GERBER LMF INFANTRY II

I purchased the Gerber LMF Infantry II (around £110 )simply because the majority of reviews of it were favorable, plus i liked the look of it. It's definitely not a light knife, perhaps one to have on you as a secondary or even tertiary blade in the event of a zombie apocalypse.

So i would suggest it's not something you would want to carry while hiking, even its bushcraft value for money is questionable since there are better, cheaper, lighter yet strong blades around that are fit for purpose in that area. It's aimed at the active military/survival sector of the market.I still think its a very good tool though.

The styling is what you would expect for its target market, but would i take it on a hike or a weekend in a forest? No, i'd leave it at home actually in favor of the Condor , or Enzo Trapper, plus it would probably get you banged up if you were lugging that around in the UK anyway.

URBAN EDC: BOKER PLUS XS, LEATHERMAN JUICE & TURBOFLAME

I have taken a few quick pics of some of my everyday carry for reference. The Leatherman Juice is a decent enough multitool ,and more importantly, it  is UK legal. Many of the multitools available today, including most of Leatherman's range sadly, have blades that lock, which could get you in a bit of sticky situation with a copper who is having a bad day. The juice doesnt lock, and has plenty of usefull tools on board. I am not a big wine drinker and would gladly swap out the cork screw for something else if i could though.

The Boker Plus XS folder is a little sketchy for being UK legal carry to be honest, although Heinnies has it in the legal section, i tend to leave that at home alot of the time and swap it out for one of my less scary knives. The blade is 79mm (3 1/8in) in length,  titanium coated 440c stainless steel, with G10 scales. The sliplock mechanism was a little stiff at first, but after a while its easy enough to open one handed. It's got a very tacticool look to it which may put alot of people off. It also costs around £35.

The turboflame lighter is excellent for quick light super heat blast scenarios. I take that hiking/camping with me and its done an admirable job.

Another more socially acceptable folding knife is the Maserin Marinera below. It's very cheap,stainless steel blade but keeps a fairly decent edge, although does need a sharpening after excessive cardboard cutting. The benefits of that little knife is people don't suddenly freeze in fear when its produced. Definitely less scary. Still for my prefered EDC blade, it still has to be the spyderco UK Penknife, or even the Squeak. The blade is a bit hammered since i was testing out the Anysharp which claims to be "worlds best knife sharpener". Definitely isn't of course. The Fallkniven DC3 Sharpening stone is handy to have in your pack with you all the time as its small but does a decent job when your blade has been dulled.

There are tonnes of reviews on YouTube for each of the above, but ill probably upload some soon regardless. I'll also post my complete EDC urban / wilderness setups as well as the contents of my bug out bag. So much to do when you start a blog about the things you like.....phew.

CONDOR BUSHLORE

I have decided to sand down the scales again, get rid of the naff stripes and then give it another tung oiling. ....OR....maybe add olive wood scales instead.

CONDOR BUSHLORE KNIFE

Condor Bushlore, sanded down, oiled up, sharpened and messed around with. This is basically phase one of tidying this knife up, as it comes delivered in a pretty rough state. I picked this up while in the USA for around $22.

This is how it turned up. As you can see the walnut handle is pretty rough, isn't oiled and doesnt look very nice. Definitely needs some work on it.

And below is how its currently looking after i messed around with it a little. I gave the blade a quick sandpapering to remove the protective grey ugly coating. It's 1075 carbon steel which does the job just fine for a bushcraft knife this cheap. I will probably regrind the blade at some point though. Unfortunately i took the picture with the flash on, so that has made it look a lot more yellow/orangy than it actually is. It's much darker in sunlight, which in my mind is more pleasing to the eye.

I used a few coats of tung oil and then carnauba wax on the handle after i sanded it down to make the grip  a little more amiable to my hand. I didn't really spend that much time on it to be honest, I just wanted to see what potential it had. Out of curiosity i just burnt the stripes in, not sure i like it like that or not, but at the end of the day its a light sand away from starting again. Still the knife itself its an excellent performer.

It does need a regrind, although this particular one did come razor hair shaving sharp out of the box.. If i get time, after i finish my Enzo trapper with South African Blackwood scales project, ill sand this down again and spend much more time on the handle to give it a much better look. Maybe even swap the walnut scales out for some kind of burl.

Still for $22, or around £30 here from Heinnie's, you can't really go wrong. You won't care what you do to it, and apart from the odd few vids i've seen on youtube where it has failed, it does the job well enough.

PATINA ON RAY MEAR'S DISCONTINUED MORA

This was a great buy from Ray's Bushcraft store quite some time back although its not sold anymore, and for a while i used this as my main wild camping knife.  It's incredible light, holds an excellent edge even after extended use, is easy to sharpen, and has good shape.I left the blade stuck in lemon for 30mins and that patina has lasted for over a year now..Shame this was discontinued as its a great lightweight bushcraft knife.