Tuesday, November 22, 2011

The Return of Survivorman

Les Stroud just posted the following on his Facebook page:

 well the cat got let out of the bag but here it is....yep:

SURVIVORMAN RETURNS!!!!

and I am upping the anty: i will be heading out for TEN days this time (instead of seven)

I have been in talks with the networks for some time to make this a reality and it all happened on Friday...in fact in three weeks I head out for the first one

I dont want to sound pretentious but my only reason is YOU....you have all been so kind and all requested I do some more that I thought - "yep....i should head out and show once again how it's really done!" still no camera crew - still real survival

wish me luck - send me positive vibes....lets have a blast this time!!! I'm actually quite stoked about heading out again...I remain extremely proud of my series Beyond Survival. But doing Survivorman again now is strictly for the pure enjoyment of the skills and as I said - for my fans. Feel free to post this up for me on the various survival forums and blogs that are out there to help get the word out. stay tuned! Les Stroud

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Stripped and Polished ESEE 4 Knife


My ESEE 4 (or RC-4 as it was known when I got it) is what I consider to be my first real bush knife.  I've pounded hard on this thing during use and never once has it failed me.  ESEE produces a heck of a knife, no complaints there.


You're rarely if ever, going to find a knife that suits your needs completely and there have also been a few modifications I'd wanted to make to it.  Last Spring I finally got around to making those mods and I've had a whole summer/fall to test them out, and am thoroughly happy with them.

So how do you take a great knife and make it better?

First off, I've never really been a fan of the protective epoxy coat.  Wet weather and humid conditions can ruin a high carbon blade very quickly and the ESEE 4 was designed as tough survival knife to function in all environments, so the blade was given a epoxy coating to protect the exposed steel.  This has never really been a problem for me, and since the coating has always prevented me from using the spine as a firesteel striker I decided I wanted it gone.

Stripping was done using a dremel buffing attachment.While the epoxy was removed on all exposed steel, I left it on under the micarta scales.  It seems counter-intuitive, but my rationale was that I could spot and clean up any surface rust, but I didn't want moisture to ruin the blade where I wouldn't see it and catch it early should rust occur.


It was at this point that I noticed there was some pitting on the surface of the blade.  My best guess is that since the blade is coated, there's no need to grind out these small imperfections in the blade stock.  For me, I'd have to spend some time reducing them since I wanted to bring the knife to a near-mirror finish.


With the pitting mostly removed I proceeded to bring the blade to a mirror finish by using a felt buffing wheel loaded with green stropping compound. This took a lot time and I had to stop frequently to make sure I wasn't heating the blade and ruining the temper.


I finished up by polishing the blade by hand using flitz and shop towel.

Next up was the edge grind.  ESEE knives come from the factory with a 40 degree V-grind (20 degrees per side), and is wicked sharp. I however, prefer a convex secondary bevel for a full flat grind knife and this was easily done using an old textbook and some wet/dry paper. I used three grits, starting from 220 then moving on to 600 and then 1500. A good trick to use when convexing a knife is to run a sharpie marker along the edge of the knife where you are grinding. This gives you a quick reference to see where material is being removed and where you need to focus your efforts to thin out material.


With a final stropping I managed to get my knife shaving sharp with only a few hours of work, and been very pleased with the results. So far the knife has handled everything I've thrown as it without rusting or tarnishing and the edge has held up to intricate tasks (carving netting needles, pot hangers) as well as processing wood for fire (splitting, feathering) with minimal upkeep.