Workin' in the yard knife...

[jon1all]

Going budget friendly...how about a Resilience. Nice big blade, no worries about trashing an expensive knife, good slicer & good chopper, easy to resharpen 8Cr13MoV. Not a terrible choice IMO.

[tr4022]

Going budget friendly...how about a Resilience. Nice big blade, no worries about trashing an expensive knife, good slicer & good chopper, easy to resharpen 8Cr13MoV. Not a terrible choice IMO.

Thanks, jon1all. A good choice for a beater, no doubt, but I want something with some Spyderteef for cutting through vines and other fibrous shnizzle. I do like the idea of the Resilience for an all-around abuse-taker, though!

Right now I think I'm leaning toward the Enuff sheepsfoot fixed blade.

Tod

Tod

[tr4022]

I could see certain situations where a SE knife could be useful, but i don't see how you can do this with teeth..




That whole thick behind the edge thing doesn't really work well for slicing through branches. If i wanted to make a sawing motion, i'd just use a saw. Am i missing something? I could see a PE hawkbill like the Spyderhawk doing awesome though.

For big stuff like that, I have the Corona Clipper 14-inch Curved Blade Razor Tooth Saw, available at the World's Largest Online Retailer. Crazy good at cutting through branches. I highly recommend it to everyone.

Oh, NOW I see why I was confused about the knife pictured above. At first I said to myself, hey, nice Millie. Then I looked at the hole and thought, wait, is that a Byrd bird's-eye hole? Now I see it's just a piece of the branch sticking through the Spyderhole that kinda makes it look like a backwards bird's-eye.

Tod

[Holland]

id go with any h1 serrated knife

[BAL]

BAL, you talkin' about the SS spyderedge Endura? Cuz, yeah, I had thought of that one, too. Crazy heavy, though. Well, you know, for a "pocket knife." :D


Tod

No just a Black FRN Endura fully serrated. I am not much on Stainless steel.

[kbrouwer]

Although I don't plan on picking one up, an Endura would be good. The Japanese VG-10 steel was actually developed for grafting plants. If you wanna go the fixed blade route, the Schempp rock is the best choice.

[tr4022]

Guys, thanks for all the great suggestions. You've all been very helpful and gave me some great ideas. I know I've kinda been jumping around--What's a cool EDC I could buy? What's a good yard knife, blah, blah, blah-- so I appreciate everyone's patience with me.

Tod

[-F1]

I use a serrated Tenacious. It works great, and it's cheap enough that I don't feel guilty using it on the rougher stuff like cutting weeds or branches or whatever. The serrations are really a necessity for that type of stuff. I've found that even the sharpest plain edges suck at cutting branches off living trees/bushes. (No, I'm not cutting down Redwood trees, but even cutting a smallish branch is far easier with an SE blade.) Sometimes I use my SE Stretch also.

[Evil D]

You guys saying PE sucks at cutting branches, you're doing it wrong. You don't use a sawing motion to cut them, you use a whittling motion...cut slices into the branch, deeper each time until you're through it. My Military can handle 1 inch branches with one push cut. If anyone can do that with serrations, I would love to see it.

[gaj999]

You guys saying PE sucks at cutting branches, you're doing it wrong.

+1 And try flexing the branch so that you're cutting the fibers that are under tension - ie the outside of the curve. Much easier.

Gordon

[-F1]

You guys saying PE sucks at cutting branches, you're doing it wrong. You don't use a sawing motion to cut them, you use a whittling motion...cut slices into the branch, deeper each time until you're through it. My Military can handle 1 inch branches with one push cut. If anyone can do that with serrations, I would love to see it.

Sounds like it would leave an awfully ugly, shredded branch stub behind. I use a sawing motion because I want it to look clean afterward, without spending more than a minute on it. I know "PE people" love to hate SE, but this is going overboard.

The one time I tried pushing/sawing my Stretch's factory-sharp ZDP-189 blade through a ~3/4" maple branch, it was a joke.

[defenestrate]

My favorite is the Spyderhawk but I rarely dig with it. How about the Cara Cara Rescue SE? Blunt tip will stand up to fudging aroudn in dirt and hitting rocks, and the SE will last as well as cut almost anything a knife is appropriate for. 50/50 Choil. And it folds. Plus the price is awesome.

http://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=589

I eventually plan to make my M4 Mili a mostly around the house knife but it's so pretty and shmancy that I don't want to mark it yet :/

[tr4022]

Purchased a discontinued 93 mm Rescue and a Harpy from Jeff at CS. I think that'll do me. I already got a serrated Stretch, which I love, but I like the Rescue's sheepsfoot blade, and I like hawkbill blades. JD Spydo swears by the harpy, and that's good enough for me. Thanks to everyone for contributing to this thread.

Tod

[Evil D]

Sounds like it would leave an awfully ugly, shredded branch stub behind. I use a sawing motion because I want it to look clean afterward, without spending more than a minute on it. I know "PE people" love to hate SE, but this is going overboard.

The one time I tried pushing/sawing my Stretch's factory-sharp ZDP-189 blade through a ~3/4" maple branch, it was a joke.

Oh I'm definitely not hating on SE, just making a point. I've owned and tried it all and for stuff like this it's no different than bushcraft and there's a reason those guys aren't using serrations. As for leaving ugly stumps, what you're looking at in the pic was complete sapplings that I took down so I wasn't worried about clean stumps. If I'm pruning a tree the right way there are saws for that.

If I worked in a garden dealing with picking and cutting veggies I'd probably go with a SE hawkbill but everything else is PE.

[chuck_roxas45]

Sounds like it would leave an awfully ugly, shredded branch stub behind. I use a sawing motion because I want it to look clean afterward, without spending more than a minute on it. I know "PE people" love to hate SE, but this is going overboard.

The one time I tried pushing/sawing my Stretch's factory-sharp ZDP-189 blade through a ~3/4" maple branch, it was a joke.

Don't blame the knife, blame the technique.

[video=youtube;Kgsp1r0sE60]https://youtu.be/Kgsp1r0sE60[/video]

[Mr Blonde]

The knife I have on me, usually becomes the yard knife. I've had a couple of 'spares' that saw more use in the yard; a SE Delica 4 and a ZDP189 Caly III. The serrated delica was better at digging and cutting roots when removing some old plants. The PE Caly III was excellent for general light pruning duties.

[BAL]

KNIVES don't leave ugly branch stubs behind,
PEOPLE leave ugly branch stubs behind.

[setldown]

This the one I use for yard work and digging. It's certaily the right tool for the job for me. I cringe at the thought of digging with one of my spydies. They also have a stainless but I love the carbon steel.
http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Garden-L ... rden+knife

[tr4022]

This the one I use for yard work and digging. It's certaily the right tool for the job for me. I cringe at the thought of digging with one of my spydies. They also have a stainless but I love the carbon steel.
http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Garden-L ... rden+knife

Yep, someone mentioned the Japanese hori hori knife earlier. Great knives for working in the yard/garden. But I needed something for cutting vines & other fibrous materials. Thanks for the input.

Tod

[akaAK]

IMHO there is only one knife you should be looking at. The CE Millie. I have used mine in the yard for years and it has dealt with anything asked of it. The partial serration is big enough to deal with climbing vines, twine, weed whacker line, etc. with a good size plain edge (the same edge length as the Native 5). Carries light, can be cleaned out easily relatively good corrosion resistance.

I very rarely dig into soil with knives as the sand,dirt and rock in my area will kill a blade quickly.