Spartan Blades: Bill Harsey Designed Hunter & Difensa, and the Phrike (VERY Pic Hvy)

Excellent reviews! I've been on the fence about getting a Phrike but after reading through this post I'm gonna pick one up. Looking forward to more reviews from you, especially of that Akribis. :D
 
Quiet said:
Mistwalker, reading this thread feels like discovering a new author, exciting and satisfying all at once. I can't wait to read some of your other posts, and eagerly await your upcoming post on urban survival. I somehow think it's going to be a great read. :thumbup:
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Thank you for your compliments. I've done quite a few posts here, but I've definitely gotten more comfortable with the writing part over the years. The last urban survival discussion I started went something like twelve pages long with all of the discussion, but it takes me a while to save back the notes and photos for such a discussion so it's a few days and maybe weeks away just yet...
 
mistwalker said:
Thank you for your compliments. I've done quite a few posts here, but I've definitely gotten more comfortable with the writing part over the years. The last urban survival discussion I started went something like twelve pages long with all of the discussion, but it takes me a while to save back the notes and photos for such a discussion so it's a few days and maybe weeks away just yet...
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Is there any chance you'd have the link to that thread handy? You uhhh...you've started a LOT of threads, brother. :D

I'd certainly appreciate a pointing in the right direction!
 
TC4Taay said:
Excellent reviews! I've been on the fence about getting a Phrike but after reading through this post I'm gonna pick one up. Looking forward to more reviews from you, especially of that Akribis. :D
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I really like the Phrike for my uses. It is thin and light, but very functional :) The Akribis is undergoing testing daily, but I am thinking of posting up an initial review with several close up pics of it. Damn I love this knife :)


Quiet said:
Is there any chance you'd have the link to that thread handy? You uhhh...you've started a LOT of threads, brother. :D

I'd certainly appreciate a pointing in the right direction!
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Ah, you noticed that. Yeah...apparently I am a camera addict that likes to talk a lot.... :)

This would be it, it is from back in '09. Several pages long, but only seven. I am looking forward to doing another in a new area, and seeing how that discussion goes...
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/640368-Thoughts-on-Urban-Survival
 
mistwalker said:
Ah, you noticed that. Yeah...apparently I am a camera addict that likes to talk a lot.... :)

This would be it, it is from back in '09. Several pages long, but only seven. I am looking forward to doing another in a new area, and seeing how that discussion goes...
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/640368-Thoughts-on-Urban-Survival
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Thank you very much. I am interested in the subject myself so I'm going to give this a read tonight, and look forward to your next one. As for your pictures, as an Eagle scout who grew up camping pretty much every weekend and working at BSA summer camps every summer, only to grow up and be shackled to a desk for a living...keep taking those pictures and posting 'em up. :thumbup:
 
caine said:
Love there stuff
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Me too man, and totally digging the Akribis. It's pricey, but man is it awesome :)

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I just found out that their shop is like 5 miles from my brother in law's house in NC. I've driven by there a hundred times and had no idea
 
Excellent review! Thanks for all the pics as well. The Difensa has been my missing unicorn ever since it came out. I go onto their website every couple of weeks just to look at it! Thanks for confirming everything about the knife like the toughness of the Spartacoat and the true durability of their blades. I run my fixed blades pretty hard out on my land and looks like the Difensa will hold up well!
 
Stoneyarder said:
Excellent review! Thanks for all the pics as well. The Difensa has been my missing unicorn ever since it came out. I go onto their website every couple of weeks just to look at it! Thanks for confirming everything about the knife like the toughness of the Spartacoat and the true durability of their blades. I run my fixed blades pretty hard out on my land and looks like the Difensa will hold up well!
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The Difensa is awesome. It had me a little concerned at first with the tip being thinner than the Hunter, but tests showed the tip to be strong enough to suit me. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't sinking the knife as far as I could then wrenching it sideways in those pics, I felt my way into it. But it's definitely strong. The cryo-quench they use is pretty awesome. It's funny, I wanted the 6 inch blade of the Difensa over the 5 inch blade of the Hunter at first, but in the end I still carry the Hunter more than any of the others in the field, other than the Akribis, which has become an edc for me.
 
I've used the Difensa thouroughly and have many friends who have one and taken them to some pretty extreme areas and beat on them pretty hard... so far there is nothing but praise from all of us. the spartan boys did well with this one and its a real workhorse. In testing, i batonned it through wood till i was tired, hacked a whitetail deer antler in half with it, stabbed it through a car door and jabbed it into a 2x4 several times and pryed it out with no real damage (other than a slight dulling on the tip from the car door and a few scratches). Although i don't recommend trying it with your own, i have so i know it can be done and if it can stand up to that foolishness, i have no problem giving it the thumbs up.
 
rustyrazor said:
I've used the Difensa thouroughly and have many friends who have one and taken them to some pretty extreme areas and beat on them pretty hard... so far there is nothing but praise from all of us. the spartan boys did well with this one and its a real workhorse. In testing, i batonned it through wood till i was tired, hacked a whitetail deer antler in half with it, stabbed it through a car door and jabbed it into a 2x4 several times and pryed it out with no real damage (other than a slight dulling on the tip from the car door and a few scratches). Although i don't recommend trying it with your own, i have so i know it can be done and if it can stand up to that foolishness, i have no problem giving it the thumbs up.
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Oh yeah, the Difensa is tough as hell. I didn't baby it at all, I beat the crap out of it. I just ended up preferring the shorter blade of the Hunter in the field after all. Maybe I'm just getting old :D
 
mistwalker said:
Oh yeah, the Difensa is tough as hell. I didn't baby it at all, I beat the crap out of it. I just ended up preferring the shorter blade of the Hunter in the field after all. Maybe I'm just getting old :D
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thats not getting old... its just getting to know what you like better. i'm of the same mind. I'll take a shorter blade of 4.5-5.5 almost any day ...assuming its primary task isn't chopping it will do almost everything as well and most things you need done better than a larger blade and be more comfortable to weild and carry. still carry my fallkniven f1 more than any other knife i own, and i have quite a few to choose from.

...oh god. maybe im getting old too
 
It's funny how we develop our tastes over time. For years I carried an issue survival knife, then found it too small for chopping and carried Bowies a while. And my father who was a Marine would shake his head, asking why I wanted a knife that big. Eventually I started carrying a Ka-Bar like his old one in the woods sometimes and an old Schrade Woodsman sometimes. The next time I took the Bowie out it seemed huge. Then I went back to the old issue survival knife that was a gift from a close friend, and it still seemed too small. When I got my first SOG Bowie in the late 80s, the 6 inch blade seemed perfect to me for years to come. Now I usually go with something between 5 and 6 inches and I am comfortable. I was surprised to find I actually prefer the 5 inch blade of the Hunter over the 6 inch blade of the Difensa when the Difensa has a perfect neutral balance and the Hunter is actually a little handle heavy and the handles are nearly identical in shape. But...that's just the way it worked out for me.
 
RaNDoM82 said:
You wrote great reviews and take some pretty awesome pictures!
-Curtis
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Thank you Curtis! I'm glad you enjoyed the post!


308shooter147 said:
Seriously considering the phrike. Thanks for your very through review.
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The Phrike is nice, very handy size, very utilitarian. I finally got the Nyx that caught my eye originally, and am thinking about getting the Enyo later.

The Nyx is really nice, about the same size as the Hunter, but with the saber grind it's a bit more blade-heavy and I like that for a more rough-use field knife. So, I'll be doing a review of this one later on :)

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Wild grapes I found on a hike :)

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