Reviews > Knives > Fixed Blade > Grohmann 100 Large Skinner > Owner Review by James Birchall

Grohmann #100 Large Skinner Fixed Blade Belt Knife

Name: James Birchall
Gender: Male
Profession: Software Engineer
Age: 27
Height: 5' 11" (1.80 m)
Weight: 175 lbs (79 kg)
Location: Olds, Alberta, Canada
Email: jrbirch@telus.net

Date: 04 Mar 2005

Background:

I've been an avid outdoorsman since I was old enough to be safely stowed as baggage in my parents' canoe: hiking, canoeing and camping all over Ontario, Quebec and the maritime provinces with my parents, outtripping summer camps, Boy Scouts, the Canadian Military, and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. I currently work with an Army Cadet group as a fieldcraft instructor, specializing in orienteering, backpacking, shooting and adventure racing. Having done the ultra-lightweight backpacking thing (to the extent of leaving the backpack at home) I'm now coming back to a more midweight style, typically carrying a bag, a small freestanding tent, minimal cookware, food, some "goodies" and a complete set of layered clothing suitable for the expected conditions. Weight is important but only as it relates to comfort and the enjoyment of the outdoor experience overall. Most of my trips nowadays are of moderate length ( ~20km/12.5 mi days, ~200m/656 ft elevation gain) to the nearby Canadian Rocky Mountains with my wife and dog.

Product Information:

Manufacturer: Grohmann
URL: http://www.grohmannknives.com
Product: #100 Large Skinner
Year of Manufacture: 1996
Blade: 5" x 1 1/4" (12.7 x 3.2cm)
Blade Stock: 1/8" (.317cm)
Total Length: 9.5" (24.1cm)
Steel: High-Carbon Stainless
Rockwell: 56-58c
Blade Weight: 6 oz. (170g)
Handle: Rosewood
Sheath: Leather Overlap
Sheath Weight: 2 oz. (57 g)
Price: ~$93 CAD (No MSRP available)

Product Description

I've had this knife for 11 years, my father having bought it at an auction when I was 16. It's been with me through my military service, through my work as a provincial park ranger and is my constant companion every time I suit up for another outdoor adventure. In short, it is my favourite bit of outdoor gear.

This fixed-blade knife features a full tang, full bolster and rosewood handle that fits comfortably in the hand. The balance is actually just fore of the bolster though it feels balanced right at the junction of tang and blade. It has an excellent lanyard attachment point and the full leather sheath comes with a secure button flap. A contoured thumb rest for more accurately manipulating the tip for fine motions sits atop the blade, just forward of the bolster. The blade is high-carbon stainless and it holds an excellent edge.

The manufacturer is located on the East Coast of Canada, in the sleepy community of Pictou, Nova Scotia and offers a selection of kitchen knives and artistic specialty knives in addition to their line of outdoor knives. Each knife is individually forged from a solid bar of high carbon stainless steel and then hand ground by a team of artisans. The company is ISO certified and competes in design competitions all over North America and Europe. They are best known as the creators of the "D.H. Russell" design which hangs on display in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Field Test

I've used this knife in a variety of trying situations and my impressions of the knife's performance in each is outlined below.

Scenario #1: Roast beef at home.
The knife, while too short to be effective at cutting large roasts, flew through the task of carving smaller roasts, showing very little tearing of the meat and achieving an almost surgical cut for as long as the cut could be maintained. After cutting up a small roast, the blade did not need to be re-honed. It worked excellently for cutting potatoes and carrots.

Scenario #2: Cardboard Boxes
Many knives tend to dull quickly after cutting through cardboard boxes in order to make them fit in the trash can. This knife made it through 23 before needing to be rehoned with a steel in order to keep the cardboard material from tearing while the cuts were made. Overall, it lasted longer than a carpentry exacto knife.

Scenario #3: Prying nails from a 2x4
This is a stupid thing to do with any knife, but I include the story here to illustrate the strength of the blade. While helping to demolish my parents' garage as a 19 year old, I thought it would be cool to see if I could pry some nails out of the framing wood using my hunting knife. The blade edge felt very brittle until I worked the nail up high enough that I could slip the false edge of the knife under the head of the nail and pry it up. I then rehammered the nail using the tang in the knife handle. The knife showed no damage from the exercise.

Scenario #4: Water-resistance of the Stainless steel.
If the stainless steel is of poor quality, a knife will rust when exposed to moisture for long periods. While fishing I used the false edge of the knife to kill the fish and then placed the knife on the side of the boat while we packed the fish. Needless to say, the knife fell overboard. 3 days later I was fishing the same area with my father again and snagged the lanyard of the knife by fluke and retrieved it. The knife showed no rusting or wear.

Scenario #5: Demonstrating how to construct a lean-to
One of the more trying things one can do with a knife is to try to cut through wood with it. While teaching cadets how to construct a lean-to, the knife was used to chop down 8 x 3" diameter softwood trees and showed no wear on the edge or sapping in the joints. The knife worked well for the task, though it did not perform as well as a hatchet or machete would have in the same conditions.

Scenario #6: Skinning and cleaning a Rabbit.
This tests the precision of the knife tip and flexibility of the knife blade. Sadly, the knife performed poorly in this test, requiring a lot of time to work enough of the tip under the skin to get a good incision going. Manoeuvring the blade through the cuts required to clean the carcass was labourious and unwieldy. This knife is not well suited for dressing smaller game. They really do mean "Large Skinner" in the product name.

Scenario #7: Can Opener
Testing the strength of the knife tip is often best experienced when trying to punch holes through cans of condensed milk for morning coffee. The edge is often ruined as it passes through the metal and the tip is often broken off if the blow is not directly down the blade. The Grohmann #100 performed flawlessly opening 10 cans (using two v-cuts and pushing the bent metal into the can) before a proper can opener was found. It needed no re-edging and only minor rehoning.

Scenario #8: Cutting Kernmantle rope
A straight edge often has a harder time cutting through the outer level of a kernmantle rope and moving, instead of cutting, the interior fibres. The ability of the #100 to keep a good edge (especially the cutting edge around the bolster) made this a non-event. The knife did not cut as well as a SpiderCo serrated diving knife, though the actual draw of the blade across the rope was significantly easier.

Conclusion:

Overall, this knife has been excellent and has done things that knives are not meant to do. The blade looks new, has needed little rehoning (and no re-edging) and shows no rusting. The rosewood handle has stayed secure to the blade (despite using it as a hammer) and no material has found its way into the cracks of the rivets or around the tang.

The only downside is, ironically, not in the blade but rather in the sheath. As the knife is withdrawn from the sheath, the edge of the blade passes by the fold of the sheath flap. Over time, the knife actually starts to cut the material of the sheath flap away from the sheath proper. After 11 years of moderate use, I currently have about 20% of the leather material left and believe that it is only a matter of time before the entire flap is severed. Further, the sheath flap is closed using a simple poke through button and this flap has come open several times in the field. Twice the knife has fallen out and been left behind while moving through dense brush. The sheath flap only seems to open if I brush my hip by a rough material in an up to down motion or I twist my hip through a snag. It requires a significant amount of force to cause it to happen though.

Ideal Usage:

The #100 is best suited as a general-purpose outdoor knife by those who like a straight-edged blade and need something bigger than a Swiss army knife, but smaller than a machete.

Reviews > Knives > Fixed Blade > Grohmann 100 Large Skinner > Owner Review by James Birchall