French Army Bivouac Knife

I have an original French one and use it when hiking. Nice practical set. This one is real. Beware of Chinese copies, I have two that cost about $5.00 each.
 
Hey Mark...

Any idea where the ones from SportsmansGuide are from ??

Are they French Issue ??

If anyone decides to order any of these can they let me know before they do ??

They won't ship these to Canada,,and wouldn't mind a couple of sets

ttyle

Eric
O/ST
 
Dang, that's two knives in one week that you guys are forcing me to buy. I'd meant to buy a Case-style "hobo knife", but this is even cooler.

Oh, the other knife you're making me buy is the Ahti re-issue of the old Hackman butterfly-style fishing knife of Vietnam "company man" fame. Ragnar's got them for $17, blast his eyes...
 
Matt, I didn't need to hear about either of them. The Hackman has been on my get-one-sometime list since I found out I couldn't. And we are really broke right now.

Seeing the popularity of Ti sporks, one wonders if a twofer of a nice utility knife housing the spork wouldn't be a seller.

Googling Ragnar . . .
 
Sportsman's guide ones are from China. I have two. Not bad quality but the French one is better.
 
MatthewVanitas said:
Oh, the other knife you're making me buy is the Ahti re-issue of the old Hackman butterfly-style fishing knife of Vietnam "company man" fame. Ragnar's got them for $17, blast his eyes...
Click to expand...
They are not Ahti (ie made by puukko-smith Reino Kamppila & son), but by a company called Pertemet in Sorsakoski. They possibly may have been made with old Hackman machinery... The model is called "Retkiveitsi" ="camp knife". Kamppila makes the Ahti line of knives (actually named so by the distributor) in his Kauhava shop, with the assistance of his son Janne.

sorry for the off topic chat, but I thought I might mention this.

I've seen the French knife sold here in a few surplus stores, but passed on it. It didn't seem to be too high quality, but I understand there are different versions or makes. One name I've seen it also called is "outil-de-survie", which I guess would mean survival tool or something like that in French.
 
I bought one today from Lee Valley Tools in Canada. I walked into a store and bought one. They were advertised in the Christmas catalog. I bought a Frost's 3.5" Mora too. The Mora is awesome, but the Bivouac knife is pretty cool too. The factory edge is crap, but quite up to the task of eating steak. I'll take my DMT stone to it when I get home and see how it takes an edge. I doubt I'll waste my time going at it with my waterstone, it's not going to be doing anything but slicing anyway. The blade is marked "BIVOUAC" and in smaller letters beside it, "FRANCE" and "INOX" stacked above each other.

The sheath it comes with is cheap grey webbing with a velcro closure. Ugly but functional. On the back it has a bent heavy gauge wire doohickey that looks to be for attaching to a web belt of some sort, but there is also a loop for a normal belt, about 2-3" wide. Being a Canuck and unfamiliar with US issue webbing, I have no idea whether it's compatible.

The Lee Valley Tools catalog advertises it as a "liner lock", but it is a lockback. The lock release is a tab that sticks out the side of the knife, but it's stiff enough that it'll probably resist accidental activation. It seems fairly secure, but I don't plan on using this for anything but eating. I have no doubt that it will hold securely if you're eating anything softer than solid wood. The blade has a thumb notch for opening.

The can opener has a thumb stud for opening, but this appears to have been merely to conserve space. You have to remove the spoon/fork from the knife to get at it, and it is very stiff opening. It holds open with an even stiffer slip joint. It is still new, but I have to close it by pushing the back of the can opener against a hard surface. I'll try it on a can when I get home. The sharp edge faces out and looks pretty sharp. There's a corkscrew too, but not being a wine drinker, it'll probably be awhile until I try that out. The fork and spoon are plain but functional. The fork has a proper angle to the tines to make it feel like a real fork. The spoon has a flathead screwdriver and a hex socket built into the handle. Perhaps someone can tell me what they're meant to fit? :)
 
Update!

The can opener is craptastic. Totally useless as a can opener. I can't even imagine why they bothered putting it on the knife. It simply will not grip the edge of a can. On the plus side, it makes a great striker for a ferrocium rod (BSA Hotspark, Swedish Firesteel, etc.)

I sharpened up the blade with my DMT coarse stone, and it seems to be a reasonably hard stainless. I'm no steel expert, but at least it's better than the cheap and poorly heated 420 you see on the cheap gas station type knives. I only used the coarse stone on it because I plan to use it exclusively for slicing. I tried it on some cardboard and it took a pretty good edge. It seems to hold up okay too.

The fork and spoon are highly polished and easy to clean. Food does not stick to them and soap rinses off easily. I ate some soup with the spoon today, and it has a deep enough bowl to be useable. It's a little on the short side for my tastes, but the hex socket in the handle makes it possible to hold it with your fingertips, effectively making it longer.

The handle feels kinda cheap, as it is ABS, but it is very sturdy in construction. I'm sure it would stand up to anything you'd care to throw at it.

Verdict: I like it. A real useable knife fork and spoon in a compact package. The can opener isn't worth the powder to blow it to hell... but P38s are cheap and weigh basically nothing anyway. I'll be keeping it at work for eating take-out. I would consider it more of a KFS kit than a pocket knife though. Of course it would function well for utility tasks in a pinch, but I'd want to wear gloves for that.
 
Normark said:
Hey Mark...

Any idea where the ones from SportsmansGuide are from ??

Are they French Issue ??

If anyone decides to order any of these can they let me know before they do ??

They won't ship these to Canada,,and wouldn't mind a couple of sets

ttyle

Eric
O/ST
Click to expand...

Eric, as someone else said, Chinese. And unavailable; from the Sportsmans Guide order form:

We're sorry, this item (Product: 2 - Pk. Mil - Tec® Utensil Set (JX7M-124433)) is not currently in stock. This backordered item will be delivered as soon as we get new stock in our warehouse. You will not be billed until the item is shipped.

This item is expected at Sportsman's Guide on January 2, 2008.
 
Khalnath,

Thanks for the review on the knife.
A bit of a disappointment on the can opener.

A little bit pricey for what it is but I still might put one on the Xmas list.

Chuck
 
Well, for me, it replaced one of these:

http://www.boker.de/us/index.php?c=7,,&a=070800BK&p=&pp=0

The Boker KFS is kinda neat, but has some shortcomings. It is compact and keeps itself clean. The downsides are that the tools it has in it are not very good. It's not an issue of construction, just ergonomics. The fork has too shallow an angle and doesn't feel like a real fork. The knife tries to be a steak knife and a butter knife and fails at both, and the spoon is too tiny to be useful. The salt and pepper shakers are a nice touch, but really only hold enough for one or two meals.

In contrast, this thing has a fork that is bent at a proper angle, a real spoon, and a straight bladed knife that cuts meat and spreads butter better. Plus you get a corkscrew and a striker for your flint rod. (It's so not a can opener.)

Plus if you find yourself without another knife (for viewers of this forum, that's probably a minor catastrophic accident...) you can use this one for utility type tasks, whereas the one in the Boker is guaranteed to make a mess of anything you try to use it on.

The only other KFSes I have experience with are the Canadian issue ones. They're good but bulky and not cool. (They come with a butter knife and a can opener that does actually work.)
 
Welcome aboard leverlock.

But I think the idea is to stay away from the Chinese versions, rather than find them for the lowest cost.

Actually Khalnath, I think I like your Boker version better. I kinda like to keep eating utensils separate from everything else. They also look easier to clean up. No crevices for gunk to get caught in.
 
I have been hunting for the Aitor multitool that comes in the same sheath with a spoon and fork. I don't think they make it anymore, and the Aitor website itself is complicated beyond finding anything on it.

Anyway, there is Only One eating utensil: The Titanium Spork -- or for traditionalists, the knife, fork, & spoon.
 
The real high speed low drag operators use the new lexan spork -- lighter weight than old-fashioned titanium and you can pass through metal detectors and fight terrorists with it. One stab with a lexan spork is like 6 stabs with an ordinary knife! :cool:
spork11.jpg
 
knarfeng said:
Welcome aboard leverlock.

But I think the idea is to stay away from the Chinese versions, rather than find them for the lowest cost.

Actually Khalnath, I think I like your Boker version better. I kinda like to keep eating utensils separate from everything else. They also look easier to clean up. No crevices for gunk to get caught in.
Click to expand...

I don't plan on using this thing for anything but eating. I carry a Spyderco Endura for EDC. I'd just rather have a knife that's SHARP rather than one that's "serrated". The Boker is probably actually harder to clean. Inside a blind tube instead of an open piece of ABS. The eating surfaces of the fork and spoon in this thing only touch the body of the knife at the lip that holds them in. If you put dirty tools away inside the Boker for later cleaning, it's gonna be fun cleaning out the inside.

Call me picky, but the shallow angle of the tines on the fork in the Boker kit really bothers me. I want a fork, not a flat piece of metal with notches in it. If that doesn't bother you, and you don't mind the tiny but serviceable spoon in it, go for it. It's well made.
 
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