Its designed as a surprise blade catcher.


Supplies!!!

That damage was caused by a strike to the tip end of the blade, not the guard end.

Something about the choil is bugging me. It could be the irregular shape. What about the original was causing it to snag on stuff where this design is snag-proof? My TT version hasn't snagged on anything that I know of.

Sorry but this is a silly statement - if a guard can't stand up to batoning, it's not going to stand up to military use, and it's sure as heck not going to protect your hand when used as a fighter.


Plus, the TT Regulator, with a 1/3 inch thick blade, is way thicker than a fighter needs to be for slashing, and IF if were to have a well designed guard, it would be at least as good a camp knife as the SoD, and I could easily argue that it would be BETTER.


I have batoned my Bird Dog and it handled the task just fine. Same goes for my Muk, which is a straight up skinner design. A Scrap Yard knife that can't handle as mundane a task as batoning is absolutely silly.

LOL, sure it has.......... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

The Regulator's batoning ability is what lead it to be a great Camp Knife. I was suprised what an all around good knife it turned out to be.

Even though the new choil is asymmetric I do think it will be useful.

Same here. Mine never snagged on anything. However, the modified choil will alleviate one small complaint. The super shallow squared off choil did very, very little to actually keep my finger from slipping onto the blade when I choked up on it. There just wasn't enough of a transition. I didn't cut myself that way, but the potential was much higher with the square choil.

I liked weight and ease of carry of the TT Reg, but I think adding a halfinch to inch and a half to the length could have helped a lot.

Exactly! There is absolutely no reason to make a fighter 1/3 of an inch thick - the test team Regulator screams hard use utility blade. Lest we all forget, the Bowie design was historically a hard use all-around blade that did just about any cutting job you would ask of it. It was used for fighting, skinning, shelter building, making fire, building fences, you name it. The Regulator, with its outstanding modern steel and other great design elements, like a full flat grind and tapered tip, fulfills the Bowie's historical role very VERY VERY well. The only, singular, thing that impeded this ability was the poor guard design, and that seems to be one of the few things left unchanged on the release version <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif" alt="" />


The new choil is ugly as sin, but I bet it's very comfortable and practical - and I'd prefer practical over cool-looking and uncomfortable to grip any day.

Honestly, if the heat gun trick will work i dont see it as too big a deal. It just seems silly that, as a whole everyones agreed that the guard needed to be either removed or reinforced. Dont know why why this was left alone and that the choil was redesigned.
Im sure the new choil is much more comfortable but how many people complained about it before? and THATS what was altered and not the guard.

seems silly to have to mod a new knife but my knives are tools and will be treated as such. When teh guard gets messed up ill post about modification with the heat gun and trying to remold it.

To MM's point i can see why he would say why bother with the TT project. If youre asking people for places to improve why not address the most universal issue?

The choil was one of the issues I mentioned in my initial report to Dan. It wasn't one of my major complaints, but I did notice it wasn't great, and think the new choil will work a lot better.

I "fixed" my guard with gorilla glue. It's ugly, but kept it from falling apart any more than it already has, so it's good enough for now. When it gets torn up again, I might try cutting it off, or I might send it in for a new handle, or far more likely, I will figure out a way to put a proper guard on it.