It's time for another outdoors knife; one that can really chop some stuff down. So I bought the Ontario Machete Survival knife, model SP8. It costed me about $55, and is US-made. How does it work? Very well, as you'll see. Here are the details...
Handle Details: The handle is 5-1/16" long, and has both a pommel and a single guard. This gives you an actual usable handle area of 4-1/2".
The hanlde is made of black Kraton, which has ridges for good grip. The butt of the handle is lined with a brass lanyard hole, and it comes with a black shoestring-type lanyard already attached. The handle encases the blade for about 4/5 of its length, so while it's not a true full tang, it's pretty darn close. I love this handle, it's very secure. There's no way I'm going to lose this knife when chopping, even without the lanyard.
Impressions: Wow, this is quite comfy compared to other choppers I've used. I'm so glad they didn't put a guard on the top of the handle; it's not necessary and I think it gets in the way. I love this handle type and I wish more knife maufacturers would use something like it instead of hard plastic or rough wood. Yes, they look nice, but they really hurt the hand when chopping with them.
Blade Details: The blade is made of 1095 carbon steel, black powder-coated to resist rust and corrosion. It's 10" long, but the actual cutting edge is 7-3/4" long. The blade is rectangle-shaped in that it has no point; the "tip" is squared off. The back of the blade has a sawback that's 6-1/8" long. It's textured a little bit too coarse for my liking as a saw, but it's great for notching. Oh yeah; this blade is 1/4" thick. Yes, a quarter of an inch thick. The "tip" is also sharpened like the edge, but much more dull. The cutting edge came out of the box sharp enough to slice paper, but the tip was really dull. I think I'll leave it as is; it would maek a nice prybar if I really needed one. The blade is flat ground starting about 2/3 of the way down and it has a secondary bevel. The blade is 1-7/8" wide too, and this is for its entire length.
Impressions: Whoa, this sucker is beefy. Not only is it thick, but it's wide too. I don't have a weight for it available, but it's heavy. A chopper should be heavy. The balance point on mine is about 2-1/2" up on the blade. Not too bad, and in fact I like a blade-heavy knife when I'm chopping. This thing excels; it cuts easily and without a lot of effort. It will saw if needed, but I find it easier to chop unless you're needing precision work. As a prying tool, it works just fine on hard wood. No bending, no breaking.
The Sheath: It's made of heavy black Cordura and black leather. The sheath is different from most other sheaths; the knife has to unsnapped and removed from the side. On the side, there are three snaps attached to a leather flap, and they attach to snaps on the front of the sheath. I'm assuming this is so the sawback doesn't shred your sheath. You also get a standard snap that goes over the back of the knife, but it's not really needed. You cannot remove the knife from the sheath without undoing the sides first; a portion of the top of the sheath is sewn (and riveted) together. They really don't want you ripping up that sheath! The sheath comes with a plastic D-ring that has some more black shoestring cord attached. I find this breaks off when used as a leg tie since it's plastic, so I cut mine off when I get it.
The sheath is attached to your belt via leather belt loop. And guess what... it's a dangler sheath! The leather loop attaces to the leather on the sheath, and there's no plastic involved. The D-ring that acts as the dangler is blackened steel. Why couldn't they do this on the leg tiedown ring? The belt loop will accomodate a belt up to 2-1/2" wide. This is nice if you're wearing a pistol belt, but if you're wearing a normal belt the sheath can move around due to the loop being so wide.
Well, I think this is probably one of the best "survival" knives you can find. It's thick enough to chop with, gives a minimal approach to sawing, comes very sharp, is made of good carbon steel, and has a nice grip. The sheath does its job, and I'm glad to see they used a method of housing the sawback in a way that minimizes sheath damage. This is definitely worth the $55 I paid for it, especially considering this is an American-made knife. Great job Ontario :thumbup:
Handle Details: The handle is 5-1/16" long, and has both a pommel and a single guard. This gives you an actual usable handle area of 4-1/2".
The hanlde is made of black Kraton, which has ridges for good grip. The butt of the handle is lined with a brass lanyard hole, and it comes with a black shoestring-type lanyard already attached. The handle encases the blade for about 4/5 of its length, so while it's not a true full tang, it's pretty darn close. I love this handle, it's very secure. There's no way I'm going to lose this knife when chopping, even without the lanyard.
Impressions: Wow, this is quite comfy compared to other choppers I've used. I'm so glad they didn't put a guard on the top of the handle; it's not necessary and I think it gets in the way. I love this handle type and I wish more knife maufacturers would use something like it instead of hard plastic or rough wood. Yes, they look nice, but they really hurt the hand when chopping with them.
Blade Details: The blade is made of 1095 carbon steel, black powder-coated to resist rust and corrosion. It's 10" long, but the actual cutting edge is 7-3/4" long. The blade is rectangle-shaped in that it has no point; the "tip" is squared off. The back of the blade has a sawback that's 6-1/8" long. It's textured a little bit too coarse for my liking as a saw, but it's great for notching. Oh yeah; this blade is 1/4" thick. Yes, a quarter of an inch thick. The "tip" is also sharpened like the edge, but much more dull. The cutting edge came out of the box sharp enough to slice paper, but the tip was really dull. I think I'll leave it as is; it would maek a nice prybar if I really needed one. The blade is flat ground starting about 2/3 of the way down and it has a secondary bevel. The blade is 1-7/8" wide too, and this is for its entire length.
Impressions: Whoa, this sucker is beefy. Not only is it thick, but it's wide too. I don't have a weight for it available, but it's heavy. A chopper should be heavy. The balance point on mine is about 2-1/2" up on the blade. Not too bad, and in fact I like a blade-heavy knife when I'm chopping. This thing excels; it cuts easily and without a lot of effort. It will saw if needed, but I find it easier to chop unless you're needing precision work. As a prying tool, it works just fine on hard wood. No bending, no breaking.
The Sheath: It's made of heavy black Cordura and black leather. The sheath is different from most other sheaths; the knife has to unsnapped and removed from the side. On the side, there are three snaps attached to a leather flap, and they attach to snaps on the front of the sheath. I'm assuming this is so the sawback doesn't shred your sheath. You also get a standard snap that goes over the back of the knife, but it's not really needed. You cannot remove the knife from the sheath without undoing the sides first; a portion of the top of the sheath is sewn (and riveted) together. They really don't want you ripping up that sheath! The sheath comes with a plastic D-ring that has some more black shoestring cord attached. I find this breaks off when used as a leg tie since it's plastic, so I cut mine off when I get it.
The sheath is attached to your belt via leather belt loop. And guess what... it's a dangler sheath! The leather loop attaces to the leather on the sheath, and there's no plastic involved. The D-ring that acts as the dangler is blackened steel. Why couldn't they do this on the leg tiedown ring? The belt loop will accomodate a belt up to 2-1/2" wide. This is nice if you're wearing a pistol belt, but if you're wearing a normal belt the sheath can move around due to the loop being so wide.
Well, I think this is probably one of the best "survival" knives you can find. It's thick enough to chop with, gives a minimal approach to sawing, comes very sharp, is made of good carbon steel, and has a nice grip. The sheath does its job, and I'm glad to see they used a method of housing the sawback in a way that minimizes sheath damage. This is definitely worth the $55 I paid for it, especially considering this is an American-made knife. Great job Ontario :thumbup:
