The LogOX A2 GenOX Bushcraft Knife is a razor sharp, 4.25 inch, full-tang, fixed-blade, Scandi-grind knife made of A2 steel with a Micarta handle. At the time of this writing, it cost $287 at www.thelogox.com. The price includes the knife, a finely crafted leather sheath, and a matching ferrocerium rod. This compares favorably with other high-quality, hand-crafted, American-made knives.
The knife and accessories provide a beautiful, well-crafted, highly-durable tool set for wood harvesting, hunting, camping, survival and other field use.
The Backstory
I like LogOX products for wood harvesting. My favorite LogOX product is their Hauler. A pair of Haulers, one in each hand, is a great help for picking up rounds and moving them over rough terrain. I also really like their WoodOX Sling. Its brilliant ergonomic design makes it surprisingly easy to haul firewood from the wood shed to the wood box in the house.
So when I heard that LogOX also offered a knife, I was immediately interested. The appearance of the GenOX knife reminded me of the classic Village Blacksmith ST113, which is a long-time favorite of mine that is no longer in production. I contacted LogOX to see if they could provide me with a sample for testing and evaluation, and they were kind enough to agree. A few days later the knife arrived via USPS Priority Mail.
First Impressions
The knife arrived in a 10.5X3X2 inch package box with a sticker on the top of the box reading “LTWK Handcrafted Knives”. “LTWK” stands for L.T. Wright Knives. The A2 GenOX is an L.T. Wright Genesis knife customized for LogOX.
If you are a fan of the History Channel’s survival series, “Alone”, you may have seen an L.T. Wright Genesis Scandi in A2 in use by contestant Larry Roberts in Season 2 of the series. You can find out more about L.T. Wright Knives at their website.
One interesting sidelight is that the knife and ferrocerium rod arrived wrapped in Daubert Cromwell PW32 Protek Wrap. PW32 is designed to protect ferrous metals such as steel and cast iron from corrosion. It is a natural kraft paper saturated with a ferrous volatile corrosion inhibitor (VCI) formula. The chemicals on the paper vaporize, and raise the pH of the condensed water layer on the surface of the metal, thus inhibiting corrosion. I was not previously familiar with the chemistry behind VCI products, and found my research into these potentially very useful materials to be fascinating.
The fit and finish of this hand-crafted knife are outstanding with a glossy blade and a smooth natural matte finish Micarta handle that provides an excellent grip. An orange G10 liner between the Micarta and the tang is attractive, and makes the knife easier to find if it is dropped on a leafy forest floor. L. T. Wright has good reason to be proud of his workmanship. The LogOX logo and motto are laser-engraved on the side of the blade. A brass-lined lanyard hole toward the rear of the handle is a nice bonus. Concave depressions toward the front of the handle provide a good surface for gripping the knife while working.
One of my first tests on removing the knife from the box was to use it to shave some hair from my left forearm. The knife did an outstanding job, providing one of the smoothest shaves of all the knives that I have ever tested in this way. This knife if definitely razor-sharp.
In addition to the knife, the package box contained a leather, dangler-form sheath. The quality of the leather and the craftsmanship of the sheath are outstanding. The heavy gauge leather is well finished and beautifully stitched, with heavy, strategically-placed rivets for reinforcement. There is a loop on the sheath for the included ferrocerium rod.
The handle of the ferrocerium rod matches the handle of the knife, although it has a rougher finish. I found the back of the knife blade to produce a bright shower of sparks when scraped against the ferrocerium rod. With this knife and rod, having no matches is no problem.
The dangler-form sheath brought to mind the style worn with many traditional Norwegian folk costumes (bunader). Bunad knives were originally primarily used as table utensils rather than as tools like the GenOX. In addition to the dangler-form sheath, bunad knives generally have a Scandi grind blade, which is another factor in common with the GenOX.
The 1/8 inch steel of the full-tang Scandi-grind blade provides a very solid construction that just begs to be used for batoning. The workmanship on the knife is so beautiful that I was initially hesitant to subject the blade to such brutal use. I eventually overcame that hesitation, and found the knife to be highly effective for batoning firewood, even rounds with serious knots.
A2 Steel
A2 is the most common grade of steel bar used to make tools for shaping metal, wood, or other materials. It is a medium-carbon chromium alloy that falls at 57-62 on the Rockwell scale. It provides intermediate wear resistance and relatively good machining and grinding properties. The “A” in the name stands for “air hardening.”
Although I have tested knives made from more expensive steels like N690Co and CPM154 martensitic stainless, I have found my favorite knives to be made from the more moderately priced A2 and D2 steels. I have found the more expensive steels to be difficult to re-hone after they become dull, while I have found A2 and D2 to be much easier to work with. I don’t think it is a coincidence that the two sharpest knives that I own are made with D2 and A2 respectively. Just to be perfectly clear, the GenOX is one of these two sharpest knives.
A2 is not a stainless steel, since it contains only 5.5% chromium. Stainless steels are composed of at least 11% chromium. Although A2 is not stainless, and may develop a patina over time, it is fairly corrosion resistant and will not pit unless badly neglected.
In addition to iron, the chemical composition of A2 is 5.5% chromium, 1.4% molybdenum, 1.05% carbon, 1% manganese, 0.5% silicon, 0.3% nickle, 0.3% phosphorus, 0.3% sulfur, 0.25% copper, and 0.25 percent vanadium.
Testing
I attached the knife to the belt of my work pants and used it during a month of outside work. I used it to slash back brush along the driveway. I used it to cut paracord for hanging objects in the pole barn or for securing a tarp to the top of a completed wood stack. I used the knife to baton firewood. I used it to hack off small branches that I had missed with the chainsaw while bucking firewood. I used the back of the blade to pry things open. I used the knife for a host of other similar tasks.
I used it on bright autumn days with a crisp bed of leaves underfoot. I used it when driving rain reduced the carpet of leaves into a sodden mass, like bran flakes that have been too long forgotten in a bowl of milk. I used it when the leaves were covered with a thick carpet of snow. The knife worked well under a wide variety of conditions.
As I mentioned above, the shape of the GenOX knife reminds me of the original shape of one of my oldest knives, a Village Blacksmith ST113. The ST113 is a “sticking knife” made for “sticking” or bleeding out livestock in home butchering. It has a full grind blade, while the GenOX is a Scandi grind. The greater inherent weakness of a full grind blade was revealed when I cracked off pieces of the ST113 blade while using it as a pry tool many years ago. As a result, the ST113 blade is no longer as symmetrical as it once was, but it still works great. I have used the knife to dress more game than any other knife that I own. The GenOX will make a worthy successor to the ST113 in my future outdoor pursuits.
I did find it uncomfortable to lay on the GenOX and sheath while working under my car in the driveway changing the oil. That was, of course, not a surprise, and the dangler-form sheath was easy to move around to the side.
Conclusions
The LogOX A2 GenOX Bushcraft Knife is a razor-sharp, beautiful, durable, hand-crafted knife that should serve well in a host of outdoor tasks. It is not cheap, with a price at the time of this writing of $287 at www.thelogox.com. That price compares favorably with similar, high-quality, American-made knives. If you can afford a knife of this quality, then this one would be an excellent choice.
Disclaimer
LogOX provided me with a sample of the A2 GenOX Bushcraft Knife for testing and evaluation. I tried not to allow their kindness to influence my objectivity, and believe that I have succeeded. I did not receive any other financial or other inducement from any manufacturer, vendor or supplier in return for mentioning them. This has been a simple factual account of my own experiences: good, bad or indifferent.