Bernie Garland Bushcraft Folder

[Scotty]

Finished this for the main site but thought I'd post it here too.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bernie Garland needs no introduction to the world of bushcraft knife production, he has emerged in recent years to occupy a place as one of the most prominent makers of bushcraft and hunting knives active in the UK today. That is not to say he doesn’t have his detractors; known for his outspoken views and frank, no nonsense conversational style, Bernie has often courted controversy on some of the many hobbyist online forums , but this is not a review of Bernie Garland the man, and love him or loathe him, his Bushcraft Folder is something worthy of a certain degree of admiration.
Before we proceed, I need to make it clear that this is not a normal review. I did not pay for this knife. Bernie gave it to me as a prize in a competition here on BCL, which to my mind is a pretty lavish reward for what was just a bit of fun; so to offer some sort of recompense to the generous Mr Garland, I agreed to give it some rigorous testing and post my conclusions here. Bernie made it clear not to hold back, and I guarantee that this is an honest, balanced appraisal; this knife is not perfect, though I challenge anyone who can attribute such a label to ANY knife. Every knife has its flaws, and this is no exception.
As far as I am aware, Bernie Garland was the first UK maker to produce and market a folding-style knife designed specifically for bushcraft use, though I’m happy to stand corrected if I’m wrong. I believe some others have since followed suit, but not many, and considering the amount of incredibly intricate and fiddly work that must go in to creating one, I’m not surprised!

So, to begin. First, for the knife geeks, some technical specs:
Overall length – 205mm
Handle length - 115mm
Blade – 95mm x 27mm x 3mm
The blade is a deep Scandinavian grind (approximately 8mm grinds) in O1 tool steel and the handle is BG’s signature stabilised box elder burl scales with brass pins, black liners and a flared butt with lanyard tube. In terms of construction, I believe that Bernie buys the folder 'skeleton' as a kit and then adds his own bushcraft style blade and shapes the handle with his trademark box elder burr scales.

Aesthetically the knife is very pleasing, Bernie is well known for his attention to detail and the fit and finish here is very impressive indeed. The stabilised elder scales are stunning and I much prefer these more subtle, earthy tones to some of the brighter, plasticised scales on some BG knives. The only downside of course is it’s bloody difficult to spot if you lose it on the forest floor! The ricasso of the blade is virtually completely hidden within the scales which makes sharpening a very straightforward and unimpeded affair.

I’ve used this knife a fair bit now, and it was my primary cutting tool for five days in the woods back at the end of September. During this time I cut, sliced, shaved, carved and yes, even drew blood, with the BG Folder and at all times it performed handsomely, particularly at the latter! Yes, this is one very sharp knife and if you aren’t paying close attention to the working end it would be very easy to do yourself an injury, even the most seasoned knife user will nick themselves every now and then so when you’ve got yourself a blade as hair-poppingly razorsharp as this in your mitts, it pays to be attentive! As mentioned, I did manage to give myself a bit of a nasty cut on my left forefinger, just above the knuckle, but more on that later.

So how has the knife performed?

Feather Sticks
The BG Folder is absolutely fantastic at carving feathersticks. The curved belly and deep grind of the blade make it ideal and you can accumulate many fine curls with ease. I carved feather sticks from both regular seasoned wood and the resinous maya wood and it performed equally as good on both.[/LEFT]

Battoning
Not a typical task you would expect from a folding knife but the BG folder is capable of splitting down small diameters of kindling; such as for making feathersticks for example. It’s not something I tested too thoroughly as the hollow handle and inherent weakness at the pivot of a folding blade means it’s not really suitable for splitting anything too large, still, at least I now know that if I didn’t have anything else to hand I could call upon the BG folder for splitting kindling.

Food Preparation
I have used the BG folder for prepping, butchering and deboning pheasant and rabbit and it has stood up really well. It is adequate at slicing vegetables and brilliant for fine chopping of veggies or herbs to add to the pot. The blade is 3mm thick yet still has good slicing ability; certainly sufficient for anything you need doing in the woods. The two pics below show the knife being used to clean up cattail rhisomes and to debone meat for a pheasant curry.

Carving Wood
Now whilst a folding knife wouldn’t typically be my first choice for carving, the BGF has proved itself to be a quality all-rounder, and it’s no different when it comes to putting it to wood. I decided to make up a new bowdrill hearth out of some ivy I had been drying so after splitting it down with an axe, I shaped the board and carved in the notch with the BG Folder. The high grinds of the blade made chipping out the wood with deep, firm cuts an effortless task.


I was also interested in seeing how the folder would cope with carving something a bit more substantial. On a recent weekend foray into the woods I split down some sweet chestnut and used the BGF to carve a new spatula blank. After roughing out a general shape with an axe I set to work shaping it. As the pictures demonstrate, the BGF is more than capable of carving a reasonable looking article and you can achieve some pretty fine work with it. Now I am no great carver, my meagre efforts will never be appreciated for their aesthetic value, and I think in the right hands the tool itself is irrelevant and an experienced craftsman can produce great results regardless of the knife they use, but it does go some way to disproving some of the myths purported about folding knives, namely that they’re useless at carving and shaping wood. However...

The one issue I did have at this stage was one of comfort. Obviously being a folding knife the handle has a hollow core, and when you’ve been gripping it for some time the metal of the tang begins to cause general discomfort as it digs into your palm – this isn’t so much a reflection on the knife itself, but more a general critique of the nature of folding knives and their suitability for extended usage. I freely admit I much prefer carving with a fixed blade with a ‘proper’ handle but I don’t think anyone would expect a folder to replace a fixed blade for bushcraft tasks.

Getting there... Finished!

Sharpening
The BG Folder is the sharpest knife I have ever owned. It arrived sharp and it has required minimal maintenance since. I have been using it for several months now and have only taken it to waterstones a couple of times, often a quick strop is sufficient enough to return it to a hair-popping razor edge. As mentioned previously, the wide bevel makes it really easy to sharpen and maintain an angle on the stones, I tend to put a small secondary bevel on the blade with the last few strokes.

Sheath
The BG Folder came with a quality full-grain leather sheath. I’m not sure whether these come as standard, as I believe this particular sheath was made by leatherworker Geoff Wood from here on BCL (it bears his maker’s mark at any rate), but I thought I would mention it here anyway.
The belt loop is fastened with a push stud so you don’t have to take off your belt to attach it to your waist and it’s secure enough so you don’t have to worry about it falling off. The leather is thick, closely stitched and dyed a nice earthy green. It’s a superb handmade belt pouch that does the job and looks the part; Geoff Wood is a talented man!

[Scotty]

What don’t I like?
I promised to be honest in my appraisal of this knife so I shall be; it’s not perfect, it has a few hang-ups and I will be frank. Above all, I don’t like the liner lock. There are a number of different mechanisms utilised by folding knives for locking the blade in place and, in my not so educated opinion, liner locks are the most inferior. When using the knife, because your fingers/palm are constantly in contact with the liner, over time it can deviate ever so slightly from the ‘locked’ position and loosen up, effectively meaning that if enough pressure is applied to the spine, the knife could close on you! I made the stupid mistake, without really thinking, of striking a firesteel with the back of the blade and because the liner lock had become displaced just slightly by my fingers, the downward pressure exerted was enough to force the liner aside and the blade to close up, giving me the aforementioned cut to my finger. It was my own fault really, and whilst it does give a great shower of sparks, I’ll be using it in the closed position only from now on!

If there was one suggestion to be made, it would be to source an alternative mechanism, perhaps something akin to the Nordmark Superswede where a button on the butt of the handle is pressed to unlock the blade though I appreciate this would likely make the effort required too great to be feasible for a handmade knife; the Superswedes are mass-produced by EKA after all. This is more of a general criticism of the nature of liner locks rather than Bernie’s workmanship, as I know he buys the locks in separately.

Conclusion
The BG Folder is an exquisite knife. Aesthetically very beautiful, yet also very functionally capable - it makes the ideal bushcraft all-rounder back-up to your belt knife, well-suited to all those quick, smaller tasks you wouldn’t want to bodge with a larger, beefier fixed blade yet also more than capable of performing most regular bushcraft tasks from feathersticks to carving utensils. Will it be replacing my fixed blade sheath knife for bushcraft any time soon? No, of course not, the stability and innate strength of a fixed knife will always be superior, but that’s not what the BG Folder is designed to do. The BG folder is that ‘go to’ knife that you slip in your pocket when you step out for a walk, that you reach for if you fancy a spot of whittling; that you would take with you if you’re going fishing or shooting...it’s an ideal little all-rounder that excels at what it does and I will treasure it for years to come! Thank you Bernie!

Pros
It looks gorgeous!
Very impressive edge with great retention
Easy to sharpen
Blade shape ideal for bushcraft
Quality sheath

Cons
Issues with liner lock
Core construction is from a manufactured kit rather than handmade
Issues with comfort after extended usage

-------------------------------------------------------------------
All comments and feedback welcome!

[MartinK9]

A very comprehensive review, thanks for posting.

The sheath compliments the knife really well. Hats off to both makers.

[Bernie Garland]

Many thanks Scotty for a totally honest review

Bernie

[nolightweight]

Well worded, thought out and balanced review Scotty

Top job knife as ever Bernie, and a well made and very functional sheath.

Cracking work all 'round

[HillBill]

Nice one Scotty

I do like the look of bernies folders, i have had a look at one and they are top notch.

Nice one Bernie

[Spamel]

They do look fantastic and very nice indeed. I have spoke with Bernie about how he makes these and the main issue is the part that the lock buts up against on the blade when open that is the fiddliest bit to get right. I have Bernies' prototype folder, and just a smidging too much taken off and the lock doesn't fully engage the blade so there is slight movement on the blade, but so little as to not really matter in use. Bear in mind that he didn't sell that knife, he's too much of a perfectionist to do so.

With all of Bernies' knives though, his heat treat and grinds are so good that the edges are very tough and resistant to wear so they seem to cut forever. His patterns of knives are very distinctive and he has made particular patterns practically his own, but then I am biased as I think his blades are spot on!


And he apparently bribes me millions of pounds to say so on the forums!

[Addo]

Looks a lovely knife that, and much more usefull than most folders.

[smallholder1]

good well reasoned review.

[FGYT]

its one i want to have a look at

maybe at the Cornish RV if theres one about

ATB

Duncan