American Bushman

"If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write things worth reading or do things worth writing." —Benjamin Franklin

Friday, September 28, 2007

Greg Haugh Custom F1



Wow! To say this is nice is an understatement. I received a custom handled Fallkniven F1 in today's mail just as I was headed to the woods and I had to make a quick trip back inside to re-gear before leaving so I could take along my newest piece of steel.

The handles were done by Greg Haugh of Lone Rider Custom Grips. He even supplied the blade blank. The handles are a black and green micarta and have a palm swell and a very comfortable "coke bottle" contour.

The sheath is one of JRE Industries' new Fallkniven sheaths and fits the F1 like a glove. The lower firesteel loop is a clever modification and the contours of the sheath really locked the firesteel in place.











I'm truly impressed with how much of an improvement this provides over the factory Thermorun handle--good in its own right. The sheath from the Fallkniven factory is also good but the JRE sheath is an exponential improvement. The knife is easy in and easy out. It's secure without being hard to remove and the brown leather is, in my opinion, an improvement over the black leather on the factory model. Of course the boys at JRE will do one in black if you want one.

Is this the ultimate modern bushcraft kit? Maybe. I'll have to carry it, use it, and form an opinion over many many months.

It looks to be a real pleasure.

Thanks for reading,


B

5 Comments:

At 5:53 PM, Blogger Mungo said...

Wow! Nice... (drool)

 
At 11:12 AM, Blogger The Suburban Bushwacker said...

A very nice modification to the F1. Looks practical too.
I've seen a few good looking custom handles for F1's (a guy on BCUK did a stunning antler one, with a matching firesteel) but having owned and used an F1 for a few months i think the factory handle is a better idea than most of them. To me it seems as if a thicker blade should be matched to a softer handle, especially at battening time.

My other thought for the day is:
'is the F1 really the best 'bushcraft' knife?'
As a shelter and fire builder it's almost perfect,
(an extra inch may help battening in some circumstances, but the size trade off is very practical). But for many of the less ‘survival’ tasks a sharp thin blade is first to hand as the F1’s thick blade isn’t really designed for fine carving tasks.

Keep us posted as I know Mungo is getting near to buying one!
Bushwacker

 
At 8:32 PM, Blogger BrianA said...

Will that F1 actually throw a spark? I thought it was laminated with a stainless steel.

Brian

 
At 9:19 PM, Blogger American Bushman said...

Absolutely! All you need to throw a spark from a firesteel is a sharp edge. A piece of glass works as well as a carbon steel blade.

I've seen carbon blades throw bigger sparks from a firesteel but stainless and even non-ferrous objects can still generate sparks.

I've even sparked a firesteel with a piece of sandpaper before.

B

 
At 10:35 AM, Blogger Nicklas said...

The sparks does not come from the knife at all.
It is all about how "sharp" the scraping edge is. The Fallkniven knives have really sharp edges on the back.

http://hem.passagen.se/nodh

 

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