CondorTool & Knife Hudson Bay Camp Knife - 1075 High Carbon Steel - Full Tang Walnut Handle with Hand Crafted Welted Leather Sheath - 8.4in Blade - 5mm Thick - 20.5oz

Great knife! Very sharp, cuts really well. A little heavy but is the only knife I need now!

It is what it is! This is a super sturdy, no frills, tool. It comes packaged well and is a beauty right out of the box. It comes plenty sharp but takes a great edge quick. Mine had some sanding lines on the edge, but I have owned this for about 2 hours now and have already put a edge on it that is good enough to slice through anything. It is heavy, but not overly so. The balance is better than expected. The handle fits my hands well, but I don't have a bunch of room left over. The finish is better in real life than in pictures of the classic finish. The "hammer marks" aren't the giant craters like the original finish, and they seem to be smoother than the first series and seem to be really random rather than a set pattern. No two will be alike and it is striking to look at because of it's simplistic value. This knife is thick but it will baton very well because of it. The spine is finished very well and it is straight and practical like the rest of the knife. It almost looks homemade because of the slight taper from tang to tip. The wood slabs are well constructed and pinned by brass, they are tight and rounded off well for my hands. I have seen many reviews that called them too slick for safe operation but to me they are just right. I don't see me flinging this during use any more than using a one handed camp ax. This is a tool that will last for years for so little money you almost have to question how it can be real. But I have owned a Condor machete for years now and have put it through heck and it still looks as good as it cuts. I suspect this Hudson Bay will be of the same stuff. I have combed the web reading reviews on this blade while waiting for it to arrive, and the few bad ones were usually comparing it to a BK2 or some other tacti-cool knife. To each his own and I would rather own the simple stuff, free of plastic and without the kung-fu grip.If you are still on the fence about this knife let me tell you about the sheath. It is every bit as nice as the knife and as real as they come. The belt loop is fastened to the scabbard by a single rivet and can swing to get out of the way of your movement. Some people might find this too much movement and it can be corrected with another rivet, or some leather thread really quick. I plan on making a matching frog for this sheath and attaching it to my gun belt.This isn't a pairing knife, it isn't a tacti-cool knife, it isn't a 300 dollar exotic wood slab with gold and fairy dust sprinkled on it. This is a tool made for chopping and for rough use. The lifetime warranty from Condor is a fantastic bit of comfort but I doubt I will ever need it.UPDATE: I have had this knife for a year now. It has been used almost every single day in one way or the other. I have batoned with it, chopped with it, used it to prepare meals in the field, used it as a flint striker, and used it to whittle with great success. Heck, I even beautified it a little. This knife is the one for me. I haven't even looked at another knife for over a year now. I even bought one for my wife's equipment. If I had to pick only one knife for an extended wilderness adventure, this would be my pick without a doubt.I stripped off the coating on the blade, blued it using mustard and wasabi sauce and spent some time sharpening it (actually a lot of time). This is a knife you can use right out of the box for sure. But if you are handy with steel and know a little here and there you can turn this knife into a companion!I will update this review if anything changes, but after a year I think this knife will belong to one of my family after I kick the bucket, it will outlast me. Add another star to my 5 stars!

So this is basically a functional reproduction of the Hudson Bay knife distributed by the Hudson Bay fur trade company to its trappers in the 18th and 19th century. You might have seen a version in the 2015 film the Revenant used by Tom Hardy’s character. Very likely a precursor to the Bowie knife. Condor did an amazing job on this reproduction. It has a very primitive aesthetic to it. No flashiness, just a no nonsense workhorse. Neither too large or small. It was designed as both a camp and hunting knife. Mine came super sharp and has kept its edge during the last few months of chopping light firewood, chopping meat, and skinning both medium and large game. It has a full tang that fits fully through the wood grip as advertised. Due to the blade being high carbon steel, you want to keep it oiled. Despite having a thick strong heavy blade for hardy jobs it has no problem managing more culinary tasks. A joy to sharpen as well. Not much wear and tear to report. It comes with a very nice leather sheath that is neither too tight or too loose. Even though this knife will be durable to outlast me I will definitely be picking up a spare in the coming months.

This knife is a Chopper, not a Slicer.....Built like a tank!

I can’t comment on the HB’s long term use because I haven’t had it long, but I will give you my evaluation so far. I got this because I like trade knives of the 19th century and this, while not an exact copy, is pretty close in some ways. It’s also a much bigger knife than anything I have until you get into choppers like kukris. Honestly, when I took it out of the box, I thought “Hmm, maybe this was a mistake,” because it is so heavy, and once again, it is BIG. But mine is finished very nicely, the grind is even, and the handle’s wood is sanded nicely and is flush with the tang so I took it outside and did some chopping and carving - not a ton, but enough to realize that there are really times when a big knife is a joy to work with. I am used to using knives with a 4 inch blade or so in the woods (Moras, that sort of thing), and they are much more precise than this big honker. BUT...the big honker can cut through knots and sprouts like nobody’s business and it does still carve feathersticks if you want to do that with it. I was surprised by how easy it was to use, actually.The grind is what I would call a soft convex.The Moras or other equivalent smaller knives will always outperform a big knife like this for precision work, but that’s not what you get this for. It’s like comparing a Triumph Spitfire to a Dodge Viper, if you’re into sports cars. Heck, maybe even a diesel powered back loader! At any rate, I’d say the HB is certainly the big boy on the block, the one you call when you need some muscle; the knife’s momentum really works for you, and not just in chopping - it helps in cutting, too.A couple of thumbs up for the sheath, too. It’s very well done, with good quality, heavy leather. I would prefer that it had a lower top and some sort of retaining strap than just trusting to the pressure fit it uses. This type of sheath is historically correct (except for the swiveling belt loop, which I don’t think a lot of voyageurs would have had, but they might have appreciated it) but because only about an inch and a half of the handle pokes out it is not the quickest to remove from the sheath, and you do want to push it all the way in so that it stays there. It stays in when turned upside down, but I’d still feel better with a strap on the handle. Still, as I said, the sheath is very well made.This is my only Condor knife so I can’t judge the company’s range of products, but I have decided that I quite like this knife.