NIBA Knives by Our Bernie and Scruff

[Celt_Ginger]

We (The NIBA) were VERY fortunate to be on the receiving end of a most generous gift from Barnie Garland and Scruff. We received matching Woodsman B&T knives from Bernie and fine leather sheaths from Scruff. Below are some pictures and a review of them.
Please note. Bernie nor Scruff have asked any of the NIBA for a review of their products, nor payment nor any form of endorsement what so ever. I do not wish for any BcUK style backlash of this review.


Here are 3 of the knives (4 were made)

And again


Details of the blades, which were engraved with our user names and NIBA



Handles were of stunning stabilised Box Elder burr. the blade is 3mm 01 tool steel. Blade length is 105mm, with the handle an additional 110mm

Some more handle detail.


It was a VERY wet day here (though not nearly as bad as in some areas of the UK) so I undertook a short review of the knife in my workshop.

First up was a spot of light battening, which the knife had no problems with


The knife has quite a high grind, which leaves the tip quite fine. I had a little bit of concern about how this would cope with battening and of course, making a hole in some wood. It was fine at this, though to coin a phrase from Siberianfury,"I wouldn't go opening a tin of paint with it"
I did discover, to my cost, that bernie's knives come VERY sharp. I choked up on the blade to carve the hole, placed my thumb against the sharp edge, and simple pressure, not a slicing action, was enough to open my thumb up and release the red stuff.


15 minutes later and with a bandaged thumb, I made some feather sticks. With the finer blade of 3mm and a good sharp edge, these were easy to do.


A power cut through thumb thick green willow was easily achieved.


I carved a pot hanger from the willow branch. The fine tip made tasks like this very easy to do.



After a bit of carving, I went back to battening again, this time a long piece of wood.




I referred earlier to the fine tip on this knife, so I decided to see what it was good for. Apart from the obvious fact that this knife will make an excellent food prep knife, eg. skinning and gutting, I wanted to see if the fine tip was useful for carving.
I made some curves.....



Then had a go at cutting a circle. Easily done with a fine sharp tip.


Every knife needs a home, and where finer to keep it than some fine leather work by our very own Scruff.


Detail of the belt attachment.





And after all that work, I gave the knife a few strokes on a sharpening steel and it was razor sharp again. It was able to slice paper with little effort.


Overall impressions? I think it's a very good knife. It is a shape that I have liked for a long time and the handle suits my hand extremely well. I personally prefer the 3mm blade that this knife has over the thicker 4mm blades that seem to be the Bushcraft norm. I believe that this makes a much more versatile blade with only the smallest compromise on strength. very few us us will ever break a knife of this thickness and if we do, then it wasn't the right tool for the job anyway.
This knife & sheath were a gift from Bernie and Scruff, but if I was spending my own money would I buy something like this? Yes I would.
Highly recommended.

[JonnyP]

Very nice work all round..

[Bernie Garland]

Many thanks Gary for your kind and truthful review,they weren't for nothing,they were for the hospitality you lads and your wives,showed Max and me, on are trip over to meet you.
And as you know were coming back next year

Bernie

[steve]

Agree with the 3mm blade, strong enough to withstand anything you would want to do plus makes for a much lighter and easier to handle knife.

[siberianfury]

Brilliant Reveiw mate, i think these knives are as good as they come as far as a bushcraft knife goes.

with these knives you have the slicing ability of a puukko,
the battoning of any fixed blade,
a brilliant carving ablity,
very comforable handle,
very good at game prep,
solid construction
and brilliant control when doing tasks of all manner.

I dont have a scruff sheath, Bernie actualy sent down his personal sheath for mine, which has a brilliant fit and is very solid.

oh if your concerned about the tip try rounding it off very very slightly with a diamond stone, makes it alot stronger for boring holes.

another thing that i realy like is the curved belly, it makes slicing and push cuts so much more effective.

and for anyone wanting to know the edge geometry its 19 degrees or 9mm high on a 3mm blade.

Your some lucky lads fellas, they are knives to be cherished for a lifetime and more.


Brilliant job on the sheaths Scruff they look amazing

ATB
Josh

[scruff]

Well I missed out on the NIBA/BG swingers club meeting but I was happy to out the sheaths together....sorry they took so long!!

Looks like you've been playing with the loop there? Was that for a better fit...or did you untie it and get confused? (I like it though...will play)

[Celt_Ginger]

Originally Posted by scruff

Well I missed out on the NIBA/BG swingers club meeting but I was happy to out the sheaths together....sorry they took so long!!

Looks like you've been playing with the loop there? Was that for a better fit...or did you untie it and get confused? (I like it though...will play)

It just "Sat" better that way. Personal preference, that's all.

[scruff]

Cool. Its a good tweak

This loop is very versatile, in partiular it can be replaced without needing to do anything to the main body of the sheath. Its the reason I chose it and use it on a lot of my sheaths now..... I 'pinched' the idea from the (Grohmann) Canadian Belt knife sheath.

[Addo]

All looks good stuff fellas. Im a big fan of 3mm blades, and its nice to see a full tang version out there too.

That box elder looks cracking as does the leatherwork.

[Simon H]

Very nice. Looking forward to getting mine now!

Lovely looking sheath too, nice simple look to it.