© Jeff Crowner 2010 Today I went out and tested a new blade I made for Wilderness survival shelter making. I Thought about how well the Rupa blade performs for how small it is. I then put a more jungle handle on it for more options with its use. I took the Indonesian influence for handles and simply grafted it on the Rupa blade and presto! Me and a couple of amigos used it today and were really impressed with the performance. We used it for cutting of doug fir for shelter frame work all day. The edge held up superb and is still razor sharp thick with pitch. What is really cool is the balance of the thing. When you choke up on the handle towards the blade, it is so balanced from the handle weight to blade ratio, small task can be done easily with a large blade like this. I found that with the handle set up, you just move the hand back to the rear and wow! Chopping power is like a much larger blade. I put horse matte on it to grip when wet up here in the NW. The handle material also takes a little out the shock to the wrist when power cutting. I found that the slight S-curve really gives it a nasty sweet spot for the power chop. The S-curve also serves well when using the tool as a draw knife stripping bark. I am really satisfied with the prototype. I highly recommend this blade for serious Wilderness Survival people....The blade is a differentially heat treated saw blade with a cryo dip. The handle is horse matte rubber....Jeff Crowner
© Jeff Crowner 2010 
