It is a knife from the famous Schrade range which combines cutting-edge features with style. It is the little brother of SCHF9 which is mostly similar to the earlier version with a little bit of difference. It is an item worth collecting and can be a special addition to your knife collection. Also, if you are an outdoor enthusiast, a fire safety professional, a law enforcement officer or a hunter, this knife can be a great addition to your gear. It is deft at different operations like slicing, chopping and batoning. Read on for the rest of our Schrade SCHF9 Fixed Blade Knife Review.
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Schrade SCHF9 Fixed Blade Knife Review
Let us find out more about the knife and decide whether it will get a pass for our upcoming camping trip.
We will go to the tech specs first-
Length– 12.1 inches
Thickness- 1.4 inches
Blade thickness- 6.4 inches
Branding:
It comes from the famous Taylor brand founded by Stewart Taylor that is quite a name in the field of knives and accessories made of stainless steel. The cutleries manufactured by them include Uncle Henry, Old Timer, X-Timer and Schrade Tuff and has launched a new range of scissors, flashlight, and shears.
The Blade:
The blade is made up of 8Cr13Mov stainless steel which is a high carbon steel. It has a hollow grind. The grinds are asymmetric and give the knife an unfinished look. This becomes a major drawback from the aesthetic point of view and this is the reason why many people have shifted to Ontario and ESEE blades instead. Naturally, it is good at slicing and easier to maintain. Hollow grind blades look better too and have a lateral strength added to the blade. It also has a drop point style due to which there is a single strong point that is sharp and easily controllable. It is characterized with finesse for chopping, slicing, hacking, skinning and other such tasks. There are multiple cutting edges for the purpose of slicing. No matter how much torture you subject it to, it will not break away.
The steel is corrosion resistant and hence the knife is meant to serve you for years. It is especially suitable for places with moist and wet weather conditions. You are, however, suggested to maintain it in the proper way. Do keep it in a dry condition and oil it from time to time to make it last for years.
The grind angle at the edge of the blade is not too much. It is just enough to serve a few easy cutting tasks. The gray finish of the blade also adds to its decent look. There is a hole on the blade for lanyard attachment. The quality construction of the knife allows it to hold its edge for long and thus makes it the ideal choice for a survival blade. All these features of the blade make it suitable for outdoor operations.
It gets more leverage for heavy tasks such as chopping as well as lighter bushcraft techniques such as shaving sticks and curving.
With time, if the edge of the blade becomes blunt, there are ways by which you can make it sharper. The first option will always be to use a stone but this may be a bit difficult considering the inward curve near the drop-point base. You can use sharpeners like Smith’s PP1 Pocket Pal Multifunction Sharpener or Lansky PS-MED01 BladeMedict to sharpen it in an easy manner. However, it may leave striations along the length of the blade instead of perpendicular striations and thus make it look dull in course of time.
The Handle:
The Kryton characterized handle is made of grippy materials and as a result, sticks to your hand well. Wet or dry, it is not likely to slip off your hand. Nor do you need to put some extra pressure on using it.
What’s more, there are finger grooves present in the handle that make it more comfortable and grippy. The TPE handle has a ring pattern that is textured and at the same time durable, adding a grip to the handle and ensuring that it does not slip off your hands. TPE handles or Thermoplastic Elastomers handles have both thermoplastic and elastomeric properties and are thus suitable for the task.
The palm swell of the handle, however, is a bit too large. If you are a person with big hands, you will find it suitable for yourself; however, it can be an issue for those with a smaller hand size.
You will also find three finger cut-outs on the handle and tapered ends apart from the five notches that are present at the top, providing you with a number of gripping options.
Full Tang:
Two halves of the handle remain attached to the recessed Allen bolts threaded into the steel, thereby helping it to absorb the shock during operation.
The Sheath:
The knife cover of a knife is as important as the quality of the blade and the handle and that is why people judge the sheath well before they take the decision whether to buy it. If you are looking for a sheath with sung fit then you will be disappointed because this one has quite some space left inside even after inserting the knife. But don’t worry. The knife will never fall off its position, thanks to the strap that is there. In case the strap is damaged or removed, there are chances of accidents as the knife can come out and injure you.
As far as the quality of the sheath is concerned, you do not have many reasons to complain as it is a nylon sheath, the thin yet sturdy one and is lined with a Kydex.
It also has a pocket inside that can hold the additional equipment that you may require for your activities like water-proof matches, small fishing kits, Ferro rods and even paracord. The strong Velcro loop present at the top of the sheath helps you to get on or off easily and fits the belts through 2.5 inches. Also, there is a strap with which you can attach the knife to your leg. So there is almost everything that you would expect from a sheath apart from just covering the knife. So, in a way, the sheath is worth the larger size.
Tests with the Knife:
As mentioned earlier, it can be used to serve a variety of purposes for which the following deserve mention. We performed the following tests with the knife-
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Cut Hair: When ran across hair, the knife can actually cut the hair which is a great proof of its finesse. No extra sharpening is required. It has all the sharpness right from the moment it is picked out of its box.
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Baton Wood: Batoning is the process of cutting or splitting wood by using a knife or chisel. We have used the knife to baton wood and it has been a good performer at it. It chopped wood pieces of five inches diameter at ease. It also sliced oak limbs in a jiffy. The blade retained its shape through the cutting task and remained as sharp as it was.
It could even chop long branches into smaller pieces of wood for the purpose of lighting fire which is an integral part of outdoor camping. If you need a lot of force while striking, you can extend your swing radius by holding the flared end of the handle with your forefinger and thumb.
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Feather Stick: For this, a stick with 2-inch diameter was used. We applied two-three inches short strokes along the bottom portion of the stick, thereby producing some fine curls which are better known as feathers. The recurve area is present behind the recurve of the blade which can be regarded as sweet-spot for stick feathering.
Care should be taken neither to shave the curls too long nor cut them too deep which can cause them to break-off.
Building a feather stick can be a great way to test the finesse of a knife and the SCHF9N performed really well at it.
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Tip Strength: To check the strength of the tip we inserted it into a stump with a lot of pressure and then drove it a bit further. We loosened it with an edge-to-edge motion so that it could be pulled out.
Even after repeating the whole thing four times, there was no damage caused to the tip of the blade. So, you can call the knife kind of indestructible.
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Boring a Hole: I used the knife to form a cone-shaped hole into the log which was one inch in diameter and 3/4th inch in depth. The knife formed this hole quite easily without getting bent.
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Opening Beer Cans: The knife can also be used to open beer cans which can be a requirement in your camping trips.
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Cutting fruits: It is also capable of cutting fresh fruits, just make sure that it is cleaned before cutting.
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Skinning Animals: Another task in which the knife is deft is skinning animals. It can skin animals for your dinner if you are planning to hunt them and grill them to enjoy the flavor of fresh meat.
My personal suggestion would be to use gloves while performing the cutting tasks.
Pros:
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It is quite tough and capable of holding its edge well.
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It has dimensions suitable for performing a variety of tasks related to cutting, chopping, slicing and batoning.
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It offers a nice grip and you will not find any difficulty in holding it as you use it.
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The Kraton handle is made of quality materials and meant to last for years.
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It has finesse for cutting which has been proved by its ability to make feather sticks.
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The blade is made using superior quality stainless steel and has a hollow grind.
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The sheath has an extra pocket which is hard to find in other knives of its type.
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It is difficult to match the handle scales with the tang.
Cons:
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The sheath does not have a snug fit and the knife has possibilities of coming out of the sheath and cause trouble.
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The grinds are somewhat asymmetric. In certain parts of the knife, you will find the grind to be steep while it will be shallow in some other parts.
Customer Reviews:
Customers have been happy with this knife. They have liked using it on their outdoor activities. The only things that they did not like are the large sheath and asymmetric grinds. Otherwise, there were mostly positive reviews and it has won 4.4 stars in a popular review site.
Summary:
So, to sum it up, the Schrade SCHF9 is a knife that combines a number of useful features to bring you the ultimate survival knife that is also capable of producing fine curves, skinning and performing other such operations. It has a high-quality steel blade and Kryton handle and a thin yet rigid sheath. Though some users have complained about its uneven grind and some of its excessively large sheath, they have liked the range of features offered and the benefits it is capable of producing. So if you are in search of a knife that will serve all your purposes in the wild and will come from a brand as great as Schrade, then SCHF9 will be the ideal one for you! It provides great features at its price and will help you to achieve your goals.
