So I have been talking knives with brother @YN*Dotte for about as long as hes been showcasing his knives on here. I really like his style. During a conversation recently he said he really wanted some input from someone on our forum with a little knife knowledge....And seeing as I have as little knife knowledge as anyone, I figured I was the man for the job... He really wanted to get some feedback out there so he said he would send me a knife if I would put it through its paces and post an honest review of it. I agreed and the knife was sent to me. So here are my thoughts.... Let's start with the specs: Brush Creek Knives Custom Nessmuk knife 5/32 AEB L@62Rc w/ cryo 4 1/4" blade 9 1/2 OAL Copper Vein in Spalted Oak Natural micarta pins and tube Red G10 liners Handmade foldover leather sheath Here are a few glamour shots First Impressions: Sheath The sheath is very well made and heavy duty. The retention is excellent. The knife rides deep so a lanyard would definitely help remove the knife, but for me that's comforting to know it wont easily come out on the trail. Knife The knife is stunning. The handles just radiate. Its easily one of the coolest/most unique wood handles I've seen. The fit and finish are quite good. I don't see any grind marks or imperfections on the blade and everything lines up perfectly on the handles. It feels really good in the hand. The handles are thick enough to fill the hand (I wear a Lg/Xl glove) but not too thick that it feels cumbersome. It is very sharp. This is my first experience with a stainless steel fixed blade so I'm eager to see how it does. Use: My knife uses (for fixed blades) mainly revolve around food and fire prep so that is what I focused on. I had some short rounds of maple I cut to use inside of my Emberlit Ti stove. I've recently discovered how effective these stoves are when having a swedish fire log style fire in them. I opted to do fire prep first so I could see how well it held its edge after hard use. FIRE PREP: Tools for the job...(this knife definitely needs a bright lanyard to make sure it doesn't get lost on the ground) I battoned the small log down into 4 pieces. It only took 2 to 3 whacks to split each piece (1 whack to set it into the wood and 1 or 2 more and it practically jumped away from the blade. Then I processed one piece down a little further for kindling Feathersticks are something I have always struggled with (especially when it's this short lol) but the sharpness and edge geometry on this blade actually helped me to realize I wasnt doing it quite right before. I needed to let the knife do the work, not my wrist (if that makes sense). Once I realized this it was much easier (thanks Brush Creek for showing me the error of my ways). Ready for the fire (the blade looks weird in this pic due to how clean and shiny the blade is) I used the spine of the knife to strike the ferro rod on some homemade wax soaked cotton disks (not pictured). I struggled a little keeping it lit. The spine of the knife is squared but buffed so it's not sharp. I requested it this way because I dont like the sharp squared edges cutting into my thumbs. I like to find exactly where the sweet spot to strike a ferro rod is (every knife is different) and square a small section so that the spine edges are sharp. Even with the buffed edges I was able to produce decent sparks from the ferro rod. I ended up getting frustrated and used my butane torch grill lighter to get it going but that was mainly because my homemade tinders werent igniting very well (too much wax I think...couldn't get enough exposed fibers). FOOD PREP This is what I chose to make. I was also testing out a new pan so I wanted to see how well it sauteed veggies. This is where I initially had some concerns. I thought with the blade being 3/16" thick it may not be a good slicer. My concerns for the most part were put to rest once I started cutting. It flew through the sausage. The pepper cut up easily as well. While cutting up the onion it definitely felt like I was using a thicker blade but that was mostly while halving and quartering it. It's not a bad feeling, just a different feeling. Once I started cutting it up smaller it sliced through it like butter. The food all ready to go Into the pan While waiting for the food to cook, I quickly cut down a small sapling and carved out this bamboo spatula......JUST KIDDING...I live in Ohio and the only bamboo around here is in stir fry It's getting close and the aroma is really making me hungry Chow Time! I would have taken more pics before this but I was too hungry...I did,however, leave the knife covered in the food juices,wood gunk and ferro rod smudges for over 8 hours to see how well the stainless held up (particularly against the onion). After 8 hours I wiped it with a wet cloth...I also took this time to inspect the edge carefully to see of there was any sort of damage like chips or rolling. Looks like new I also did a quick paper cut test to see if it was still sharp after all the work I put it through. Overall I am quite smitten with this knife. It looks beautiful, feels great in the hand, and performs better than I could have expected. I dont have anything negative to say. If I was told I had to list one thing that would be considered constructive criticism it would be that although this knife cuts just fine and I like 3/16 (0.188) thick blades, it would likely cut like a laser if it was thinner stock (like 1/8 or 5/32). One of the things I agreed to do if I liked the knife is to help spread the word. Not only is the knife a solid tool, but YN*Dotte is also a great guy so I have no problem doing it. That is why I decided I will have a pass-around with this knife so that more people will get their hands on his blades and see the work he does in person. Keep an eye out in the Knives,Gear,Guns and other Tools subforum for the pass-around thread coming soon.
Awesome write up, I cant thank you enough for putting the knife through its paces! Ive already read it twice
That speaks volumes. "Not for sale but here check out how awesome it is!" Must be a keeper then. It sure is pretty.
It's even prettier in person. I don't endorse very many custom makers (in fact this is only the second maker I've publicly endorsed...Todd Hunt is the other), But if the knives are good, I will go out of my way to show them off
You can order one from me if youd like please shoot me a Pm and ai can answer any questions for you, thanks!
Im extremely excited for the pass around! I cant wait to hear the feedback from some real outdoors men!