what do you guys think of ESEE6 / ESEE5 survival knifes?

it is made from high carbon steel. Has anyone used it ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFFnDfZ0JUU&feature=related

Nice looking knives. I'm interested.

These knifes are very expensive in the UK. They are though, apparently very good performers. They are obviously knifes designed to be used for heavy duty work such as splitting wood, choppin off limbs etc! I can't really justify the 3-4X cost of a simple 1/4 inch thick blade such as British MoD4 survival knife or even a Gransfors Small forest Axe.

The real downside is the deaths head logo. Even these fella's have their doubts!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VImnpErdDzA

I'm not a Pirate...

I want to buy this knife. Is the serrate blade better than straight blade?

What are the pros & cons of serrate vs straight blade?

IMOHO there's virtually nothing a serrated blade will do better than a straight edge. Some folks like serrations for cutting rope or nylon but I'll take a plain edge any day.

FWIW serrations are also a PITA to sharpen.

I have never been a fan of combination serrated/plain blades. However my leatherman has one of each. I find I really like the serrated blade for cutting things like cardboard, nylon belts, fibrous plants and the like. Seems to do a much better job.

Still hate combination blades though.

Re the blade itself:

Rather too big for my taste, but it otherwise it looks fine from the photos.

(My opinion: I think you can get a 12" Ontario machete for about $30-ish shipped that will do the same jobs and a great deal more. But hey, it's your money.)

Re serrations:

I use blades with serrations a lot. Daily. Fibrous plant materials, heavy plastic materials, etc. With the right pattern (a simple scallop IMO) they work very well. And are indeed a pain to sharpen, but that's not an impossible task.

The bad news is, the serrations on the blade in question are in the wrong place. (This is hardly news.) Serrations are most practical in the middle of the blade. But that looks weird, so they are never placed there. Visual aesthetics trumps practicality. Argh!

The good news is, the serrations on the blade in question are a simple scallop design and not placed too close together. So, in the field, you can do rough sharpening and get a workable edge, including the serrated section. Back home, you will use a chain saw file (or round diamond file) to clean up the rough bits on the serrated part. So IMO there's no loss of useful edge. Kudos to the manufacturer on this.

My 2c.

It really depends on what you are looking for in a knife.

I decided to buy a new knife recently and found that the best way to whittle down the choices was to first evaluate and decide on what features I wanted in a knife. Once I came up with specific selection criteria I could then start short listing designs, looking at manufacturer track records etc, to figure out what knife would best fit what I was really looking for.

During the process I did end up re-evaluating my criteria, adding some, changing others, etc, but ultimately it was deciding on the features I wanted that led to me choosing the knife I ultimately purchased.

As far as ESEE themselves, I've read nothing but good things about their knives. Personally, the 5 & 6 are too large and heavy for what I was looking for; the ESEE 4 and Laser Strike were a closer fit, but ultimately I wanted a stainless steel blade.

Regarding serrations , a plain blade was one of my selection criteria as I don't find serrations very useful in a wilderness blade, which is what I was looking for.

I have several ESEEs including a RAT-3 and a few Izula IIs. I think they're really good knives. They take a good edge and hold it well. Obviously personal preference & environment will dictate the proper size. I'd imagine that a knife that large would be a waste in the desert, but the extra size is handy if batonning wood is a survival task you anticipate needing to do (although to be fair there probably aren't a lot of times you'd literally perish if you couldn't baton).

I agree with one comment made about serrations; to be really practical they should be the middle, not right back at the choil/guard area. But yeah, most people would find it odd looking so it won't happen.

I don't know about that, I can baton just fine with a 4" blade (I am really starting to like the control batoning offers over using a hatchet when processing firewood).

A larger blade would allow for batoning of larger diameter pieces, but I don't know if there's a real need to split 5" diameter logs with your knife in a survival (or any) situation.

What I'm thinking the larger blades do give you is chopping power, making them similar in some ways to a small hatchet. For my self, I don't see this as being a really large need, but I'm guessing others may disagree (I seem to recall a thread debating the usefulness of chopping wood with a knife recently).