Sharpshooter
03-24-2005, 12:37 PM
I received my Prototype MikroSlither in the mail a few weeks ago for testing and evaluation. I received my Prototype MikroSlither in the mail last week for testing and evaluation. My first impression was the same as the lasting one I experience every time I pick it up; “Boy, this thing is small…”
http://barkriverknives.com/albums/Sharpshooter/e_e.sized.jpg
Amazingly, the more I work with it as a true “Pocket Knife” I also find myself thinking “It sure cuts big…”
The original concept was an E&E (Escape and Evasion) Knife which at first made it difficult to come up with a reasonably accurate test criterion; until I thought about what an E&E knife would have to do in actual use.
E&E isn’t about what we see in the action movies, the point in one of these situations isn’t taking out enemy sentries; in reality EVASION is just that, evading the enemy. In truth an E&E knife should be a blade that will cut whatever you need cut in a survival situation; feeding yourself, making traps for small game and to hinder your pursuers, and making field expedient gear to keep you alive until you can find safety. Testing then became very easy for me; actually an E&E knife is a tiny Bushcraft knife.
Taking big sticks and making ‘em little is almost universal, batoning for square ends and whittling to make a tool from the stick. First batoning:
http://barkriverknives.com/albums/Sharpshooter/MSbaton.jpg
It’s simple with a big knife, easier with a Golok but still quite possible with the MikroSlither; you just need a smaller baton and to remember to leave the logs for some other time. The hump on the spine made batoning easier as it gave me something to hit while driving the baton thru the work piece. Rolling the work allowed me to baton thru an inch thick branch quite effectively.
Next was making a figure 4 trigger, something I’ve done many times with a larger knife, actually only a small part of the knife blade is used in whittling meaning that on a big knife like a NorthStar there’s a lot of unused edge just slicing air…. Hmmmm. The MikroSlither has an edge; a very good convex edge combined with the thin blade makes it a small razor that will hold an edge very effectively.
Whittling the trigger notches is close up work that the MikroSlither made seem simple; by using the first two fingers on the handle and the thumb pushing against the spine, just like choking up on a big blade.
http://barkriverknives.com/albums/Sharpshooter/Notching.jpg
Notice the nice curls coming away from the wood…
http://barkriverknives.com/albums/Sharpshooter/Notching2.jpg
This little knife just doesn’t know it’s little.
http://barkriverknives.com/albums/Sharpshooter/fig4setup.jpg
Here’s the completed figure 4, with a bit of imagination it could certainly be used for more than squashing little critters.
http://barkriverknives.com/albums/Sharpshooter/fig4set.jpg
After this use, the MikroSlither still had enough fight left in it to make some fuzzys and slice up some meat. There isn’t much more I could ask it to do other than dissecting some paracord and ripping thru a bit of heavy leather.
http://barkriverknives.com/albums/Sharpshooter/MSlast.jpg
This little knife did everything I asked of it. In reality, I don’t figure to be in an E&E situation in the near future, those days are behind me; still I can see a practical use for the MikroSlither as a PSK blade. It’s certainly small enough to replace the folder in my kit, strong and effective doing things that I’d be reluctant to do with a little slipjoint. Now I have to inventory the PSKs in the house and get a MikroSlither for each one.
Reid
http://barkriverknives.com/albums/Sharpshooter/e_e.sized.jpg
Amazingly, the more I work with it as a true “Pocket Knife” I also find myself thinking “It sure cuts big…”
The original concept was an E&E (Escape and Evasion) Knife which at first made it difficult to come up with a reasonably accurate test criterion; until I thought about what an E&E knife would have to do in actual use.
E&E isn’t about what we see in the action movies, the point in one of these situations isn’t taking out enemy sentries; in reality EVASION is just that, evading the enemy. In truth an E&E knife should be a blade that will cut whatever you need cut in a survival situation; feeding yourself, making traps for small game and to hinder your pursuers, and making field expedient gear to keep you alive until you can find safety. Testing then became very easy for me; actually an E&E knife is a tiny Bushcraft knife.
Taking big sticks and making ‘em little is almost universal, batoning for square ends and whittling to make a tool from the stick. First batoning:
http://barkriverknives.com/albums/Sharpshooter/MSbaton.jpg
It’s simple with a big knife, easier with a Golok but still quite possible with the MikroSlither; you just need a smaller baton and to remember to leave the logs for some other time. The hump on the spine made batoning easier as it gave me something to hit while driving the baton thru the work piece. Rolling the work allowed me to baton thru an inch thick branch quite effectively.
Next was making a figure 4 trigger, something I’ve done many times with a larger knife, actually only a small part of the knife blade is used in whittling meaning that on a big knife like a NorthStar there’s a lot of unused edge just slicing air…. Hmmmm. The MikroSlither has an edge; a very good convex edge combined with the thin blade makes it a small razor that will hold an edge very effectively.
Whittling the trigger notches is close up work that the MikroSlither made seem simple; by using the first two fingers on the handle and the thumb pushing against the spine, just like choking up on a big blade.
http://barkriverknives.com/albums/Sharpshooter/Notching.jpg
Notice the nice curls coming away from the wood…
http://barkriverknives.com/albums/Sharpshooter/Notching2.jpg
This little knife just doesn’t know it’s little.
http://barkriverknives.com/albums/Sharpshooter/fig4setup.jpg
Here’s the completed figure 4, with a bit of imagination it could certainly be used for more than squashing little critters.
http://barkriverknives.com/albums/Sharpshooter/fig4set.jpg
After this use, the MikroSlither still had enough fight left in it to make some fuzzys and slice up some meat. There isn’t much more I could ask it to do other than dissecting some paracord and ripping thru a bit of heavy leather.
http://barkriverknives.com/albums/Sharpshooter/MSlast.jpg
This little knife did everything I asked of it. In reality, I don’t figure to be in an E&E situation in the near future, those days are behind me; still I can see a practical use for the MikroSlither as a PSK blade. It’s certainly small enough to replace the folder in my kit, strong and effective doing things that I’d be reluctant to do with a little slipjoint. Now I have to inventory the PSKs in the house and get a MikroSlither for each one.
Reid