Because the ESEE knives are, in a practical sense, near indestructible (The 4,5 and 6, anyway) and because I find a conventional, secondary bevel edge (or a scandi edge, like the Mora HD or 510) easier to sharpen in the field than a convex edge, which is what the Fallknivens are.

Some guys will tell you the opposite is true. They will say that they find a convex edge is easier to sharpen in the field, but I find that a small pocket hone or a sharpening steel is easier to use under field conditions.

Sharpening a convex edge, yes, you can do it with fine grit sandpaper or a leather strop and polishing compound, but you need a flat, firm surface to sharpen a convex edge on sandpaper, and a wood-backed strop big enough to be practical is larger than a pocket hone- something like the Fallkniven DC3 or DC4. A DC3 resides in the accessory pocket of the sheath of my ESEE-6.

Well that makes sense. I have recently gotten back into knives. An Esee 4 and Izula being two fixed blade purchases. I had been considering an Esee 3 HM as a bare minimum survival/utility knife to keep on a battle belt. The 4 definitely provides more utility when lacking a small axe.

Yes, I don't include the ESEE-3 in my list because it's made of thinner stock than the ESEE-4. If someone has never seen the ESEE-3 or 4 except in photos, the appearance is deceiving. You say "These knives are quite similar. The blade of the 3 is only slightly shorter than the 4, and these two models actually use the same handles scales, so, I don't get it."

Ell, when you handle these knives side by side, you'll get it. The ESEE-3 is a scalpel, scary sharp as it comes from ESSE.

HM model of teh ESEE-3, I have no experience with, but I own two standard ESEE-3s, a 1095 carbon steel model and the S35VN stainless model. Tese are great knives, but thy are not as robust as the ESEE-4.

Remember this recent comment from Ed Fowler about serrated blades?

quote:

The serrations on a knife blade act like stress risers, if you get the knife in a bind and put any lateral stress on the blade the fracture will start from one of the serrations. As they are usually in the back area of a blade they make the part that needs to be toughest actually the weakest.

Well, take a look at this:



Notice where that blade broke. Notice that at the top of the blade, there are thumb serrations, which, if you ask me, might behave like the stress risers Ed referred to. Granted, the carbon steel model is supposed to be more ductile I guess you would say, and probably wouldn't fail as easily as the stainless model of the knife, but the video of this failure shows that the ESEE-3 is more delicate than an ESEE-4.

However, in the case of the HM version of the ESEE-3 (and the 4 as well), I noticed that ESEE has omitted these thumb serrations. Frankly, I wish these serrations were absent on all ESEE knives. I don't see any practical need for them.

All that being said, I think the ESEE-3 HM would make for a great compact knife for your stated purpose. It most certainly is a far superior choice to any of the larger folders with blades the size of the ESEE-3 HM, and all versions of the ESEE-3 are super-slicy scalpels.

I’m a long time ESEE 3 fan but it’s true, the 3 is much thinner than the 4. I’ve found the 3 to work better for slicing and game processing but the 4 is going to be more robust.

First, I think that ESEE knives remain one of the best values on the planet. I have tried most of them in the woods and beat the crap out of them. After much use I prefer the blade profile of the 5 over all else for a woods knife. The full flats on the others have a tendency to bind when processing wood. The 5 will go thru anything I need it to. If I have an axe, any of them will do but if its knife only, give me a 5 all day. If I had to give up all but 2, I would keep the 5 and Izula II. ( And yea I have doubles of those 2 )



That said, I still prefer BHK's for no other reason than I prefer O1 vs 1095.

Started following a outdoor cooking channel called Men With The Pot. They cook everything open fire in a beautiful outdoor setting. As a side hustle they sell a few of their items seen on their channel. They have this buschcraft/outdoor kitchen knife they sell.



Made with Aus8 steel so a mid level knife. I do like the blade design and the thick wood handle. For $120 might be worth having around.

Link

I've watched that video of the broken blade S35VN Esee3 and I would have liked to see the broken part from the end view as that would have told a lot more about the initial failure point causing the crack.
Was it an overload failure of the blade at it's weakest point, a crack that shows beach marks where it flexed repetitively leading up to the final breakage (propagation failure), material defect on that particular part or a machining mark?
In any case, the original point that the model 3's are much thinner and therefore more prone to failure is a valid one. Especially in serrations and other changes in section.

Photo for reference of a failure in a round shaft.

https://www.quora.com/How-do-I...-in-a-bolt-shaft-etc