Tag Archives: field knife

Helle Harding

by Woodsbum

I have been waiting for about 3 years for a Skookum Bush Tool from Rod Garcia and for right at 2 years for a SPL knife from Steven Long. Both of which were slotted to be my neck knives while I was out in the woods. Unfortunately, I am still a ways down the list for both of these creations so I finally decided that I needed to get something that would fit the bill until I got either of these customs. After searching the Internet and messing around with several different knives I set my heart upon a Scandi grind of some sort that had around a 4 inch or less blade, but was full tang and had a good handle to do minor wood processing and carving. What I found that I really thought would work well was the Helle Harding.

Helle Harding

Helle Harding

On Amazon these knives are around the $140 mark, but I got mine at a local shop for $125. This definitely fit within my price range and the size, feel and weight were exactly what I was looking for. The stacked handle adds almost no weight to the knife overall and the blade itself feels quite light and agile in my hand. The sheath is real leather and there is a retaining flap that locks the knife in place when sheathed. This really gave me increased peace of mind that I could wear this all day long and not worry about losing the knife somewhere along the way.

Everyone is going to have to forgive my pictures. Like almost every outing I have, I leave my phone in my vehicle and almost never take a fully charged camera with me. It has gotten to be an almost impossible task for me to remember that I need to take pictures. Because of this you guys are going to have to suffer with my impromptu photo session on my lunch break. I think even these pictures will allow you to see how well this knife performs on even the least perfect of situations.

Over the years I have become quite the fan of Scandi grinds. What I love most about them is how easily they cut through wood and make curls for fire starting. I am not sure if it is just how I use a knife or if it works this way for everyone, but I exert far less energy and pay way less attention to my technique when using a Scandi grind. These pictures will show you how easily I was able to make some feather sticks with a less than desirable wood choice. Considering this was all done during my lunch break, I was very happy with how well it sliced right through this water logged dead branch without chipping it up too much. Again, it was not a wood choice I would have made if I was not desperate to take some pictures for this post.

Feather Sticks

Feather Sticks

Mind you that this wood was at the initial starts of being punky. It was really right in that perfect spot where (if it was dry) you could make a very efficient bow drill set out of it. As a matter of fact I am going to set it aside and let it dry for a while, then carve out a spindle and hearth.

With almost no effort at all, this guy just sliced right through the wood and made nice curls. Most of them broke off at the end as you can see, but each cut curled multiple times. The sweet spot on this blade seems to be the entire cutting surface. There are no areas that seem to cut worse or better than another. It will be interesting how it performs once it dulls several times and I have to resharpen it. If it can keep the current cutting efficiency even after multiple sharpenings, I will be quite impressed.

Here is a better look at both the knife and how it cut this very brittle branch.

Cutting Power

Cutting Power

The knife also works very well for field dressing animals harvested in the field. Well, it works quite well for the ducks I tested it on. I could see this as a field knife that would handle any task thrown at it, although like all general purpose items it would not excel at every task.

Overall I am quite impressed with this buy. The grind on the blade is a very capable feather stick maker, the agile feel to the blade allows for fairly intricate carving (although I am horrible at carving and refuse to show my poorly made spoons to anyone), it works fairly well for game processing, and the weight is negligible. If anyone I run into is looking for a mid sized knife to use for general camping chores I will now recommend this particular knife.

Now that I have picked this up I am concerned that I will have a hard time choosing between this and the two customs I have on order. Too many options!!!!

  • Share on Tumblr

Parangs

by Woodsbum

Due to a surprise opportunity to snag up a Turley parang this last weekend, I decided to do a quick post on parangs before mine showed up in the mail. Once my Turley shows up I will do a quick post on it as well.

There seems to be a lot of talk on various forums and websites about chopping style knives, machetes, parangs, cleavers versus axes. These discussions always seem to get a bit heated and end up with coming to the simple conclusion that there is no one best knife, only the best knife for that person.

Even though these type scenarios end in a stalemate of sorts, comparisons and evaluations of design are always interesting topics

Parangs seems to be collective term for short swords, big knives and machetes that come from Southeast Asia. There are many designs that fall into this category to include bent bladed machetes, straight blades, oddly curved ones, etc. Here are a few pictures of blades that are considered parangs.

Condor Parang

Condor Parang

Turley Parang

Turley Parang

Ray Mears Parang

Ray Mears Parang

There really is a huge variance in the shapes and handles. The one I just picked up has about an 8.5″ long handle and 7.25″ blade. The blade is 1/16″ 15n20 steel and has a fairly simple convex grind.

No matter what the shape of the blade and handle, parangs are designed to have a very specific area of the blade for various tasks. The front is usually designed for skinning, middle for chopping, and part toward the handle is for carving. Sometimes the back edge is sharpened as well for shaving/processing wood for fire.

Parang handles also have a larger end around the pommel so that your hand doesn’t slip during use. The materials also tend to be those that are a bit more textured to alleviate slippage.

The nice thing about these designs is that there is no hard and fast rule. You can design something that fits the 3 distinct cutting areas, has a longer handle, and the blade is from 6″ to over 24″ long and call it a parang.

Once I get my Turley parang in the mail, I will do a review of it and let you know how it works in comparison to a machete. Although I am not a parang fan, I am not a parang hater either. It will be interesting to see how it functions during hard use.

  • Share on Tumblr

ESEE 3 with Sheath and Grizzly Firesteel

by Woodsbum

Several years ago I picked up an ESEE 3 knife for use as a bushcrafting neck knife. It is tough, keeps an edge, is light weight for its size and actually fits my large hands. There are all sorts of reviews and perspectives on this knife floating around the Internet. What I wanted to do was to show you how 3 years of hard bushcrafting use will do to this knife and how a few good accessories will make this a phenomenal field tool.

My ESEE 3 with Grizzly sheath and firesteel

My ESEE 3 with Grizzly sheath and firesteel

First off, let me talk about the knife. I got this as a NIB “catch and release” from someone who did not like the weight or narrow stature of this knife. This allowed me to get it at about 60% of the normal cost without it having ever been used. It was still in the plastic that it was shipped in. This is important to note because all the wear and tear you see was done by me in the woods. When it came to me I found that it had some sort of odd coating over the entire blade, excluding the sharpened edge. This made it impossible to use as a striker or to get a spark off a firesteel. I went ahead and squared off the spine of the blade and made it capable of use with a firesteel. This was the only modification I made to the knife itself.

Squared off spine

Squared off spine

The other accessories that I got that made this the great field tool that it is were the ESEE sheath and a firesteel from Grizzly. The sheath is very well constructed and has an internal tension type retention for the blade. It will hang upside down all day long without issue, but will pop right out with only a little pressure from my thumb and a pull. It also does not rattle at all in the sheath while hiking, hunting or general be-bopping around in the woods. The firesteel stays in place very well in the molded Kydex attachment. All being said, this is a very nice setup for someone wanting a dependable field knife.

As you can see from the pictures, I have used the firesteel quite a bit. It is not a tough as one of the H60’s, but it is a close second. I would not hesitate to use this as my primary fire igniter or as a secondary system in case something happens.

There are clips for the sheath that allow you to carry the knife in a variety of ways. Since I wanted something that I could slip around my neck for any number of outdoors activities like duck hunting or general camping, I opted for a neck carry. As time as gone on, I am now considering getting a clip to attach this knife to my tactical chest rig. Only time will tell if I move forward with that plan, but it is definitely something that I have been considering.

I can not speak highly enough of this configuration. For less than $150 you can get a screaming deal on a knife configuration that will last you a lifetime if you take care of it. I highly recommend this for anyone looking at a production type field knife.

  • Share on Tumblr