Cruwear micarta Bushcraft/Proficient

[curlyhairedboy]

I think I used a butter knife to loosen mine :D

[Theldraskien]

Thanks for the tips guys. I was worried about pulling pieces off the liner and making it more difficult to remove without making any progress. I’ll try sticking a wedge in to break the bond.

Chris, thanks for the lanyard link. I’ll give that a shot as well.

[Cambertree]

Is the Proficient sheath made so it could be used for lefty carry as well?

[GaryArt1]

Is the Proficient sheath made so it could be used for lefty carry as well?

Yes it is ambidextrous.

[Cambertree]

Is the Proficient sheath made so it could be used for lefty carry as well?

Yes it is ambidextrous.

Excellent, thanks for that and for the review. :)

I’d be interested to hear more of your thoughts on this knife, if you get a chance to use it out in your yard a bit. :)

[GaryArt1]

I PMed this to GaryArt, then thought it might be useful here.

I designed the sheath for deep carry of the BushcraftUK knife, its meant to go down a long way, and is based on the very widely used bushcraft knife pouch sheaths. Usually with veg-tan leather, these sheaths start out tight but loosen up with use. This sheath was meant to allow rigging with cord for various carry positions, some of which cannot rely so much on gravity to hold the knife.

Something that can help the sheath is thoroughly soaking it in hand hot water (takes a few minutes since the coating is pretty water resistant) and then leaving it to dry with the knife pushed down to where you want it. I protect the knife Renaissance wax then wrap with cling-film and tap, up the blade and handle. I have it down with 1.5 - 1.75" of handle sticking out. I also use the lanyard hole to mount a short fob/lanyard with a stopper knot that helps with withdrawal. The only other thing I use the lanyard hole for is blowing through when getting embers back to flames, a nice trick but not a great sacrifice. My Proficient lanyard is reflective orange paracord so I can find it easily day or night.

All the best

Chris

So I wanted to update on the sheath. I have followed Chris's advice above on soaking the sheath and letting it dry with the knife inside. I have to say the sheath is SO much better. It formed around the knife and now seems to have a natural stop at the height you want it to be. It is not the perfect sheath for the knife but now I am happy with it. I may still consider a Boltaron sheath in the future but I like the leather one now. The only advice I would give is after you wax the knife and wrap it in plastic wrap, is go very light on wrap on the handle. This it the part that form fits the best. I was probably being too cautious with the knife and the wrap was slightly too thick on the handle and the sheath is slightly looser than I would have preferred.

On the knife, I haven't got a chance to use it in hard work but i did some yard work with it. I have to say it cuts great and has zero hot spots. Still one of the most comfortable knives I own. I can highly recommend the knife and especially being it is discontinued I would grab one up.

[bearfacedkiller]

I have rarely bought a knife and liked the sheath. It is what it is. I have a lot to say on this particular issue but no real solutions. The sheath seems like an afterthought with most knives. This one at least looks like it had some thought put into it.

Bushcraft sheaths are typically deep carry pouch style sheaths. This is a reasonable example of that. The knife can be harder to draw but it makes losing your knife harder as well. There is a heavy Scandinavian influence in bushcraft as well and their sheaths traditionally seem to have been deep pouch style leather sheaths.

Having grommets gives it some of the versatility of a kydex sheath as you can lash it to a pack or set up some horizontal belt carry. I don’t do that so it doesn’t add much value for me.

It is very ambidextrous which I do value. I sometimes carry a handgun in the woods and sometimes I don’t. When I do carry one I will move the knife to my left side.

Overall I like this sheath more than most.

[bearfacedkiller]

I cannot imagine just how many consecutive bad decisions I would have to make in the woods to end up needing to use my knife scales as tinder. Yikes!

Thankfully I live in the land of paper birch which might just be the greatest natural tinder on earth.

[bearfacedkiller]

This thread unfortunately didn’t work out as I had hoped. Oh well. I did just snag a second Proficient for a decent price. Time to put my original one to some honest use.

I am not all that interested in a smaller version or a budget version. If anything I would be more interested in a 5” version with the same handle.

[Burton Knut]

I’ve gone back and forth on this iteration of the proficient and I just can’t bring myself to drop the coin for S90V and carbon fiber on a beefy fixed blade. I could probably swallow the S90V, though I’d prefer something tougher with a willingness to sacrifice corrosion resistance or edge retention, but carbon fiber just doesn’t seem right. Sal’s opinion carries enough weight that I’ll probably continue debating this purchase until it’s out of stock but dang I’d love some micarta and a bit more toughness. Thanks for trying Bear! I was in for two.

[Fireman]

If you just had one item, you knife, and that item had the ability to get you fire and be a tool to do almost everything you needed to survive is quite something. I am jealous of your access to paper birch. Will trade fat wood for paper birch :D

I cannot imagine just how many consecutive bad decisions I would have to make in the woods to end up needing to use my knife scales as tinder. Yikes!

Thankfully I live in the land of paper birch which might just be the greatest natural tinder on earth.

[bearfacedkiller]

If you just had one item, you knife, and that item had the ability to get you fire and be a tool to do almost everything you needed to survive is quite something. I am jealous of your access to paper birch. Will trade fat wood for paper birch :D

I cannot imagine just how many consecutive bad decisions I would have to make in the woods to end up needing to use my knife scales as tinder. Yikes!

Thankfully I live in the land of paper birch which might just be the greatest natural tinder on earth.

More options is always better.

Fatwood doesn’t really exist here. We have a lot of white pine which is very sappy but doesn’t seem to produce fatwood. I wish we did.

You are pretty much always within 100 yards of a birch tree around here. I burn a lot of it for heat and usually have 3-4 five gallon buckets full of bark in the wood shed that I pick up after splitting. I cut and split 6 cords this year and very little of it was paper birch. Lots of yellow birch in the pile this year.

If you really want some birch bark I’ll pack a small flat rate box full and send it your way. :)

[sal]

Hi Darby,

I'm sorry it didn't work out as I'd hoped. The difference was somewhere n the neighborhood of 10% which was far more than was hoping for. I'm still part of the discussion.

sal

[bearfacedkiller]

Sal, no need to apologize. You are too good to us and you are always listening. I am just grateful we are able to have these discussions. :)

I am fully aware that premium fixed blades are a tough market. A Crucarta Proficient would obviously be a great knife but if it doesn’t make business sense then we must move on.

[Burton Knut]

If we’re moving on
What are the chances of a sprint run South Fork? Cruwear, 4V, K390 or REX45 perhaps...Orange G10 maybe??
(Please forgive me if you’ve already seen this request in another thread.)

[Theldraskien]

Kind of off topic, but thanks Sal and others for the tips on removing the plastic sheath liner. Definitely feels better without and seats more securely.

I also sent an email to sheathpro asking after a boltaron sheath and I haven’t heard back. Is that still potentially a thing?

Thanks again!

[Fireman]

I’ll be more than excited to get that package for my bushcraft/primitive skills sessions with the kids.

If you just had one item, you knife, and that item had the ability to get you fire and be a tool to do almost everything you needed to survive is quite something. I am jealous of your access to paper birch. Will trade fat wood for paper birch :D

I cannot imagine just how many consecutive bad decisions I would have to make in the woods to end up needing to use my knife scales as tinder. Yikes!

Thankfully I live in the land of paper birch which might just be the greatest natural tinder on earth.

More options is always better.

Fatwood doesn’t really exist here. We have a lot of white pine which is very sappy but doesn’t seem to produce fatwood. I wish we did.

You are pretty much always within 100 yards of a birch tree around here. I burn a lot of it for heat and usually have 3-4 five gallon buckets full of bark in the wood shed that I pick up after splitting. I cut and split 6 cords this year and very little of it was paper birch. Lots of yellow birch in the pile this year.

If you really want some birch bark I’ll pack a small flat rate box full and send it your way. :)

[sal]

Kind of off topic, but thanks Sal and others for the tips on removing the plastic sheath liner. Definitely feels better without and seats more securely.

I also sent an email to sheathpro asking after a boltaron sheath and I haven’t heard back. Is that still potentially a thing?

Thanks again!

Hi TheDraskien,

She's been busy. I'll send her a tickler.

sal

[Cambertree]

On the knife, I haven't got a chance to use it in hard work but i did some yard work with it. I have to say it cuts great and has zero hot spots. Still one of the most comfortable knives I own. I can highly recommend the knife and especially being it is discontinued I would grab one up.

Thanks for the further comments. I have one on the way. :)

[Bemo]

Thanks to this thread I received mine earlier this week and wow what a handle. I would be interested in the boltaron as well.