Introduction to a traditional Turkish knife-Serik Biçaği

Those are some knives I got for next to nothing on a local flea market from a really nice Turkish gentleman. They are native to Serik in the Antalya region of Turkey and they are a really traditional and old design, maybe dating back to the early medieval ages. https://www.kulturportali.gov.tr/turkiye/antalya/nealinir/serik-bicagi Formerly a pure friction folder design, they share some chatacteristics with knives like the Corse "goat knife ". Originally the knife consisted of a piece of ram's, goat's or sheep's Horn, rarely cow Horn. They are often called Serik biçaği. The knives I own have a very simple backlock mechanism. The really thin blade is held in the handle by friction but locks when open. One has a walnut handle, one Micarta and one traditional ram's horn. The one with the goat horn handle has a blade handforged from saw blade steel, the one with Micarta is made from HSS, the one with the walnut handle is supposedly made from Böhler steel. The blades are 11,2, 11,4, and 11,8 cm long, but just 1,2 -1,4 mm thick. They have a convex bevel to zero, which results in frightening sharpness, although they came rather blunt originally. Some time and effort fixed that and BOY,DO they cut. The locking mechanism on the one with the ram's horn handle is quite good, the others have a bit of radial play. Given that they are friction folder designs originally that is totally okay with me, but you cannot expect a modern knife. The blades are obviously not a prybar. As a folding kitchen knife for foraging and food prepping you are hard pressed to find anything slicier. And edge holding capacity on mine is actually really great. They also cost less than 40€ if you can get one, mine actually cost less than 15€ each. That puts them head to head to Opinel, Pallares Solsona and other folding knives. If you are looking for functionality alone, I have to say that the Opinel is a tad more reliable and the quality is a bit more consistent. But they are actually even slicier than the Opinel and culturally interesting. So you might want to give one a try.

The one beginner knife-Opinel

 Well,  folks,  this might be an unpopular opinion post. 

When I got started on blogging,  there was no such thing as a thriving bushcraft community. Of course there were people like Rüdiger Nehberg, Mors Kochanski,  Ray Mears,  Anton Lennartz and the BBQ bear, but it was a bit of a niche activity. And to be honest,  maybe it was a whole lot cooler. You know,  the way mountainbike riding was cooler. It wasn't easy to get started,  there were few people who could tell you the how-dos. And of course we all fell for movies like Rambo or other "survival " shows. On the other hand,  well,  if you used your shit,  it quickly became apparent that reality was a whole different thing. As a kid,  I broke about five Rambo knives,  as we called those hollow handle shrapnels you could get for cheap at the Hardware store. 

I got a knife as a kid that rode in my pocket most of the 45 years since I got it. I had to sharpen,  as in reprofiling the blade, this knife once in 45 years. Of course I had to strop and hone more frequently,  but I had to sharpen once. 

It was a Wenger SAK. With a saw,  nail file,  awl and stuff like that.

I also bought a cheapo Ka-Bar lookalike, which performed admirably until I lost it. Actually the tang was stronger than the original,  but the blade was quite thin. It didn't break,  though. 

Now the world has changed a lot. Survival takes place in entertainment shows and there are a lot of experts on the devil's own web,  some of whom are really great teachers,  but on the other hand those awesome teachers are rarely the ones that go viral. 

The harsh truth about survival is that survival is when you are in a liferaft fleeing a warzone with your kids,  survival is what a Ukrainian mother does when she walks 85km with her little ones on one pot of boiled potatoes in -35° Celsius,  survival is what some indigenous kids do for two weeks in the jungle after their parents died in a plane crash. The truth is that noone in their right mind would ever want to get into a survival situation. My mother walked on the hand of my grandmother all the way from Silesia to the Ruhr region in Germany,  my father survived heavy Bombardement in an air raid without a shelter. They had to survive,  and they did. I am living proof of the fact. They all had in common that they very much appreciated and loved their creature comforts afterwards. 

That is not to say it is not a good thing to know things,  to practice and train. First aid is one of the highest priorities. You don't sneak up on sentinels. And as I have said time and again,  the very notion of a knife fight is absolutely silly. You win a knife fight if you do not get into knife fights. Even combat knives most of the time just prepare food and open boxes. Knives are tools and should be seen as such. 

What most of us do in the woods,  well,  what is it? To me,  it is a lot of woodcarving and foraging, food prepping and cutting cordage and fabric. Snacking,  whittling a stick and fun projects.

The Opinel most certainly is not a heavy duty knife at all.  It is a time-proven design with some shortcomings and a lot of strengths. If it gets wet,  the blade often gets stuck in the handle, because it consists of five parts: Handle,  blade,  collar, rivet and Virobloc looking collar. If the wood of the handle gets wet,  it sponges up, increasing friction. On the other hand,  well,  there are five parts. You might destroy the knife if you abuse it,  but you could repair it forever. That said,  it is not really easy to destroy it if you use it sensibly. The Plus side is that there are few knives that are as sharp out of the box like the Opinel. You can,  for example,  cut wobbly mushrooms freehand. The grind is a very high and thin convex bevel to zero. Making feather sticks isn't easy at first,  because you tend to cut all the way through the stick at first due to the slicey grind. You can use the spine to strike sparks from a ferro rod,  but also as a steel for striking a flint. The knife,  even the biggest ones,  for the 12 and 13 are almost sword-like, are ridiculously light in your pocket.  Food prep is where the knives really excel,  so much in fact that the magical sorcery troll and myself use the 12 in the kitchen instead of our not exactly crappy kitchen lasers. The knives are well balanced and can also be used for delicate carving tasks.  Carving tent pegs,  spoons,  forks and whatever takes next to no time. Herbs and mushrooms simply fall apart. 

The knives are light enough not to notice them in your pocket. They look civilized,  and are so socially acceptable that the name is held synonymous with folding knives in French dictionaries. It is perfectly legal in Germany and even in the UK,  the smaller ones will normally be acceptable in legal reason contexts, say,  gardening or hiking and foraging.  It is a survival knife because it is more probable that you have something like that on you when you get into a less than agreeable situation.  

And the simplicity is inviting your creative impulses. Opinel even offers chunkier handles for you to carve. It can be truly yours afterwards.  

The culprit,  however,  is that price. The simple carbon models cost up to 25€ today. So,  if you want to get started,  get yourself one. It is not perfect,  but actually you could change that with very simple tools. Maybe I can walk you through the process in a future post,  so stay tuned! 

Thank you for reading,  cheers!

Brief Review of an Elite Force folder-my new Mountainbike riding folder

First and foremostly let me say this: I cannot understand why customers dig knives that are called "Elite Force", "Spec Ops", "Extrema Ratio" (as if ultima ratio weren´t enough), "Taliban takedown" or whatnot. Those names are often associated with "romantic" (even though this kind of romanticism completely eludes me) associations of sneaking up on sentinels or what everyday people regard as a typical foot soldier´s everyday routine. The term "tactical" also demands more explanation for me. While I see that intercontinental assault missiles might have a tactical application in modern warfare, I somehow fail to see why knives are considered as "tactical" weapons. Of course, a back-up application might be the background for this naming, but then, if you have to use a knife as a weapon, you are in a situation where most everything has gone so seriously awry that you might instead also use it to kill yourself. And, talking to many soldiers, and even having made some knives for operators, you learn soon they have used it mostly for bragging, opening boxes, tin cans and persenning, cutting rope and wood and eating.

No sneaking up on sentinels, see? No felony stop, see? (Why the way, what kind of felony? Simulating masturbation in public;-)?)

But then I ride my mountainbike quite often. In the mud, and the rain, and snow and hailstorm and summer and winter. In the cold and the heat and in the woods, across sticks and stones. The conditions make bait out of natural materials in no time. Also, while wearing a fixed-blade-knife can be done, it´s not comfortable, and in case you slam head first down a drop and land on your hip, there are many things I´d prefer to having a fixed blade in your thigh. So, a folder it is. A long time now I have carried a trusty EKA Swede 90, and there´s no harm with that, but, wooden scales, chain grit, mud, sweat and the like don´t go well together, and I have to make a new handle for it.

So I considered a new folder. It should have a stainless steel blade of a good but bargain steel, a good length, a nail nick to make it legal, synthetic scales and a clip to keep it where I put it and not puncture my groins in case of a fall. I came across this heebie-jeebie-tactical-elite-force-goobalabaa did I already mention tactical?... knife. I utterly detest its appearance and its name, but there´s no denying the fact that it´s a good and bargain knife. It is of Chinese provenience, of course. The blade´s 95 mm long and 4 mm thick with a slight hollow grind that locks by a liner. In the spine of the handle there´s a gut hook (It is tauted as a rescue knife). First thing I did was removing the thumb opener and adjusting the bearing so that you cannot open it with just one hand anymore. I am a good Mammonist, and I have learned my sermons well: Thou shalt not use one-hand-opening knives, for they are the essence of Evil...;-). Can´t say I am too fond of the gut hook, I have never needed one, and the glass breaker at the handle´s end´s also a bit of a mystery to me, but, hey, every social group needs its mythology, and rescueing people out of burning cars is not a bad dream to have.

The knife normally costs 39,90€. The blade came out of the box hair-splittingly sharp. The liner´s adjustment leaved something to be desired, but this was cured with a turn of the bearing adjustment screw and a bit of oil. After this, the liner locked the blade just as it should, with enough room for wear. The blade was so sharp it cuts curves into free-hanging newspaper. Cutting through was a compromise of course, with a spine thickness of 4mm, and a hollow grind that is set at one half of the blade, but, hey, this is what you expect from a heavy duty folder. And it can take a beating. In the pocket it rides tip-down, which is reassuring if you ride hard. It is not really light, but gives a very sturdy feel in the hand. The bearing adjustment screw is a big bonus, in that it can be adjusted with either Torx or flat screwdriver (even with a coin!). It has neither lateral nor axial play, and the beefy liners (on both sides) make for a stiff construction even when prying. After chopping dried ivy in the garden, the edge needed ten strokes with the strop to be hair-splittingly sharp again, but still shaved.

Do I like it? I do, with the noted limitations. I would suggest changing the gut hook for a Philipps head screwdriver or a bit holding device (or a corkscrew;-) ). I would add a  stonewash finish to the blade to keep it attractive for a longer period of time.

It´s an ugly knife with a ridiculous name, but it gets the job done, and that´s more than anyone could wish for in a knife for abusing. If you need a knife like this, buy it.