Thanks all for the encouraging words, glad you liked it (was a fun trip)!
The placement of the choil for batoning got me thinking so here are a few unscientific photos comparing some of my smaller knives (4-5 inchers). I think that this also lends itself to the discussion of the mudder vs old school res-c handles. For me, I feel like the rubber on the old schools is more tacky than that on the mudders. The ripples on the mudders make up for this as far as “retention” is concerned. Personally, either handle shape works equally well for me (little girl hands) but I think the mudders LOOK better. That being said, if we could get mudders w/o the ripples but instead with the tackiness of the old schools, I think that would be the best of both worlds. I believe the “lack of tack” on the mudders is due to their being a bit harder, which I thought I remember Dan saying recently was a difference in the manufacturing process between the two handles. Anyway, here are some more pics of the various options:
first the mudders; the SS4 and S5. Notice that the guard puts the edge only about an extra 1/8 in beyond my first finger contrasted to the SS4:
[img]http://[image]
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y258/damonstage/backpacking%20and%20knife%20review/DSC04720.jpg[/img][/image]
[img]http://[image]
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y258/damonstage/backpacking%20and%20knife%20review/DSC04721.jpg[/img][/image]
Compare that to the old school res-c w/ "guard" on the HR.
[img]http://[image]
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y258/damonstage/backpacking%20and%20knife%20review/DSC04722.jpg[/img][/image]
The last one, the SAR5 is a great design IMO...just way too heavy overall and too handle heavy for me to take it over the S5. This one is harder to judge (pretty subjective) due to the blade config. But I just held it where my hand naturally grabs it. IMO a SAR5 with a res-c handle (thin blade, Sr101 or SR77) would be about my dream woods knife.
[img]http://[image]
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y258/damonstage/backpacking%20and%20knife%20review/DSC04723.jpg[/img][/image]
