Hopefully the picture shows up as I hijacked it...




I've never trained or owned a kerambit-styled knife before, but this rendition piqued my interest.  The designers (co-design) partnered with Bark River for production.  The originator (can't remember his Youtube channel) did a review with this knife and a purpose-designed Kydex pocket sheath which is what I was considering; more for weak-side carry.  

Any thoughts? I took the plunge and will give it a shot...

ROCK6

That design has caught my eye as well. I'm a BRKT fan and keep looking for excuses to buy more. Their A2 is nicely done and takes a spooky edge on their black compound. Just remember it will need some attention as it will stain and rust ( mama threw my gunny in the sink and went to bed). Outstanding company with outstanding CS. Let us know what you think. I carry their Bravo 1 EDC in Elmax daily on the belt, love that knife.

A2 is one of my favorite steels (my first Busse is a Steel Heart II in A2); but you're correct that they need a little more attention...especially down in here in the humid SE summers.  I have the Kydex pocket sheath on order as well.  The reason I'm really liking this concept of weak-side pocket carry with the "kerambit" ring is that I carried my Benchmade SOCP on my weak-side and I loved the way I could access and put into action with my left hand.  I need to get some of that black compound for stropping!

ROCK6

In for the AAR. I have one Bark River and was looking at this one for y next.

I'm a fan. Carry it as a backup while I'm working.

So, I received my JX4 Bushbat in record time from Knivesshipfree; excellent business for those interested.

Just some initial impressions after carrying for a week.  I will first state that I have a Kydex pocket sheath on order, so I suspect it will be another week or two before it arrives.  My goal is to try and carry this in my weakside pocket for weak-hand use since I carry a folder and CCW on my right.  For this past week, I’ve pretty much carried it at work (no CCW allowed) and in the current sheath.  The current sheath is well made with a pretty smart magnet integrated for additional retention.  It’s also nice being ambidextrous, so you can where it on either side with the knife position forward or rearward.

I bought this because I was intrigued with the design.  I don’t own any kerambit designs except for my SOCP dagger that I carried in A’Stan on my weakside.  The finger ring made drawing and retention much easier; combined with a very nice “bushcrafty” blade design with Bark River’s awesome convex grind, I just need to give it a shot.  

So, the handle is…odd.  It takes some time to get comfortable with various grips and using the blade.  There are differences in how you would hold it between self-defensive drills and utility use.  This is far from traditional, so if you’re looking strictly for a utilitarian EDC fixed blade, there are better choices (The Tanner-designed Bark Rivers do have a more traditional option with the same blade profile).  I like the reverse grip (again, weakside) method for this knife and the handle angle aids in this method.  It’s honestly a little more awkward when held in a saber-type grip.  

I haven’t done anything outdoors with it, so that’s coming up in the next week or so.  I have done some minor kitchen work with it.  If you’re not familiar with Bark River’s convex grind, they are well executed and are best maintained by a strop and compound.  Convex edges don’t “feel” sharp, but they are when sharpened properly and deceptively so.  Additionally, the blade profile is one of the more robust designs.  The continuous curve of the blade design is awesome.  It’s one I do like (much like the Habilis Bushtool), but I know it takes some practice for utilitarian work with wood or food prep.  Food prep was excellent; just cutting up some veggies for the salad or cutting up some grilled chicken.  Again, the handle is odd for these purposes and likely not the most ideal but it’s not too hard to adjust.  

So, why the Bushbat?  For me, it’s an intriguing design with a primary purpose of self-defense/EDC carry and a very functional blade design for utilitarian tasks.  As most would argue, multi-purpose designs that try to do too much don’t really do anything very well and that is typically the case.  I’m still assessing, but for the niche of a functional self-defensive knife that excels in a reverse-grip handling method that still retains are very utilitarian blade design, it’s filling a unique niche for me.  Time will tell and once I get the Kydex pocket sheath, I’ll get a better idea if it will work for a more frequent EDC option.










ROCK6

Thank so for the review. I'm ordering one when I get home.