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Unwrapping the neatly wrapped parcel, the two new Victory knives that were being sent for testing and evaluation by Jason from DDD were there complete with a nice strong leather sheath that had a short sharpening steel fitted into a specially sewn in pouch on the front of the sheath. After unwrapping the two knives they were able to be both fitted neatly into the sheath supplied, making for a handy knife and steel combination to keep in my pack. Of the two knives that were sent to me, one was a knife called the Outdoor knife. This knife is a general purpose knife with a sharp clip point that is great for sticking as well as slicing. The blade is made of high carbon steel and is flat ground. The blade is 15centimetres in length and it has a great non slip handle, called a Pro-Grip handle and I can assure you that it is just that and even when covered in blood like it was a few times it still was definitely non slip. This in its self is a good thing as slippery knife handles can become very dangerous to the user as well as any close bystanders or helpers. The code for this knife if ordering is 1/302.
The second knife was a straight boning knife as this to me is one of the most useful of knife shapes. This knife has a 15cm blade length also. The blade on the short boner is classed as non stain and a lot easier to sharpen than normal stainless steel. This knife is also flat ground and very easy to sharpen. The handle is the classic Victory handle made of robust polypropylene and excellent in wet areas. The code for this knife if ordering is 2/710 and the handle code is, 115.
The first time these knives were used was on a rabbit hunt and a few bunnies were skinned using them, although this was not much of a test they worked well. Then last month a trip to Cape York gave me several prime opportunities to give these knives a real work out. The outdoor knife was used to stick pigs as well as cutting out their jaw bones to retrieve the tusks. This knife drove through the thick leathery mud encrusted skin of big boars like they were made from butter. The blade stayed sharp even after much abuse and I was most impressed with it. The boning knife probably got the most use as it was used to cut food around camp as well as cut the fillets from shot wild cattle to be stripped and dried for dog tucker. It, like the Outdoor knife was used and abused and came up trumps. They eventually did need a slight touch up on the steel supplied, but they then came up sharp as a razor again and ready for more use. Everyone’s perception of what is the perfect knife is no doubt slightly different. Naturally a lot will look at the aesthetic appeal, but really so long as the steel is of good quality and is easily sharpened and will hold a decent edge, plus it has a decent handle of a good deign and grip, then no matter what the shape it should do the job. Naturally certain shaped knives are better for certain tasks and no one knows better what tasks the knife is going to be needed for more than you. These two knife shapes certainly were adapted to many different tasks and were plenty good enough for all of them. After a great trip where many boars were shot and cut up and also many
wild scrub cattle, upon getting home a phone call had me checking the
sharpness of the knives once again as it was time to head around to my
mate’s place and make a batch or two of wurst. First there was around
400pound of pork to cut up into small pieces ready to mix with the venison
that also had to be cut smaller to mix in with spices and feed through the
mincer. Both knives were used and did have to have a slight touch up on
the steel, but they are still as sharp as when they first arrived at my
door and I do believe that it will be a long time before they ever need to
be put on a stone. The ease of sharpening these knives led me to believe
that the Rockwell hardness of these knives was somewhere around 55R to
56R. This is usually about where most good butchering knives run on the
Rockwell scale. Any harder than this makes them harder to put an edge on,
although when an edge is put onto a slightly harder knife it usually holds
well. In a butcher shop or in the field, ease of sharpening is really a
must. I used to make knives and my favourite Rockwell hardness was
slightly higher at 57RC. Upon later looking at the Victory website, the
Rockwell hardness of these blades is stated as being between 54R to 56R,
so I was pretty close in my estimate. Both knives have a decent finger
guard and there are no gaps between blade and handle for meat etc to get
into so this is great for hygiene. Even though I used to make my hunting
knives with a large hollow ground blade, I found the flat grind on the
Victory knives to be very good and they will be quite easy to sharpen once
they get to that stage. Seeing that I made a lot thicker blades on my
hunting knives was why I used to hollow grind my knives. The thin blades
of the Victory knives make cutting through meat and gristle that much
easier as you don’t have to push anywhere near as hard as with a thicker
blade. If you do happen to roll the edge a bit on tough bone, then it’s
easy to straighten the edge up on the steel with just a few light passes. In all, I found the Victory knives to be very robust as we gave them a hammering and they tended to hold an edge far longer than I thought they should have under the circumstances. The low cost of these knives with their durability, makes them an excellent choice for the hunter or man on the land that wants a good general purpose knife with which to take on all tasks at any time. I would thoroughly recommend these knives to anyone. On a scale of one to ten, I would have to rate these knives at 9 out of 10. For prices and availability please call.
07 3890 4443
Or email Jason at |
