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Imlay Canyon Gear Canyon Knife - Field Test Report
July 11, 2005
Thomas Vickers
37 years old
Male
5 ft 11 in tall (1.8 m)
175 lb (79 kg)
redroach@pobox.com
Southeast Texas, Houston Area
Tester Background:
I grew up in
the piney woods of southeast Texas. Camping was a quick trip into the mosquito-infested
woods behind the house. My style has evolved
and over the last 4 or 5 years, I have begun to take a lighter weight approach to hiking
gear (I still use sleeping bags and tents, just lighter versions). While I have flirted with lightweight hiking, I feel that I am
more of a mid-weight hiker now. My philosophy is one of comfort, while carrying the
lightest load possible
Manufacturer Information:
Manufacturer: Imlay Canyon Gear
Website: http://www.imlaygear.com
Material: 440-C Surgical Stainless Steel
Blade length: 1 1/8 in (35 mm)
Open length: 3 3/8 in (86 mm)
Weight: 0.7 oz (20 g)
Blade Type: Serrated
Cantilever lock for the open position
Firm Indent lock for the closed position
MSRP: $ 19.95 US
Information from Tester:
Blade length: 1 in (25 mm)
Closed length: 2 3/8 in (60 mm)
Open Length: 3 3/8 in (86 mm)
Weight: 0.7 oz (20 g)
Other Information:
Lanyard length: 18.5 in (47 cm)
Lanyard weight: 0.20 oz (5 g)
Testing Locations and Conditions:
South East and Central Texas: Temperatures between 40 F and 95 F (7 C to 35 C).
Central California, Inyo National Forest: This includes altitudes from
9,000 to 10,600 feet (2,700 to 3,200 meters) and temperatures between 35 F and 75 F (2 C
and 24 C).
Testing Activities:
· Day hikes and weekend trips
· Long Hiking trips (5+ days)
· Geocaching
And the Testing Begins:
After playing with the Canyon Knife for a few minutes I decided that I just had to test
the bottle opener. This led to some rather funny and nearly tragic moments in my
kitchen, but at least I learned a few things about the bottle opener feature of this
knife. The first thing that I learned was that despite the better leverage from the
blade being opened while using it on a bottle, it is really safest to keep the knife
folded shut when attempting to use this feature. The good news is that I still have
all my fingers (barely), but I discovered that it takes quite an effort to open a bottle
with the Canyon Knife. It can be done, but do not expect the bottle cap to flip off
with one try because it takes a few moves around the bottle top before the cap comes free.
With that part of the test out of the way I was faced with another dilemma; How to
carry the Canyon Knife?
The hangtag suggests that it be clipped to a full sized carabiner. This prevents the
knife from being opened while attached and is supposed to give me an easy way to attach
the knife to my pack. Hanging/storing the knife this way provided me with some
issues though. I don't have a good spot to hang a carabiner on my pack that allows
me quick or easy access to the knife. My other issue with this approach is
that the carabiner has to be opened, the knife removed, then opened before I can use it.
If my knife isn't quickly available, then it isn't much use to me on the trail, so
I attached the Canyon Knife to a lanyard and wore it around my neck. This allows me
to access the knife at any time, open it with one hand, and use it as I see fit.
Most times I don't even have to take the lanyard from around my neck. I
consider this the best way for me to wear/store the knife, especially when on the trail.
It slices and it dices:
The Imlay Canyon Gear hangtag mentions that the Canyon Knife is good for cutting
webbing. In my experience, there really isn't a good way to cut webbing of any sort,
so when I needed to do some altering on a backpack I was using this summer, the Canyon
Knife was the tool of sort for cutting stitching and cutting webbing straps. The
knife was a little hard for me to hold steady on precise work, but I did manage to cut
several lines of stitches that were holding together some webbing on the pack. A
simple cut across the stitches (with very little pressure on the knife) made a clean cut
and allowed me to pull the stitching out of the webbing. I had expected to need more
pressure to make the cut and maybe several pulls of the blade across the stitching to get
the job done fully, but this wasn't the case. One swipe and I was on to bigger and better
things.
My next little experiment was with webbing straps that I needed to shorten. I marked
the cut line on the webbing, laid it flat on a board, and pulled the blade across it.
The webbing was 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) wide and it took three pulls of the blade to cut
completely through the material. There were frayed ends, but that is normal for
cutting webbing in my experience and the Canyon Knife did an above average job of cutting
the webbing cleanly. There was no need to "saw" on the webbing to get
through it and I was able to make my cut fairly straight. I have to give the knife a
thumbs up for cutting webbing and stitching at this point.
You call that knife?
When I was getting my gear ready for my week long trip to the Sierras the Canyon Knife was
on my list to replace my larger folding blade knife that I usually take. There were
several moments that I just didn't think that I could take the smaller knife and feel
secure. I finally gave into the urge and packed the Canyon Knife into my bag and set
out for California. This knife was either going to get the job done for a week of
serious backpacking or I was going to be in trouble. I am very happy to report that
the Imlay Canyon Gear Canyon Knife cut cheese of all shapes and sizes, several varieties
of hard sausages, plastic meal packaging, paracord, and even small branches (very small).
Basically, it did it all. There was no loss of functionality due to its small
size and it was even easier to carry (with the lanyard) than my normal knife.
With one hand I can open the knife and get to work and I don't have to have
both hands free to do it. Best of all, it is so small and light that I barely
noticed it was around my neck. Every night of the trip I even slept with the knife
hanging around my neck and never knew it was there. My hiking partners
demanded to use/inspect the knife every time it came out at dinner or lunch. One
thing I know for sure is that among this group of knife lovers, the Canyon Knife was
viewed with a great deal of respect. They were impressed with its size and sharpness
every time they borrowed it. After a week on the trail I am happy to report that I
never encountered a situation that the knife couldn't handle. Luckily I didn't have
to cut my arm off, fight a bear, or hunt feral pigs with it, but in those situations I
doubt any knife is going to be that great of a tool.
Where to go from here?
I will continue to wear the Canyon Knife on a daily basis and use it for any task that I
normally need my other knives for. There are a variety of materials that I normally
need to cut/trim and I will use the Canyon Knife to complete these chores if possible.
At this point it has proven more useful than my normal knife because it hangs
around my neck and can be opened and used with only one hand. When standing in a
back of briars trying to sharpen a pencil in a geocache so I can sign the log quickly and
get out of there the Canyon Knife's ease of use makes it a perfect piece of gear.
Read more reviews of Imlay Canyon Gear gear
Read more gear reviews by Thomas Vickers
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