I have been a frequent visitor of this forum for quite some time now and have just recently been plagued with guilt for the amount of information that I have gained with no contribution. So I ordered a knife and joined the family.

About myself: I am a fisheries biologist that spends considerable time in the field and have enjoyed bushcraft starting with my earliest memories with my father in wild places. I have always spent time living in the outdoors from the arctic to Mexico (over 100 days sleeping in the dirt annually over the past 16 years) and developed an appreciation of good steel at the age of 16 when I acquired my first real knife, a Randall #5-5. I have carried that knife now for 25 years. Unfortunately I have recently become so attached to the knife and the memories that it carries that I am afraid to cinch it to my belt prior to departing on another adventure. The Randall was never the perfect knife. In fact I now find it quite uncomfortable, but it was mine. I have purchased numerous other knives over the past couple of years that were useful tools but were not quite adequate. Of the knives that I have handled and purchased over recent years, the Alaskan bush camp knife had the best dimensions and design. However, the D2 steel was not of a dimension or grind to handle the use that I gave it. The RAT RC-4 is a wonderful knife with adequate steel but for some reason it never grew on me. In my opinion (for what little it is worth)the S5LE looks perfect with the exception of the square choil (that can be remedied IF it is a problem). I am intrigued with the concept of INFI and hope that I have found a new best friend. I suspect that it will have the company of other SY knives over future years.

I look forward to our conversations.

Scott

PS. If my wife asks...I was never here!!!!