Santa has spoiled me and (scoop) Santa lives in Golden, Colorado.
I have been a huge fan of the Spyderco Bushcraft and really regretted to see such a great company with such great initiatives
obliged to sale that great knife as Second since the wood handles has cracked.
FYI I got some friends who had moved from San Francisco to Denver and all their furnitures had been ruined.
In beautiful Colorado, high altitude and continental weather can be destructive on wood furniture and wood handles.

Thea, as a Norvegian Skogkat is inspecting carefully that Scandinavian ground blade.

Anyway, Sal would never had given up such a  knife as the BushcraftUK and now he has spawned the Bushcraft with G10 handle:
the Revenge of the Bushcrafter !
G10 is a very strong material, it won’t crack. Some blades are even made with G10 as a composite layering the steel’s edge or as full G10 undetectable weapon.
G10 is epoxy mixed with fiberglass. It’s impervious to weather, choc, low tempetures, chemicals and is used in tactical knives for twenty years.

For a non conoisseur, the G10 slabs on the Bushcrafter would look almost like hard dark wood. They are absolutly gorgeous !

Leather stropping is Scandinavian Ground knives best friend !

The handle of that knife is a state of art in ergonomy. This a a splinter free design which turns any hard work in sheer pleasure.
The design of the Bushcrafter is really well thought, providing a extremely well balanced knife with an ultrasharp grind.
Chris Claycombe has made his homework as far as I have used my BuscraftUK Second all summer in France and Tuscany, the knife has always performed beyond my expectations.
(The thick square back of the blade is great to remove the bark of a walking stick for example)

Both of my Bushcrafters. Notice how the edge of the wooden one is polished by stropping.

The heat treatment, as always with Spyderco products, is simply top notch. The scandinavian ground knife stays sharps in various hard tasks and only needs some stropping to be kept razor sharp.
My first Bushcraft is almost mirror polished on its scandy edge now.

As confortable as it looks good.

I have noticed “Taiwan-Taichung” is now written on the blade.
Some American people were complaining about having “Taiwan” written on their blade. They got what they desserve ! 😉
I don’t understand how those people would never mind to have “Japan” stamps on their Spyderco Police for 25 years and worst
they are the ones who only swear by Maxpedition bags… all made in Taiwan !!
The Taiwanese craftmen chosen by Spyderco have proven to be some of the best knive artists and manufacturers in the world.
The G10 Bushcrafter screams pure quality, attention to detail and reliability in a compact and solid package !
And that knife is really international: designed in the UK, produced in Colorado and manufactured in Taiwan !

My EDC equipment: the C22 Sprint Run Michael Walker, the Casio GW2000 Gravity Defier and the G10 Bushcrafter.

The leather sheath is now black. I love that sheath which is really suiting my need toward that design.
Again a plastic foam encapsules the blade inside the leather. Under it “classic” look that ambidextrous sheath is really well thought and modern too.

All in all the G10 version was itching my wishlist since I was so in love with the previous wooden handle version.
Now this is going to be some kind of “elegant tank”, capable to withstand all hard used and batonning imaginable.
That kind of knife is really perfect from light chopping to precise whittling.
My friend Jur has added that beautiful lanyard with a micarta bead which is mandatory when chopping. (He also add some usefull red paracord for a dramatic Black & red effect.)
The knife is a very sensual too. Handling and holding it is something which is not found in many design but custom ones. (Like the Sean McWilliams Panama Fighters)
Again, attention to detail is extraordinary.
Eventually, my wooden handle version will soon be adopted by a friend of mine as it cannot desserve to be stuck as a safe queen. It needs to go out into the wild and cuts some wood for Xmas sake ! 🙂
But the G10 version is already hidden in my EDC Bag ready to carve some more turkey on the New Year Eve !
I’m impatient to go back in the woods and use this baby as hard as it desserves it. Timber !!! ;-D

Also as a writer of the “Richard Blade” adventures for Gérard de Villiers, I have equipped that MI6 Operator with a Military Ti but for his new adventures for issues #199 and #200, he has a G10 Bushcrafter as main survival tool. Lucky man.

The bead on the lanyard is a real genuine Fuzzyedge bead which adds a real touch of class to the whole package. Click here if you want to know more about the gorgeous creations of Fuzz’ via the USN Forums !

In concern of the design, Sal Glesser became interrested in Bushcraft at one of the three Spyderco meets he did in Sheffield, UK for his UK followers. Many of them were also interested in Bushcraft and questioned why Spyderco would not enter that specific arena ?
Sal and Jur met Chris there and he showed them his Bushcraft design, which were different from the Ray Mears (*) design, and Spyderco started talking knife with Chris. They developed the very special and ergonomic handle shape and decided to go on with all the “classic” Bushcraft features: a natural handle, scandi gring, tool steel and a leather sheath.
At that time Spyderco manufacturing was running on the top of its capacity and they could not produce the Bushcraft knife in the USA.
Japan was also (and is still) at the top of what they could handle for them. (Spyderco works with small family businesses in Japan).
Japan was also too expensive. Sal has already established contacts in Taiwan and went there with the Bushcraft project.
The quality of work they provide is, as noticed since, simply top notch.
It’s evident to state that currently, there is no other factory made Bushcraft knife on the market with an handle so specifically shaped for the hand, as the Spyderco FB26P.

(*) Another thing to remember is that Ray Mears is NOT a knife maker nor a knife designer. He is in fact a TV host and a business man who finds his customers through his televised adventures and stories. If you would like to collaborate with him to endorse any outdoor style products, you first deal with his agents and then with his marketing lady. As they have lot’s of success and they are asking high commitments, also in terms of money….