There are several brands of cheap under $10 birds beak peelers that are being incorporated as Pikal blades. Victorinox and Zwilling among the best. These are then bound with bank line to improve the grip and the looks. From looking around I have also found a $50 model with a full tang that I am going to remove the timber grips and grind out the rear divet on the back of the spine before attempting to do a Japanese style braid. I don’t believe anyone has tried this with a full tang before.
Trainers are also available. I’m purposely not putting links on where to purchase blades, sheaths or how to make.
A mate came up with these for sale and I said if he ever going to part with them to let me know.
After several more weeks confined to a hospital room over Christmas and New years I came to the conclusion that its time to give up on several martial arts and just specialize on the arts I really love, due to scar tissue and injuries. Im sticking to maybe Arnis and definitely Aikido Jo staff and really want to learn as many blade styles as I can possibly find. Bowie at the top of the list along with Pikal. The needle point Nephilim to fill the Bowie roll.
Ive always liked the design of the Tops Bob Feildcraft, however thought there were a few improvements to be made. The ferro rod striker on the pommel was useless and required being removed. A 90 degree spine needed filing. Also the gimping was very sharp . I’m also thinking of putting spacers underneath the grip to fatten it up before sanding back the corners to remove the squarish shape of the grip.The edge was terrible for a tops and still needs a lot of work to get it to slice and not tear cardboard and paper. I’m using a foam sanding block to convex the edge. The over-bight was the worse Ive ever experienced when I first purchased it. I had been trying to sell it rather than fool around modifying it but had no takers and finally motivated myself to see if it would make a useful blade. I see many you-tubers rave about this design ? It hasn’t really stood up to the other Tops blades I have, that have been great straight from the factory. So we will see after a little more work with emery paper what the outcome will be.
ferro striker beforeferro striker sizespine requied sharpening to 90 deg and gimping softenedstill a little proud on one side, a little more work to do on the pommelspine sharpenedI spray all my micarta grips with INOX (food grade oil) it seals the paper and doesnt mark up with oil from your hands
I was watching Jason Salyer On Three, discussing swapping out his multi tool and folders for a small fixed blade. My multi tools have also become too heavy to keep in my pocket. Preferring to keep them in my vehicle and backpack. My SAK’s have also gone the same way. I like having them in packs for backups but rarely ever carry them now. I generally use a heavy folder, however Jason got me thinking of a small fixed blade.
I came up with three choices ;
First the Busse Game Warden 3 inch. Being quite hard to come by now. I have owned two of these and liked the design. One was a necker, the other a fat version almost a centimeter thick. Im looking for a 1/8th or 3/16th spine.
Second a Winkler SD2 which I’m favoring due to having a pointy tip. However a drop point in that size is less tactical looking for use in a cross-draw sheath.
Thirdly a Reiff Knives F3 in magnacut.
The Busse will take some time to track down being my first choice. I know what they feel like in the hand. I have owned very few Winklers so I am tempted from that perspective. The Reiff being the easiest to order within Australia.
Looking up the current line up from Winkler knives I came across a Lost lakes Camp knife being an almost 7 inch throw back to his forging days.
I was actually looking to purchase a ZT 0006 when I stumbled upon the Spartan Harsey. The grip feels very heavy for a fighter. I may have to take off the scales and see if there are any lightning holes.
My next purchase a ZT 0006 however Ill have to modify the pommel to either a glass breaker or fill it in. I don’t like the screw on butt cap.
Ive been waiting for the new Reiff knives F6’s to come into the country in Magnacut. I have one on hold till next fortnight when I can do a payment. I couldn’t make up my mind between the 3V and Magnacut, however the Magnacut came in at a good price and supplied with a leather sheath.
I was watching the two you-tube clips below on edge modifications to a Cold Steel Recon Scout 3V and sent mine off to a mate to have the edge checked to see if was worth me adjusting the angle from 25 degrees to 20 degrees. He firstly asked if it were to be used as a skinner/fighter or a chopper/survival knife. This was was purely for survival. His opinion was to leave it as is. With Australian hardwoods a sharper angel would chip the edge. The edge itself he thought would require honing only on his Japanese Water Stones. One comment on the bottom of the clips was that they decided not to purchase a Recon due t the change in ownership and quality control, however I found this rendition of the Recon I have liked the most. My friend also has an original recon and believes that the grip is also slightly thicker but has yet to find the carbon model to double check.
He has also modified the sheath to use as a cross-draw by manufacturing an adapter plate.
Along with an adapter to make the Extrema Ratio Pugio fit better onto molle.
The third project was to add an primary bevel to the TOPS El Pionero false edge.
The Caldwell 1 in 6. A 6 inch blade with palm swell, micarta grip, no choil ,made in 1/4 inch CPM154 steel. I fitted my ESSE 6 Broom handle version over the top of this and the blade shape was almost the same. However the design captured both the ESSE 5 thickness with the ESSE 6 length making for the perfect combination. With the full height grind it actually feels lighter than the ESSE 5 and Becker BK2, even with the extra inch of steel at the tip. I usually recommend ESSE knives to people and had to put this one up to show what an ESSE with a 1/4 inch spine in a 6 inch blade would look like with 3D grips. I believe there were under 200 Caldwells made in this model.
