REVIEW: SMITH & WESSON CKSURC SURVIVAL KNIFE

SMITH AND WESSON URBAN CAMO SURVIVAL 440C TANTO BLADE w/ TITANIUM COATING

With a long beast of a blade comes a long beast of a name as well.  But it tells you all you need to know about this monster. Yes, it is made by Smith and Wesson.  Yup, that's right, the guys and gals who make world class firearms (Remember Dirty Harry and his partners Smith and Wesson?).

What originally caught my eye was the fact that it was made with 440C steel.  This is an excellent material for making knives when you want the edge to stay sharp.  Some will say it tends to rust more quickly than 440A and 440B steels.  That may be true but that is where the titanium coating comes into play.  Titanium doesn't corrode like most high carbon steels.  Although this is only a coating, it will protect it, and even the edge, where there is no coating, hasn't shown any signs of corrosion on my knife, even after sharpening.

The blade is a tanto configuration, based on the short knife Samurai warriors, in feudal Japan carried.  To make it more modern Morgan Taylor, the designer, added the serrated edge on the top.  Mostly for show, I tried to saw through some logs with it, and got decent results.  I am sure, if you tried sawing for any length of time the coating would wear off, mine is still intact.  I would love to see the serrations sharper.  That might be a future project for me to modify.  But for now, I am happy with the serrations and coating the way they are.
  
When I first saw this knife at a factory tool liquidation place, right away I thought, what is wrong with this knife? And why would my beloved S&W sell a cheap knife?   First of all the price was $89.00 at the store.  Compared to some other survival knives, I would deem this middle of the road for Canadian pricing.  (more on this later).

When I asked the clerk if I could see the knife, even HE was surprised at the weight.  This knife is SOLID.  For some, it may be deemed too heavy, I, on the other hand prefer a solid work tool.  I never plan on buying a knife just to cut bread.  The blade actually goes through the handle and protrudes out the end.  This makes for a good design for whacking things like windshields etc.  The handle is a two piece design screwed through the knife blade itself.  When you first pick this knife up you will instinctively grab the handle and notice the balance is fantastic.  This makes for a great chopping knife.  Another first impression are the three holes in the blade, at the tang, and butt.  These, I will assume are for running 550 para cord through to mount the beast on a stick, to make a spear.  I have seen similar holes in my other knives, and they are perfectly sized for para cord.  The handle grip is flat and makes for a good contact point if you do decide to make this into a lance.

I then inspected the sheath.  Nothing is worse than a sheath that falls apart and exposes the blade to your expensive equipment, or anatomy parts.  Again, there has been some thought into the design.  The sheath is made of the same webbing as in scuba diving weight belts. It also has an insert to prevent the blade from cutting the webbing.  All is screwed together and is again solid like the knife.  Although there is a Velcro strap to hold it in the sheath, it isn't really necessary unless you are swinging from tree to tree.  There is a slot on either side of the bottom of the sheath where you can install a webbing leg strap. I put one on, but never used it.  No need, the weight of the knife will keep it pointing to the ground.  Besides, this is a big honkin' knife and I tend to bend my legs when I walk, so, unless i need a splint, I won't be latching it to my leg anytime soon.  There is a D-ring at the bottom of the sheath.  This is great for holding onto, when removing the knife.  Another pleasant surprise is the water stone that comes with it.  Not one of those cheap oil stones, this is a water stone.   I opted to put the sheath on its own webbing belt.  This allows me to also add multi-tools, lights and also keep my pants around my waste, where they belong.   

Before I parted with my money to buy one of these knives, I decided to check online, and see what others thought of it.  The first review I read, had a complaint about how difficult the tanto blade design is to sharpen.  ????  That one had me totally stumped.  This is one of the easiest blade designs to sharpen with a flat stone. PERIOD.  Almost all the reviewers loved the knife, sheath and sharpening stone.  There was some reservation about the weight, but it was usually stifled by the word SOLID or ROBUST.  During my search, I noticed the prices elsewhere were substantially cheaper.  I decided to order mine from an online firearms / ammo store.  At $44.95 plus 20.00 for shipping I settled on my purchase from SFRC in Harrowsmith Ontario (Canada).

http://www.theammosource.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=209_331&products_id=1380

The service was great.  I had my knife within a week and saved myself twenty dollars, even though it traveled half way across the continent.  The every first thing I checked was the sharpness of the blade.  Only a couple hairs were sacrificed to testing.  I promptly took it to my garage / research lab / sharpening stone and commenced to sharpen the blade to MY satisfaction.  Being old fashioned, I used my Hard and then Black Hard Arkansas stones to 'touch it up'.   Within seconds (OK, maybe 2 - 3 minutes)  I had bald spots on my arms from testing my handy work.  If I haven't mentioned it before, I LOVE 440C STEEL.   I am not disappointed with this knife's ability to sharpen, sharp and quickly.

I took it up into the mountains and gave it a test run.
This is what I found.

1) It holds its edge.
2) No corrosion.
3) Easy to sharpen that tanto blade.
4) Don't pry anything with the very tip.  IT WILL BREAK.  (I didn't break mine BTW)
5) No need for the leg strap.
6) The serrations on the spine work OK on sawing through wood.
7) Para cord fits in those holes to make a spear.
8) Some people will think they are Rambo with this knife.
9) Not a fan of the camo,  put it on the ground and it vanishes.  (I put reflective tape on to see it at   night)
10) Bears will fear you. (I never saw one bear when I had this knife on. No Sasquatches either)
11) Don't know if I would put it on a pack shoulder strap.  It would probably poke you in the eye, and stick in your waist.  Yes it is that long (13 3/4"  overall).
12) It sure isn't compact, but then, you can use your folding knife for the day to day uses.
13) The blade is VERY THICK at the spine, I did change the angle on the blade tip to make it more whisker unfriendly.  For an all round tool, that isn't needed.

All in all.  I LOVE THIS KNIFE.   My other knife is a Gerber LMF, that I also hold in high regard.  Which is better?  hmmmm  that's a tough call. 

 



I 

SECOND ANNUAL PREPPERSAURUS BUG OUT

BUGOUT 2012

Our Second Annual Bugout 2012 turned out to be fun, informative,  and most importantly 'almost' rain free.  Not bad considering it is October and the rainy season should be in full swing, in the Lower Mainland. 

 

Thanks to our Edmonton contingent, we got to see some expert marksmanship from Grambo (Edmonton) at the local pistol range.  He is a natural marksman with a 9mm pistol.  With some tips from a local firearms instructor, I did manage to show progress, and briefly thought about challenging Grambo to a test of skill, until he switched hands and still scored bullseyes.  Personally, I didn't buy the 'I'm a bit rusty and out of practice' excuses.  He IS a natural.  (Although I still maintain the tranquilizers he used before heading to the range steadied his shaking hands) hehehe.

 

Grambo also gave us a few lessons on backwoods craftmanship.  Although we laughed at his mostly dull, Chinese-made pocket knife, he did manage to teach us how to make rudimentary tools like a tomahawk. I taught a knife sharpening course, and Denise made some of the best homemade MREs, dehydrated spagetti sauce, and other culinary delicacies out of home grown garden veggies. 

 

The bug out actually started Sunday (Oct 7).  All involved got together for Thanksgiving dinner, after gorging (afterall we were going to be eating dehydrated everything for the next few days) on a fantastic feast fo dead bird, cranberries, stuffing, noodles, and yams, those who could move settled down for some Prepper Talk.   We discussed topics ranging from:  water reclaimation, dehydration techniques, egg storage, firearms preferences, knife and tool preferences, MRE recipes, tents, sleeping bags, clothing for cold weather and even 234 uses for 550 paracord.  Then came the fun part.  Disassembling packs and explaining why and why not we pack and don't pack items for a bug out.  This was so informative, we ended up delaying our actual bug out so we could run out and get some new items.  Suture kits, Paracord, Drybags, Lots o'batteries, 2-way radio headsets, hand cranked radio/weather channel/flashlights, ground sheets, and some interesting books on backwoods cuisine, seemed to be a few of the things that piqued interests. 

 

Although not everyone was a firearms owner, there was a keen interest in the legal aspects of firearms ownership, storage, PAL requirements, and ammunition quantities.  Regardless,  Wyatt Earp and John Rambo didn't manifest themselves in any of the participants.  Our new local 'expert' on the longbow briefly talked about archery and managed to get Denise and I interested in taking some coures in archery .  Boorman's Here We Come.

 

After a big hearty breakfast (thanks again Grambo) we headed up into the mountains north of Agassiz for several days of training, backwoods crafts, and relaxing discussions on emergency preparedness.  Kudos go to Grambo, again, for having the best kept, most advanced first aid kit.  I am sure local EMTs come to him when they need supplies. I am personally glad I didn't get so much as a sliver, for fear of being a unvoluntary pawn in some mock first aid excercise.  The latest techniques in CPR were definitely of interest. 

 

After extablishing our base camp.  We did a little recon of the area for alternative water sources, fallback plans, and possible areas where washouts and rock slides could block us in.  Dinner consisted of some sort of meat burgers and flatbread (not sure of the meat, but, MAN did it taste good, better count the cats).  Since there was a fire ban still in effect due to the dry summer, we resigned ourselves to only practicing various ways of lighting a fire.  No trees were harmed to keep us warm at night and the bears and beasties at bay. 

 

The weather co-operated where we had a spectacular view of the night sky, 16 satellites, and 13 meteors.  We also saw an iridium flare caused by the reflection of the sun's light on the antenna of an Iridium communication satellite.  We had a quick lesson on night navigation using the stars, although, some did joke that we would be lost until the end of the rainy season in the spring.  Surprisingly, cell phone compasses proved to be inaccurate for some reason.  Digital watch/compasses were no better.  I'll stick with my Brunton 8099. 

 

The next day we compared notes as to how warm we were the night before.  Denise froze in her fleece covered sleeping bag, Grambo didn't complain much, but then, he was hammering away  snoring, soon after hitting the sack.  I was toasty with my -30F rated bag, down hoody, and wool blanket combo.  The temperature was just above freezing, so this got everyone discussing what to change on future outings (maybe in the dead of winter).  Manning Park - January 2013 perhaps? 

 

This brought into play a new discussion:  Snowshoes.  Since I absolutely detest the cold and snow, I consider myself  'objective'  when discussing snowshoes.  Since moving to British Columbia, my wife and I have actually discovered we like to snowshoe.  After trying (and buying) numerous styles of snowshoes, I have come to the conclusion that the best experts are at MEC (Mountain Equipment Coop) and they set me on the path of righteousness and snowy pathways of enjoyment.  NOTE:  I still hate being cold, but layer proper winter clothing and you will be just fine.  AND, don't sweat.  If you sweat, you get wet, you get wet, you get cold, when you get cold, you get very very unhappy.  (how profound). 

 

Denise took some time cleaning up the garbage at a nearby beach, and we had a quick discussion on what items could be useful in a survival situation.  It is truly amazing what can be made from next to nothing, found in the 'wild'. 

 

In the afternoon we broke out the 2-way radios and worked out primary and secondary frequencies, faraday cage designs, VOX usage, and key words to confuse eavesdroppers.  This was quite the eye-opening experience as to the true distance these radios are rated for.  Usually ALOT less than advertised. 

 

The next night, the clouds started to roll in.  This was a welcomed relief to those who were cold the night before.  Clouds tend to retain the heat radiating from the ground.  Denise still froze.  I sweat.  Both survived. 

 

We broke camp and headed back to civilization with a new appreciation for new found skills, and a list of improvements that needed to be made, food recipes to try, equipment to obtain, and equipment that was in fact useless. 

 

Some things I learned:

 

1)  I was the warmest in my super duper sleeping bag, and brown layer of fat.

2)  'Rusty' MY A**.  Grambo can shoot.

3)  No matter how bad something looks, it still tastes great in a survival situation.

4)  I Love Paracord.

5)  North is thataway....or was it thataway?

6)  Break in those hiking boots BEFORE you need to hike in them.

7)  You have to spend the big bux to get good 2 way radios.  We didn't.

8)  A compass and Topo maps for the location you are heading.  Do Not Rely On GPS, or Cell       Phones (Besides an EMP could take them off line)

9)  30 lbs of camera gear AIN'T survival gear.

10) A IPAD makes for a great campfire substitute.

11) No fire, no smores.

12) Don't forget the trailmix.

13) Grambling means rambling.

 

and the most surprising thing I learned....

 

14) YES, my beloved spagetti sauce CAN BE DEHYDRATED, and taste great.

 

Special Thanks to Brenda Lee, the Dog Yeller (she sure isn't a whisperer) and the Keeper of The Cats. KC reported no kickings or pullings-of-tails.  Thank you.  Now.... about that scratch in my car.