Ontario TAK-1 knife review

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AHTOXA
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Ontario TAK-1 knife review

Post by AHTOXA »

I've had this knife for a little over a year now and feel that I can do a good review based on my experience with it. I use it extensively and it's my primary knife for most knife-requiring outdoor duty. I use it for camping, backpacking and while hiking as well as around the house and backyard.

Fist, let'd so specs and pics and then proceed with the review:

- full tang blade
- 1095 high carbon steel with drop point blade and a straight, non-serrated edge
- 4.25" blade length, 10" overall length
- micarta resin-impregnated canvas handle

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TAK-1 is a combat/survival knife that was developed by Randall's Adventure Training (RAT), which is a professional survival instructor and research team. It retails between $80-110 USD in most stores.

Durability: 5/5

As mentioned, this is my primary knife in the filed. I use to for food preparation, beer opening duty (that's heavy duty right there), wood splitting (batoning), canned food opening and whatever else is needed in the field. I also use it around the house for digging and cutting roots, opening stubborn packages and breaking open things in general. It's held up to anything that I've tried with it. There was very minor pitting on the edge from heavy contact with a rock but a few minutes with a sharpener took care of that.

Edge retention: 4/5

The edge retention is good enough that you don't have to worry about resharpening the knife during heavy use on a 1 week-long trip. However, I do find myself sharpening it in the field occasionally just because I like to have a literally razor-sharp edge at all times. For this purpose I recently started to carry a Fallkniven DC-4 diamond ceramic sharpener. Slim and compact, but that's another review.

Versatility: 4.5/5

Since this is my primary knife when I'm out and about, I often go from splitting wood to food prep with this knife (after cleaning, of course). It's solid and strong enough to split wood, yet not too bulky and overly heavy for fine-cutting vegetables. The only reason why it did not get a full 5 for versatility is because the knife is 10 inches long. However, there's no way to get that kind of durability and strength from a folding knife. At times I end up in public places with it on my belt and people look at me funny. Happens.

Ergonomics: 5/5

This is my favorite-feeling knife as well of a few that I own and use. I have fairly large hands given my heights of 6'7" and the handle is perfect. It's essentially canvas impregnated with resin, heat-treated and pressed into form. It's wide and gives me a good grip. I prefer micarta over rubber, plastic and wood any day. Plastic is slippery if the knife is used in a wet environment, rubber feels cheap and wood tends to soak up water. I use this knife in all climates so I cannot have that. The weight and balance of it are perfect as well. at 13.2 oz it isn't the lightest, but I much prefer the heavy weight of it.

Overall: 5/5

This is a heavy-duty knife that will take the abuse and keep its edge. It's the perfect size to be the ultimate field knife due to strength and versatility. One may only view the weight as a draw-back but I'm not one of this light backpacking weight-wienies that worry about each gram of weight in their gear.

FOSE - Let's not go there...
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Re: Ontario TAK-1 knife review

Post by mtheis »

AHTOXA wrote:FOSE - Let's not go there...
AHTOXA wrote:It's wide and gives me a good grip.
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Re: Ontario TAK-1 knife review

Post by pajones »

It's a great review.. I like these knives they are cool.
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Re: Ontario TAK-1 knife review

Post by kevinf »

I just got this baby for field work. That knife sounds like a good match to it for smaller cutting jobs and fine work.

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Re: Ontario TAK-1 knife review

Post by Rope-Pusher »

kevinf wrote:I just got this baby for field work.
Picking Hay?

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Re: Ontario TAK-1 knife review

Post by kevinf »

Fending off zombies :mrgreen:

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Re: Ontario TAK-1 knife review

Post by Rope-Pusher »

^ OH - Gotcha.
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