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Rustic Forge
Email Us @ rusticforgeknives@bigpond.com A Review Lightweight
Field Knife Back to
Knives Back
to Knife Reviews Before proceeding
with this review I have to admit to some bias re this knife as I was involved
with it from the conceptual stage along with some other Aussie Barkies. Mike
Stewart from Bark River Knife and Tool posted details of their “Lil’
Storm” Within a couple of
weeks Mike had produced the prototype:
I was happy with the
result as I was looking for a Lightweight Field knife for Australian
conditions as follows:
Of course it wasn’t
until I actually held one in my hand that I knew our objective had truly been
achieved. I ended up choosing the “Snowy River” with the Antique Stag Bone
(ASB) and Ivory Spacer as my personal knife. Due to the lack of ASB of a
suitable width the handle is thinner and less shaped then say the Black
Canvas Micarta (BCM) knife but is still quite comfortable in the hand and
weighed in at 3.35oz and 5.11oz with the sheath.
Knife
Holds Before proceeding to
the “out of the box” testing bench I decided to check out the different knife
holds for the “Snowy River”. Over time I have “whittled” (pun intended) the
number of different holds down to:
The Basic Hold The Press Cut The Thrust Hold The Finger Hold The Thumb Press Hold In using all the
holds above and some others I found the “Snowy River” to be comfortable in
the hand and no “hot spots” developed although the edge of the bottom end of
the butt felt sharp in the hand when using the thrust hold and an adjustment
is necessary. This is important with a Lightweight Knife as it is designed
for lengthy use and its lightweight in the hand is not as tiring as using a
Heavyweight Knife in a similar fashion. One of the advantages of ASB is given
the grooved surface you get added traction in your hand esp., in wet
conditions. I might add here that the Micarta version is more comfortable for
heavy work over a long period and again no slippage in the hand is apparent. The “Snowy River”
has the added security of a guard which many still like but if you prefer the
guardless variety of knives you won’t have any real problems with the “Snowy
River’s” guard in that it is not large and bulky and is well contoured. And,
of course there is the Guardless version available. The top of the guard has
a small rise of about 1/8” which can be used as a thumb rest. Out
of the Box As we have come to
expect with Bark River products the “Snowy River” was sharp out of the box
–When reviewing knives I am always mindful that the average End Line User (ELU)
prefers to buy a knife that can be put to work straight away so I believe out
of the box sharpness is an important factor and I don’t hesitate to recommend
4 brands because of this and they are Bark River; Fallkniven; Spyderco; and
Kabar. Now whilst the “Snowy River” has a “Scandi” type grind it is still a
convex grind and as such is sharpened in a different manner to that for your
basic beveled flat ground Knife. It is not hard to do once you know how and
here is Reid’s (aka Sharpshooter BRF) HOW TO with thanks to
the Bark River Knife Collector’s Association. Cutting
Tests The first medium I
attacked with the Snowy River was 3/8” Manila Rope and the blades sailed through it although I expected nothing
else as I have never had a Bark River fail this test yet. Next was some 1”
wide strips of 5/16” Leather, now
this stuff is old and tough and has stopped a couple of Bark Rivers in the
past but the “Snowy River” handled it easily whether at 1/8” or ¼” from the
end or 6” from the end which is the toughest cut to get through and it was at
this part of the testing procedure that I started to concur with Mike’s
claims of a laser edge. The Carrot
test confirmed that Bark River had got the profile right as the blade was
able to cut through the thick end of a new crisp carrot without any splitting
occurring. Cutting Cardboard can
bring many a knife undone esp., across the “grain” cuts but again the “Snowy River
“had no problems and I was able to cut out curves which cause many a knife to
stick and grab but not this knife. As is usual practice the next medium
tested was Wood by way of a ½”
hardwood dowel – the Snowy River was quickly able to bring the dowel to a
point which confirmed my view that the blade will suffice for many bushcraft
activities given its Scandi type grind. At this point I decided to check the sharpness of the edge and it was
still taking hairs off my arm in easy fashion – not bad for a knife out of
the box which at this stage hadn’t even been stropped on my jeans. My normal
test for Meat is to debone a
chicken leg and thigh but on this occasion I had a mess of pork spareribs to
debone and cube. The “Snowy River” made short work of the job at hand and at
the end was again still shaving hairs. Edge
Retention Testing The “Snowy River”
was able to make the required 40 cuts of 3/8” Manila Rope and I formed the view that it was on par with the “Mini North Star” When it comes to Leather the “Snowy” excels it just
kept on cutting and as far as edge retention goes it is probably the best on
this medium. It goes to prove that not only steel and heat treat make a blade
but it is also about profile and geometry. Another attribute came to the fore
on the leather and that was this knives ability to skive (shave) whether it
was taking micro thick shavings from saddlery leather or beveling the edges
of “chamois”. I also noticed this on wood as it was able to act like a Spokes
Shave on dried timber and was really adept at removing the bark from green
saplings and branches. Our cardboard box pile had built up I
took the opportunity to reduce a couple of large ones to compost heap fodder.
The result was very pleasing whether cutting with or against the grooves and
after 200 odd cuts the “Snowy River” would still shave hairs again like the
leather IMO the profile and geometry of this knife helped here. In conclusion I
would rate the “Snowy River” as having good edge retention and believe that
you would be able to field dress 4 or 5 ‘Roos without having to resort to
having to strop. I’ve handled a few Scandinavian Knives in my time and I
don’t think they could improve on the “Snowy River”. Bark River’s “Mike
Stewart Scandi Grind” is a definite winner in a lightweight knife – IMO it is
a definite improvement over the traditional “Scandi Grind” without being
considered as a massive departure. Field
Testing Vegetation – I had a vine that needed pruning back from the gate and the
“Snowy River” easily accounted for canes up to ¼” thick in one cut whilst
thicker vines needed a couple of cuts; On the Farm – the Snowy River was able to do all the normal cutting jobs such
as hay bale twine, opening feed bags, cutting up feed bags and shade cloth
and on one occasion trimming goats hooves (it did this as well as the shears
I normally use but I did get a couple of rollovers on the edge but that is to
be expected with a knife with thinner edge geometry than your regular Bark
River Convex or appleseed grind where there is more steel behind the edge.
The “rollovers” were easily fixed. Game – we trapped a few rabbits on the place next door (we use a net
“tube” which is staked around the entrance to the warren which is kinder, I
hope, then the old steel traps and I used the “Snowy River” to skin, gut and
clean them. Normally I use my Spyderco “Delica” All in all the
“Snowy River” as a lightweight hunter, up to Fallow sized deer, excels and
worked as well as my Huntsman which is designed for the job. Fish – no time for fishing at the moment but the supermarket deli
had some nice Flathead in so I bought a couple to fillet. I am a proponent of
stiff knives for filleting so the “Snowy River “was no stranger to me in that
department and worked well. Given its Stainless Steel it makes a good
freshwater fishing knife. Bushcraft – this is where the “Snowy River” easily excels. As has been
mentioned it has a Scandi type grind and many Bushcraft exponents swear by
the Scandi style knives. I decided to try it on the following:
In conclusion IMO
the “Snowy River” makes a fine Lightweight Bushcraft Knife esp., for Aussie
Conditions. Summary As
I said at the beginning I have some bias towards the “Snowy River”, because
of my small involvement it its design, but that shouldn’t take away from the
fact that this is an excellent Lightweight Field Knife. IMO
it is not often that we see this type of Knife today with such quality. The
Knifeworld’s “fads” go in cycles with preferences moving with the tides of
the whims of Knifemakers and ELU’s. It could be that the Snowy River will set
the standard for a new range of lightweight knives although Spyderco fans may
argue in favour of the Moran FB01 but that was released sometime ago but
still is IMO a fine knife similar to the “Snowy River” and I understand that
Spyderco itself will be bringing out a new Bushcraft Knife similar in style
to the UK Bushcraft Knives.. The
Snowy River is a truly international Knife – made in the USA by Bark River
Knife & Tool, a Knifemaker not backward in coming forward with new ideas
or resurrecting old ideas; it has BR’s interpretation of the Scandi Grind, a grind which has proved
itself over the years in Scandinavia and has a host of followers; and it has
an input from Australia where a good knife is needed in an often harsh
environment. As
I have said often my reviews are based on “USE” not “DESTRUCTION” – anybody
can find fault with a knife by using it outside of its parameters. I have
found little fault with the Snowy River. The handle with ASB is harder on
your hands then that with the Micarta and is not as comfortable. NB Hand fit
is a personal thing in many respects – the “Snowy River” will fit all sizes
some less comfortably then others and for the record I have below average
sized hands. Because of its 1/8” spine it is not as easy to work with on hard
cutting tasks with certain holds as with a knife with a ¼” spine but this is
a knife that when it has its optimum edge, which it keeps relatively well,
can do the cutting for you in many instances. The sheath is a “hand me down”
and is in fact the sheath for the Bark River Highland Special but it is
adequate and Bark River will bring out 2 new sheaths for the next run, 1 for
the standard model and 1 for the guardless version. Guardless
(GL) Version #1 I did have my “Snowy River” for a few months at the time I received the Guardless (GL)
version so I was quite used to the original. I have always been an admirer
and user of Scandi type knives and was particularly fond of a Rosselli “Carpenter” As far as us Aussies User were concerned we were in favour of
the guard because it gave the Snowy River its look and IMO harked back to
when similar knives were popular. During the testing period of the “Snowy
River” I did not find the guard as a hindrance and it is not a great
protuberance that gets in the way. When I first saw the GL version as I said I was amazed how
different it looked and felt. IMO it no longer looked like a traditional
field knife in fact it had a new persona. I decided to play with knife for a
couple of days before setting out to give it a good work out. The first thing I did was to judge the GL in the different Knife
Holds (see above):
How do the 2 knives compare in use:
Okay which is the better? If I had to make a choice between the
2 knives based on the tasks I expect of the knife I would go for the GL
version as IMO it is the most efficient and comfortable overall but if I
threw in sentimentality and looks I would go for the original. Once again
Bark River by providing the option is catering to the needs of all its
customers and whichever you have decided or will decide you won’t go wrong. NB In the next
production run the Snowy River GL will be a full Scandi version without the
swedge of the original Knife. Lil’ Snowy River NB Not yet in production And if that is not enough
for your Bark River did a few prototypes of the “Lil’ Snowy River” This isn’t my knife it’s Carol’s Carol’s Knife has an acrylic pearl handle with a 3” blade which
drops ¼” at the point and has a cutting edge of 2-7/8”. The blade is 1/8”
thick 12C27 at 58HRC and is 13/16” at its widest and has the Snowy River
“Scandi” grind. The handle is 4-1/4” long including the guard which gives the
Knife an OAL of 7-1/4”. The handle is a bit thinner then the normal Snowy
River at 15/32” and has a width of 31/32” the same as the Snowy. I wont
describe it as a Women’s Knife but given its dimensions I believe it is
better suited then the Fallkniven “WM1” One of the first things I did was compare it with my “Huntsman”
(see picture – Snowy River; Lil’ Snowy River and Huntsman)
As the Knife I tested is only a “prototype” and I am not aware
of Mike’s intentions re a production run I would suggest that if he does and
you are looking for a knife to fill a role as a Lightweight Hunter or a
Lightweight Bushcraft then give some thought to the Lil’ Snowy River. It will
also be interesting to see if Mike brings it out in a GL version – an
Americanized Puuko? If you already own a
“Snowy River” you will appreciate what this knife will do but it is not just
a smaller “Snowy River” as I feel it fills a niche in its own right and IMO
looks and feels completely different to the “Snowy River” hence earning a
place in the Bark River Stable. The Future Towards the end of this month (May 2007), as the first run of
Snowy Rivers have sold out, there will be a further production run of the
Snowy River in 2 models:
So, there will be plenty available for everyone. |
prototype, which was a downsized “Sandstorm”,
and was designed as a boot knife with a double quillion. We asked about the
possibility of having a similar knife with a single quillion and drop point
blade. Mike and the “Woodsbums” discussed the merits of such a proposal and
gave it the go ahead and asked us to give it a name. We came up with “Snowy River” as it seems to extol the
virtues of Australia’s wilderness and high country mountain streams where the
type of knife we were looking at would be useful.
My
“Snowy River” blade is 1/32nd” short of 4” with a cutting edge of
3-5/8” made out of Sandvik 12C27 Stainless Steel at 58HRC – I have only one
other 12C27 Bark River and that is the Mini North Star and I have found it
equal to Spyderco’s VG10 which says something for the heat treatment of
BRK&T given the difference in carbon percentages between the 2 steels (.6
for 12C27 and .95-1.05 for VG10). I like both of these steels as they are
clean finely grained steels which are easy to sharpen but hold a cutting edge
for a long time.
,
also in 12C27, and Spyderco’s Moran
FB01
being the new version without the convex edge and in VG10 stainless steel.
This is an excellent performance for this type of steel. At the end of this
test the knife would not shave hairs but the edge was bought back to life
with stropping on “coarse” and “fine” compounds applied to cork blocks.
but I was able to choke right up on the blade and use the point to make the incisions
and it worked well. Incidentally the “Snowy River” does have a very fine but
strong point which the swedge on mine combines with the grind to deliver a
very sharp point – just what you need for bunnies. When it came to gutting,
cleaning etc the Snowy River worked well again. I was able to sever the head
and feet etc with no degradation of the edge and when it come to cutting up
the rabbit for cooking again it went well. I might note here that despite
being a medium sized knife in length, or even a large knife by some
standards, due to its design and light weight it is easy to use on animals
the size of rabbits just as it was when it came to larger animals. I used the
“Snowy River” to kill, skin, gut and clean a lamb. I always use a knife where
possible to kill a lamb – I put it in a wooden cradle and slit its throat
quickly, no fuss, no real stress to the animal as they are used to being
handles as such during tailing and marking and as a result they bleed well
and the meat is more tender and sweeter. The knife worked well opening the
paunch etc, just about the same as my Bark River “Huntsman”
and the grip was sure. You don’t need much help from the knife in removing
the skin from a lamb but the “Snowy River” has enough belly if needed but be
careful as the Snowy River at its best is one sharp blade and it is easy to
“hole” the skin. When it come to working in the chest cavity, small on a
lamb, I used an extended finger hold and was able to find my way around with
ease.
I owned and I have never felt there was a need for a guard nor have I ever
had an accident as a result of a knife not having a guard.
So
overall I must say the GL version is more efficient and more comfortable to use
in the various knife holds – this is not to take anything away from the
original which is still a very efficient and comfortable knife to use.
(This
one is mine – I couldn’t resist it)
– Mike said he made it with her in mind. My first reaction was that it would
make a good “Fox Knife” and my second was Great! A 3” blade with a normal
size handle – it reminded me of a Roselli “Carpenter” I had some years ago –
smallish blade, normal sized handle and great for wood carving.
which has a “smaller handle for women”. Carol is very impressed with the Lil’
Snowy River and says the handle is “just right” – I expect it will end up in
her workshop (she repairs spinning wheels and weaving looms) and is always
doing a bit of wood carving and cutting of various materials. Carol is no
novice when it comes to Knives having her own collection incl., Opinels,
Spyderco’s and a Green River Patch Knife I customized which uses with her
craft. Plus she has been selling Knives for years now and often amazes buyers
with her knowledge of knives, steels etc. One thing Carol was adamant about
was the Guard she definitely likes it with a guard and having tried the
“Snowy River GL” is still in favour of the guard.
,
both knives are similar in length but the “Lil’ Snowy River” is a lot lighter
and more comfortable in the hand. IMO it will make a good lightweight hunter
esp., where you have a number of carcasses to do EG a good fox shooter may
get a dozen a night. I won’t bore you with all the cutting tests because I
have done those with the “Snowy River” except to say whilst it is not as good
a slicer as the “Mini North Star” in the Kitchen it does a good job and was
more comfortable plus there are a couple of areas where the “Lil’ Snowy
River” did excel: