Grayman Knife Ready to Go

Here is a quick shot of my new Grayman Knives Kordofan-8 cozily strapped on my Maxpedition 3 day go-bag. I decided to mount it on this bag because it was a perfect size match. I left my larger BKT -9 on my long range Eberlestock bag. I keep both bags ready to go so I can grab either one on very short notice.

Thanks again to Mike and Sue for a superb combat/tactical knife and great service

The Fowler Dismemberer

Dismember:

To tear apart or tear limb from limb, to divide into little pieces, that is the prime directive for a knife such as this one. Bladesmith Stephan Fowler custom built this incredible subhilt vivisector for another man. Due to the hard economic times the original owner decided to sell it to help fund his child’s college fees. Sadly there is a lot of this going on as people make personal sacrifices to hedge against the lingering recession. I was pleased to have the opportunity to purchase it and honored to now own it.

This is truly a monster of a knife. The forged blade has a prominent undulating hamon. The knife’s perfect proportions belie the fact that it has an 11.25 inch x 2 inch recurved blade for a total OAL of 16.5 inches! Yes this is indeed one big knife. A fine piece of gnarly stag (Elk I am guessing based on the size) graces the grip. The handle is slightly big for my hands, but I can learn to adjust to that. A steel buttcap matches the contours of the stag and it is fitted seamlessly. This knife’s point of balance falls precisely at the ricasso. High grind lines create a very sharp primary edge and the long unsharpened false edge improves the overall balance. The weight of this piece is similar to the Kukri and Barong in my collection. A friend of mine who is a knife-maker told me there is no such thing as a slow knife, only a slow knife-fighter. This knife may prove him wrong. To be fair, I have not had a chance to work with this knife yet. But I suspect it will not be as agile as some of my other “smaller” Bowies. I will withhold judgment on its maneuverability until I have had adequate time to work with it. In my opinion, subhilt knives tend to be less flexible in flow drills than a standard grip knife. In exchange you gain improved weapon retention. Giving this Fowler knife (and my right wrist) a workout is something I am looking forward to.

Stephan Fowler also made the high quality, hand tooled, leather sheath. The sheath features an innovative removable belt loop secured in place by snaps. This design feature provides you with the option of using either the belt loop, or a simple stud to retain the knife IWB style. All in all, it is a splendid fighting knife of the highest quality workmanship and materials. to Mr. Fowler’s credit, this is a grand fighting knife! The rifle is a Cooper Super Varmint rifle in .308 winchester with a bushnell 4200 elite 10x mildot Scope.

GRAYMAN KNIVES

OK I am going to try to get back to knives and self defense and away from the toxic wasteland of Washington DC. The politicians will do what ever they want and there’s no getting around it.

I bought a knife a few days ago from “Grayman Knives.” I'd heard about “Mike’s” work from several sources and I was curious to see some of his knives. I had also heard they were coarsely ground and sort of rough and tumble looking. My sources did say his knives were well priced and nearly indestructible. The model I ordered is the Kordofan 8. A bolo style knife, it has a nicely recurved 8 inch blade. It arrived in very short time fitted in a desert tan molle sheath. The sheath will work well on my go-bag (where I expect it will become a permanent fixture) and the knife is certainly the type you’d want along on a trek or combat mission. At the same time I ordered one of Mike’s very cool “Death to Al Qaeda” T- shirts.

To Quote Mike: :I realized that I wanted my knives to be able to function well for prying chores, and to be tough enough for chopping, batoning etc., as well as being able to readily take and hold a keen edge. After experimenting with several types of high end stainless steels, I realized that I prefer high carbon steels for their toughness, shock resistance, and overall performance characteristics."

The knife I received is nicely ground with an apple seed edge and without any obvious grind marks. A smooth black coating covers the ¼ inch thick 1095 carbon steel full tang blade. A non-serrated thumb ramp indexes one’s hand just right. On my knife I ordered the green micarta scales. They are about 3/16 inch thick and attached with six of the small countersunk screws that are commonly found on today’s knives. All of the edges of the scales are properly radiused and the handle design includes a single index finger groove to help lock in your grip. The Kordofan 8 balances nicely, about one finger’s width ahead of the handle scales. Typical of a bolo or a kukri its weight is tip-forward making it an excellent chopper and the finger groove provides blade control and knife retention. I was expecting a nasty looking knife and I got one that is pleasantly well made, nicely finished and superbly designed. All for under $300, that folks is not a bad deal! Grayman offers electric engraving on the tang up to 13 characters for free. Its not US Mint grade engraving but what do you expect for free on a combat knife? I went with his “Death to Al Qaeda” slogan. That will date the knife for generations to come and this knife will still be functional generations from now. That is what Grayman Knives is all about, weapons grade knives at an affordable price. Knives that you can depend on to get you out of tough situations. I am in line right now for one of Mike’s Monkton Church Keys and I’m seriously looking at a Darfur Defender. Check out his website. There is some very interesting reading and lots of neat knives to look over. Thanks Mike and Sue for the knife and T-shirt. http://www.graymanknives.com/