I bought this knife from Heinnie Haynes http://www.heinnie.com/Knives/Dajo/Dajo-Knives-Survivor-Knife/p-92-811-5730/ a few days ago. Here are my first impressions:
The first thing I did was to swap the string that it came with for 550 paracord. I then placed the velcro fastening straps behind the cord to keep them out of the way when drawing or replacing the knife from the sheath. Without doing this it's easy to cut into the straps. Next I swapped the small ferro rod and the whistle for a Maglite Solitaire and an Army version of the Light My Fire ferro rod which has worn and broken with years of use.
If I was to keep using the original ferro rod and whistle I would remove the key ring attachment from the whistle and turn them both the opposite way round in the pockets. The way they came you could risk losing them as they were not very secure.
The next thing I want to do is have a mate sew the velcro fastening straps more securely and cut half of the right hand side of the strap away (and re-stitch) to ensure a much more secure fastening around the knife handle.
The knife itself is pretty good for the money. The notch cut out of the spine works OK when striking a ferro rod but I would have preferred the whole spine to be angeled to allow use with the ferro rod. I think this would be much easier.
The handle is OK but not as comfortable as the F1 for exmple, but at a third of the price, I suppose it's to be expected. The blade was perfectly sharp out of the box and shaved arm hairs no problem.
Here's a few pics of the knife in use:
It made light work when battoning even though the blade is quite thin, and performed well for the feather stick proving it can keep a good edge after rough use.
I'm still struggling to make fire with the ferro rod using this knife. When using my F1 or RM/SWC knife it's a doddle, but this requires a lot more strikes with the Army model of the rod or the small one which came with the knife.
I need to spend some time working on the spine of the knife I think, in order to try and sort it out for using with a ferro rod.
In conclusion it's a decent knife. Really bomb proof but not greatly comfortable after prolonged use. The sheath could have been better if the designer had just spent a bit longer thinking about it. The ferro rod and whistle are a good idea.
Thanks for reading
Stu
The first thing I did was to swap the string that it came with for 550 paracord. I then placed the velcro fastening straps behind the cord to keep them out of the way when drawing or replacing the knife from the sheath. Without doing this it's easy to cut into the straps. Next I swapped the small ferro rod and the whistle for a Maglite Solitaire and an Army version of the Light My Fire ferro rod which has worn and broken with years of use.
If I was to keep using the original ferro rod and whistle I would remove the key ring attachment from the whistle and turn them both the opposite way round in the pockets. The way they came you could risk losing them as they were not very secure.
The next thing I want to do is have a mate sew the velcro fastening straps more securely and cut half of the right hand side of the strap away (and re-stitch) to ensure a much more secure fastening around the knife handle.
The knife itself is pretty good for the money. The notch cut out of the spine works OK when striking a ferro rod but I would have preferred the whole spine to be angeled to allow use with the ferro rod. I think this would be much easier.
The handle is OK but not as comfortable as the F1 for exmple, but at a third of the price, I suppose it's to be expected. The blade was perfectly sharp out of the box and shaved arm hairs no problem.
Here's a few pics of the knife in use:
It made light work when battoning even though the blade is quite thin, and performed well for the feather stick proving it can keep a good edge after rough use.
I'm still struggling to make fire with the ferro rod using this knife. When using my F1 or RM/SWC knife it's a doddle, but this requires a lot more strikes with the Army model of the rod or the small one which came with the knife.
I need to spend some time working on the spine of the knife I think, in order to try and sort it out for using with a ferro rod.
In conclusion it's a decent knife. Really bomb proof but not greatly comfortable after prolonged use. The sheath could have been better if the designer had just spent a bit longer thinking about it. The ferro rod and whistle are a good idea.
Thanks for reading
Stu
