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| Fox River vs Full Tang Kephart / Woodland Special vs Kephart Companion Review by John Doyle1. Fox River vs Full Tang Kephart 2. Woodland Special vs Kephart Companion. Jeff (Twinblade on KnifeForums) was kind enough again to send me two of his knives for testing and review. Thanks Jeff, you’re a heck of a guy! He sent me his FT Kephart and Kephart companion. I will be putting these up against my Fox River and Woodland special. The following are my observations and opinions. These pics were taken over several days. (Editor added: There are several pictures so please be patient while they load... It will be worth it!) First Impressions- I grew up in a hunting, fishing and outdoor family so naturally, I love the looks of knives like the fox river and woodland special. That’s partly why I bought them. That’s one point I want to state right off. Many of the BRKT line will perform all these tasks with relative ease even though certain ones are somewhat designed to be task specific. So much of our opinions are based on what visually appeals to us and what we’re accustomed to. Aesthetics- I love the fox river looks. It is right up my alley for my lifestyle and the things I grew up doing in the outdoors. Same goes for the woodland. I didn’t care for the looks of the Kephart when it came out at all. Just me. The companion looked like a nice little knife but very similar to my woodland so I passed on purchase. Feel- The fox river is made of thicker stock than the Kephart and feels heavier in the hand. Both knives are very well made and plenty stout enough to handle all bushcraft/camp chores. As soon as I had the kephart in hand, I began to change my mind about the knife. It is very well balanced and contoured very nicely to fit in the hand. The Kephart has more handle than the Fox River even with my extended scales on the fox. The fox handle is a little thicker though and fills my hand better. Comfort on these two is a draw. Fire- I feel that fire prep is one of the most important tasks that I use a knife for. I end up Spending lots of time in high elevations and very seldom encounter t shirt weather. It’s often long sleeves and jackets even in July and August. So I value the ability to make fire and have a knife that helps do it quickly and easily. Sidebar- Before I get into the knife aspect of firemaking, I want to take a minute to share something with you guys that could really help you out. I know that some of you already know this but others may not so bear with me. I am going to show you a little about finding and using something called “fatwood”. Also called fatlighter, stumpwood, stumplighter, or stumpfat. Mostly commonly though, it is called fatwood. Fatwood is formed when a pine tree (most any variety) dies suddenly. Could be cut down or lightning struck or blown down by the wind. Anyhow, the tree is dead but the roots don’t know it. They continue to pump the highly flammable resin or sap up through the tree. But having nowhere to go, it stays in the stump in supersaturated amounts. With minimal work, you can find this fatwood and have a highly flammable firestarter that beats even dry, dead wood fuzzsticks ten times over. This fatwood can be found anywhere there are evergreen trees. The nice thing is, when the sap reaches the top of the stump, it sort of seals the stump from rain and snow. This fatwood will feel damp when you find it but it is wet with sap and not water. This makes a very valuable fuel source in soaking wet rain and wet heavy snow. The fatwood will even continue to burn if it gets rained or snowed on provided your fire is somewhat sheltered. To find it, you need to find an old pine stump that is still pretty solid. Tap on it with your knife or axe. If it’s punky or rotten, your wasting your time. You want to find these old gray weathered stumps in pine growth forest. Use your axe or knife to strip away the outer bark and get a look at the wood inside. Notice the obvious amber color at the knife point. This is the flammable resin. If you see this, it is a good sign. Next, use your tools to dig deeper in the stump. You are looking for a large chunk like this. It will have a very strong pine smell described as “citrus like” or some say “turpentine”. This is good quality fatwood. Now on to the fire pics. Notice how fast and strong the fatwood burns over the traditional fuzzstick. Catches a big flame in about 1 second. You can hear all the sap in it boiling and popping as it burns. Both the Kephart and Fox River were very functional firestarters. Both were comfortable to hold and got huge sparks from the firesteel. Peeling fuzzsticks was very easy with both of them. Edge geometry on both was fantastic for this. I’d say in the firestarting department, the knives came to a draw. Now on to Whittling/Peeling Bark- Both of these knives have great edge geometry so whittling and peeling bark was no problem. I made a baton in short order. Batonning- Both of these knives batonned very well. I think they could do this all day long. I’d have to say that the Kephart outperformed the Fox River at this task if only slightly. Two advantages of the Kephart are its slightly longer blade, which gives more to strike with the baton and its straight overall profile which made it easier to keep the knife perpendicular to the wood. Traps/Snares and tent stakes- I really feel that these two knives were pretty equal in these tasks. Both knives were very comfortable to use, no hotspots with either knife. Both knives made all the notches and points with extreme ease. I used the Kephart to make an h-style snare and the Fox River to make a spring pole type snare. The two knives came to a dead even tie in this department. Drilling Holes- While I personally find very little need to drill holes in a bushcraft/survival situation, some feel it is an important aspect of a knife. The closest I might come is drilling indents in a fireboard for a bowdrill fire. If I’m making a bowdrill, it means that I have lost or become separated from both of the firesteels that I carry on me. Both knives will drill a hole but I suppose the Kephart gets the win here also due to it’s spearpoint and inline profile. Make no mistake though, the Fox will get the job done. On one of the days, I decided to make a wooden spoon. I harvested a nice chunk out of a piece of alder. I used the baton and Kephart to basically split a 1x2 out of the alder. I used the Kephart to peel and rough shape the spoon. When it came to making the bowl in the spoon, it was much easier to do with the Companion. One of the Kepharts very few flaws that I found, and this could be just me, It wasn’t very good for choking up on for this kind of detail work. Of the two bigger knives, the Fox River is easier to use for this type of detail work. The Companion was very nice to hollow out the spoon with. Jeff rehandled this himself and he did a really nice job on it. Very comfortable. I wanted to make the spoon with just knives for the review but for anyone who wants to make one, you can start the bowl of the spoon with your knife but keep it shallow. After you’ve got it started, take a coal from your fire and roll it around and burn out the bowl. It’s much easier to hollow it out that way. Shelter- Both of the knives are an adequate tool for harvesting saplings for shelters. No pics here though. I don’t want to cut a bunch of saplings just for the fun of it. You’ll have to take my word for it. The knives are very capable of making snap cuts or push cuts through the sapling. With snap cuts, the little extra weight of the Fox River seemed to make it a little easier to use. Game preparation- I did get a chance to try these knives out on some small game. I shot a couple of pine squirrels and skinned them. This task could be managed by either knife, though I prefer the Fox River. Actually, I much prefer to leave small game to the companion knives, either the woodland or the Kephart companion. Due to the time of year, no big game was tested with these knives. The Fox River and similar shaped blades have proven their worth in field dressing and skinning and I would choose the Fox River hands down over the Kephart in big game season. Kitchen Duty- Obviously, neither the Fox nor the Kephart was designed for the kitchen. But rest easy, either of these will perform just fine in your camp kitchen or even your home kitchen in a pinch. This department was where I got the first real surprise. I assumed the Fox River would blow the Kephart away in the kitchen. This was not the case. The Fox River was much more comfortable to use and hold in the kitchen. Its blade shape with the deeper belly was a little better in the comfort department when slicing. The Kephart performed better than I expected though. It’s thinner blade made nice easy slices and the little extra blade length came in handy when slicing through larger fruits and vegetables. Winner in the camp kitchen still goes to the Fox River. Here I made some mango-lime salsa: The Woodland Special and the Kephart Companion are similarly sized and share a similar feel although the companion is just a little bit more crowded in the grip are for me. The woodland is the heavier of the two since mine is the older .170” thick version. The companion is .145” thick. These two knives are ideal for EDC. They’re the go-to knife for all those little tasks along the trail that require just a quick cut. The are my preferred blades for detail work like carving and notching. I also prefer a blade this size on small game or game birds. Between the woodland special and the kephart companion, I personally feel it is a total draw. Both knives performed almost all the tasks equally well. I prefer the looks of the woodland and for me, it’s just a little better with skinning and field dressing chores. It’s also the first Bark River I ever bought so I’ll always be a little partial to this one. Summary- all said and done, I don’t know if I’ve had the privilege to use two finer knives in the outdoors. About the Kephart, even after moments of handling this knife for the first time but especially after getting to use it for a few weeks, it becomes abundantly clear the Mr. Kephart knew what he was doing when he designed this knife. The Kephart is so incredibly balanced in the hand that it’s hard to even notice it in use. Mike Stewart, you did a fantastic job with the design of this model. It is extremely comfortable to hold and use all day. This may be the ultimate bushcraft knife ever. Anyone who hasn’t had the chance to use or handle one, get your hands on one asap! I will be looking to purchase one in the near future. As for the Fox River, it was, and still is, my favorite “one-knife-does- it-all” blade. I have to incorporate aesthetics and hunting use into my personal choice so the Fox River is it. You can click here to view our selection of Bark River Knives.
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Fox River vs Full Tang Kephart / Woodland Special vs Kephart Companion Review by John Doyle |
