TOPS Knives > Tactical Operations > Magazine Articles > TACTICAL KNIVES Magazine Article November 2003

TACTICAL KNIVES Magazine November 2003

Emergency Canoe Paddle

I started my evaluation of the TOPS Knife with what I consider a realistic simulation of a wilderness emergency, shaping a canoe paddle from a green log. The raw material, in this case, was a maple I had dropped out of the edge of our timber into the yard to give an apple tree more sun. While I actually fell and bucked the maple with a chain saw, it could have been done with the Armageddon. It just would have taken a lot longer than I wanted to spend. Once I had a 4-foot-long log, I used the Armageddon and a short section of maple limb as a froe and mallet to split off several planks. The long, thick blade worked very well for this task.

I used the Armageddon as a froe
to split the log into planks.

Next, the blade was used to rough hew one of the planks into the general shape of a paddle. The heavy chopperproved very controllable for this type of work. Once I had the basic shape, I tried the blade as a drawknife and a whittler to further refine the paddle. Here the thickness of the blade proved to be a detriment, but the job could be accomplished if you had enough patience.

As you can see in my photos, the paddle is relatively crude but functional. If the situation had required it, I would have had no problem carving the paddle into a more refined shape. My thought is that this rough paddle would get you to the next campsite where you could then spend an evening finishing it. Of course, a folder or small sheath knife would be a useful woodworking tool to have along at that point.

Given the fact I had several spare maple planks, I also split and rough shaped an emergency axe handle from the same maple log. This was a bit easier task than a canoe paddle and the Armageddon easily completed the job.

The Armageddon was used to rough hue and carve a paddle shape from the
planks. While this paddle is pretty crude a person with time on his
hands couldrefine it very easily.

From there I moved to limbing firewood logs before bucking, clearing trails around the ranch and tree farm, and chopping Scotch broom out of our pasture. This last plant is a fast growing shrub that was planted by early Northwest pioneers as an ornamental. It quickly escaped cultivation and has become a major problem. Without constant control, it will quickly overrun pastureland. 1 cut the bushes off as close to the ground as I can, which means any machete or knife being used comes in contact with dirt and small rocks. I won't try to tell you I didn't ding the edge up to a certain degree but I will add that all of the nicks were easily removed by a few minutes work on a diamond hone.

At one point during my testing I was about to start a Chinese wok recipe that read "chop a chicken into 1-inch-long pieces, bones and all." I already had a heavy No.1 Choy Doh cleaver set out on the cutting block when it dawned on me that it might be interesting to try the Armageddon. The long knife made quick work of the chicken bones without suffering any edge damage. In the field, I can see the Armageddon earning its keep removing heads, wings, feet and tails on various fish, small game and birds.

The Handle

While I was impressed with the performance of the knife blade, I was less happy with the deep finger groove style of the handle. This type of handle works fine for pure knife chores and would give a good grip for cut and slash knife combatives. It's when the Armageddon is used as a machete or hatchet that problems arise. During my testing I cut around 50 red alder and hazel poles to use in temporary deer fencing around young fruit trees in our orchard. After the first half dozen this became something of a chore. When chopping, your hand needs to be able to slide up and down the grip a certain amount as you make your snapcuts. The finger groove prevents this. I did find I could grip the knife behind the finger groove, but this made for a rather tight, uncomfortable hold on the handle. While I understand this pattern of handle is something of a trademark with Rinaldi knives, I think the grip on the Armageddon would be much better off without it.

A well designed long, heavy knife like the Armageddon does make a good case for actually being the "one blade does it" survival tool many claim they want. This is one knife that you can count on to hack, chop, slice, hew and dig your way out of about any potential wilderness problem.