BOSS1
Gold Member
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2008
- Messages
- 1,700
Greetings all,
Awhile back, I was on the hunt for some inexpensive full-tang fixed blades to introduce some youngsters into camping/outdoor activities. You can see it here:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...is-Starter-Fixed-Blade-Buck-Gerber-Mora-Other
Long story short, I selected the Browning Ignite: http://www.browning.com/products/knives/survival-knives/ignite-black-and-orange.html
There's a couple videos on the 'Tube about it that you can view, but thought I'd give you my $.02 worth as I have them now in hand.
First a couple things...this is a $20, foreign manufacture knife, so keep it in perspective.
That being said, I'm pretty impressed with what my $20 bought. It is a small/compact knife. If you have dinner plate meat mits, look elsewhere. For my med-large hands, its OK, but if they were much bigger, probably wouldn't work out super well...which means for kids, women, and those with med-large (or smaller hands), this is a good choice. The scales are grippy but leave a small boarder of the tang exposed for gripping. If you deliberately over squeeze this knife, it might get uncomfortable, but if you just hold it as normal, its seems fine. Jimping and subtle guards work well enough...you shouldn't have your hand slide forward during normal usage unless you're stabbing really, really hard.
Blade is one of the foreign stainless 7-Cr steel. It's reasonably/functionally sharp out of the packaging...not 'scary' sharp, which probably isn't a bad thing at this point. Profile is a pretty usable drop point design and I like the tip is more/less centerline with the length of the knife. Blade is reasonably thick, and it tapers to a pretty fine point. No, this isn't going to side pry seasoned hardwoods like the tip on a high-end 3V blade...but again, nowhere near the same class.
Full tang with functional lanyard. I've already attached a blaze orange reflective lanyard to the blade. You could probably break a window with it in a pinch if needed. Combined with the Blaze Orange color trim, it should be pretty easy to spot in camp or if dropped in some brush (provided you haven't travelled to far).
The sheath is injected molded, but pretty darn secure...I don't see the blade or fire steel falling out during reasonable activities.
Overall, if you're looking for a compact/trim knife of kids maturing into outdoor fixed blade usage and you want a full tang and a fire steel, that if gets lost or broken, you're only out about $20, take a look....might fit your needs.
I'll do some cutting and maybe put it on the Apex Edge Pro and see what we can get out of it.
Cheers,
BOSS
Awhile back, I was on the hunt for some inexpensive full-tang fixed blades to introduce some youngsters into camping/outdoor activities. You can see it here:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...is-Starter-Fixed-Blade-Buck-Gerber-Mora-Other
Long story short, I selected the Browning Ignite: http://www.browning.com/products/knives/survival-knives/ignite-black-and-orange.html
There's a couple videos on the 'Tube about it that you can view, but thought I'd give you my $.02 worth as I have them now in hand.
First a couple things...this is a $20, foreign manufacture knife, so keep it in perspective.
That being said, I'm pretty impressed with what my $20 bought. It is a small/compact knife. If you have dinner plate meat mits, look elsewhere. For my med-large hands, its OK, but if they were much bigger, probably wouldn't work out super well...which means for kids, women, and those with med-large (or smaller hands), this is a good choice. The scales are grippy but leave a small boarder of the tang exposed for gripping. If you deliberately over squeeze this knife, it might get uncomfortable, but if you just hold it as normal, its seems fine. Jimping and subtle guards work well enough...you shouldn't have your hand slide forward during normal usage unless you're stabbing really, really hard.
Blade is one of the foreign stainless 7-Cr steel. It's reasonably/functionally sharp out of the packaging...not 'scary' sharp, which probably isn't a bad thing at this point. Profile is a pretty usable drop point design and I like the tip is more/less centerline with the length of the knife. Blade is reasonably thick, and it tapers to a pretty fine point. No, this isn't going to side pry seasoned hardwoods like the tip on a high-end 3V blade...but again, nowhere near the same class.
Full tang with functional lanyard. I've already attached a blaze orange reflective lanyard to the blade. You could probably break a window with it in a pinch if needed. Combined with the Blaze Orange color trim, it should be pretty easy to spot in camp or if dropped in some brush (provided you haven't travelled to far).
The sheath is injected molded, but pretty darn secure...I don't see the blade or fire steel falling out during reasonable activities.
Overall, if you're looking for a compact/trim knife of kids maturing into outdoor fixed blade usage and you want a full tang and a fire steel, that if gets lost or broken, you're only out about $20, take a look....might fit your needs.
I'll do some cutting and maybe put it on the Apex Edge Pro and see what we can get out of it.
Cheers,
BOSS