A use for the #Victorinox multi purpose hook

Now those Victorinox Swiss Army knives are really a strange thing. I mean, I do make knives myself, and some of them are pretty decent ahem, and I own quite a lot of production knives.  As a kid, I was into those Rambo movies like many others and had to have a Rambo knife. Broke it in no time, of course, because crap.  Got a Ka-Bar lookalike (yes, those WERE different times, and NO, I never, ever, hurt anyone  but myself). But I also carried a small Wenger SAK in my pocket.  I still have it, after 47years.  I sharpened, as in reprofiled it, maybe twice in all these years.  

I grew up in the woods, as you guys know.  I really used my knives. Ages ago, I went on the bushcraft train, mostly because it was simply a name for what I have done all my life.  I have never claimed to be the best or even mediocre, I just kept doing what I have always done.  

Now, with coming of age, so to say, I find that more often than not, I just take my SAK, sometimes two, into the woods, actually, and the guys who know me personally will cry out now "Wut?" , leaving my other knives at home.  Not because of some fear of the authorities or for other ideological reasons. But because these knives, provided you know how to use them, have little to no limitations as to what you can do with them. 

They are some of the most underrated and misunderstood knives in the bushcraft and survival community.  I say that because, like it or not, you will most possibly not use a knife against a wild boar attack.  Not even a Khukhuri.  Plus, like that or not, we are also not allowed to do any such thing as wild camping or starting a fire outside designated campsites. All that tactical special forces mumbo jumbo is just hot wind.  You can go foraging inside very strict regulations, take home a certain amount of mushrooms and other natural provisions, and if it is tolerated by the authorities, take a small diametre deadwood stick to whittle.  You are not entitled to sleep in the woods whatsoever, except in an emergency.  There are slightly lighter regulations on private property, but actually it is almost like that even the owner is not allowed to do anything in the woods than selling timber and planting trees.  

What you can do with a knife in the forests of Germany is strictly limited.  Of course I do love my Helle Fjellkniven Eggen, Norwegian hunting knife, and Temagami, my Casström Woodsman and No10 and all those other lovely bushcraft knives.  Using them gives you the feeling as if you were free.  But since you are not allowed to take wood for a fire, there is no need for batoning or anything like that. If you want to split wood for a spoon, fork or netting needle, well, the SAK can do this, too, if you know what you are doing.  

Now I must admit, I dismissed these knives for a long time, until Felix Immler made me see the light. Visit his YouTube channel https://youtube.com/@feliximmler?si=cAjloXVcVbsHkXh_ 

if you haven't already or buy his books, what this guy does certainly is an eye-  opener. What I want to say is that I simply wasn't aware of how versatile these mini toolboxes actually were.  

Take this multi-purpose hook, for instance. A lot of people would like not to have it on the knife.  Maybe it is not essential. I thought as much myself.  But it is a really handy asset on the knife if you learn how to use it.  I used it for making cordage from grass, which really worked great.  

 There is a saying in Southern Germany: "Des is koa rechta Bua', hoat ka Feitl und ka Schnur. "(That is not a real boy who has neither cordage nor knife). With a SAK, you can have both.  Now that I am getting old 'ish I realize that even as a kid, when I always had a more or less huge knife on my belt, the even smaller Wenger was what I used most.  

If you want to do feathersticking there is no faster way I know of than using a SAK.  

Do not get me wrong. It is a reality check, maybe a reality shock, for me, too.  Maybe it is a case of "the more you know, the less you carry". 

Anyway, if you leave the "special forces" mumbo jumbo behind you, a SAK is a world of its own to discover.  I would not throw away my other knives for the properties of the Vics.  Of course not.  But before you dismiss a SAK because it lacks prestige, you might try out the many possibilities.  

My pants are a whole lot lighter now least.  😉 

Making a ceramic sharpening strop from junk

The other day, on a stroll to Fritz' place, I found a piece of Ceramic, maybe from an electrode or a filter.  

Had a piece of roe deer antler lying around not doing anything (also found in the woods, taken with permission from the owner, the hunter and the bureau of forestry commissions.). 

Took out my Victorinox SAK, and hey presto, five minutes later got myself a super high tech Ceramic sharpening strop.  

Message. 

 

Trying to make a decent knife with a 6cm blade

Politicians happened. Course they tried to push it through during bread and games, aka the European Football Championship. Of course. I talk about the novelty offensive weapon act in Germany. We all know how well it works to criminalize decent citizens in order to get the real bad boys. If it will come to pass, you need a legal reason to carry any fixed blades above a length of 6 cm in public in Germany. Criminals will of course follow all novelty developments and study the law and there will be no more knife crimes. Just like in Denmark (I have heard they have lifted all bans on knives two years ago, because it didn't work at all) or the UK. There is a #petition going on at the moment against it. If you are from Germany, feel free to sign. https://www.change.org/p/petition-gegen-die-versch%C3%A4rfung-des-waffengesetzes-f%C3%BCr-mehr-freiheit-und-sicherheit If you are from outside of Germany, you can write an Email or letter to the Ministry Of Homeland Security, in order to protest the upcoming restrictions on your travels. Anyway, it is also a Challenge and I accepted it. I had forged a neckknife from monster damascus that Matthias Zwissler had given to me and put on a handle from a historical German #jagdnicker knife that Mr. Henning Ritter from Hubertus Solingen had gifted to me long ago. Shortened the handle, sharpened it and then sharpened it some more and made a sheath for it. Actually it is obviously very much limited as to what it can do, but it works surprisingly well when snacking or even whittling smaller projects. Actually I need to warm up a bit to it, but it is a nice little evening stroll pocket or neckknife for the neighbouring woods. Not catastrophical , at least. Actually, making it was fun, and there are a lot of fond memories connected to it.

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.

Short Review of a Hartkopf Solingen traditional pen knife

Testing out the Hartkopf Solingen pen knife. Frighteningly sharp out of the box, ace for feathersticking, with a really secure backlock, lovely, beautiful ebony handle with nickle silver bolster and badge. Comes with a sharp spine. Blade is 79x2,4 mm, full flat grind to almost zero (0,3 above the edge). Steel is 1.4116 , full quench, hardness 56-58 HRC (claimed). After an hour of carving aged maple and chestnut it still shaved. The handle is a bit small if you really apply force, but fact is, you do not need to, because it is just so sharp. The knife obviously is not a bushcraft knife and I would not do silly stuff like batoning with it, of course. But it is really light and laser sharp, so chance is, you will have it on you. It is also really beautiful and doesn't scream "tactical" on top of its lungs. It is a grampa knife in the best sense of the word. Whittling, snacking, even lighting a fire or using it for a good steak or good products for a "casse-crôute", you name it. I do not think it will cause you any problems with the police, too. It is perfectly legal in Germany and, being that beautiful, it is not the typical theatre of social warfare knife, either. I keep it in the leather pouch in my pocket in order not to scratch the beautiful scales anyway. If you understand the concept of a pocket knife, I can only recommend it. What it is not, is a sharpened prybar, but it doesn't claim to be in the first place. Not that cheap, but worth the money. You might want to check several pieces for quality, though, because given they are all handcrafted, there are huge differences in quality. If you can do that, you get an awesome everyday companion.