The Bearclaw Field Knife (BFK) Review

[ScanDgrind]

Many people who practise Bushcraft, at some point find themselves searching for the perfect Bushcraft knife. This is a tall order as we expect the one knife to perform a whole host of tasks. Anything from woodcarving to filleting fish, skinning and preparing game to splitting wood for kindling or even peeling potatoes. This means that without a doubt you will have to come to a compromise as one knife alone can never be the best tool for every one of the many Bushcraft tasks. Many mistakes can be made trying to fulfil this goal. I have myself used many different knives over the years, trying to find the “One” and at last for me at least, it seems I have found it, in the form of the Bearclaw Field Knife (BFK).

About a week ago my much anticipated Bearclaw Field Knife arrived by Royal Mail Special Delivery. Sent by Gary of Bearclaw Bushcraft. It was well packaged in a padded jiffy bag and included with the knife was an information sheet, covering such topics as:- instructions for the safe use of the knife and sheath, maintenance, warranty and knife law. I thought this was a nice touch, and especially helpful for a first time knife buyer.


Fig 1:The Bearclaw Field Knife.

The aesthetics of the BFK are gorgeous. Unlike some other Bushcraft knives which can come across as plain and utilitarian looking the BFK oozes character. It has the look and feel of a traditional Scandinavian design crossed with the best aspects taken from modern Bushcraft knife designs. The handle slabs are beautifully figured curly birch which are held in place by two brass pins, the curly birch slabs are lined with black nylon liners which not only give the knife that extra touch of class but also give a good watertight seal between slabs and tang

The handle is shaped so that it filled my hand perfectly and its contours gave a very firm and comfortable hold in all the various grip positions. At the rear of the handle the slabs flair which helps to promote a sure grip even when your hands are cold, wet or even when wearing gloves. The rear of the handle (pommel) is capped by a 2mm thick brass butt plate which has been very securely fitted (more on this later)to the tang itself.

The blade is a single bevel edge drop point with flat grinds and has the makers mark etched on one side and the Bearclaw Kodiak bear logo on the other. All in all the BFK is very pleasing to the eye. Fit and finish is excellent throughout. On the knife I have there are no rough edges, no perceivable gaps between materials or any imperfections in craftsmanship, so hats off and a big thumbs up for the bladesmith Gerd Jorgensen who is producing the BFK for Bearclaw Bushcraft. The BFk is the first of Gerds work I have seen in the flesh and I am very impressed.

Fig 2: Tang, handle slabs and black nylon liners.

The BFK comes in a full grain hand stitched leather sheath. The sheath is wet moulded to the knife to give a good secure fit. This is also aided by the fact that the knife sits right down inside the sheath with only about an inch of the knifes handle protruding.


Fig 3 BFK with sheaths.

The sheath is of a very simple pouch design yet it is very clever in it’s simplicity. Not only can it be easily converted from a belt to a neck sheath, it is also ambidextrous. At the “mouth” of the sheath where the knife slides in there is a vertical slot at the rear of the sheath. Around the neck of the sheath there is a partly braided strap the two ends of which feed through the vertical slot. One of the ends has an eye cut into it. The other end is pushed through this eye and then tied in a knot to form the belt loop at the appropriate length.

This is extremely useful as you can set the knife to dangle from your belt at varying heights. This means that it is possible to wear your rucksack with the waist band done up and your knife can still be on your belt as you can set it to hang comfortably below the rucksack waist belt. The dangler system also means that the knife is comfortable on your belt when sitting around the campfire and even when driving as it does not ride up and dig into your ribs. To convert the sheath from a belt sheath to a necker simply remove the leather strap from the sheath and thread a suitable length of paracord etc. through the vertical slot. You can then wear the knife simply around your neck or even across your body Baldric style..

Let’s now move on to the important aspects of a Bushcraft knife… it’s specifications and even more importantly It’s performance.

Specifications
Blade length – 100mm.
Blade thickness – 3mm.
Steel – Sandvik SS1807 high carbon steel.
Hardened to Rockwell 58C.
Handle material – Scandinavian curly birch with black nylon liners and 2mm brass butt cap.
Handle length – 112mm + 2mm butt cap.
Sheath – handmade full grain leather belt sheath which is easily convertible to neck carry..

When thinking about reviewing the BFK I decided that as this knife had been specifically designed by Gary to be used in the field performing the various Bushcraft tasks, the only sensible approach would be to test the knife in the field and report on how it performed.

First things first. I wanted to make sure that the BFK could cope with the varied weather conditions which it would face in the vast array of ever changing climates and weather conditions the outdoors can throw at us and our equipment. As here in the UK at the moment we are experiencing uncommonly good weather I had to improvise a little with the climate tests. I began by placing the BFK in a bowl of warm water (not boiling) and leaving it to soak for half an hour. This did not affect the handle slabs in any way, no swelling or movement occurred which indicated to me that the curly birch has been treated and sealed correctly to make it impervious to moisture. I then repeated the test using cold water. It’s also worth mentioning at this point that although the handles and my hands were dripping wet they still gave a good sure grip. Again no signs of swelling could be detected. After thoroughly drying the knife the next test began. For this I placed the BFK in the freezer compartment of my fridge for about an hour and again no ill effects were suffered by the BFK proving to me that it could withstand severe temperature changes. Now off to the woods for the real field testing.

I began by collecting several pieces of dry pine wood, some of which was a good foot in length and roughly two to two and half inches in diameter. I decided to quarter these with the BFK using a battening technique (using the blade of the knife to split the wood by hitting the spine of the blade with another lump of wood a little like using a mallet). The knife was relatively easy to drive through the wood and except for one piece which seemed to have a knot harder than iron in it, all the rest of the logs split without a hitch. I then used the BFK to make several feather sticks. This was when I first noticed how easy the BFk was to control. This is definitely due not only to the dimensions of the knife but also because the cutting edge of the blade starts very close to the handle this means that when you are gripping the knife the work piece can be cut extremely close to your hand which means that none of the power you are putting into the cut is lost through a leverage action, as it is on other knives where the cutting edge if further from your grip. The flat single bevel edge of the BFK is a joy to use and makes it extremely easy to make long thin shaved curls of wood on the feather sticks.

I did a few other woodcarving tasks around the camp with the BFK such as some pot hangers and a few temporary wooden tent pegs to fix down one end of my tarp, all of which were a joy to make with this knife.

Although I had started my fire by lighting the feather sticks with a match I wanted to see how well the BFK would cast sparks from a ferro rod (fire steel). The spine of the BFK’s blade is very angular all the way from the handle to the tip of the blade with no rounded edges but good sharp angles so I didn’t expect there to be any problem. I held the knife in my right hand and slowly drew the fire steel back across the edge of the spine. A huge shower of white hot sparks leapt off the fire steel. You certainly wouldn’t experience any problems getting a fire started with this knife and a ferro rod that’s for sure..

After putting some water on to boil, it was time to put the BFK to some food preparation chores. It was this test that I had been anticipating the most. My last Bushcraft knife which I have been carrying for a few years was I am afraid a dismal failure at food preparation the reason for this being that the blade at 5mm was a little on the thick side. When chopping things such as carrots, potatoes, onions etc. it had a tendency to split things apart rather than cut them. This meant that on many occasions I could be found scrabbling on the ground trying to find half of that nights dinner because it had literally flown in all directions off my chopping block. The BFK with its thinner 3mm blade was much better and easier to use. You have to keep in mind that 3mm is not thin for a blade compared to the type of knives we usually use in our kitchens, but it did perform the tasks admirably.

Game preparation was a pleasant surprise. I had a couple of rabbits to paunch, skin and joint so I thought I’d give them a go with the BFK. To my surprise it dealt with them really well. The knife had arrived extremely sharp and other than giving it a light strop on a leather belt, just in case rather than any need to, I had not re sharpened it. The blade cut through the rabbits fur and skin quite easily I then opened the cut a little further until I could get a couple of fingers into the incision. Then holding the knife in a reverse grip I “unzipped” the rabbet with no problems. The BFK made short work of the leg joints and after pulling the skin off up to the rabbits head the BFK sliced through the neck very cleanly.

I used the BFK to cut a wide range of different materials. Everything from cardboard, carpet, plastic, wood, meat, fruit and vegetables, leather, cloth and even wet rope. It dealt with everything I tried without a problem. And what really impressed me was that I used the knife for everything I could for a week and still it had a perfectly serviceable cutting edge, duller than when it arrived but not bad at all. I did give it a quick polish on a 6000 grit Japanese water stone and then stropped it just to bring the edge back to tip top condition at the end of the week and it’s now scary sharp again.

I did give the pommel a bit of a work out as well. I used it to crack a handful of hazelnuts I had left from last year. A swift tap on the nuts using a tree stump as my anvil did the job. As Gary suggested in his information sheet, this would be a handy tool for tasks such as separating plant fibres and animal sinew or for light hammering such as cracking nuts. The brass pommel has a slot cut into it which fits over a corresponding “tab” which is made from an extension of the knifes tang. When set in place the brass cap is then silver soldered to the tang and also epoxyd to the ends of the curly birch handle slabs, giving the pommel a very firm fixing.

You may be able to tell that I really liked this knife. To be honest I cannot find fault with it. Not only does it have stunning classic looks making you feel proud to own, carry and use it but it can also back those looks up with stunning performance. The BFK’s dimensions are perfect. Not only is it small enough to be easy to control and use for fine work, it is also large enough to deal with most of the larger jobs you may ask of it. I would not say it is a knife that could be used for chopping chores as it is not heavy enough, but carried in conjunction with a good axe it is a superb tool. If I had ever taken the time to sit down and design a knife using my past experiences, then I could not have done a better job than the Bearclaw Field Knife.

[Kevin]

I have to say that this knife looks like it could be the dogs b******s in the bushcraft sense.....I love the design and the pommel at the end.....Gerd has done a fantastic job.


And a great review..I can see why this will be your favorite knife........

[spamel]

And I look forward to mine even more!!

I love the look of the handle, and those spacers look great. Yup, I'm gonna be happy when I get my mitts on one.

Good review, you had balls to stick it in water and then in the freezer!!

el

[mojofilter]

Great review Scandgrind! I cant wait for mine, no. 13

[Martyn]

I agree with kevin, this really does look to be the mutts nuts. Beautiful knife, Gerd has indeed done an awsome Job.

[BorderReiver]

Great review ScanDgrind.Makes the wait for no.23 even harder.

[ScanDgrind]

This knife really does look great, but that really is only the start of it.

You have to pick one up to appreciate it. I had an awful job writing this review purely because I felt I couldn't do the knife justice putting into words how it felt and how well it performed. It honestly does make all the jobs you do with it easier to perform.

I love mine and it will be the only knife I carry when I'm off on a bushcraft trip.

Cheers,

Tony

[Ropeman]

Great review Tony, I can hardly wait for mine to arrive.

[Swampy Steve]

Good review Tony, but where are all those bleeding photo's you made me take yesterday ?

Being lucky enough to have handled this knife I can happily say its every bit as good as Tony reviews it to be

[Stevie]

Excellent review

[Stew]

Good review Tony, but where are all those bleeding photo's you made me take yesterday ?

Here, here!

[ScanDgrind]

Good review Tony, but where are all those bleeding photo's you made me take yesterday ?

Ah I was hoping you wouldn't notice that they were missing .

For some strange reason which I havn't worked out yet the site which I usually use to upload and host my photo's will not accept them. I thought it might be a size thing... but no. So at the moment I quite frankly don't have a clue why they won't work.

Anyway as soon as I get to the bottom of it I'll post them as they came out really well. Thanks for taking them for me Steve.

All the best,

Tony

[richardw]

A brilliant review of what appears to be a great knife. It looks as though it could be all things to all men and I'm certainly getting excited about my knife's imminent arrival.

Richard

[Danzo]

Superb review Tony. It certainly is a stunning knife, appearance wise, a bit like the offspring of a Scandi and a Sgian Dubh. I really like it. Clearly it is up to anything you threw at it in the field, particularly the food prep side compared to the battening which is always a clash with bushcrafty knives given the issues of appropriate blade thickness. It sounds as though it has been got exactly right. The sheath carry variations also sound both innovative and very practical. Great work Gerd (and Gary) and one to add to my list I think.



Danzo

[nipper]

Great review

After reading this review, I reckon Gary ought to send the numbered ones out in reverse order! yeah, as you have probably guessed I'm number 30.

Nick

PS: Gary, what are the chances of No:30 by WG? I know I'm like a child waiting for santa.