If one reads the history of Toor, they will discover a few important things to keep in mind when holding one of their knives, be in in the field or during a pre-deployment gear check. When the twins set out on different paths, one in the Marines, another in the Army, they both reconvened with a similar observation: the gap in the knife market resided between the massed-produced and the highly customized. Through iterations of various explorative designs, they began to build their company on a solid repeatable pattern: distinct knives that combined recognizable staples into new models that released in either batches or limited window pre-orders. While many of these knives had a distinctly tactical outlook, this last year the Field series was born. In order to test it out we took a Toor Knives Field 2.0 out into the wilds of Southern Colorado, on an Elk Hunt in the San Juan Mountains.
Toor Knives doesn't short change the buyer on delivery, that's for certain. Of the two knives from them so far: a final run Vandal and the Field 2.0, each arrived in an iconic black box. Along with each knife, each kit included a microfiber cloth, some frog lube for keeping the blade oiled, the sheath, and a hand-signed certificate of authenticity. The Vandal included a hand-imputed measurement of the draw weight required to pull the knife from the sheath, and the 2.0 listed pertinent information of the knife's genome, so to speak.
From the onset, one of the things Toor Knives should be recognized for, is their attentiveness to the fitment of each knife in their particular sheath. Many a personal razor has been lost stumbling in the mountains of Afghanistan, or the backwoods of a pan-American adventure, and the relief of setting into a Chinook after a long mission will quickly loose it's peaceful glow if it's there one realizes their knife is now lost to them forever. Knives ship with the preferred mounting system, something that takes one step out of ordering-to-gear integration.
The Field 2.0 achieves a chef-knife like balance through copper spacers between the G10 handle and the full tang. The grip shingles contour the hand to a comfortable, yet secure position, naturally setting the thumb on rounded jimping just below a flat spine. The G10 itself is carved to both encourage more finesse, and retain control in wet conditions, each piece has a hand-crafted appeal to it. At the base of the handle is a generous lanyard loop.
The Field 2.0's blade begins above a deep groove for the forefinger, with 2.75 inches of straight edge, closing off with a drop point. A genuinely meaty blade, it has more than skinning or whittling in mind. The flat spine parallel to the edge doesn't balk at being beaten for batoning the knife through both wood and bone. Crucible Industries USA makes the CPM 154 steel that will be CNC'd into the blade, balancing corrosion resistance, wear resistance, and toughness as a high-end stainless steel. A layer of KG Gunkote adds to the elemental resistance.
In order to test the knife properly, we took it through a gauntlet of survival and field activities during an Elk Hunt in the Southern Colorado Mountains. While we traversed through tough changes of both elevation and inclement weather, the knife had to remain useable throughout temperature variations, daily tasks, and in the end, the skinning and quartering if a full-size bull Elk. At the forefront, the knife was mostly carried either on the pants, or the belt of a rucksack.
Off the cuff, we can honestly say that the knife was never lost at any time during the hunt. Throughout 9 days of daily use, from opening freeze dried meals, to cutting paracord, to splitting smaller pieces of wood for a fire, the KG Gunkote began to show wear. After scraping against rock during a sketchy down-climb, the handle, however, had not a scratch. Each time the knife was returned to the sheath, a satisfactory “click” of the kydex proclaimed that the knife was secure and we could go about our business.
Late in the venture, despite the odds of a low hunt, one of the group successfully downed an elk, and as the party gathered around the quarry, we began gutting, skinning and deboning the meat to be carried off the mountain. The straight edge of the Toor Knives Field 2.0 shined when we began quartering, as the weight facilitated a more precise chopping motion. After being hammered through two sections of Elk pelvic bone, the straight edge retained considerable sharpness, enough to complete the skinning of a 1,000-pound quarry. During the process, as hands became bloodier, and covered in membranes, fatty tissue, and other bodily fluids, the shape of the handle encouraged delicate, finer cuts while the G10 remained firmly tactile in the grip.
The day to day tasks left us happy as it carried on without as much as a faint dullness or bent tip. Despite weathering a little more use than the average hike, the Toor Knives Field 2.0 did seem to be more at home in the adverse conditions than sunny days. But once we were committed to skinning and quartering a fully grown bull Elk, then the Field 2.0 really shone its true virtues. As the steel retained its edge through hair, skin, fat, and bone, after over a week of daily tasks without much more than an inspection from time to time, it left a sense of confidence, that the knife was up the to tasks you threw at it. Not an invincible piece of steel, nor something to be babied throughout an adventure, it made sense that it would stick around for a long while, and see more than one season of use.
Where does the cost of a Toor Knife fit into the ecosystem? For some, it will be a gift, for others, a nice part of a growing collection. But as we've come to see it, the heart Toor Knives is in long-term use, be it in the field or “down range” in the hands of operators. The best place to keep up with the day-to-day activities that go on “under the flag” is their Instagram, at @toorknives.
Website: www.toorknives.com
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