Well there finally comes a day, after all the waiting; first by me for Black Rabbit to finish the knife, and then by Black Rabbit for me to write this post.......Da DALet the Unboxing commence
One of the best things about being a blogger is the email correspondences I've had with other denizens of the bloggersphere. A while back I started an email correspondence with another blogger, a chap who lives down under and writes as Black Rabbit. He used the google follower function to join team bushwacker, i reciprocated and after a few comments on each others blogs we started another conversation by email. His blogging went quiet and then came back to life. Then one day as I sat in my hotel room day dreaming of being able to afford a custom knife to my delight he emailed and asked me to review his output as a knife maker.
We talked/emailed about trends in knife making, the dating perils that the devilishly handsome must endure, and all kinds of other important stuff. The end result of these conversations is what you see above, Scandi ground, Hunter blade shape, the lashing holes to harvest high hanging fruits, welded butt plate, in my favorite 'So-That's-Where-It-Is' Orange, and with a southern cross emblem.
The Handle shape has a 'manga-ness' to it that I really like - very different to the design conventions of knife making and, like it or loathe it, is all the better for it. Not every day that we see a maker who is trying to do something different.
As far as the true tests go:
Feels great in the hand - locks in well to my grip and has a nice balance
But here's where I have to admit to breaking my own rules for testing, I just can't bear to beat it up the way I normally would! Arraggh! So against everything i believe in (and have mouthed off about) I now own a knife that I'm too precious about to use for the heavy work its maker intended. WTF!
Thanks to Black Rabbit for all your hard work at the bench and patience.
Your pal
SBW
