Ontario Knife Company 8602 TAK-1

I was looking for a quality knife for hunting and camping uses. I spent a great deal of time debating between this and the ESEE 4 thinking they were very close in size. I actually ended up with one of each with the plan of giving this one to my wife who wouldn't be using it nearly as much as I do. They both arrived on the same day and I hope my thoughts can help you who are on the fence between these two brands of fine blades. They both came sharp enough to shave the hair off my arm. To my surprise the TAK 1 is a fair amount larger than the ESEE 4. The blade is only about a quarter of an inch longer on the TAK 1 but is also about the same amount wider as well. The finish has more of a texture on the ESEE but both look very nice. The scales on the ESEE are just a little smoother being they are made with linen instead of the canvas of Ontario blades. What was the real surprise is how much larger the handle of the TAK 1 is over the ESEE. I wear large sized gloves and with some extra large. My hand just barely fit onto the ESEE length wise and the thickness is less as well. On the TAK 1 it fit my hand better and I have at least a 1/2 inch of handle hanging past my hand. That will help when I have gloves on during colder weather. I found the overall fit and finish on both knives to be very good with a slight edge in favor of the ESEE, but not by much. The sheath is a plastic on the ESEE and is nylon with a plastic liner on the TAK 1. I will say the nylon is not of the quality that came on my 80's high end Gerber blades but I think this will give many years of service. It holds the knife very well and does not have any rattle to it. I don't care much for the new wave of plastic sheaths and gun holsters. If you ever walk in the woods and have a twig rub across plastic you know just how loud it is. I also wear my knives on my belt and the nylon one does this and hangs the way a belt worn knife should. To wear the ESEE on your belt you need to screw on a belt adapter plate that did come with the knife and makes the sheath almost as heavy as the knife. It also rides much higher than the more traditional sheaths. On the Ontario the pommel an inch or so below my belt with the set up on the ESEE has the entire handle above my belt. On some larger knives you have several places to mount the adapter but not on these smaller knives. So the sheaths are more of a matter of what you like and how you plan on carrying it. I found you can buy sheaths of most any style and material you want, but be ready to fork out at least 30 more bucks with the 50 dollar range seeming to be the norm. At the time I purchased my knives there is about a 40 dollar price difference between them. So picking the blade that comes with the sheath of your choice to start with is probably a good move as the knives them selves will both serve you very well. Ahhh, as for warranties. First you should remember they are only worth anything as long as the company who offers it is in business. I worked in the sporting goods industry for many years and the companies who had the crazy no questions asked replacement warranties just charged you up front for your replacement. The Ontario blade does come with a lifetime warranty but from my understanding they will not or should they replace your knife if you try shooting it with your .50 bmg or pounding it through an iron pipe with an 8 pound sledge hammer. So if you are the type who abuses your gear then the ESEE might be a better choice. If you use your blade for what they are designed for and take care of them you won't go wrong either way. As for me, I ended up happily with the TAK 1 knife and my wife has the ESEE 4 as the smaller handle fit her hand much better than mine and she liked the lighter weight too. IMHO if you wear med. gloves or smaller you will like the ESEE 4 but you may not mind the extra girth and length of the TAK 1. Those with larger hands my find like I did the TAK 1 feels better in your hands. I am going to be getting a longer blade that can do more in the way of splitting some wood etc. and after buying these two knives I know it will be a Rat 7 and I won't be wondering if I should have bought the very nice ESEE 6 instead. For me the larger blade and handle will be a better fit and I will get the kind of sheath I want up front and maybe use the 40 dollar savings to pay for most of an ESEE izula II.

I bought one in December 2014. I have used it in the woods to process some fatwood and some minor wood carving and batoning. I have not skinned anything or filleted any fish with it, but I think the full flat grind and blade shape would work well for that, although the blade is quite thick. For frame of reference, I have previously used fixed blades primarily for field use in the Army as an infantryman or special staff officer assigned to airborne infantry. I used a knife mainly for cutting weeds and sticks clearing fields of fire, cutting roots while digging fighting positions, opening crates, and of course, opening MRE's. Most of the time I used a Cold Steel SRK or the Pilot's Survival Knife (mine was made by Camillus, but same spec as Ontario 499).Here's what I like about the TAK:1. It came sharp with almost perfect grinds. I've used a fine stone and a strop to refine the edge a little, but it didn't really need that.2. It seems like it would be impossible to break.3. Blade length is a very useable real-world length.4. Scales are real canvas Micarta.Here's what i don't like:1. Knife is incredibly handle heavy. The full tang means it balances at almost the middle of the handle. Did no one at the factory cut anything with this knife for any extended period of time? The tang should have been skeletonized at the factory to help the weight distribution. I know this knife was designed by some guys who are revered as jungle survivalists/ knife designers, but did they really have to throw out a couple of thousand years of common thought as to how a knife should balance when they designed the TAK?2. Micarta scales are blocky and slightly over-sized for tang.3. Sheath insert doesn't exactly fit the blade and so it rattles. However, the MOLLE strap is nicely integrated. Black color is so 1980's tactical. Tan or Coyote brown would be much better for military use or hunting and would match the scales better.4. The choil is a waste of blade space. Again, I know that's how it was designed by some knife experts so one can choke up to do fine work, but I would would much prefer it if the blade edge extended almost to the handle for more leverage. I'm not too fond of putting my fingers near the edge of the knife, but I know some do teach this.5. Coating is starting to come off spine after a couple of whacks with a pine baton. I figured this would happen eventually with use, so not a big problem.I really wanted to like this knife as-is. I have used a lot of Ontario products in the Army (bayonets and seat cutters, I believe) and I purchased one of their military machetes, which I really like. The balance on this knife and the handle just wore me out trying to carve with it, though. Did I sell it? Of course not. I went to Lowe's and bought a carbide 5/16 drill bit (should have bought a 1/2 in.) and chucked it into the drill press. So far I have drilled three holes in the butt part of the handle and two in the front. With a bunch of filing and grinding with a mini-tool, I have been able to connect the three rear holes. This hasn't helped much at all, but it has a little and I may keep drilling/filing until I can get the weight distribution right. Again, the factory should have looked at this and skeletonized the tang somewhat. See an Enzo blade or a Becker BK-16 tang if you don't understand. I know there are folks that demand a "full" tang, but they must not actually carry or cut much with their knives. I have also hand sanded the lower edge of the scales to make them fit better and to round the part near the fingers. If you do this, take care not to bevel the inside edge that goes against the tang, or else it will make the gap between scale and blade bigger. I have also bought a cheap leather pouch type sheath from a knifemaker supply and wet fit it to the knife and dyed it. I like it much better than the nylon sheath, but that's a personal preference.I will keep and use the TAK-1, but I think it would be a much better knife if the factory skeletonized the tang to even out the balance between blade and handle and did away with the large choil.

I love the shape and design of this knife but this knife still needs more refinement.The knife was dull out of the box but 1095 steel is great knife material and the temper is nice and consistent. I reprofiled the knife edge and discovered that the knife can be honed to an extemely sharp edge. The knife holds an edge fairly well after wood working, camp and bushcraft tasks.The black coating and sheathe are horribly cheap. The coating scratches off under little stress. The sheathe is reminiscent of something bought at China town or a creepy gas station. The micarta handles are nice but still need additional finishing.I fixed the issues by:-getting a new sheathe-sanding the finish and adding patina-reprofiled the secondary bevel-sanding and truing the micarta scales.Cons:-cheap coating-cheap sheathe-dull on arrival-handle material had hot spots and were not flush to the spine.Pros:-great blade shape-ginger choil for added purchase-nice intermediate size-easy to sharpen-holds an edgeBe advised: 1095 is carbon steel so you must protect/oil the knife often!The knife is a 3/5 straight out of the factory but I give my knife a 5/5 after finishing and modifying the knife myself.

Perfect size for my needs