Fällkniven F1xb Review Tungsten Carbide
It is extremely difficult to describe exactly what makes something
feel just right. The harmony of many factors, all being
present simultaneously perhaps? As one of humanities oldest tools a
knife is something familiar within in all of us. We have ancient
knowledge from our ancestors who made use of such a timeless and
‘primitive’ tool. So it is interesting that even to this day we are
seeing new designs and thoughts evolving this archaic object into new
ideas. What makes a knife feel just right? It is the feeling that is
instantly transmitted to the user upon using the tool, the comforting
knowledge that this knife can be put to good use and will not
let you down. Feeling good and balanced in the hand and with a blade
roughly the same size of the middle finger all make for a good knife.
Allowing for precise use to be exacted upon the tool and your tasks
accomplished. The middle finger length is a distance that is familiar
for the mind to control and always improves the dexterity of the
knife. Read our full Fällkniven F1xb review.
The Fällkniven F1xb is a delight to hold in the hand and quickly
imparts a strong character, both in looks and in feel. In the
background its impressive materials and smart design help protect the
user in ways not normally found on knives. Please enjoy our full
Fällkniven F1xb review (Tungsten Carbide version). One of the latest
knives to be released and a cutting edge take on a timeless tool.
First Impressions
For a knife with a full tang and seriously thick blade stock (5mm) it
feels remarkably dextrous in the hand. Even the sheath is nice and thin,
almost discreet even. You notice the locking mechanism on the side of
the knife immediately, something unique to this range of knives. The
draw of the knife is
so smooth and clean and it goes back into
the sheath with a nice audible
click too. The blade coating is
also striking in that it’s so subtle. Its colour seems most peculiar, a
weird shade of grey and silver that resists reflecting the light. It
coats the entire knife metal and puts a nice finishing touch to a very
good looking tool.
Blade & Steel
The Fällkniven F1xb uses a very fancy stainless steel called Laminated
Cobalt-Special. The inner core is ‘wrapped’ by 420J2 which is low carbon
high chromium and which offers superb resistance to corrosion as well as
increasing strength. The inner core which forms the edge itself is made
from Cobalt-Special stainless steel. After reading a ton of information
about steels it all starts to become a blur. What I can conclude from
several evenings research is that the Cobalt-Special steel has a very
good balance between corrosion resistance and wear resistance while
allowing the user to sharpen it with relative ease. Stainless steels are
the new kid on the block, so to speak, and as a result evolution is
still happening with the different element blends forming them. In short
I do prefer to look at real world use for an idea as to how a knife will
perform. For a survival knife, the F1xb holds its edge really well, has
not corroded in the slightest and when it comes to sharpening it is
reasonably easy to do so. That is to say sharpening any stainless steel
is, for the most part, not pleasant and so one should always take care
to treat the edge with respect out in the field so as to avoid hours
spent restoring a ruined edge from hasty field work.
One disadvantage of this fancy steel is
that the outer layer cannot readily strike a firesteel. Make sure you
therefore always carry a firesteel striker whilst out in the field.
Blade Geometry
The blade uses very substantial stock and at 5mm thick it is most
certainly a very robust knife. The blade length is just slightly longer
than my middle finger, which results in a very balanced feeling knife.
The slight drop coupled with a tapered point make it very useful for
drilling and piercing. There is one change of angle in the middle of the
blade from which then it seamlessly tapers towards that beautiful convex
edge.
Handle
The handle is pretty neat and slender, yet on the other hand it fills
the palm well and settles into place extremely well. The textured
Thermorun scales are very grippy without being aggressive towards your
hand and they can even be removed completely. This allows you to totally
clean the knife after a long trip for storage or when you have used it
for game prep and it therefore needs a deep clean. The crevices of the
pattern do collect and hold onto dirt so consequently you may find
yourself having to get a toothpick to get all that hidden stubborn dirt
out. Hardly a big issue but important to note if doing game prep as
hygiene is so important. To remove the scales you will need a TORX
screwdriver.
The Thermorun scales work well with
gloves in the winter environment, especially as the handle itself is a
good length. The scale material does not get overly cold but
nevertheless the thin nature of the thin scales coupled with the large
blade stock running exposed down the middle which together will steal
your warmth if using this knife bare handed in extreme cold.
Overall the handle is a delight to hold which surprises me each time I
pick it up to use. The handle is so thin and yet so comfortable to hold,
even for prolonged periods. Certainly this is not a carving knife but
camp chores requiring an increased amount of time and you can be assured
the handle remains comfortable throughout. Having the ability to remove
the scales is fantastic, yes there is a risk of losing screws but some
thread-lock applied after reassembly will give you peace of mind. The
handle length is really spot on with the F1xb, the butt protrudes just
the right amount to lock against the inside of the hand. There is also a
lanyard hole present and luckily it is far down towards the end of the
handle so it never gets in the way of the user. Sometimes on knives the
lanyard hole can be too far up the handle resulting in a much undesired
hot spot. The F1xb has a wise design with the lanyard hole well away
from the users hand. The tang also protrudes a little so you could use
it for light pounding or mashing if you really needed to.
In addition there is a small finger guard, the shape of which is rather
angular and square on first inspection. Perhaps leading some to believe
it would dig into your hand but actually the contour on the handle
section is wonderfully smooth and unobtrusive and you don't notice it at
all. You are blissfully unaware of the finger guard in the forehand,
backhand and the much loved chest lever grip. A mark of a great knife is
when it feels comfortable in all three grips. The angular shape of the
guard is actually needed for the locking mechanism on the sheath. The
shape has to be angular for it to produce that audible click on
complete insertion of the knife back to the sheath.
Field Use
My favourite immediately noticeable feature of the Fällkniven F1xb is
its handle. When using it for such common tasks as making feather
sticks, splitting wood or cutting cord the handle fits so well in the
hand. The textured scales really help in aiding grip and the overall
length of the handle means it feels very secure in the hand. As the
handle is so good it allows you to positively control the blade all from
very fine tasks to more rugged chores and everything in between.
A real treat to use, one really must
feel the handle to understand how well it fits in the hand despite its
lack of an overly contoured palm swell. Of course, it is not just the
handle that makes a knife and the blade must play its part too. The
convex grind is a workhorse of geometry, yet it can also produce those
fancy wafer thin feather sticks too. For endless carving you may find it
a bit of a chore, for that task specifically go with a Scandi grind
instead. The convex is strong and robust yet still able to cope with
these finer tasks to a very high standard. As there is more metal
‘behind the edge’ on a convex grind it is far less prone to chipping or
rolling than compared to a more traditional Scandi grind. This does
require the user to rethink their approach when presenting the knife to
the wood and will necessitate a slight change of angle between the edge
and material being cut if your aim is to produce feather sticks or fine
wafer cuts. A convex edge works in a very similar way to an axe so
practice first by making feather sticks with your axe and progress onto
the F1xb.
Making fire with the Fällkniven F1xb is
a dream. Once you get your feathersticks dialed in with the convex edge
the rest of the process is so smooth. The F1xb splits your kindling with
ease and you can remain confident that the convex edge will be preserved
due to its inherent strength. It goes without saying that this is not a
replacement for a maul and suitable care should be taken to not be
splitting too large a piece of wood with the F1xb. As you start to
prepare your fire site the F1xb can be used for the entire process,
battoning down your fuel wood, splitting the kindling and making feather
sticks. Still, due to the tungsten carbide coating you cannot strike a
firesteel and so a separate striker will be required. Once you have your
tinder ignited the knife can be replaced in its sheath and it is always
comforting to hear that audible click to remind you the knife is
seated correctly. The Fällkniven F1xb goes one step further here, as
once you have sheathed the knife you can now lock the blade using the
locking switch on the sheath’s side. A very reassuring feature indeed as
before you stand up to move around camp you can be sure that the knife
is safe and secure. A really impressive feature and one that I feel sure
will be seen on the competition in the months and years ahead.
Sharpening and Maintenance
Keeping an edge keen, sharp and full of bite is vital for any cutting
tool. A dull edge only increases the chance of injury and guarantees
weak results in cutting. If your edge is dulled then you have to supply
extra force behind the blade in order to affect the cut, a recipe for
disaster as well as strain. The advanced steel in the F1xb does indeed
hold its edge well and so frequent stropping is the first port of call
for edge maintenance. Much like an axe you do not need to sharpen this
knife often due its convex edge and like an axe stropping often delivers
the best results. I use two compounds applied to a flexible strop to get
super results. The flexible strop is important as you want to follow the
curves of the convex edge and not flatten them by using a solid backed
strop. Likewise you also need to take care to not make the edge fat and
heavy by letting the strop wrap around the edge completely. Use the
natural contours of the blade and let them be your guide when stropping
and do it lightly too. After prolonged use you may wish to take it to a
stone for some more aggressive sharpening. There are plenty of options
on the market but my favorite for convex edges is to use a foam mat
along with a variety of different grits of wet and dry paper. This
method may not be the most glamorous but it gets the job done time and
again without running the risk of destroying that convex geometry. You
can get some really fine grits too and really put a keen edge on your
F1xb. Most importantly the steel on the F1xb can handle a fine edge and
indeed hold onto it. This means it is worth the effort in taking your
time to sharpen the F1xb properly to fully take advantage of its high
end steel. Furthermore you can make a miniature field sharpening kit out
of the foam and wet and dry paper to get excellent results out in the
field without the need to carry a large bench stone.
I selected the tungsten carbide coated
version and yes it is true that this will wear off, not only with use
but with sharpening too. On the other hand compared to my Fällkniven
F1dz the coating on the F1xb seems to last a lot longer and resists
getting removed by battoning, something that very quickly started to
erode the coating on my F1dz.
Sheath
I have already mentioned the unique locking mechanism found in this
range of Fällkniven X knives. The F1xb has this lovely locking feature
too and fresh out of the box you will find a little piece of para cord
attached to aid its opening when using gloves. For me this cord got in
the way and so I quickly removed it and for winter I have made a much
less fiddly version.
The sheath is strikingly slim with
multiple mounting options. Formed out of Zytel, a synthetic material
made from fiberglass reinforced nylon, it has many advantages for use as
a knife sheath. It is strong and stiff, resistant to abrasion and has
high resistance to solvents. The F1xb sheath as two side slits and one
on the base, which allow you to pass webbing through for mounting
options. It would have been nice to be able to fit a tek-lok for
horizontal carry but the dimensions are slightly off to do it easily,
mainly the problem is of fitting the screws through the slits.There is a
reasonably long dangler loop but I would extend this a little to
increase comfort when sitting and getting in and out of vehicles.
Fällkniven do make a sheath option for the F1xb with a metal clasp to
easily attach to a belt, make sure you check that out if you are needing
to remove a knife quickly and regularly throughout a day. The sheath has
a drainage hole which is actually more like a long slit at the base of
the sheath, expect rapid drainage with this one!
Conclusion
The F1xb is a fantastic piece of kit. A very well put together package
of a robust, sharp knife and a safe strong sheath. This all results in a
more than capable survival knife and if you select the F1xb over the
larger sized versions in the range then you also get a very dextrous
tool that feels very balanced in the hand. The F1xb can be worn on the
belt where it goes unnoticed until you call upon it to fulfill most
tasks found outdoors. The subtle blade coating is very strong and holds
up much better than Fällkniven’s previous technology. It is also very
non reflective with its strange dull grey colour. It does however
collect fingerprints like there is no tomorrow. The draw of the F1xb
from its sheath is really excellent and in addition its reassuring
audible click when seating the knife back in the sheath is
totally wonderful. A really nice touch indeed and only adds to the
safety of using this tool by having feedback to inform you the knife is
seated correctly.
