Ontario Knife SPS Survival Bowie - High Carbon Steel Tactical Fixed Blade Knife for Outdoor Camping, Hunting, and Bushcraft

This is my 9th blade in the sp line, genII blades are sweet, but the original sp line like this sp5 has its place for sure. Ontario is doing a much better job on these budget blades, heat treats seem much better then years past, grind angles are more consistent. This knife I bought for light weight wood processing while camping, it's lighter weight makes long hikes easier (belt carry) mine came very sharp and edge ground quite consistent, better then most of the past sp blades I bought if not best yet, but I always change edge to my needs anyways. The sheath is made by Desantis, although simple, is nice for what it is, it's kydex inside with a felt liner on kydex giving knife a scratch less surface and is very quiet while inserting and drawing the blade from sheath, better then any other original sp line sheath by far, imho. Anyone who complaines about any of you sp line sheaths needs to get back to reality,sheaths are NOT pretty, but are all very functional(other then obvious individual problems)(snaps biggest complaint it seem) Blades are cut out of stock material to basic shape, blade angle grinds put on it, heat treated, assemble handle, sharpen, make sheath. You do all this and see how much it cost you,....heck of a lot more then 55 bucks. Oh yeah, and by the way, theses blades perform very well regardless of the low price. Proof America can still make a great (hard use) product at a very reasonable price in this hostile(taxes) to manufactures world of ours, but it's getting harder....great knives for price and holds its own so far against my beckers and esee's with a couple of custom blades, now I am comparing it to all my other HC steel blades(1095-5160) are they prefect......no, but to expect perfect at the price?!?! Please stop being (you fill in blank) great knife at price and I'm gonna buy another sp5 it just feels nice, balance is at the blank spot on blade by the way, the blank spot makes for a good finger choil too.I was very excited to try out this knife, but I am a little disappointed. It performs most tasks that a big knife should, except that it is rather lackluster in terms of chopping wood. One of the biggest reasons to carry a big knife like this one is so that it can double as a hatchet. It is comfortable enough for chopping, but trying to cut up firewood with it is a much slower task than with many of my other big knives.My knife also arrived rather poorly-ground. This is NOT a cheap knife. It comes from a reputable factory here in the U.S., and I expect it to arrive sharp. One potential plus is the sheath; unlike those supplied with other Ontario knives, this one came with a sheath made by DeSantis, the well-known maker of holsters. It shows slightly better quality throughout than do most Ontario factory-supplied sheaths. The sheath is still a rather simple and basic affair though, and does not fit the knife particularly well.The KaBar Heavy Bowie is a better knife for less money, IMHO, as are the KaBar Cutlass Machete and Cold Steel Trail Master. For a made-in-USA knife, the Ontario Kukri is a better choice, as is the Ontario RD-9. The Ontario SPec-Plus machete certainly chops better, but at the price of a slightly complicated sheath, and the loss of the tip for puncturing (the tip of the machete is flat).Folks, my SP5 came literally hair shaving sharp with a bald spot on my arm as proof! Grind and bevels all true. This knife is more of a jack of all trades type i.e. ; chopper, batoning, detail cuts for notching, great piercing ability and fast in the hand for fighting. The grip feels great in my large sized hand with no slip and it indexes well. The ballistic nylon sheath is of good quality while holding the knife secure without any rattle noise. The only down side for the sheath is it doesn't have a leg tie but that's not a big issue.I own many of big and higher priced blades, the SP5 will definitely hold its own among them. I definitely approve of this knife being an outdoorsman, former military (Army), former law enforcement and knife enthusiast.I bought this for hiking and camping. I’ve been an outdoorsman my whole life and I’ve spent the last 26 years (and counting) in the military. Knife came very sharp! Very comfortable in my hand and well balanced. First night out hiking I put it to the test chopping at smaller pieces of firewood and batonning larger pieces...it held up EXTREMELY well for the abuse I put it through!! Highly recommend this knifeGreat knife! I thought it would be heavier in weight but I was wrong. I went on a hog hunt the day after getting it in and tried to break it but it held my 300 pound body as the hog was slinging me around. I'll buy a few more for my friends that hunts hogs with knives. Just so it doesn't upset anyone I don't like using a knife to hunt hogs with but will use it if I have little choice in the matter. I got attacked and it was the only way to put a stop to the mauling by a wild hog. Again OKC makes the best military knives and I will buy more.MY sheath WORKS NOW AND USES A 1 SNAP TO SECURE IT, THE SQURE PART DOWN FROM THE KNIFE BLADE WAS HITTING sheath OPENING AND KEEPING IT FROM SEATING INTO sheath SO I THOUGHT IT WAS BOTTOMING OUT AND NOT ABLE TO SECURE WITH SNAP AT THE FAT PART OF THE HANDLE.....AGAIN SORRY MY BAD! FORGIVE METhis is a unbelievable SURVIVAL knife. For a huge knife this thing does it all. It chops great, it feather sticks no problem, and does food prep with ease. This was all very unexpected. A great surprise. Its a .25 in. thick , 1095 steel , the bladetapers nice and thin behind the edge with a 20 degree primary. The edge isn't perfect but its easily fixed and easy to sharpen. For around $50bucks W.O. W. it's a One Tool Option. I could notrecommend this knife enough . JUST GET IT !!Knife is of good quality. Sheath is improved but somewhat lacking to my tastes.I bought this knife and loved it until the blade bent chopping spruce. I contacted amazon and got a replacement . I used the new one quite a bit and thought it was fine but a few days later I used it some more and the same thing happened . For a knife that is marketed as a survival knife it should be able to chop soft wood with out bending . I will not buy any more Ontario knives 2 fails out of 2 knives is ridiculous . Could have and would have been a five star knife buts its a just a useless piece of junk. Thank you amazon for your excellent customer service .Nice knife from Ontario! Actually very sharp! Seems to be the (superior) blade tech/quality from their RD range, yet with the standard old base handle from their SP line. A great deal!