The Salish made it through another weekend of heavy testing in the woods without missing a beat. I'm finding it more difficult to come up with valid tests for the Salish than I am actually doing those tests.
The Long Version:
First test, tip strength:
I have recently broken or been blamed for breaking several knife tips doing various tasks both in the woods and around the house. The Salish endured 100 full-strength stabs into a fallen tree and then 50 prying full-strength stabs. The resulting hole was quite sizeable and the knife would consistently sink down 1-1.5" into the wood. The result:a shiny tip.
Second test, chopping:
After clearing some 1" saplings to make room for a hammock I limbed the saplings and used the Salish to chop them down into 10" sections. Holding the Salish with my index finger and thumb behind the second hollow pin I had enough force to snap the blade through the sapling in a single chop most of the time. Slightly thicker sections might require a second chop and the occasional poor chop might miss the sapling entirely. (Full disclosure here. I'm not
too embarassed...) Result:No noticeable rolling, chipping, or even dulling of the blade.
Third test, fuzzy sticks:
Having a pile of 10" sticks I got the idea to fuzz as many of them as the Salish would handle before the edge would no longer make nice long curls. I use the first inch or so of the knife (tip end) and use a push-cutting motion to form the curls. Result:A big pile of fuzzy sticks ready to catch a spark and a knife that was ready for more work.
Fourth test, finer work:
I've read some pages on the Internet about carving birds (roosters mainly) from y-branches and I wanted to see how the Salish would do with such a task. I have to admit that I read the article but it's been a while and I didn't pay enough attention when I did read it so my chicken/rooster may not be quite right. It looked enough like a bird to impress the Woodsbums though--at least until it fell victim to an unlooking sitter. Ugh. The Salish chopped the y-branch down to a manageable length, curled the "tail" and the "comb," split the "legs," and carved them to shape. This test uses several different hand holds and I found the knife and the Gunner Grip to be extremely comfortable for extended use.
Conclusion:
The Salish is finally getting some nice character marks. I have had to strop it on my pant leg a time or two and finally had to break out a leather strop loaded with Black Magic to bring it back to a level best described as "scary." I'm pleased with the overall size of the knife, the length and thickness of the blade, and the texture of the handle. I found the meat of my hand securely planted into the divots of the Gunner Grip during the stabbing portion of the test and the integral guard was a nice touch adding confidence for such a potentially dangerous operation. The blade has the right geometry to push-cut through larger saplings using a method described in the Cody Lundin book (among several others.)
I think the knife would be comfortable in a tactical environment but excels in a more outdoor/utility role.
The Short Version:
I'm still really digging this knife.
Some additional pictures:
Click thumbnails for larger version:
Thanks for reading,