American Survival Guide – October 2019

[ASGMAG.COM] AMERICAN SURVIVAL GUIDE 29

SOURCES

(Bark River Knives

(906) 789-1801

BarkRiverKnives.com

DLT Trading

(877) 622-2397

DLTTrading.com

BOTH SHORT PUSH CUTS AND LONG DRAGGING CUTS WORKED

GREATWITHTHEKNIFE,INCLUDINGSTANDINGTHEBOXUPAND

PULLINGTHEBLADEDOWNWARDTHROUGHTHECARDBOARD.

‹ Bark River offers

a dizzying array of

handle materials

and colors for their

knives. For this

review, the author

chose basic black

canvas Micarta

handles for both

knives.

with the EXT-1. Carrots, celery and radishes all
posed no challenge at all to the Pro Scalpel II.
Because of its very short blade, I found it eas-
iest to keep the tip of my index finger on the
spine and use pull cuts through the vegetables.
Chopping motions were a little awkward.
One of the most common things we use
knives for is cutting open boxes and then
breaking them down for recycling. I grabbed
the box from a recent package I’d received and
went to town on it. Both short push cuts and
long dragging cuts worked great with the knife,
including standing the box up and pulling the
blade downward through the cardboard. The
knife was also comfortable in the grip while
using it for this purpose. I held it in a standard
forward grip and experienced no issues at all
with comfort or control.

As routine as that chore is, cardboard is actually a very abrasive material and can dull a knife

very quickly. So, when I moved to the third test, I expected a little resistance from the knife. I set

out some paracord and proceeded to use push cuts to cut off small bits of cord. The knife was

still razor sharp and cut through the cord without any trouble at all.

My concerns about the comfort of the knife during real-world use turned out to be all for

naught. While I still generally prefer a full four-finger grip, the Pro Scalpel II’s handle is large

enough to be easy to use without experiencing hand fatigue in a short period of time. The

blade edge held up very well to usage, considering I never stopped to sharpen or even strop it

between chores or tests.

FINAL VERDICT

The Fox River EXT-1 has earned a place as my primary field knife, and I expect I’ll continue

using it in that role for quite some time. It is comfortable to use and is a great size for just

about any routine camp or field need.

The Pro Scalpel II is an excellent EDC knife. It is small enough to keep in a pocket or on a belt

all day long, yet easy to use for a wide range of typical daily tasks.

On the whole,inmyexperience you really can’t go wrong with anything produced by Bark

River Knives.