Winkler KnivesII Belt Knife Maple Tribal

I'd wanted a Winkler knife since I watched the Last of the Mohicans and before I even knew who the man who made much of the cutlery for the movie was. And many years later I eventually do own one and it is worth every penny. The knife is as well made as you'd expect from a Master Bladesmith.While he gained his name and fame for his frontier style hand forged knives and axes, the Winkler II is not hand forged, but are water-cut from solid 52-100 and 5160 steel. But what really sets this knife line apart is that they are heat treated after they are grinded. This is unlike almost all mass produced knives which are heat treated prior to grinding in order to reach a lower price point. The problem with heat treating before is that a lot of the tempering is lost when the knife is grinded. That is why a knife may hold an edge when new, but as it wears and it resharped you cut through the heat treatment and the metal is no longer hard enough to maintain it's edge. The reason many companies heat treat prior to grinding is that a crooked or warped knife can usually be straightened during the grinding process, at the cost of tempered metal being removed. When asked what he does with a blade that warped Mr Winkler said he tosses it and starts again, thus the level of quality you are paying for.But onto the knife itself. The Winkler II was designed to be a do it all universal knife. It has been carried from everyone from SEALs on the Bin Laden raid to hunters in Alaska, it can perform almost every random camp and woods duty a knife can be asked to do. The blade is thick and strong with a very nice curve making skinning deer sized animals no problem. It will cut rope, and be used to break glass, pry items and do all the random tasks that knives aren't supposed to do, but you do anyways because it is the tool you have handy. It takes an edge easily and holds it very well.I am happy to pay more for a top quality item like a knife, made by a master in the US. You can certainly get less expensive knives that perform wonderfully and meet all the needs most people will require of them. A person shopping for a Winkler though is looking at the best and in that selected number of brands I think the Winkler II is well worth a look.The grips is a nice maple, darkened. I could lie and say I wanted the tribal markings for grips, but in reality it is because I thought it looked cool and it reminded me of the frontier style knives Daniel Winkler earned his name on and the movie that started my desire to own one. I've used the models with Micarta and rubber grip panels and they work just as well and are certainly a more robust material than wood. But I may be a bit of a traditionalist for certain things.

Do not order this. It’s not a Belt Knife it’s a Blue Ridge Hunter a smaller knife and cheaper. The box is even mislabeled, I wonder if done so intentionally. Notice in the questions it is ask if it’s a Belt Knife and the reply is simply a blatant lie