jaislandboy wrote:yeah Jason, i noticed that the "pronounced" indexfinger choil (beneath the 1-inch indexfinger hole) would hit the cutting board if the "gentle downsloping" hawkbill curve wasn't present.... so chopping onions (for example) with the plainedge part of the blade is much easier....
not to mention the obvious advantages of a serrated hawkbill with pull/draw cutting tasks
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i agree... when it comes to features, the caspian's got a great balance... :)
ted -- as far as thickness goes, the rock salt feels just right. i was chopping away pretty hard, and i didn't feel like i had to worry about the knife one bit. i don't think i'd pry with it, though... probably could get away with it, but... that's why i carry a $3 pry bar... :D as for "too big" -- the hollow grind is good and deep, and the edge is surprisingly thin... though sturdy. after quite a lot of serious chopping (dry cedar), the edge was still thin and sharp enough to fillet some rockfish and lingcod.
cliff -- yea, i've carried and used quite a number of machetes, big knives, and axes... used a lupanga (african style machete) and village hatchet every day when i was in the peace corps, along with a benchmade fecas offsider (biggest FB knife with good steel -- N690 -- that i could afford at the time). since returning to the states, i continued to occassionally carry use a lupanga (cold steel's version), the offsider, as well as a kukri at times...
the rock salt makes them all unnecessary. it easily out-chops the fecas offsider, thanks to the weight-forward geometry... feels similar to a kukri, with near-"perfect" balance around the front choil, and the sweet spot for chopping on the front of the large swell of the belly... except the steel is much better. i'd take this knife out in place of a small camp axe without any hesitation. wish i had this back in africa... :D it's a dream come true!
the hollow grind is good and deep -- wedging isn't really an issue for me, even on thicker wood. plus, the blade is long enough that there's plenty of spine to tap if it does somehow get wedged up. i had more wedging issues with the aqua salt, although, it's a trade-off for the compact size.
as far as H1 and saltwater... guess its necessity depends on what you're doing, for how long, and how much time/space/toothpaste/patience you've got for cleaning rust off your knife. man... i wouldn't want anything other than H1 where i am... of course, i'm outside at the ocean, usually in the rain, at least 5-6 hours per day... or else in the rainforest here.
not long ago, i took my new, serrated tenacious, and spent a bit over an hour cutting rusted metal out of some netting we grappled off of the bottom of this marina area... net was covered in dark black mud from anerobic decomposition processes. by the time i was done, the tenacious was near trashed... blade covered in rust, rust all over the liners, the inside... pitting had occurred... it was completely YIKES! it took about 30 minutes of TLC and elbow grease to get it looking decent again... although there are still some rust spots inside it. for me, the moral of the story was: "if there's salt, use a salt... and don't ever leave home without one!" my job is unusual, and involves some emergency response... one unexpected day of hard work at an oil spill, or unanticipated work as a deckhand could easily trash one of my favored non-H1 spydies!!!