I thought you might be interested in the review I posted for the Knives I brought with me to the last meet. Here goes:
Re: condor bushcrafters and woodlores?
Ok. I took both the knives to the Norfolk and Norwich Bushcraft meet so I could get a good, impartial review on them.
A couple of makers - assemblers- were there and I said nothing about them only someone wanted an honest opinion on them.
The leather work was excellent. A good fit for both knives - even if both sheaths were left handed - intentional or unnoticed?
Firstly both blades were very blunt. We had a Lansky system (taken by me) and another field sharpening system and the good old DS3. The Woodlore was very thick and had a convex edge to it. Even when stropped (not re-ground at all as we didn't want to upset the grind) it was virtually impossible to feather with, whittle, or carve. It did fit my big hands though. With a re-grind to the blade I believe I could use it as an everyday knife. It needed approximately another 2cm adding to the grind profile and making it a scandi grind for me.
The Nessmuk was a different story. Felt good in the hand and stropping gave a good edge. It was felt by all that it would make a good skinner and game prep knife.
The finish on both knifes was pretty poor. Glue was visible and the scales were not symmetrical. The pins were also a little proud. It may be nit picking but this was set up as an honest review. (I did notice in one of the reviews about re-handling them). It was felt that they looked like seconds or a test piece that hadn't been finished well enough, just as an evaluation pre-production piece.
The majority of the group felt the bushlore was way too heavy and the blade was too thick. It was not even that good at battening, even though with the grind it should have made an excellent splitter.
I left them "on show" for the whole of the 3 day meet and the group chose to use other equipment even though I said they were there to be used (but not abused). (I still preferred to use by Mora clipper for battening and spoon carving instruction).
We didn't snare any bunny's so couldn't try the Nessmuk at game preparation and skin scraping, although it was a unanimous decision that it would have performed well.
Sorry if the review offends anyone but we was asked for an honest evaluation, and I try not to "sugar coat it"
To sum up I would be happy to own them but would have to re-grind the bushlore. Hope it helps
