Elk Ridge Evolution 18

I agree with Darkwood Bushcraft's review (in fact, that's what inspired my own purchase) “ if you are able and willing to put in a bit of work, this is a pretty good budget bushcraft knife or general purpose heavy-duty beater knife. Get rid of the horrible black coating, put a sharp square edge on the spine of the blade for striking ferro rods, sharpen the cutting edge, and there you go. The blade is very sturdy and takes a good edge. I've batonned wood with it, shaved feather sticks and lit fires. If you really want to go for it, you could put nice wooden handle scales on it and make a leather sheath, or you could do a paracord handle wrap, the tang is skeletonised. My only real complaint is that there is a big hole through the tang forward of the screw holes, which serves no apparent purpose and undoubtedly weakens the knife at this stress point between the handle and the blade, but for the price this knife is great value. The accessories are pretty much useless apart from the ferro rod, which just about works.

Some of the reviews are a bit unfair, it's an under £30 bushcraft/camp knife. It works, it's very well balanced and is great value. I've bought it to use and abuse and I don't compare it to my other knives and don't want knew scales or remove the black at the top of the blade. The sheath is adequate and the bonus tools work ok. It is excellent for the money.

If you're looking for a project, then this is a great choice. I have two of these, and the quality has been consistent for both. They're not great out of the box, the grinds are a little off centre and the edge is average. However, with a bit of work, this is an extremely functional and practical blade. I loan these out when doing survival knife related skills and they perform well under duress, hold a good edge and are easy to maintain. Being full-tang they can be beaten on without much fear of damage. The ferro-rod is okay too, a bit cheap and small, but okay, I've started fires with them without issue, again, not the best, but they get the job done. The stones aren't much use for Good edge maintenance, and are way to corse, still, it'll grind out serious edge damage if needs be (it's a bonus item anyhow). The sheath is cheap, (what do you expect for the price), but functional and does its job. I don't mind that the pouch is bigger than the rod and stone, that just gives you room to add a small folder (SAK or similar), to your carry, which is a bonus. All-in-all for the price, and if you're prepared to do a little work, this is a great knife for the price.

First off, Heinnie top notch. next day delivery. This is the first 1 star and lowest review I've left on Heinnie. I knew this knife was cheap but really expected better. I've paid less and got much better quality. Out of the box it had huge and rather thick rolls on the edge . Heat burns on the grinding and a massively uneven grind. This has taken me a fair while to fix and get it razor sharp. The fixings holding the scales are rough and chewed. On the plus side the plastic scales fit fairly well. The sheath is what I expected for the cost but you can see all of the double sided foam tape inside the plastic liner. It's really basic. The biggest issue is the front pocket, it's too large for the accessories and they fall out even when closed!! The accessories are hopeless. The stone is rough and would only be good for emergency fixes. The scraper for the fire steel is smoothed on all edges so won't work. The fire steel is tiny. The ferro is actually 5cm with 1cm inside the plastic handle, so 4cm useable. The sparks really struggled to ignite fatwood and meths. Matches and needle inside the handle, I'm not Rambo. If you get one expect to work on the blade. I'd also remove the black coating from the spine and give it a sharp edge for scraping and fire starting. You'll probably want a good firesteel too. I purchased this to use for stuff I don't want to use my others knives for. It's going to be a real beater and get some hammering but it's still not good. I'd suggest you save your money or buy a Mora if you're a beginner or get a Schrade if you want a cheap medium/bk2 sized knife.

First off, the sheath is naff & the accessories barely adequate - but the knife is quite a bargain. It's bigger than envisaged but I got it because of the removable scales which allows me to practice making fully finished replacements in different materials - & I'll make a nice leather sheath. The knife alone is worth the price paid.

The knife itself is great, mine came pretty sharp out of the box and a little work on a strop brought the edge to shaving sharp. the sheath is fine, a little rough around the edges but a nice sheath either way. The real issue with this is the accessories. The fire steel is ok, a little on the small side with the whole thing handle included only being about 8cm with a diameter of about 6mm but at least it sparks well. The striker for the steel however is completely useless. I literally could not get any kind of sparks with it at all whichever way I used it, which is rather annoying since you can't really use the spine of the knife to strike the steel because of the coating on it (which if you're wondering feels high quality to me). Lastly is the "sharpening stone" which is about 6.5cm long and 2cm wide and therefore completely useless, it also feels awful and extremely low grit. I'd never let the thing touch the knife. All in all a very nice knife for the price in my opinion and certainly more than worth the £25 I paid for it even if the included accessories do suck. Luckily I found that a DC4 and a normal sized fire steel fit pretty damn perfectly in the sheaths pocket so that's nice. Also as a side note I opened up the knive's handle to find that there was a little bag in there with a few matches, 2 needles and some thread. I won't bore you with how these were but lets just say I had to "strike" the matches with a lighter.

Elk Ridge do not have a great reputation in the UK, a bit on the "cheap and cheerful" side of things. However this knife is not too bad at all. You can see what you get in the pics. and for £25 that is actually quite a lot. As a starter for bushcraft I think this kit is a winner - the fire steel works, the knife is sharp and made of a reasonable stainless steel, tacticool pouch holds the knife securely. What's not to like?

In addition to my initial review , whilst tinkering after looking this knife up on YouTube found that just like the elk ridge bushcrafter that if you loosen the knife scales you'll find hidden in the skeletonised a bag containing some matches and needle and cotton

As always 5 star service from the team at Heinnie Haynes. Good well balanced knife , needed a touch on a strop out of the box but quickly put a nice edge on what is a good sized blade , well worth the minimal investment , looks and feels like it will take a battering and last for years. My only criticism us the sheath, it's fit for purpose but feel a nice leather dangler would've made a complete package, made a couple of quick mods to mine and now happy with it. As a back up blade well worth its price point.