2-3 oz fixed blade

Batoning just isn't a big deal – You can use a knife blade as a wedge to split wood lengthwise, or as a wedge to cut across the grain.

I first started doing it decades ago with a Swiss Army knife, cuz I needed smaller strips of wood to get a fire started. Later I figured out I could cut across grain on sticks that were to thick to cut cleanly by hand. Until five years ago I had no clue that it was called batonning – it was just one of the techniques I used.

In all that time, I have never had a knife damaged while batonning – no chips, breaks, dings, nothing. But then, I don't try to baton a 8' log with a 4" blade either!

It's no big deal, just don't be stupid – which is a good rule with any sharp tool!

Full sized handles? Absolutely! Minimum: 3 finger handle for a very small blade. Just my opinion.

FWIW, I always carry a 4-5" blade when I'm outdoors. Why? cuz 3+ decades ago, I found myself 40+ miles from home, with my clothes, a sturdy knife, and a Bic lighter. The knife and lighter helped me get fire, cooked food (ie, not raw w/ potential parasites), and boiled water for the three nights it took to find my way back. Oh, I also had a compass and topo map, which helped me find my way back. And I still don't go into the woods without a good knife, a fire starter, map and compass – no matter how much they may weigh.

sounds like a great story for the forums if you care to share?

couch

If you want a lightweight knife, and always a sharp knife, check out the Havalon Piranta's. I carry 5-6 extra blades with me and I always have a sharp knife. Surgical blades that you can buy 100 for $16. I have two of these and love them.

I see the Bravo Necker 2 listed at around 1.8 oz, as well as many other light fixed blades. but what do the sheaths weigh on average and what are they made out of. I can't imagine the Kydex sheath is very light, are there good sturdy (Safe) alternatives sheaths available?

The Bravo Necker 2 very secure sheath weighs only .98 ounces. That with a 1.77 oz knife (or 2.5 oz with scales) makes a very light versatile fixed blade package.

Ditto.

If you get G10 scales add .25oz to the weight, as I learned. Which by the way is skin-out wt if you opt for neck carry, which I do.

Larger blades or folders are generally carried on the belt or in pockets, which I feel allies itself with hip/pack wt more than the neck carry does, but YMMV.

A Mora is a good functional knife that does what any good fixed blade should do.

It is not jewelry as many of the knives mentioned here are.

When you you loose a Mora, you are not going to freak out about your expensive elite toy. You will just buy another.

Frank wrote: "…I can't imagine the Kydex sheath is very light, are there good sturdy (Safe) alternatives sheaths available?"

Kydex is light stuff and makes for a secure safe sheath. Properly made, a Kydex sheath keeps the knife secure and the knife won't cut through it in a fall, etc. Every fabric sheath I've seen has been terrible– all were manufacturer supplied and cheap construction. Leather is okay, but can absorb moisture and usually needs some sort of strap and snap to keep the knife in place. Some designs are very deep in an attempt to keep the knife secure without a strap and I don't care for them– the knife may get loose in a fall.

If you want a Kydex sheath for a popular production knife, check out On Scene Tactical. He does custom work too. Looks like his server is down at the moment. Try http://www.onscenetactical.com/ later.

Javan, could you post a picture of your sharpening system? How wide are your 5 in. long 1400 grit silica sand paper strips? Would thin pc mouse pad padding or any other type of thin soft padding work just as well?

Can you recommend a good convex blade field sharpening video using this technique?

The BRKT Bravo Necker 2 is the best lightest backpacking fixed blade + sheath combo I could find – you can save a little weight by going with the BN 1, with shorter blade, but I prefer the extra functionality of the blade on the BN2 for just a little more weight.

I'm also picking up a few carbon and stainless Moras for bushcraft users, use around the house and loaners, but prefer the full tang, convex grind and stainless steel of the BN2 for backpacking.

Does any of the metal of the handle extend beyond the edges of the scales?

Here's an example, although any size that's not bigger than whatever pad you're working on will be fine. Depending on your stroke, you could probably use something significantly smaller:

I just use a piece of duct tape to cover the whole thing when I put it in my hip belt, with the sandpaper facing the outside to avoid bunching. Pull the tape off when sharpening and hold the edges. I'll probably try using two different grits on either side next time.

A field strop is the recommended method, but I'm not sure about the weight of those, and I've just never bought one.

As to the mousepad question, the answer is yes. I sharpen all my knifes that way. I've convexed all my kitchen knives and use a big mousepad and sandpaper. For non convex edges you can use a thick pane of glass, and 3M Microfilm or wet/dry sandpaper.

As to a good video for mouse-pad sharpening well, I've watch ed a few and none of them seem great. I had to practice a while before I found a technique for me. The major trick is to not roll the edges at the end of the stroke, and not apply much (if any pressure).. You have to stop and lift the blade straight up before the next stroke, or just a stroke that trails the knife off the pad.

It's really an ergonomics choice of what works for your wrist..

Here's a link to a basic version, although I use a completely different stroke, and they are applying too much pressure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaDEXuFpeac

Dennis, to answer your question: On my BN2 there is a little bit of over hang at the bottom of the tang where the scales dont sync up perfectly, if that's what you're referring to. I need to grind it down a bit, and for my usage, I'm going to blunt the tip of the triangle area at the bottom end. When I'm batoning stuff larger than ideal, it tends to bug me.

Here's the best pic I could get:

You have all convinced me to pickup a Bravo Necker 2. Any suggestions on the best place to purchase?

I'll vote for a Mora for a sharp, light (2.5 oz), practical, comfortable workhorse of a knife. If you want a conversation piece, a piece of jewelry, or a gorgeous piece of American craftsmanship, a Mora knife is not it, but for a utilitarian knife that won't fail you, the Mora is it.

http://www.knivesshipfree.com is where I bought mine, and a recommended online seller for Bark River.. They carry a full line, and I think handle sales of all the custom runs.

I seem to recall that someone that works at BR owns the site maybe?

I just got my Bark River Bravo Necker 2 based on this thread. I really like the grind and design but am so far not super impressed with the steel. Using the mouse pad technique plus a leather strop, I got it ridiculously sharp at home – sharper than I've ever been able to get any knife myself (actually, sharper than I've ever seen a knife come back from being professionally sharpened, either).

However…
The edge bent over basically the instant it touched wood.

I resharpened while holding at a slightly steeper angle, hoping that would help a bit.

I then tried batoning with it and the entire edge became as dull as I've ever seen without about 2 seconds.

Any tips? I'm having a hard time accepting that this is a good-quality steel. I've never seen a knife do this before.

^ interesting- I wouldn’t expect that, especially w/ a convex edge (unless you hit something unexpected???)

I’ve owned a couple of Bark Rivers, good knives, good steel

my blade of choice for the last six months has the Fallkniven WM1- falls in that weight range, it also has very good steel (and a factory convex edge)

I own two them, one w/ custom G10 slabs, the other w/ the factory Thermorun handle- the G10 adds a bit of weight, but the orange insures it won’t be misplaced :)

Bradley wrote: "Any tips? I'm having a hard time accepting that this is a good-quality steel. I've never seen a knife do this before."

Other than getting the edge too thin, which is hard to imagine with a convex grind and the mouse pad. Things do happen in knife production and it could have been messed up in the heat treatment process. I would send it back to Bark River and have them access it. Part of the premium you paid for the knife is customer service– let them do their job!

I'll say it again….
My knife can do anything yours can do!
And maybe better…because it was only $11 I'm not afraid of using it for anything and everything!

My Bushcraft model (http://www.shop.bushcraftnorthwest.com/product.sc?productId=9&categoryId=2) has served me well for over 2 years and is still going strong!

From northern salmon to deep sea fishing to batoning wrist-sized branches to lighting countless fires to spreadin' my hummus and general art-making…it's been a faithful tool.

At $11, I suppose they're not sexy enough for the knife buffs out there.

How experienced with the mousepad technique are you? Make sure you don't apply pressure when doing it, and you should have not needed to use more than a very small amount of consistent angle.

You don't sharpen a convex grind like you do a knife that you convexed the edge on. Sounds like you got it really thin though, which implies that you were using pressure and stripping steel.

12c27 is really good steel, and I've never experienced the rolling your talking about.

MY necker 2 came hair popping sharp, but convex grind doesn't maintain the "razor" sharpness thru much use, but holds a very sharp working edge for a lot of use if sharpened properly.

You should have only had to strop it, pretty much indefinitely. I use the mousepad because I beat the crap out of mine, and I don't have a strop, and I like my field setup. I never use anything lower than 1000 grit on it, normally just 1200 or higher to touch up.

If the edge is messed up, BR can re-profile or whatever is needed.

My favorite fixed knife is the Buck Mayo Kaala. The knife weighs 2 oz and the molded nylon sheath weighs 0.4 oz (without the beaded chain). It doesn't have a handle, but it does have lightening holes sized for parachute cord so you can easily add a handle. It's made of S30V steel, which has excellent edge retention. However, it is a bit difficult to sharpen if you let the blade completely dull out (which takes a LONG time with this steel). You also get the BOS heat treatment, which is, in my opinion, the best heat treatment anyone offers.

If you want a little bit more knife, another recommendation would be the Buck Mini Alpha Hunter. It weighs more at 3.6 oz (without the sheath), but you also get a handle.

-Sid

I guess that could be my problem: I did use a medium amount of pressure, and a low grit to start (20 micron) . I thought I could because the pad I was using has a lot of "give" to it, and it seemed necessary because the blade came with some really dull spots that didn't want to polish out with higher grits / no pressure.

Would the edge definitely need to be re-profiled by BR, or can I take a different approach to my sharpening to fix it myself?

Hey Bradley, you need to send it back to Mike to have it touched up. It sounds like the crew got the grind a little thinner than what it should be. Apart form the cost of sending the knife back, there's no cost to you for this.

I've been using Bark River knives since shortly after they started, and Mike stands behind his knives. I've seen a couple have this happen to it – including a Golok! Sent it back, and it was returned in top shape. No problems since!

BTW, there is a Bark River Forum at knifeforums.com, which is a great place to contact Mike and stay up on what's happening there.

Excellent advice here from Stephen, I think he's right.

Thinking about it, unless you spent an hour taking steel off it, I don't see how you could have messed it up that bad. Sorry was a late night.

Mike will definitely fix it for you, and as mentioned, can be reached on the knifeforums board if you don't want to just call them.

Hey guys, just a quick update. Thank you all for contributing your thoughts and opinions. Especially Javan…your insight was truly helpful. I decided to get a BR bravo necker 2 in OD green, with matte green canvas micarta scales. Here are the weight specs for those that are curious:

Kydex Sheath: 1.0 oz
Knife w/o scales (skeletonized handle): 1.7 oz
Canvas Micarta Scales (incl. bolts/hardware): .8oz

2.5oz knife, 1 oz sheath…perfect in my book. + Scary sharp out of the box. Now enjoy some nice knife p0rn :D

In addition to the sheath containing a firesteel slot, there is a slot inside the scales for survivial/misc. item storage (e.g. fish hooks)

I wear a size Medium glove and can get all 4 fingers onto the handle

My only complaint so far is that I wish the knife came with slotted screws, instead of the hex ones. Kind of defeats the purpose of the hidden item slot within the scales IMO. I'm much more likely to carry something that would fit a slotted screw than haul around an allen wrench. Hell, I bet I could use the knife to carve something that would fit a slotted screw, before I could find anything that would work with the hex screw.

Now wheres Devin and his boiler kettle? I'm itchin to cut me down some treeeeees. j/k, but not really.