Rock Creek Knives

[stillfox]

Has anyone here at this forum had hands on experience with Hanwei, Rock Creek, fixed blade knives? I'd like to hear your input. Thanks in advance.

[ozo]

I had a couple of guntos, they were nice and appeared to
be good quality. One was 404 stainless (?) and had a very sharp edge.
I am no cutlery expert, but I have an eye for quality, which they seem
to have. As far as Rock Creek, a friend has a couple of Bowie style, I will see if she can send me a pic or two.
I never used the guntos for anything but hanging in my office.
One gunto was a carbon steel of some degree, as it had to be oiled occasionally.

Correction: 440C stainless, had to go look.

[ozo]

She said this is not hers, but is the same knife.
Didn't know the metal, but took an edge very well, a stainless
of some sort. Stag handle was durable. I forgot to ask her
the price she paid.
{she is the grandaughter of R. Norris and a wildlife manager in VT}

Ha, hers would not be new lookin' like this !

$150 best of her memory

[killbuck]

I was going to order that very knife last week because it was highly recommend by a friend but unfortunately it's out of stock. Here's the link if you're interested. It's called the Bison Bowie.

http://www.casiberia.com/prod_Detail.aspx?id=KH2536

[stillfox]

I am considering the springbok drop point. (3 1/2" blade, flat grind, 3/16" thick, 7 3/4" overall, stacked leather handle) Would be using it for skinner and light camp duty. We have no dealers close and I really hate to buy a knife sight unseen. At least not without a good strong recommendation. Would really like to hear from someone who has used one. All Rock Creek fixed blades appear to be made of the same steel. (HWS-1K, a high-alloy steel proprietary ???) Anyone used one?

[stillfox]

killbuck
Here are two dealers that appear to have the Bison Bowie in stock. I'm not familiar with either dealer and there is quite a difference in price between them.
http://www.countryknives.com/store/p...sku=CAS-KH2536
http://www.replica-blankguns.com/pir..../bison-bowie/ This link did not work. Goes to site. Search site with bison bowie and it comes up.

According to one site I saw, Hanwei had a bad fire in their factory and it is going to be a while before they are able to take orders.

[killbuck]

Stillfox:
Thanks for the links, I'll check them out tonight.

[stillfox]

If you can't find it on the net, go to the horses mouth. I emailed a request to Rock Creek USA for info on their HWS-1K steel. It is proprietary, but this is what they said.

Thank you for your interest in our Rock Creek knives. Although we don't know its exact composition, HWS-1K is a dedicated forging steel that combines high strength with good edge-holding and ease of sharpening in knife blades. It is not stainless but has a relatively high level of stain resistance, similar to D2 but much better than plain high-carbon steels. The steel hardens to 59~61HRc but is not difficult to sharpen and takes a good edge. We don't have any reviews specific to the Springbok but an article reviewing knives in the same series (with the same blade steel) can be found in this link below.
http://www.tactical-life.com/online/...-creek-retros/

Looking further is found this article on www.woodsmonkey.com.
CAS-Hanwei's Rock Creek Knives is on page 8 in their review section.

Looks like both reviewers put the knives through their paces.
Guess after enough digging I found what I wanted to know. Thought some of you might be interested.

Killbuck, did you have any luck?