BORELLI CONSULTING: Recreational Equipment Reviews

Often the demands placed on a fixed blade for use in recreational camping, backpacking and hiking are the same as those placed on blades used by our soldiers and cops every day. However, where a 10” blade might work for a soldier, it can be a bit excessive for the weekend camper. So what does the recreational knife user need? Just like this week’s Tactical Equipment Review, our Recreational Review is going to be an examination of knives we’ve tested across the past years; which ones best suit our recreational needs; and how they’ve held up in steady field use across time.

Those of you who have read my reviews in the past know how I treat knives before I write anything about them. I abuse them pretty bad. They have to cut well. They have to hammer well. They have to accept being hammered on, punched through wood, soaked in salt water, etc. I tend to do my best to destroy knives and the ones that I don't break are the ones I like to keep for use. Why? Because they've proven they can take it. My Ka-Bar D2 is still around and is still one of my favored field knives.

Now before I go on I should mention that this knife is listed on the Ka-Bar site as a "Fighting / Utility" knife. Its design is obviously drawn from the legendary USMC K-Bar fighting knives. What makes a fighting knife? In my experience it's whatever the knife is that you're holding when the fight starts. However, I know a few guys who insist that a fighting knife has to have at least a 6.5" long blade. Why? Because when you punch the knife down through the clavicular notch (that triangle behind your collar bone, between your neck and your trapezius muscle), it takes approximately 6.5" to reach the aortal bubble. AND, once you push the knife down in there, you essentially have a pry bar inserted into your opponent's skeletral structure. With a 7" blade, the Ka-Bar D2 Extreme meets that requirement. About 1.5" of serrations make up the blade on my test knife and the rest is all sharp edge.

Added to the overall size of the knife is the handle of just under five inches making the knife just under a foot long total. It weighs in (sans sheath) at 0.78 pounds. The blade is made of D2 steel with a hardness rating of 59-60 HRC. Mor importantly, the edge angle is 20 degrees. That's the angle measurement on the "V" cutting edge of the blade - in case any of you didn't know. In general work knives tend to have a 20-22 degree edge angle. The lower that number is, the closer to a razor blade you get. The happy middle ground has to be found where the blade will cut but also hold its edge without constant maintenance. Sure, every edge needs to be maintained, but a field knife should last SOME time before you have to sharpen it up. 20 degrees is a pretty good compromise.

The handles are made of Kraton G (another plastic / fiberglass composite) and the plasted (glass filled nylon) sheath is made in Taiwan. Prices run from $134 to $180 dependent on the sheath you select.

Everyone seems to have their own idea of what a “good” knife looks like and how it functions. Many folks lay out the requirements for their ideal knife in complete detail right down to how many millimeters thick the tang should be and how many teeth there should be in the serrations. I’m a more simple kind of guy: the knife should be strong; it should stand up to abuse; the grip should be secure even when wet; I should be able to hammer with it; I should be able to perform small cutting chores and minor chopping chores. I should be able to use it as a weapon if I must. The Miller Marine Model – or “M3” from Mil-Tac meets all my requirements.

The Miller Marine Model, or M3, shown above, was designed from the outset as a general purpose field knife. The blade is 5.5" with a soft curve and just enough belly to assist with pressing into cuts. Tang thickness is 3/16" to within 1/2" of the tip when it begins to taper. Because of the blade shape, the 5.5" blade length actually allows for just about 6" of cutting edge. The balance of the knife is 5.5" of grip with shpaed slaps of G10 screwed on.

The grip portion is ergonomically shaped with a good finger groove and a decent press point at the top of the hilt - with ridges to increase friction when you use your thumb to push into cuts. As you can see from the photo there are two lash holes - one at either hilt tip - and a lanyard hole near the pommel. The grip slabs never get closer than 3/8" to the pommel. Add that to the pommel surface that measures 3/16"x1" and you get a decent surface for hammering / pounding.

The sheath is made from Spec-Ops Brand, a name well known in the industry. It's nylon with steel hardware, a hard plastic insert to protect the sheath from the blade edge, and a utility pouch on the outside that fits multi-tools or most folding blades. The hard plastic insert is anchored so as not to slide around (or out), and the sheath also comes with multiple mounting options, paracord and a cord lock.

As combat isn't something we anticipate doing with a knife we carry on a recreational outing we need to realize that there are a host of fixed blade knives ideally suited to the general purpose use often found on hiking, backpacking and camping trips. One of the knives that has proven to be efficient for general utility use is the Benchmade Nimravus. The Nimravus' 4.5" blade in various configurations, and provided in a sheath that has multiple mounting / carrying options, has come to be the "go to" knife for many outdoorsman.

The above photo shows Benchmade Nimravus knives as represented in the Blackwater Gear line. Tanto style blades on the left and drop point blades on the right. Serrated spines are shown on all and both colors of grips / handles are also shown. Matching sheaths are available as shown. For the sake of accurate reporting I should mention that, on the Benchmade sight, I can't find any available Nimravus knives with a serrated spine. That may be a feature they produced only for Blackwater Gear.

The Benchmade Model 140 Nimravus sports a 4.5" blade made from 154CM or D2 Tool steel. The Rockwell Hardness runds between 58 - 61 depending on steel used. Overall length of the knife is 9.45" which means you have just under 5" of handle. That's enough for a nice secure grip, and the deep finger groove provides for additional security of grip in wet or other slippery conditions. According to Benchmade's website you can get the Nimravus with a plain edge or combo edge (about 1" of serrations near the base of the blade), with a Tanto style blade or a modified drop point.

That brings us to two knives made by SOG Knives that are especially well suited for the recreational field.

I've enjoyed the SOG SEAL Revolver KNIFE on a number of occassions. I have to admit that it's quite handy to have a knife blade and a saw both contained in one grip, and neither is a folding blade. This week's Recreational Review is going to take a look at the SOG Knives SEAL Revolver in its various formats and blade finishes. I think you'll see that this is quite a versatile tool that is well worth it's cost and weight.

According to the information I have available, the SOG Revolver is available in two models: The SOG SEAL Revolver and the SOG Hunter Revolver. The SOG SEAL Revolver is available in two different finishes: standard and Black TiNi. Let's get the basics out of the way first:

For the SOG SEAL Revolver the blade is 4.75 inches with an overall length of 10 inches. The smaller Bowie style balde incorporates a section of serrations. The survival saw blade is the same length and is true kerf cut - a double tooth saw that cuts chunks out of wood - not hard to press grooves into the wood. Weight is 6 ounces, or less than a 1/2 pound. The glass reinforced zytel handle covers the steel liners that form the compartment to hide the not-in-use blade.

On the right side of the handle - the side you can't see in these photos - is the spring-loaded pivot pin that locks the blade through the small hole you can see in every blade shown. This is a strong and stable locking mechanism that permits the whole concept of a rotating blade design and permits the versatility created thereby.

The only difference between the SOG SEAL Revolver and the SOG SEAL Revolver Black TiNi is the Black TiNi finish (duh). The finish has, as best I can tell, absolutely no affect on function or durability. SOG Knives is well known for their knife designs that work well in all climates and environments and as a result of their efforts, all their blades enjoy a high corrosion resistance. I happen to be a fan of non-reflective blades but even the black TiNi has some reflective characteristic to it. In this case my preferance is for the standard finish. Where SOG made a bigger change - and a functional change - is in the difference between the SOG SEAL Revolver and the SOG Hunter Revolver. But make no mistake: both are of equal value to the outdoorsman. The SOG Hunter Revolver simply offers one more option of use.

As you can see from the picture to the right, the five inch blade of the SOG Team Leader Survivor has a saw tooth back. Now mind you, that's not the typical "survival knife" back that has some notches cut but doesn't actually cut much. It's a true double-tooth saw - and I can tell you from experience that the points of those teeth are SHARP. The drop point blade isn't overly aggressive but is just about perfect for general field duties.

The handle is nicely shaped and comfortable in my medium sized hands. The Zytel grip slabs provide a fair amount of friction / traction under slippery conditions and the swell of the handle closer to the back fills the palm well. There's a lanyard hole in case you feel the need. There are what I refer to as "press ridges" in the spine and in the figner grooves. It's not heavy, weighing at less than a 1/2 pound. Overall length is 10.25 inches, so it's really not overwhelming. Like I said... it's a good field knife. It comes in a plain black leather sheath with the SOG Logo embossed on it. A snap strap secures the knife and the belt loop will fit a belt up to about five inches... I can put my hand into it. To keep the sheath from bouncing around on smaller belts, SOG put a snap in the loop at about two inches from the top. That will make it fit most belts about right. Pay attention to how you sheath this knife. The interior of the leather isn't cut to fit the saw teeth on the knife's spine, so the sheath conforms to the knife as you put it in and out. Unless you want to chew up both sides of the sheath inside, sheath the knife the same way every time.

If you take a look at the list of knives above and can't find one you like for outdoor field use, then either you're way too picky or I'm way too simple minded. There is something there to suit everyone's needs. Enjoy!!!

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