion paragraph but what’s the point? If you have read this far then you know I think this knife is a first class piece of kit. So let me tell you what the future holds for it. I will be getting Mike from Scottish Knifes to make a leather sheath for it, just like the one he made for my Runt.
http://www.magikelly.co.uk/mb/runt.jpg
Well maybe not exactly the same but similar. I have some ideas for some alterations to the sheath. Combined with the sheath I think this will be as unthreatening a knife to carry in the woods as possible. It will clearly look like the practical bushcraft knife that it is. Obviously I will post pictures when it is done.
How silly of me, I forgot to mention the price. Well I have to confess I did get a discount. Allan did the mosaic pins for free, since I had bought a few knifes from him. This would have added an extra $5. The cost was $79 plus $9 post. This worked out at just under £47.50!!!! Yes less than £50. So that is about 20% of the cost of a Woodlore. Less than half the price of a Micarta WS Woodlore but I am willing to bet that it performs at least as well as any of these knifes. I have said it before and I will say it again. Allan could double the price of his knifes and they would still be exceptional value. I should of course point out that the exchange rate has helped this a bit. When I bought my first bushcrafter the cost to me was nearer £75 but still far lower than any of its contemporaries.
If this review is to have a conclusion it is simply that this is the last Bushcraft knife I ever expect to buy for myself.