Review: Fallkniven F1 v's Fallkniven TK6

I've had an F1 for a long time, as you can see I've used it, abused it and anticipate continuing to use it in the style to which its become accustomed for many years. The TK6 hit the door mat a few months back [read the unboxing review HERE] and I thought you might like to hear a bit about the differences.

I bought my F1 both in the states; and a while back, so it was a serious bargain - the knife I chose it against was a Gerber LMF which has also gone up in price over the last few years and now looks like very poor value for money. Whereas the F1 is still at least two or three lifetimes worth of knife.

The TK6 on the other hand is pretty much the same price as it was when it first came out. Not cheap, but with a few notable exceptions, quality seldom is. By staying the same price while other knives have gotten more expensive, in real terms the TK6 has actually gotten cheaper [you can tell yourself].

The F1 is a survival knife: so its for making firewood and shelters

The TK6 is a hunting knife: so its for dismembering beasts and cutting up snack foods.

Both knives are designed in Sweden by Fallkniven and made in Seki City Japan. When the F1 came out VG10 was a rare 'super steel' it's still super [and it's still steel - ber boom] but now you can buy a VG10 knife for $40, and there are other makers also offering laminated VG10 blades, so the rarity has died off a bit. VG10 is a fantastic steel for edge retention - I once gutted, skinned, and butchered a Fallow doe with a Spyderco Urban without needing to refresh the edge, that's a steel that holds an edge. At 59 HRC its a hard blade, the edge is more resistant to folding over, but obviously hardness is often accompanied by brittleness - I've chipped the tip of my F1 more than once, the first time splitting a stick and the second time dropped point first onto a granite worktop - although here the F1 beats any non laminated blade as the lamination takes care of any concerns about cracking or bending; I've prised floor boards up with mine and hit it with a brick hammer, it's still rocking on. You can see Fallkniven's testing HERE. And my reviews of the F1 HERE and of Fallkniven's sharpening service HERE. After a few years of using the F1 I wouldn't hesitate to recommend one.

The TK6 is a different beast; a shorter blade in the drop point style, made with a blade of '3G' (which is  Fallkniven's proprietary name for a lamination of  VG2-SGPS-VG2 steels) that is first hard to blunt and then hard to sharpen. At 62 HRC, SGPS is a very hard steel. So much so, that for me at least, Diamond Stones are a must. I've long wanted the TK6 as the next step in the search for my 'little-big-knife' a sort of field-scalpel on steroids. I love it, the blade shape works, there is just-enough handle, and the edge holding is other worldly.

Fat blades are not 'slicers' and never will be, so I wouldn't class either as being a very good kitchen knife, the TK6 being much better as the blade feels narrower. The F1's massive strength comes at the cost of always feeling a bit 'fat in the cut' whereas the TK6 feels a lot thinner. With the absence of any nearby Deer Stalking opportunities, when The Lighthouse Keeper and myself Fished the Usk, I prepared two Squirrels and skinned a road kill Pine Marten, here the TK6 really found its niche, its the most convient skinning knife/field scalpel I've found yet: Superb!

Enough blade length to prise away hide, but still short enough for a tip-protected cut when first opening the animal up. So no need for one of those silly "look at me I'm a hunter" gut-hooks.

I know I'm a Fallkniven fanboy so in the interests of fairness I have to have a bit of a moan about the fit of the TK6's handle, neither design has the casting quite right but somehow I'm more inclined to give the rough and ready F1 a pass and say that as part of the premium Tripple Krona range the fit on the TK6 is a bit of a let down. This isn't such a big deal for me as it's always been my intention to customise a TK6, it has the steel and blade shape I want, and some of the other features I'm going for aren't available off the shelf. If you were set on keeping the factory handle a bit of work with a scalpel and some sandpaper would sort it out, but you should bear that in mind before you order one. That being said, I seriously love mine, it's a lot of that perfect knife I've been looking for.

"There is no 'perfect' knife but you'll have fun looking for it" SBW

"There's no bore like a knife bore" Raymond Mears

The custom project, some huntin' with raptors, and air rifles, some stalking, and of course more kit reviews on the way.
Your pal
SBW

Eddie Huang: The New Anthony Bourdain?

From the ever brilliant VBS Chef and writer Eddie Huang goes on his first hunt, comes face to face with his dinner's demise and learns that [raised] Rabbit tastes like a cross between Chicken and Gator.

Could he really be 'The New Anthony Bourdain'?

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SBW

Falconry In English Idiom

English language idioms derived from falconry

These English language idioms are derived from falconry:

Expression	Meaning in falconry	Derived meaning
in a bate	bating: trying to fly off when tethered	in a panic
with bated breath	bated: tethered, unable to fly free	restrained and focussed by expectation
fed up	of a hawk, with its crop full and so not wanting to hunt	no longer interested in something
haggard	of a hawk, caught from the wild when adult	looking exhausted and unwell, in poor condition; wild or untamed
under his/her thumb	of the hawk's leash when secured to the fist	tightly under control
wrapped round his/her little finger	of the hawk's leash when secured to the fist	tightly under control

rouse	To shake one's feathers	Stir or awaken
pounce	Referring to a hawk's claws, later derived to refer to birds springing or swooping to catch prey	Jump forward to seize or attack something
to turn tail[	Fly away	To turn and run away

I've been off sick for the last couple of days, and spending the time wisely have spit it three ways: watching films of Birds of Prey, reading websites about Birds of Prey, and sleeping.

One of the many great things about Falconry is that the written history of the sport is so diverse and there's so much of it. It's been years since I read anything written in the older forms of English so it's been interesting [read challenging] to get back into it. Of course the marvel of English is the way the language constantly evolves to suit the needs of the speaker, taking words from other cultures and languages, and idiom from popular culture. Today there is an financial advice website that advertises itself on TV with an aristocratic Meer Cat who ends every explanation of the company's services with the word "Simples". It's become a popular way to end 'explanations' and 'discussions' on web forums.

Back in the day, when folks flying Falcons was a common sight, these phrases entered the language and are still with us today. There is at least one example missing from the Wikipedia list and I'm guessing a few more? Let me know in the comments when you think of them.

My Addition:

Expression To 'Hawk up'	Meaning in falconry                                                                    The sound of a hawk expelling the indigestible parts of a meal	Derived meaning Clearing phlegm from the throat

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your pal

SBW

  

Deer Collision - What Next

It's that time again, on both sides of the pond as the weather cools the deer become more mobile, extending their wanderings in search of extra calories, and the chance to pass on their genes. Sadly for many of them their end will not be at the swift unseen hand of the hunter, but in collision with a car or truck.

• Do take note of deer warning signs, by driving with caution at or below the posted speed limit. Such signs really are positioned only where animal crossings are likely. 
• Peaks in deer related traffic collisions occur October through December, followed by May. Highest-risk periods are from sunset to midnight followed by the hours shortly before and after sunrise. 
• Be aware that further deer may well cross after the ones you have noticed . 
• After dark, do use full-beams when there is no opposing traffic. The headlight beam will illuminate the eyes of deer on or near a roadway and provide greater driver reaction time. BUT, when a deer or other animal is noted on the road, dim your headlights as animals startled by the beam may ‘freeze’ rather than leaving the road. 
• Don't overswerve to avoid hitting a deer. If a collision with the animal seems inevitable, then hit it while maintaining full control of your car. The alternative of swerving into oncoming traffic or a ditch could be even worse. An exception here may be motorcyclists, who are at particular risk when in direct collisions with animals. 
• Only break sharply and stop if there is no danger of being hit by following traffic. Try to come to a stop as far in front of the animals as possible to enable it to leave the roadside without panic.

If the worst does happen, or you are first-to-the-scene when it's happened to someone else, here's the drill.

• First of all, stay calm.
• Avoid contact with the deer, its hooves or antlers.
• Call the emergency services or ask another driver to do so.
• Set up road flares [or warning triangles] if you have them in your emergency kit.
• Contact your insurance policy provider.

In the USA not all insurance policys cover Deer Collision so it maybe a good idea to check with the lovely people at comprehensiveinsurancequotes.com to see if its worth getting cover in your state.

For a more detailed look at the issue in the UK see the excellent Deercollisions.co.uk

More soon
SBW


PS There's more read Deer Crossing Donna 

Fishing The River Usk Pt7

The last tangle of the trip

Some observations on the noble pastime that is Fly Fishing:

Fly Fishing is - Fighting your way though the undergrowth and thorns in expensive plastic trousers, carrying a really expensive stick that's so fragile it might as well be made of glass.

Fly Fishing is - buying or making a steam-side Special Effects department in miniature, and then using spider webs to tie the creations onto the line, while sitting in cold water, often in the dark.
From where I'm standing Fly-tying looks like a hobby within a hobby, apparently their are guys who have 'had to' build whole extensions on to their houses just to store the inevitable collections of fly tying materials. Some of which are collectable.

The moment just before the F±§k@R is cut off, and the whole process started again

Fly Fishing is - Relaxing by unknotting spiders webs in the half light of and overgrown stream. Practiced mainly by gentlemen of advancing years 'middle youth', who have finally acquired the patience required for all the untangling, the money for all the kit and caboodle and the time off.
The sport then serves mainly to remind the practitioner he needs reading glasses.

Fly Fishing is - Where the romance of craft and the precision of science intersect; it speaks of a past where men we'd like to be, men from a bygone era, make things, things of staggering precision, and make them in sheds. So that, armed with their creations, when time and financial tide are right we can re-hatch into ourselves as boys, all penknives and baseball caps, poking sticks into the water, and conjuring up visions of what might one day be.

Get anything? Some bushes, a soaking, spent a lot though!

Fly Fishing is - watching good intention turn to pragmatism as one fishless day turns into another
The Lighthouse Keeper [day one]: Oh no SBW, Dry Fly is what it's all about, that's the real thing
The Lighthouse Keeper [day three]: Lets do some nymphing!

Fly Fishing is - A school of fishing so up-itself that it can become, [once a collection of bit 'n' bobs have been bought - at at £4.98 each] any other kind of fishing (float, lure) without even noticing, yet still remain disdainful of them.

See - just like Abercrombie and Fitch

Fly Fishing is - The search for the simple life, the search for a time when we were grubby but happy, enthralled by the simplest things; following the movement of a ball of fluff as the currents tumble it down a streams meander, the flicker and flash of a tiny fish made from Peacock Feather, seeing that same feather-fish become the new kid on the block as fry, tentative and observent, surrounded it until the biggest and blodest of the fry muscles its way past the onlookers to break its teeth on the feather-fishes brass head.

Annoyingly the true pure simplicity of it all can only be revealed at vast expense. Often without the involvement of fish.

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SBW

Fishing the Usk Pt6

So you've been reading about our adventures fishing the Usk, and you're thinking of coming to the UK to fish, or you're new to fishing and you're wondering how things roll 'stream-side'?


All The Gear - No Idea
There is no greater fear in the heart of the British [I know, this time I'm including them - as its the same for them too] Outdoorsman than to be branded with this epithet. In other countries a man fishing with his new £800 fly rod, in his £600 waders and £500 wading jacket is probably admired for his financial success or profligacy with a credit card, looked up to as someone who has invested seriously in the sport.

Here he could be rendered the lowest of the low with just a few words: if he was really good all you'd have to do is look  at the ground and say 'Tackle Tart' or if he was anything less than world championship standard, 'All The Gear - No Idea' would do it. Once dismissed like this I'm not sure there would be any way for him to bounce back without living on the riverbank for the next year, eating only fish he'd caught, but caught only after repairing his rod with Pine Pitch and parts culled from an abandoned washing machine.

For the real 'Aficionado' look your gear would look something like this:

Your Jacket: should look like it was; dived from a dumpster or belonged to your grandfather.
Your Waders: should be mainly made up of patches.
Your Rod: can be as expensive as you like, you may know the name of the brand, but certainly not the model and you should have a story to go with it about how you got it in a trade with some fool who thought they could buy their way into the sport but has now taken up something else, letting you buy the rod for 10-15% of its sale price.

Your Reel: anything more than 60% of the original finish left on the reel. We have a name for people like that.

Your Hat: like the dog dragged it in, and preferably you'll be seen using it as a dogs bowl at least once during the day.

Your Fly-Box; if you must insist on using a bought one, it needs a crack in the plastic, but better still a very old tabacco tin, preferably of a brand no longer sold.

Now we get to the difficult bit, how to conduct yourself. Any kind of success must be down-played, but the opportunity must also be used to demonstrate your ethical superiority. That 20lb fish was ' reasonable' but obviously was released to breed and so others could enjoy the majesty of caching it. However unworthy they may be. Where visitors from more expressive nations often come unstuck is that we have very strict rules banning: earnestness, gushing, emoting and talking about yourself. To prevent social disgrace where others would use the above, we use that most British of traits Understatement. If in doubt feign dry, deadpan, indifference at all times.

"The understatement rule means that a debilitating and painful chronic illness must be described as 'a bit of a nuisance'; a truly horrific experience is 'well, not exactly what I would have chosen'; a sight of breathtaking beauty is 'quite pretty'; an outstanding performance of achievement is 'not bad'; an act of abominable cruelty is 'not very friendly', and an unforgivably stupid misjudgment is 'not very clever'; the Antarctic is 'rather cold' and the Sahara 'a bit too hot for my taste'; and any exceptionally delightful object, person or event, which in other cultures would warrant streams of superlatives, is pretty much covered by 'nice', or, if we wish to express more ardent approval, 'very nice'."

From 'Watching The English', by Kate Fox. [Bright girl, not a bad read.] 

An antique shotgun of staggering beauty and fascinating provenance is "this old thing", a supermodel = not a bad looking bird, a vintage Porsche = 'my hack' and/or  'I'm keeping it on the road', a handmade suit would be 'the uniform' and a man who owns as far as the eye can see is 'a farmer' or even better understating the understatement 'a bit of a farmer'.

Another nation with understatement rules is of course Japan [aka the Britain of Asia]. I once asked a japanese girl how the notoriously polite japanese people cope with the english trampling over their social sensibilities. She smiled kindly "It's not your fault you're a barbarian"

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Your pal

SBW

Fishing The Usk Pt5

The true sportsman needs neither game laws nor bag limits, nor does the securing of a license make a sportsman. He must be moderate in his kill, find part of the pleasure in being afield, and in observing the lives of the denizens of the streams and wood. Many of our best days are those in which a large catch was not made.

"Uncle" Lloyd Taylor

No fishing excursion is complete without an emergency trip to the fishing shop, so when The Lighthouse Keeper's waders self-destructed we made a pilgrimage to SportFish in Hereford. The shop is vast, they have a casting pool out the back, but due to my scrappy and short range casting I could have practiced indoors the shop is so big.

The enthusiasm of the fly shop guys is something to behold, this is a job for people who basically couldn't do anything else, because there's only so much talking about fishing that is aceptable in other more conventional workplaces.

As we patrolled the aisles it quickly became apparent the scheme is a simple one:  loads of tiny gadgets and accessories that you can get in the door for pennies and sell for £4.98 so you can take at least a tenner off every one who comes through the door, but if they want to spend £100's you can then take some of the pain away by 'throwing in' a pile of stuff with a nominal value of £40-50 without it actually costing you more than a few quid.

By the time you or I are in the shop everything they sell seems like a duress purchase, without which we have no hope whatsoever of ever catching a fish. Cunning.

Shop guy: Have you tried a Czech Nymph?
SBW: One or Two
Shop guy: Fantastic aren't they!
SBW: Sixteen years and two kids later she's still speaking to me, most weekends.

It turns out that Czech Nymphs are a kind of fly that isn't a fly, they are for catching fish under water where Trout do most of their feeding, and therefore TLK considers them un-sporting. Until day two without having caught a fish, when they suddenly become worth a special trip to the fly shop. But hold your horses/park yer pony if you do decide to use Czech Nymphs you'll then need 'Strike Indicators' which are basically little floats, so 'fly' fishing has now become float-fishing just in miniature. So much for the simple life. The sodding things are £5 a tube of 5; two out of five broke while being put on the line, with the next two flying off into the bushes on casts one and four. The whereabouts of the fifth remains unknown. On our second visit we find that they also sell coloured thread in a cute little tin that you can add to the leader knot to make an unbreakable strike indicator. "That'll be £4.98 sir."  Another £4.98.

Shop guy: [having just sold TLK set of waders] What about your mate, does he need anything?

TLK: Oh I think he's got most things

Shop guy: Tackle Tart is he?

TLK: You could say that.

The man who coined the phrase "Money can't buy happiness", never bought himself a good fly rod!
Reg Baird

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SBW

Unusual Fly Reels: Franco Vivarelli

 Saw this the other day and though of the Usk, a reel that uses the drag to coil a spring which in turn takes up line. Very neat and tidy for wading through the thick stuff.

Made by Franco Vivarelli carbon fibre, Alloy, or even wood, weighing in at 103g [3.5-ish ounces] not the lightest reel in the world, but certainly the most 'gadget' so far.
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SBW

Fishing The River Usk Pt4

Look everyone SBW's rod is overshadowed by Lord Hereford's Knob

Every hobby starts with a hat, when stalking deer hats keep you warm and give you something to catch the rounds in when you unload the rifle, when fishing they keep off the sun [and more usually the rain]. Here I'm using a Sombrero as a training aid, the brim largely prevents overhead casting, entraining me in the art of the 'scrappy side cast' which will may put a fly under the overhanging bushes and trees which line the banks of the tributaries.

Opps that's another half hour untangling!

While we're on the subject of untangling I'm not sure if fishing causes divorce but its certainly one of its benefits, various chaps we invited to join us were 'mysteriously' busy after expressing initial enthusiasm.  As we canvased our friends looking for accomplices to join us on the trip, I noticed a new found unpopularity; with our talk of new GF's and fishing trips we were perhaps sounding a little too much like an escape committee, or at the very least Rebel Forces. To be crushed under the jackboots of the Empire.

For those of you who value a committed partnership AND fishing here's a few words of advice:

It’s a stunning summers morning. Three guys are fishing a Trout stream

Guy One:
“You have no idea what I had to promise the mrs to be here. I’m painting BOTH the kids rooms next weekend.”

Guy Two:
“That’s nothing I’m weeding the garden, BEFORE I reorganise her mother’s garage”.

Guys One and Two:
“What did you have to promise”?

Guy Three:
“Suckers, same as last week, I just set the alarm for 3am when it goes off I give her a nudge and say her Frolicking or Fishing? She said ‘Wear a hat, it’s cold out there’”.

On the subject of 'Conchita has left me' and hats. For those of us of a certain age, the Sombrero will always be synonymous with the now much missed 'Bandit' bar of our youth. Remember this one?



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Your pal
SBW