Jack Farmboy another Youtube Knife bro who loaned me the honey badger, decided it would
be a good idea to also loan me a Bark River JX6 fixed blade- well aware of my batoning
fetish.
Now he got the knife from Cedric and Ada- another known Youtube baton artist- so if
I have this right- it was shipped to Australia from the USA, shipped Back to the USA, then
shipped to a few other batoning curious as well.
The good news is this batons two logs at once- hopping on the Preparedmind101 click train,
and also somewhere near rock bottom in SEO of 1000s Youtube-Bark-River-fan-fiction-wank-fests
until the Asteroid batons us all into a million pieces.
But before the Asteroid becomes a meteor lets take a look at the dimensions of this cute
useful fixed blade with a well endowed handle- like the overall length and weight.
Remember when Tom Cruise was going to play an Asteroid in a movie adaptation of the video
game.
Blade size and cutting edge.
I forgot to say, you take a drink every time I say baton.
Don’t rewind just watch it twice.
Handle Size and Grip area.
Did you know this knife has cut up a boot, been subjected to verbal insults, salt water,
and has testified before a senate subcommittee?
. Spine thickness and handle thickness.
And now this channel.
The reason this knife gets so much well deserved love, is not because primarily Preparedmind101
will come to your house and whoop your ass if you don't like it... although thats a consideration-
is because while it's small it has useful blade shape, and a good size comfortable handle.
But let's look closer at the blade first, per the knife review formula.
Now this knife has come in two steels I'm aware of, both nice CPM154 like found in standard
Benchmade Griptilians everywhere, except ones without it, and in a A2 tool steel.
You'd pick the CPM154 if you wanted more rust resistance, and A2 if you work in dryer conditions
or you don't mind your blade darkening over time, and maintaining it with proper cleaning
and lubrication, not called spit.
The blade shape can be referred to as a few different styles...
Knifecenter claims sheepsfoot, Blade HQ decided it’s a clip point, and knives and tools.com
says a skinner blade shape.
And maybe as I type this some piece of shit somewhere under a Youtube video is correcting
the uploader, saying it's actually a reverse tanto.
Let’s call it a sheepskin.
Anything goes if Spyderco calls it’s military a modified clip point.
The blade grind is convex, and the finish is a sandpaper satin, per Pete.
The blade is adept at food prep and tree rat skinning mostly, as it's too small for any
sort of real non youtube batoning- like thats a real thing people do.
The handle.
Lynn bless Preparedmind and Bark River for giving this thing such a nice sized handle.
Knives with short blades aren't bad, and are useful- but when a fixed blade is coupled
with a short handle, well I'm not that interested in it- I mean it’s probably not interested
in me either.
It's why I bought the larger handle for my Izula.
The only thing just a little sucky about are the corners on the scales near the handles
butt.
I don't think most non bushcraft people come in contact with them, except when pulling
the knife from it's sheath.
Easily solved with a paranoid survival sculpture.
The scales are polished micarta, so not quite as grippy in entrails as a standard non polished
micarta.
The top of the blade has a generous jimping free sweep perfect for a thumb.
And unlike an esee HM series there's a useful yet small ricasso keeping your hand from hitting
the blade during finer tasks.
Was what else are you going to whine about?
The sheath.
The sheath is an extremely well made leather one.
stitched and welted.
There are warnings on some web sites not to use this with a pacemaker- and I think it's
because the magnet in the sheath and not because the knife is too sexy.
The JX6 says "BUT I MUST" The magnet helps keep the knife in place, although I don't
find it to be overly strong- as in I didn't realize there was a magnet in there until
I wondered what the bump was on the sheath.
Naturally I first thought the government was tracking me.
The belt loop allows a vertical carry or a slight angle, and rides a little high for
my tastes.
Although C2Gfab makes a dangler for this, that might ride lower.
I'll link a video at the end about it.
My preference for a sheath is that the handle butt doesn't ride much higher than the top
of my belt or pocket.
Comparisons.
First the JX6.
A really nice blade, again my two complaints very minor would be the higher riding sheath,
and the not fully closed loop on the back.
Understand those are just opinions though, and the handle thing would probably require
a redesign of the hole though because the micarta would be too thin.
Not a single one of my fixed blades has a lanyard loop on the handle though- and if
instagram is metric people put lanyards on literally every fucking knife.
I guess I’m not normal.
I left my lanyard on my Sebenza seen here, because that's probably a quarter of the MSRP
in the knife.
Fun Fact Chris reeve was the first manufacturer ever to use a paracord and titanium bead for
knife- look it up on snopes.
You should be thanking him he didn’t patent it.
You know I dunno if you can still buy the JX6- it may be discontinued so this video
might be pointless.
Kinda like most of my videos.
Now the Izula with extended handles.
Which is better now... hard to say.
The extended handles gave the izula new life.
The izula is a little easier to maintain the edge on my sharpmaker, whereas I'd sharpen
the JX6 with sandpaper and a mousepad which takes longer- and I'm still not great at yet.
How about the mora companion.
Stabbier and much cheaper.
You could but probably 10 or mora of these for the price of the bark river.
If you don't have a lot of money, and don't have an addiction to collecting knives, buy
this.
How about the Mora Eldris.
Tiny blade and handle... this has it's uses, like getting Wranglerstar over a million views,
by using a clickbait title, the top of his table, and a crotch shot for the last 3 minutes.
Let me just write that down.
Light and compact though- for gram counters that has light duty knife uses.
Is that it?
Now before the knife goes back to Jack or maybe it's going to journey wind junk yet,
I gotta pile of loaners here to work through.
I think I'm passing it to someone else?
He said I could baton with it.
Pete at Cedric and Ada bent the tip because of battening, so I'll just dabble to keep
people happy.
This knife would be fine for feather sticking for 45 minutes instead of gathering kindling,
ferro rodding, cleaning small game, and food prep.
If you're an idiot and also carry a larger fixed blade for just batoning, this would
make a good companion.
Bark River makes their knives in Michigan, so you're supporting a small business in America.
To be fair though a bare bones izula with extended handles are still a bit cheaper.
I know it’s 2018 and you think 1095 is worthless- sorry I forgot.
So I guess it comes down to blade style.
Anyway if you like this sort of review, subscribe to Jack Farmboys channel with well edited
videos and off beat humor, and Cedric and Adas green screen knife channel.
And also why not SC Bushcraft Backwoods channel seen at the end too- who is a regular commenter.
Last week I think a subscriber didn't see the end videos... you might need to be on
your computer and in a web browser to seem them.
Like, subscribe, comment, donate to my Patreon, thanks for watching!
Bark River Knives at Blade HQ: http://shrsl.com/16sfn