Page 45 - Blade (February 2020)
P. 45

Left row, from bottom: Condor Tool & Knife Curved Knife and Classic Carver and the Flexcut Sloyd Collection of fi ve knives. Right-hand portion of
        image: Smoky Mountain Knife Works’ Rough Rider 12-Piece Set and the Casstrom Curly Birch Knife (in the middle with the curly birch handle).


               he past two years I have noticed all     MSRP) is a hook knife and the Classic          carving of a sort. Be advised, however, that

               sorts of carving taking off in popu-     Carver Model 62702 ($59.98 MSRP) is            when you sharpen the Classic Carver for
        Tlarity—spoon to folk, chip carving             a Sloyd-style knife (page 46). I had to do     the first time, you will discover it is a very

        and even relief carving. If you carve, you      some edge maintenance on the Curved            shallow hollow grind. I went to polish up
        need something sharp to do it.                  Knife because it was not nearly as sharp       the bevels on my belt grinder, only to fi nd
           Most of the edged tools in this article      as it needed to be. Once I got it tuned        the middle of the bevel was not cleaning
        focus on spoon carving. One tool gets           up, it worked well. Overall, it is true to     up at the same rate as the sides.
        into some detail carving. Because of the        design—except that I feel the blade runs          Both knives’ blades are 1075 carbon
        number of edged implements reviewed,            on the lightweight side. It still cuts but     steel. I would prefer 1095 to get the
        I will give you my impressions on each          you might miss the mass, depending on          Rockwell hardness higher. Th ese  two
        company’s lines rather than a lot of detail     what type of wood you are cutting.             make for a good set, and Condor provides

        about the specs, which you can research           The Classic Carver has a traditional-        a sheath for the Curved Knife.
        via the Internet. I have been carving for a     style blade with a full-tang design. Th e full
        number of years now and want to give you        tang gives the knife more of a robust build    CUTTING PRETTY
        a feel for the performance of these tools.      while allowing for a trimmer handle cross      In the past, I have reviewed a couple of

                                                        section. The Sloyd style cuts very well.       Casstrom bushcraft knives. Both were

        FULL-TANG TANGO                                 The full tang makes it a great little knife    excellent performers. Since Casstrom is

        The Condor Curved Knife ($49.95                 for bushcraft work, which essentially is       in Sweden it shouldn’t be diffi  cult for the


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