Lil, Ferox Pass Around

Not sure what the user name of the next person is, but I just dropped it in the mail in a USPS Priority Mail medium flat rate box with $350 of insurance. The one ding against this knife is that it is just a smidge too big to fit into a small flat rate box, but it's swimming in a sea of bubble wrap and plastic bags in the medium one.

Tracking: 9505 8147 9968 7300 1422 08.
 
madcap_magician said:
Not sure what the user name of the next person is, but I just dropped it in the mail in a USPS Priority Mail medium flat rate box with $350 of insurance. The one ding against this knife is that it is just a smidge too big to fit into a small flat rate box, but it's swimming in a sea of bubble wrap and plastic bags in the medium one.

Tracking: 9505 8147 9968 7300 1422 08.
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adequacy adequacy is the recieving party
 
adequacy said:
Got it today. Quite the beast. Shout out to
@varga49 and madcap_magician madcap_magician .. Did either of you sharpen yet? Looks like some stropping.

If no sharpening yet, pretty good edge retention for O1
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I thought the same. Varga49 stropped it on some hide, and I cleaned up the stains a smidge and stropped on 600-grit sandpaper.
 
Chris was kind enough to allow me to be on the Lil Ferox pass around, and I'm glad.

This knife has been a lot of fun to play around with.

For those of you who are interested, I'll be posting a ton of photos of the knife, as well as descriptions of how I have used it for testing. I'll finish up the post with some thoughts final on the knife.

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Here it is in all it's glory above. That's my warthog next to it, penny for scale.
 
My main task was to make a base board for my hand drill practice. I chose black cottonwood root.

I went out to the wetland near my house and found a fallen black cottonwood. I sawed a nice size piece and brought it home for processing. My goal was to use the Lil Ferox for everything.

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The lil ferox above in it's Jou Fuu Sheath. That's the black cottonwood root just above it. I used a wooden plywood board as a photo area for testing, that way if I was using the knife hard and chopped through anything, the blade would hit the wood plate and not the cement below.

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Initial impressions:
  • Excellent balance
  • Sharp blade
  • good heft, especially when contemplating durability
  • incredibly comfortable in various grips
  • a bit intimidating
  • much larger than what I normally carry, but in a fun "I can't wait to try it out" kind of way
  • The sheath is beautiful and very functional
  • Applause to Bud and his joufuu leather. @bonafide
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The top piece in the photo above is a piece of cherry. It is hard as hell and seasoned. I used this as my baton.
The piece below the cherry is the cottonwood root for processing. Underneath those are spindles I cut down for processing that have not dried yet. The top two are big leaf maple, the middle two are Mullein, the second from the bottom is oceanspray, and the piece next to the lil ferox is willow. I know each of these woods make excellent spindles when dried and seasoned. For those of you who haven't practiced doing hand drill, you want your spindles to be hard on the outside and pithy in the center.

My goal in this photo was to smooth out these spindles so they are comfortable to use. The ferox made quick work of these spindles. I used it with ease to knock off the small branch junctures and rough spots.
 
I then began to break down the cottonwood root to make a small rectangular platform for drilling.

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I continued to use the lil ferox to square out the piece as much as I could. I used a combination of batoning and a forward, four finger closed grip.
 
That's more like it!

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With my base board done, it is now time for it to sit inside for about a month or so to fully dry. Here's a glamor shit with the lil ferox after completion:

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My next test was to get going on some feather sticks!

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I then used the Lil ferox to chop off the feathered portion of this old stake:

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EASY!

I used a ferro rod to light some of the fallen feathers:

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Finally, I tested the tip to start a small spindle hole on an older piece of cottonwood:

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Sorry for how photo heavy this was, but I hope you guys liked seeing this awesome blade in action!

Here are my final thoughts:

  • Incredibly durable
  • Insane edge retention, especially for O1 compared to my previous experiences
  • Didn't need to sharpen it once- going to sharpen before passing it on
  • Lots of comfort in hand, especially after extended use (this session was about 2 hrs)
  • My hand did fatigue after about 1 hr, due to the weight of the knife and a few small spots on the handle, but overall amazing!
  • The balance and design contribute heavily to hand comfort
  • A bit too beefy for my general purposes, but was 100% functional in every way I needed it to be
  • Tip was a bit too pointy for drilling ( I understand this isn't a bushcraft knife)
  • I didn't take photos, but the knife was outstanding in the kitchen
  • I loved the thin, thin grind, even though it started from 3/16 " blade stock
  • I loved the jack-of-all trades ability of this one
  • I can see this being a good "one survival knife" -bushcraft, food prep, defensive capabilities aplenty, durability
To close out my experience in this pass around, I'm overjoyed with Chris' generosity, as usual. The knife was a blast to test out. I really liked many many aspects of it.

If you want to create a bug out bag and chose one knife that could go in there, you would be in good shape with a Lil Ferox.

I also believe that this knife would set you up very well if you wanted one for military use, or defensive purposes. If I had to guess why Chris designed this one, I would think that it's meant to do it all and still hold defensive capability.

Is there anything I would change about this knife?
I'd say it depends on your intended use for the knife. I do woodworking, food prep, pretty much anything in the bushcraft realm. I might want the same knife in a drop point instead of a clip point for batoning, drilling, and slightly less penetration capability. I'd also say that despite the fact that this 3/16" blade stock performed marvelously with the thin grind, 1/8" or 5/32" would still be plenty strong and help reduce the weight.

If you are after a knife that would be used in more of a fighting role, but that could handle anything thrown your way, I'd say don't change a thing. That's how great of an experience I had with this knife.

Can't wait to hear more thoughts you guys have on The Lil Ferox. Thanks again to Chris for starting this pass around!
 
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adequacy said:
Sorry for how photo heavy this was, but I hope you guys liked seeing this awesome blade in action!

Here are my final thoughts:

  • Incredibly durable
  • Insane edge retention, especially for O1 compared to my previous experiences
  • Didn't need to sharpen it once- going to sharpen before passing it on
  • Lots of comfort in hand, especially after extended use (this session was about 2 hrs)
  • My hand did fatigue after about 1 hr, due to the weight of the knife and a few small spots on the handle, but overall amazing!
  • The balance and design contribute heavily to hand comfort
  • A bit too beefy for my general purposes, but was 100% functional in every way I needed it to be
  • Tip was a bit too pointy for drilling ( I understand this isn't a bushcraft knife)
  • I didn't take photos, but the knife was outstanding in the kitchen
  • I loved the thin, thin grind, even though it started from 3/16 " blade stock
  • I loved the jack-of-all trades ability of this one
  • I can see this being a good "one survival knife" -bushcraft, food prep, defensive capabilities aplenty, durability
To close out my experience in this pass around, I'm overjoyed with Chris' generosity, as usual. The knife was a blast to test out. I really liked many many aspects of it.

If you want to create a bug out bag and chose one knife that could go in there, you would be in good shape with a Lil Ferox.

I also believe that this knife would set you up very well if you wanted one for military use, or defensive purposes. If I had to guess why Chris designed this one, I would think that it's meant to do it all and still hold defensive capability.

Is there anything I would change about this knife?
I'd say it depends on your intended use for the knife. I do woodworking, food prep, pretty much anything in the bushcraft realm. I might want the same knife in a drop point instead of a clip point for batoning, drilling, and slightly less penetration capability. I'd also say that despite the fact that this 3/16" blade stock performed marvelously with the thin grind, 1/8" or 5/32" would still be plenty strong and help reduce the weight.

If you are after a knife that would be used in more of a fighting role, but that could handle anything thrown your way, I'd say don't change a thing. That's how great of an experience I had with this knife.

Can't wait to hear more thoughts you guys have on The Lil Ferox. Thanks again to Chris for starting this pass around!
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Ryan,

I am glad you got the opportunity to check out this piece, and were able to find it useful in your normal daily activities, as you noted it was not designed to be a Bushcrafting knife but a Combat knife, Combat knives are primarily designed for offensive and defensive applications but also meant to fill other roles in theatre that may arise as well, not purely being a fighter. I think you illustrated very well the Lil, Ferox being quite capable in its secondary roles.

I would like to point out to you the Recon which is also a Combat style knife with the same handle but leaning more towards the field knife role and nodding to the Kukri style of knives, I saw you mentioned you would like a knife with this handle with more of a drop point, I think you will find the Recon would excell in all of the intended applications you highlighted in this review as well as being a capable combat knife.

Thank you for your time and in depth analysis of my work!
 
In thinking about it, I really like the handle size. I don't think I'd want it any bigger even if the blade was longer.
 
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