New Knife

[Ben]

I've had an interest of late in bushcraft knives (besides Moras, which I have a few of). I had seen links to knives like the Ontario SK5, but it and others like it were just too expensive for basically a lark. I then came across the Condor Bushlore for $32 at Amazon. the reviews seemed quite good, and the knife looked good, so I figured for that price, what the heck.

It came a couple of days ago, and I'm really, really pleased with the knife, especially at its price point. It's a full tang, Scandi grind knife with a hardwood handle. The most accurate thing I can say about the handle is that it fits me like a glove. Most "comfortable" knife I have ever held. It's definitely not for anyone looking for an ultralight - this thing has heft. They're made in El Salvador, but the build quality is quite good. Where there might be some quality control issues is in the final sharpening. Reviews ran the gamut from "razor sharp" to, "not that sharp". Mine came as "not that sharp". I spent 10 minutes on the sharpening stones though, and got it to shave hair. Super easy to sharpen between the Scandi grind and the carbon steel.

I obviously haven't put it fully through its paces yet, but have played around carving and batoning wood, cutting the steak I grilled up today, and running it across the flint on a magnesium fire starter (lots of sparks). It did well with everything. It's just built solid. I expect it to continue to perform well. If I were spending time in a cabin in the boonies, this would be the knife I'd have on my belt every day. Description in the URL below. I'm now actually looking at putting their Kephart knife on my acquisition list as well. They also make a variety of machetes that appear to get really good reviews. I'm sure something like the SK5 is a better knife, but having this one in hand, the SK5 is probably not $100 better than the Condor.

http://www.amazon.com/Condor-Bushlore-4-375-Inch-Walnut-Leather/dp/B002CC6BPM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1438482784&sr=8-1&keywords=condor+knife

[dogmush]

They aren't $32, but I have a medium and a large ESEE that serve as my general purpose camping/survival knives. (The big one has also done two deployments on my body armor)

Great knives. 

I would suspect that your Condor will be fine for the first couple years, but that cost differential will become more obvious after some hard use.

[Ben]

I would suspect that your Condor will be fine for the first couple years, but that cost differential will become more obvious after some hard use.

Quite possibly - time will tell. The $100+ knives looked nice, but like I said in the OP, this was more of a lark just to see what this style knife was all about for doing things I wouldn't want to put one of my ZT folders through, and I couldn't justify that cost for something I might hate. One of the name brand ones might be in my future though, you never know.

In the meantime, this thing is basically just an 1/8" thick hunk of steel, so it doesn't seem like much could go wrong that can't be fixed with a grinder or a file, at least for the weekend warrior stuff I'll do with it. If nothing else, if it fails at other stuff, it'll make a fine, "old guy sitting in the rockin' chair carving on a piece of wood" knife. 

[dogmush]

In the meantime, this thing is basically just an 1/8" thick hunk of steel, so it doesn't seem like much could go wrong that can't be fixed with a grinder or a file, at least for the weekend warrior stuff I'll do with it. If nothing else, if it fails at other stuff, it'll make a fine, "old guy sitting in the rockin' chair carving on a piece of wood" knife. 

Which is an important niche to have filled.

I find that basic style and shape of knife useful enough that you might decide it's more then a lark down the road.

[mtnbkr]

To the OP: Those knives get pretty good reviews and feedback on bushcraftusa.com.  Enough that I've considered buying one.

Regarding Esee:  nice knives, especially for the price.  I have a Candiru and a Kabar BK14 (colab between Kabar and Esee, combines blade of BK "Necker" and handle from Esee Izula).  I'm still kicking myself for not buying the last Esee 3 from Knivesshipfree's pre-move Esee clearance. It was a green/orange model for $69.99. :(  However, I have the BK14, a BK2, and a custom hunting knife, so having the Esee 3 was a bit redundant.  Still, would be nice to have a hard use knife in that size for that price.

Chris

[Ben]

Something I realized when I started looking at the bushcraft knives is that I really don't have much in the way of fixed blade knives. The Moras, a couple of dive knives, and a cheap ass Cold Steel Ghurki I keep in the truck. I had more fixed blade knives when I was a kid than I do now.

Most of my everyday stuff both when I worked and now was best done by a folder, for ease of carry / unobtrusiveness as much as anything else. That's a knife style where I gladly paid more since my primary concern on failure was the mechanism. I generally went stainless as well since I was around salt water a lot. They also have always seemed to do the job for most things. I've even processed dove with a ZT 200 (though the Moras are of course much better for that).

So as much as I was focusing on the bushcraft knives, I'm generally getting an interest in collecting a few more fixed blade knives.

[Mannlicher]

I have been trying out different knives for camping/bushcraft use.  The two I like best, were made for me in the UK, by Mark Hill.  The smaller one is with O1 steel, and the larger with RWL34 Stainless.
They both work fine, and both are well suited for  bushcraft type tasks.  Carving, whitling, cutting cordage,  making fire tender.  They are both scandi grind, with a very unique, and functional blade shape.  Handle material is Bocote Wood.

[mtnbkr]

I like O1 steel.  My hunting knife is made with it.  It has holds an edge very well and gets very sharp.

Chris

[Perd Hapley]

I have been trying out different knives for camping/bushcraft use.  The two I like best, were made for me in the UK, by Mark Hill.  The smaller one is with O1 steek, and the larger with RWL34 Stainless.
They both work fine, and both are well suited for  bushcraft type tasks.  Carving, whitling, cutting cordage,  making fire tender.  They are both scandi grind, with a very unique, and functional blade shape.  Handle material is Bocote Wood.

Why the Scandinavian grind?

[Regolith]

Why the Scandinavian grind?

Scandi grinds are very easy to sharpen and provide a really keen edge. You can also sharpen them at the same angle until the knife is completely gone.

OTOH the edge is unsupported so it is a bit fragile, though not more-so than a hollow-ground knife.

It's a bit of a tradeoff.

[Perd Hapley]

I've always thought the flat grind or convex grind (with either grind beginning from the spine on down) was the way to go.

[Mannlicher]

scandi grind works very well with wood.  Most of my use afield, is with wood.  The scandi grind is durable, easy to touch up, really digs into soft and hardwoods. 
Convex grind also works well, and in fact, just about anything other than a deeply hollow ground edge, will do most woods and camping tasks.  Knives are tools, and I try to use the best one for the task at hand.