- Joined
- Mar 27, 2000
- Messages
- 1,818
After a year of using my Sam WIlson's P.A.C.K. Lite as a hiking knife, it was easy to predict that its big brother S.A.F.E. System would find its way to me in Poland. I expected a solid knife, but not this... it's a tank! Beautiful tank, may I add. Satin finished blade, super sharp 90 deg spine for scraping fatwood and ferrocerium rod fire-starting. And that sheath! Sagewood Gear (as far as I can tell) - and it's easily the best contemporary leather work in the business! I've been a huge fan of Sagewood Geat for years, got their sheaths for Leatherman Supertool and two for Victorinox pocket knives. It's a work of leathercraft art.
As I said in my posts about PACK Lite (https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/sam-wilson-p-a-c-k-lite-fixed-blade.1938552), I've been a fan of high-quality hollow-handle knives for about 20 years (or more). Here's SAFE System compared to another classic—Chris Reeve MK.VI. Finally, a knife in the same size and weight category but stainless, which is a good thing for an "adventure knife."
It's a heavy duty companion, I've been using it so far for cutting, whittling, batoning through 1.5-2 inch pine and spruce branches. Another classic bushcraft knife maker Rob Evans once said: "a knife, which is not capable of making feathersticks is not worth owning" and I love that quote! So is SAFE worth owning? Absolutely:
Now I need to find an optimal set to carry in the handle. For sure some storm matches (ITS Tactical, they work best imo), but always safety version and with a piece of striker strip. I thing this strip is VERY important as it's not uncommon to find some random single matches in an old shelter or campsite, and having striker strip with you is a huge benefit. Some tinder too. Couple of feet of kevlar thread, aqua tabs. What I need to add is a piece of bandaid (always handy when playing with sharp tools) and a solid needle so I could use this kevlar thread for pack, shoe and other gear repair. BTW, there's a compass in the pommel. One of the things I hate is having a lousy compass... which is not the case here. It's not only reasonably accurate (checked it against my Brunton M2 and Silva) but it's the fastest button compass I've ever had. The speed of the needle and how firm it reacts is sometimes more important than another 2-3 deg of accuracy, especially for emergency navigation. I've seen a post where Sam explained how he was selecting the compass and I can confirm - it's a good one! I'll use it more in the summer in Bieszczady mountains (kind of Smokies or Blue RIdge Mountains on the border of Poland and Ukraine - wild and beautiful). Anyway, here's my kit:
And that's it for now... I'll be back. In the meantime: can you guess the movie? (photo below)
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As I said in my posts about PACK Lite (https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/sam-wilson-p-a-c-k-lite-fixed-blade.1938552), I've been a fan of high-quality hollow-handle knives for about 20 years (or more). Here's SAFE System compared to another classic—Chris Reeve MK.VI. Finally, a knife in the same size and weight category but stainless, which is a good thing for an "adventure knife."
It's a heavy duty companion, I've been using it so far for cutting, whittling, batoning through 1.5-2 inch pine and spruce branches. Another classic bushcraft knife maker Rob Evans once said: "a knife, which is not capable of making feathersticks is not worth owning" and I love that quote! So is SAFE worth owning? Absolutely:
Now I need to find an optimal set to carry in the handle. For sure some storm matches (ITS Tactical, they work best imo), but always safety version and with a piece of striker strip. I thing this strip is VERY important as it's not uncommon to find some random single matches in an old shelter or campsite, and having striker strip with you is a huge benefit. Some tinder too. Couple of feet of kevlar thread, aqua tabs. What I need to add is a piece of bandaid (always handy when playing with sharp tools) and a solid needle so I could use this kevlar thread for pack, shoe and other gear repair. BTW, there's a compass in the pommel. One of the things I hate is having a lousy compass... which is not the case here. It's not only reasonably accurate (checked it against my Brunton M2 and Silva) but it's the fastest button compass I've ever had. The speed of the needle and how firm it reacts is sometimes more important than another 2-3 deg of accuracy, especially for emergency navigation. I've seen a post where Sam explained how he was selecting the compass and I can confirm - it's a good one! I'll use it more in the summer in Bieszczady mountains (kind of Smokies or Blue RIdge Mountains on the border of Poland and Ukraine - wild and beautiful). Anyway, here's my kit:
And that's it for now... I'll be back. In the meantime: can you guess the movie? (photo below)
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