[45 Ohio]

What are your thoughts on the Ontario sp8 im thinking of buying one it's not going to be my primary knife but more of a heavy duty chopper and to take the place of a axe on deeper woods winter camping /hunting trips I will be useing it to split some wood for a small portable wood burner etc.but I was wondering if any of you guys have used one and what your thoughts are .I have read good reviews

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[Bravo Duck]

I’ve had an SP8 for many years and never use it anymore. I much prefer the Kershaw Camp 10. Although the Camp 10 will not be as durable for pounding through heavy logs, it will be better for everything else.

I even prefer the Camp 10 to my Junglas for chores, but I don’t trust it near as much. I’ve pounded the ESEE Junglas through 12” semi-rotted logs that I feel would have ruined the Camp 10.

 

[Bravo Duck]

If you are getting to your winter camping or hunting trip sites with a snowmobile, four wheeler or horse then you can take great tools with you, but if you’re humping in with your own sweat then I would go for a one tool solution which for me would be an ESEE 6HM.

 

[Goblin X]

Just make sure what you carry will take the work your going to give it. I never take a new knife on a extended hunt or ruck till ive worked it a couple of weeks.Find what works for you.
I keep a old Case XX Bolo strapped to my ruck. my Uncle brought it back from WWII, with some field mods, spent the rest of the tour with him, hangin in the pumphouse to kill copperhead.
I found it in the dirt after the string holding it on the nail rotted, one scale cracked and eaten.
I tested it to see if the blade got weak, it didnt, redid it . now i carry it every time the pack goes out.
think of him everytime i use it......find a place that will let you hold it, see if you like the grip and balance, and the heft of it. most commercial production sheaths are crap on a stick, know you will be either making one or having one made , if you use and carry it a lot, in about 6 months......takes a lot of the stress out.

 

[buckfynn]

It is a tough beast. I like mine. I say go for it.

 

[Inazone]

I bought an SP8 a few years back as part of assembling a "mission bag" for needs that lie outside the typical BOB/GHB/INCH setup. Its neighbors are electrician's insulated screwdrivers, bolt cutters, a Stanley combo wrench/prybar and a Dead-On Annihilator. I have a smaller knock-off of the SP8 in my GHB, purportedly made of 440C steel, for vehicular extraction.

 

[45 Ohio]

I think I'm going to buy one soon anything I have read or seen on you tube and you guys it's rugged tool and most everyone likes it so I'm going to give it a try

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[Gaston444]

It is very, very dull, and takes a lot of effort to get only marginally sharp.

The saw is similar to a parrish knife, but has huge amounts of tough paint on it, making it useless, and it would work only if you strip all that thick tought coat off (a huge job).

Then the thing will easily rust since it is not proper stainless.

I found it too heavy for it's usefulness, but the handle is great once you cut the end pommel hook off.

Because it is so dull, this is almost as bad as bringing a hatchet, although the leather/nylon combo sheath is surprisingly good and well thought out.

In that range get the SP-53, which will crush most Busse in performance, and is likely sharper. I want a useable point so that's another issue.

My favourite cheap knife now would be the SChf45, a big hollow grind chopper that solves a lot of problem by being stainless, but the Ontario rubber grips allow heavier work...

G.

 

[Lakota]

Edge geometry is too thick for my taste. Look at Buckfynn's photo and notice how low the grind line is. Tried using it to clear shooting lanes for bow hunting. Broke branches rather than cutting them.Doesn't hold a candle to a small hatchet for chopping or splitting. Didn't feel like re-profiling it. Catch and release. If you're looking for a pry bar with an edge, it would fit that role. I wouldn't be afraid to baton it if you're into that. As mentioned, the saw back isn't a great saw, but it's nice for making notches. Not for me, but to each their own.

 

[leadcounsel]

Why not just use the correct tool. Is a hatchet too heavy to bring with you?

 

[Eireguy]

Idk if it will fit the bill you are going for but theres always the Warthog. https://www.kabar.com/products/product.jsp?item=1278

 

[Gaston444]

Why not just use the correct tool. Is a hatchet too heavy to bring with you?

The hatchet's weight is all on one side, the edge thick and its edge-holding poor, it's versatility even poorer... How often do you see people walking in the woods with a hatchet at their side? I've never seen that even once outside of vehicles. If it is not in a vehicle, it would at the most be inside a backpack, thus being even poorer to clear a path than even the SP-8, which at least can make a try of it, thick edge and all...

The SP-8's sheath is the best thing about it; With a hollow grind re-grind and the sawback cleared of paint, it would lose significant weight and be a far better choice than any hatchet... An Sp-8 re-ground by RazoredgeKnives to to a high, deep hollow grind on a 0.020" edge at 15-17 dps would be an amazing tool: The hollow grind would lose it a ton of useless weight, and a Cerakoat with the stripped sawback masked off would be even better... Such a tool could be quite amazing, but still a bit heavy...

Gaston

 

[leadcounsel]

The hatchet's weight is all on one side, the edge thick and its edge-holding poor, it's versatility even poorer... How often do you see people walking in the woods with a hatchet at their side? I've never seen that even once outside of vehicles. If it is not in a vehicle, it would at the most be inside a backpack, thus being even poorer to clear a path than even the SP-8, which at least can make a try of it, thick edge and all...

The SP-8's sheath is the best thing about it; With a hollow grind re-grind and the sawback cleared of paint, it would lose significant weight and be a far better choice than any hatchet... An Sp-8 re-ground by RazoredgeKnives to to a high, deep hollow grind on a 0.020" edge at 15-17 dps would be an amazing tool: The hollow grind would lose it a ton of useless weight, and a Cerakoat with the stripped sawback masked off would be even better... Such a tool could be quite amazing, but still a bit heavy...

Gaston

OP asked about:
"What are your thoughts on the Ontario sp8 im thinking of buying one it's not going to be my primary knife but more of a heavy duty chopper and to take the place of a axe on deeper woods winter camping /hunting trips I will be useing it to split some wood for a small portable wood burner etc.but I was wondering if any of you guys have used one and what your thoughts are .I have read good reviews"

1. I always carry a hatchet when going camping. Duel purpose as a wood splitter that won't break, and a hammer for tent stakes or other chores. A knife simply will not compare.

2. I've seen them commonly sold at camping goods retailers, and I have seen them carried in the back woods by others.

3. OP didn't ask about trail cutting. A machete type tool is best for that.

Why reinvent the wheel? Correct tool for the job.

 

[Gaston444]

The thinner hollow grind edge is precisely for heavy duty chopping...: Its thinness softens the blow on the hand (as does the concave curvature during the deceleration), and the wood pinches the blade away from the edge (unlike a convex edge), making the edge both thinner and stronger to lateral loads than an equivalent convex edge...

With a thin, deeply radiused hollow grind (but with a saber line not much more than halfway up the blade, which is a disadvantage for very deep straight through cuts) you can get both slicing and chopping in one edge.

The worst versatility is the convex grind, because it imitates a hatchet, so it has to be thickened at the edge, or it will warp to lateral loads from which a hollow grind won't. Here a fairly thick edged Busse Battlesaw could not match the stability of even a thinner V-grind in 5160:

Full Flat grinds tend to "stick" on serious choppers over 17 ounces, so that is their limitation... This is because the flat surface has no sharp "point of pressure", so the leverage of friction is spread over a broad surface, which makes it harder to break the "hold"... Wet wood multiplies this by ten btw...

Mind you, a hatchet does greatly soften the blow on the hand by being so out of balance, but it has virtually no quality outside of that. (It does help over a prolonged period of use, but that is about it).

Gaston