Review

A while ago I was asked to be part of the test team for Bear Blades. I was asked to test a new knife set to hit the market. My brief from the guys at Bear Blades……Put it though its paces, use it, abuse it and let us know what you think. Simple really!

This is our Bear Blades Forest 3 review.

The knife has been tested over 4 months and used by all our instructors at Wildway Bushcraft. It has been used most days and on all of our Bushcraft courses.

The knife is made from D2 Steel and as the name suggests it is 3 inches long. The blade is 4mm thick, for me thats a nice blade thickness its strong enough to inspire confidence when using it to batten with yet not so thick that it feels clumsy when carving. It has a Scandi grind which is perfect for bushcraft use. All my other knifes have been Scandi ground and its become the norm for blade grinds as it is nice and simple to sharpen. The Forest 3 is no exception mine came super sharp and held its edge really nicely, when it did need sharpening, after 3 days of heavy use, 10 minutes on a water stone and hey presto super sharp once more.

The handle is made from Burl Walnut and looks and feels very nice in the hand. The Forest 3 boasts a full tang which is a must for a knife designed to be used day in day out in the woods. 

The knife comes with a lovely 3mm leather sheath with the Bear Blade logo stamped in to it. The sheath itself is well made and is very sturdy. Add to this a Lifetime guarantee and a very reasonable price tag of £72, so it appears to tick all the right boxes.

So how does it cope with daily tasks in the woods? Short answer, very well!

It is well balanced in the hand, and makes performing simple cuts a joy. It is just as at home when being used to batten wood for the fire, as long as the rounds of wood are less then 2 and a half inches in diameter, much bigger than that or for more hard core splitting I would recommend going for the Classic 4.

The Forest 3 is great for skinning large game such as deer and the knife is shaped so you are able to choke up on the blade and gently use the tip and sharpness of the blade to do the finer jobs on your animal.

I carved several items with the Forest 3 (spoons mostly) and it handled that job really well. It is hard to believe that its possible to produce a great all round Bushcraft Knife for this price but the guys at Bearblades have managed it. You can just tell that lots of thought has gone into its design, so well done guys!

Over all you wont go far wrong with the Forest 3 its a great little knife and has replaced my Timber wolf as my everyday go to blade.

Well done Bear Blades. See you in the woods!