Ok, for starters this knife deserves more than five stars. It is perfect in every way possible. I am one of those people that just cant usually leave well enough alone and want to personalize/improve on everything i get. Not with this one. The only thing i felt i needed to do was very gently dull the corner of the blade where it meets the choil, because i love to choke up on my blades and the razor sharp edge runs into the choil, which seemed like a good way to get cut.

First impression upon opening- the knife itself is larger and lighter somehow than i had imagined. Not in a bad way at all, but i own some five inch fixed blades and this seemed a lot longer (i believe its about 6.5 inch blade length from tip to handle).....the blade itself is .187 at the spine, but this thicness ends about a half inch or so from the handle and drops to more like .125 for the length of the blade to the tip. The tip itself tapers to a very thin point (from a top view), and although it may not apear to be strong i have a feeling really is. I was only able to find one account of a broken tip on the internet thru exhaustive research, but the manufactures warranty is unbelievable.......

The warranty basically states that for as long as the blade is in existence (not just the original buyer) if it ever breaks it will be replaced, no questions asked, no reciepts, anything. So fifty years from now my great grandchildren could drive a tank over it and esee will replace it. Amazing.

The handle feels incredible, there is no way to describe the perfection of it without holding it yourself. It just feels like an exstension of my body, not something im holding onto, the micarta has an amazing texture, that will only grip better when wet.

As far as the seller (knife country usa), i had gotten a little nervous after finding some bad reviews on them, after some digging though it looked to me as if overall they are very good, but had a very busy xmas and due to being overburdened made some mistakes. I had no problems with them at all, and i ordered on a friday, recieved knife 7 days later. It felt a little long to me, but then again i have also been spoiled by amazon prime, im used to placing an order and it shipping hours later. I did send a message to the seller on tue, and they did respond that day, to tell me that mh package shipped. It was sent two day priority usps, which is my least favorite method(usps tracking has a lag and sucks), but it worked out fine.

With all that being said, i do believe i have found a knife company that is above all others, top notch. Sure, there are plenty of decent knives and companies out there (even a little more cost effecitve).......but i can promise you this, once you put an esee in your hand, no other knives seem the same anymore. It is a work of art, and perfection at its finest. Worth every penny, and i would trust my life to. There arent too many knives you can say that about with certainty. Next up ill be getting an esee 5, the slightly shorter more badass thicker tank of an esee knife....

The Esee 6 has to be by far the best knife of its size in its price range. It's durable, strong, and holds a decent edge. It's very deployable in a large range of applications, including batoning. It fits well in the hand and the weight is very pleasing. It is a high carbon blade so if you get it wet make sure to dry it off to avoid oxidation, but most knives of decent quality there is a part of maintenance on your end to maintain the blades integrity. The clip that comes with the sheath for your belt is the only bad smell about it. But I swapped it out with a different mounting application so all is well!

When you spend this kind of money on any tool you expect the best and the ESEE delivers on what it promises, but it's not the tool I wanted.

First of all, if you know anything about knives, you know that what they really come down to is the quality of the steel. As a cook, I've bought $75 knives that are handily outperformed by $15 knives. It's not magic - 3 words: high carbon steel. It holds an edge, it's simple to sharpen, sharpens to a razor's edge and can generally be found anywhere for a price that starts in the $15 range. What sets the ESEE apart from the $15 bucks is simple.

Durability. I would never, ever spend this kind of money on a kitchen knife, but for an outdoors knife, that money buys you heft. It's full tang... that's a single piece of steel from the tip of the blade to the butt of the handle (unless you're looking at a folding knife, there's no reason you should ever buy anything but)... and it's thick. You can wack this this thing with all manners of other, harder things and I'm pretty sure it will come out on top. Whether you're skinning an animal, cutting down a tree or even digging a hole with it. I have no doubt that this thing will outlast you.

I do have one major gripe. It's heavy... I'm not quite sure how heavy, but next to my 7" kitchen knife, it probably weighs at least twice the weight, which makes it a difficult sell for my kit.

I understand that ESEE is attached to a survival school, and for survivalists this is probably fine, but for backpacking this is just plain silly. I now have a huge knife that I can't use for the purpose I had hoped to use it for. If I could do it again, I'd look at the Model 3 or 4 but a part of me is telling me to stick to my folding knife.

If you've read my other reviews on camping knives, you know well that I don't know much about them.

For me, a camping knife needs to be just sharp enough to do camping chores and be able to baton/split wood, and maybe do some occasional hacking and maybe just enough chopping so that I can snap a branch by stepping on it. Other than that, I don't know or care much about the type of steel used, how well it holds an edge, etc. etc. Most camping knives fit that bill...

...so if you're looking for a blade review about steel quality, holding an edge, combat, stop here, this review won't help.

Other things I can talk about regarding camping knives since I've been heading out regularly, and things that have evolved for me over time include:

- Full tine. I get it now...full tine is a must.
- No serrated portion to the knife. A lot of hard core campers will disagree with me, and that's okay. I'm sure they're right and I'm wrong. But for me, serrated edges are much more trouble to maintain than they're worth for the very basic chores I do.
- No weird notches. I've had two blades now with funky notches along the non-blade side of a single sided blade knife (e.g. belt cutting, etc.) this creates a weak point along the blade, and...it snaps. I kid you not...it really snaps....crazy, I know.
- 3/16" is plenty thick enough for my uses, even splitting wood.
- solid finger guard to prevent slippage to the blade. Yeah, this is a biggy. For backpacking, anything I can do to avoid any injury is a big deal because even a small injury can become very dangerous very quickly. And when you're 10 miles from your car and 20 miles from the nearest building that might have a first aid kit, even little injuries aren't worth it. Every blade I take into the woods must have some kind of perpendicular guard or shape to prevent fingers sliding forward to the blade.
- removable handles. I have had only one situation where I wanted to attach a knife to a long stick, so I admit that this is a rare need, and you can tie a knife to a stick without taking the handles off. But being able to do so, splitting the end of a straight'ish branch a little, and inserting the thinner blade with handles removed and tying it all together....well...the difference in stability is noticeable.
- A good sheath....you know, even the cheapest plastic and canvas sheaths with a drain hole work just fine. I attach mine as close to a drop leg setup as possible, but it really doesn't matter, they all work well.

The Esee 6 meets all these criteria, and then some.

But, the real reason I love this knife?

Drum roll please.

The micarta handles.

I don't know much about handles, but I do know that the hard Glock plastic material, and some other plastics get slippery when wet. Again...injury = bad.

The micarta handles do not slip even when wet.

They feel like a very fine grain. almost like a surface made with sand, but not as abrasive and skin tearing. Somehow, this knife is reasonably smooth to the touch, but just rough enough that it doesn't slip....It's really rather incredible.

But just as importantly, micarta is lighter than I would have expected. Much lighter.

The other reason i like the Esee 6 is that, for my uses, I just recently discovered that 6 is the perfect blade length. I have a 9, 7, and 5, and all are great, but all have little disadvantages. The 6" blade with the simple, abuse bearing lines along the blade and the back edge, means I can beat the crap out of this knife and it'll keep on ticking.

One last interesting note. The sheath comes in two parts, the belt clip portion and the actual sheath. You can attach the belt clip portion to either side, but it screws on, so just note that once it's on, you won't want to switch the side while out in the field, so think about the rest of your setup and where you want your knife to be before attaching the clip to the sheath.

Of all the knives I've purchased as I continue to learn about backpacking, the Esee 6 is by far the most perfect fit.

Rock on Esee, I'm impressed.

These knives are pricey, no getting around that, however they are insanely high quality. I take mine camping, hiking, backpacking... so on. I have used it to baton wood, debone fish, cut rope and cords, and yes simple things like prepare dinner at camp or even just cut up a block of cheese. I have had mine for about a year and a half and it is still going strong. It holds an edge better than most I have seen, even after using it to split enough wood for a fire for the full night it was still razor sharp. One of the best "camping gear" buys I have ever made. I will say when it does eventually come time to sharpen it, save yourself some time and just take it somewhere and have them sharpen it. Doing it on a hand sharpener or wet stone will take you hours (at least for me it did). It is a little big, I wear it on my belt or just keep it tossed in a bag until I need it, but it definitely isn't a pocket knife or easily hidden. It doesn't bother me much, most the time I use it is in the woods when camping on hiking where it is completely normal to see someone with a fixed blade knife on them.