"How do I redeem the GSO 4.1?"

Seriously though, Gary and I emailed before/during and after his test and I have nothing but respect for his eval and opinions. I did want to throw out a few pics and thoughts on my take on the knife along with my other main knives.

Here some basic fuzz sticks, stake making and notching.

GSO- for me, very easy to use an has good control. I can go from fine shavings to taking big bites easily. Struggled more making the notch for some reason

Howling Rat- does it all well. Did very well notch making...I think it's the grind

Koyote LBK- fuhgettaboutit...does it all well, super easy.

WInkler Belt Knife- thick behind the edge, but does a good job shaving wood. The thick edge and slight recurve made the notch harder for me to get.



Making bigger wood into smaller wood! AKA batonning!

All did great. The Koyote may not look like much, but that wood had some crazy knots. I beat that 1/8" thick stock like crazy...knives don't have to be 1/4" to perform well! Edges held up great on all of them.



After the fact, I did some more fuzz sticks and all did well. For me, the more I use the Survive, the more impressed I am by it.



Saw this youngster on the way in...had a sibling who strolled off the trail.



Took them all for spin in the kitchen to prep a stir fry. Besides the WInkler, they were all pretty close...some knives did better on some veggies than others, but all worked well.



I don't hold anything against the Winkler though...that bad boy is built for other applications! I practice some drills with that knife a few times a week and it's mean, mean mean! Love it!

I really like all these. I don't have a fully informed opinion of the Survive yet. When i first got it, I thought "Meh, I like the grind." As I started to use it I liked it though. Now, the more I use it the more I like it. It almost strikes me as a compromise between the Howling Rat and my LBK...good, tough woods knife. I have to wonder if it's as bullet proof as the Howler though. This is my second Howling Rat and I never got any edge damage on either.

The different read on a knife is just a different impression. When Gary and I were emailing about his results I told him I laughed when he said the handle on the Survive! was too big big....because I would rather the handle be thicker! lol I know as much as I love the Koyote, Gary would likely dislike it greatly..the handle is much bigger and it's pretty heavy!

At any rate- something to look at and read!

Here are all 4 for a size comparison.

Nice, Rich. I've been watching for one of the thinner LBK's like you have, but I'm sure they're all going straight to the waiting list.

I do have one question about your LBK. It seems like a cross section of the handle would be a bit roundish. Is there a tendancy for it to roll in your hand when you're putting some torque on it, like sharpening a stick?

It is for sure rounding/ovalish is shape, but I don't recall ever having slipage...reminds me of holding a good tool like a hammer. Secure grip.

The GSO stikes me as 'simplicity at its best'

And the somewhat coarse Micarta makes for a great grip.

Anyway, the different opinions on the knife, just goes to show, that people want/need/appreciate etc. different things in knives.

Personally, I adapt easily to the knife I have in hand, and usually it is the grind, which make all the difference in perceived performance.

Great review! I'm glad to know the GSO performed well, I still wanna try a 7/7 when they come back...and a Winkler. I have a HRLM and I love it. What kind of drills are you doing with the Winkler?

MM

Yeah- I like the "simplicity" idea a lot on it. The grind is a great one for me.



I'm still tempted by a 7/7 or ESEE 6.

Believe me, nothing crazy in terms of drills. 2-3 x a week I do a mellow shadow boxing type routine where I throw 200-300 strikes/knees/kicks to make me feel like I can still do something. Then I get my condor combat machete, SOG Fast Hawk, RMJ Hawk and the Winkler for some practice slashing/stabbing/blocking/thrusting. Helps keep me limber I think...

Rich,
Nice review. I'm glad you gave the Survival an evaluation. I'm not sure if it was my very high expectations or the quality of some of its competitors or that it simply didn't work for me or a combination of these factors that resulted in my negative review of it. Regardless of the reason, it was one of the biggest surprises in my eval. I would have never expected for it to have performed like it did (for me). It caused me great consternation and I dreaded posting my OPINIONS of it.

This makes your review exceptionally valuable, because it illustrates one of life's imperatives: "your mileage may vary". I'm sincerely glad she has been performing satisfactorly for you. The design and specifications are about exactly what I would have said should I had been asked "what makes a good bush crafter" before I went thru my eval process.

Regarding the ESEE-6: be prepared for a relatively thin blade blank. They're surprisingly lean, but this results in a nimble knife (for its size).

I like when we PM'ed and I said "I'm liking that there's no jimping." and you said "First think I thought was this needs jimping." lol!

I was rock solid on selling it when I got it back from you, but I needed to do some stakes for my tomato plants...it did them so well I couldn't sell it! Still think now and again I should and buy more ammo for practice. IDK...hope it doesn't influence me to sell my Koyote or Howling Rat!

You need more ammo and I know someone who needs an LBK.

Adam, you are a good man and looking out for a friend!

I'm always here.