Pulled the trigger on a 6HM this morning. Should be here by the weekend. I like the French Trade knife appearance of this one.
You'll hate it. J/K, I own both and the HM is the better of the two IMHO. I was also attracted to the French Trade knife design. I had my heart set on the DC-6 Camp Lore and when it was scrapped I was sorely disappointed. When ESEE released this instead I knew I'd end up getting one. I hope you enjoy it. I've loved mine.
Funny you should mention it - mine just came in today. I always wanted an Esee Trade Knife, and I unfortunately had to pass on the forum group buy last year. But now I finally grabbed a standard 6hm, and I look forward to putting it through its paces this year.
It’s here. Initial thoughts? I like it. The leather sheath is snug and quiet. The balance seems nice. As I Age and my knife needs, wants, and tastes, evolve. I have become much more focused on the total package. I struggle with buying a really nice knife with no sheath. I get some folks are very specific with there sheath needs. But I have come to value a package deal. More specifically, a quality package deal. One thing that draws me towards ESEE, is their available builds and options. I know folks love kydex. But I have had custom kydex rigs that were absolutely wonderful in three seasons, hold my knife in sub-zero weather like I epoxied it into the sheath. I remember reaching for a knife a few winters back. In a potentially interesting situation. The temps were roughly around -12F. I grabbed it and pulled. It was stuck fast. Not cool. I did eventually extract the blade. But it was on the third attempt. I am not knocking kydex/synthetic sheaths at all. Just pointing out, that like the knives they hold. They aren’t always a one size fits all. Another factor that has become important to me is balance. I have really come to appreciate well balanced knives. For me at least, a neutral or slightly forward balance is the sweet spot. It allows me to use them more with less fatigue. I sort of stumbled on to the balance thing by mistake. I am a huge fan of Finnish Puukkos, for their cutting ability and their simplicity. A leather sheath with no retainer strap. That you can invert and shake violently, yet the knife stays put. Yet when you want it, an 1/8th” rotation and the knife slips free. Puukkos are typically pretty well balanced. Over time, I have seen most of my unbalanced blades get parked or sold. The 6HM is although it is a large blade balances very well. It rides ride on my index finger. Not only front to back, but top to bottom too. A nice sheath and good balance has me thinking this may be a winner. More later when I get out of Ma’s basement. But so far, so good.
I have a 6 hm with both sheaths. Like you, you prefer the leather for it. And yes, I like the feel better than the regular 6, but my wife is exactly opposite. Esee knives are one of the few things we both agree on brand wise. (The other is Sig Sauer)
As exciting as watching paint dry. But I just took the 6HM to an unsuspecting hunk of corned beef. The full flat grind had its way with the meat. No contest, thick or thin, smooth and easy. The 6 just literally glided through it slice after slice. It’s a beautiful thing!
That’s pretty high praise! I was thinking about my post above. Watching paint dry. Fact of the matter is, a lot of what we do with our knives could be considered boring. Rambo gave us a false impression of knife use. I never did see that dude slice an onion. I cook a lot of meals. Build a lot of fires, make some furniture, tarp pegs, and so on. I don’t disable many sentries. I don’t toss my knife from a horse and stick it in some guy going the other way in a tank. A Gerber MKll may be great for sentry duty. But I can testify, it doesn’t rock making fires or breakfast. I have said this before. Choose a knife for what you do 90% of the time. And you will be happy with it 90% of the time. I think a lot of the dissatisfaction in knives comes from bad choices, not bad knives. I made breakfast with my 6 this morning. It would never have made a Rambo or Mad Max movie. But we have to eat. Some of us eat more than once a day. Sliced a bagel, sliced and chopped some peppers and onions. I even chopped up a couple slices of Spam. Boring?, Maybe, mundane? Sure. But necessary never the less. A 6HM may have been a bit of overkill for this. I’m sure a 3 would have sufficed. But I like to test the versatility of a knife. So far the 6HM impresses me.
You may like a 4hm better for every day use. It's lighter, and, of course, smaller. But for food prep, the six is more versatile in my opinion when it comes to slicing larger pieces of meat or larger vegetables.
Mine has been steadily growing on me. I’ve had a chance to use it outdoors for a few days back in March, before the lockdowns hit. I’m more used to shorter and narrower scandi blades, but it made feather sticks and split kindling like a champ. It was also large enough to clear away a bit of brush when I blundered through an overgrown swamp on snowshoes. It rode comfortably on my hip, without flopping around, catching on things, or getting in the way of my pack’s hip belt. I will need to put a lot more trail miles on it before I can form any sort of educated opinion, but so far, I like it a lot. I’m not normally a fan of knives of this size - I have let go of the regular ESEE 6 and a Fallkniven A1 with no regrets. However, the size of 6hm gives it some extra capability without sacrificing the handiness and comfort. The leather sheath is great, too. I look forward to getting more use out of it once things calm down a bit, and I can spend more time outdoors. In the meanwhile, I believe I will pull it out tonight to build the fire for my Kelly kettle.
Out of all of ESEE’s “larger” knives it is definitely my favorite. I handled a few of the larger offerings and the 6hm is what I landed on (in my area of the country one could easily get by with a 3, folding saw, and some know how all year long); but I wanted something a little larger than my usual. Use it, and have fun! Definitely a great all around knife.
edited for eye candy I agree with all the accolades above. The 6hm is my favorite knife. I use it to process game, in the garden and in the kitchen. The handle is great straight out of the box for my hands. I just stripped the coating off the blade and it was perfect!
It was an excellent choice! I really like the 6HM. Not sure if I like it more than the 4HM or the LS.. or the 3. Honestly I like all ESEE knives and my favorite knife (second to the 4) seems to change like the seasons.
