ONTARIO KNIVES SP11 BOLO TEST By OrionN49

ONTARIO KNIVES SP11 BOLO TEST By Orion For many years I've been a great fan of the 4" bladed knife. I'd never really seen a practical reason for owning a large blade. I mean, if you want something to chop with, buy an axe or a hatchet, right? Well, after reading the posts of folks on various wilderness survival and outdoors boards, people who's opinions I've come to respect and value over the last couple of years, I decided to give a big blade a go. I'd narrowed it down to a large Bowie style or a kukri. Then I saw an ad for the Ontario knives SP11 Bolo, which seemed to be a combination of the two (I didn't know, at that time that a Bolo was an entirely different style of knife). I figured I'd give one a try, as the price seemed very reasonable. Ontario is a name I've long respected. After all, they make the Old Hickory line of knives. Which, incidentally, was my grandfathers favourite "do anything" brand of knife. They're also, I have to admit, my favourite kitchen knife now, too. If they were good enough for Gramps, they're good enough for me! I got the knife in early spring, but I didn't really get a chance to try it out until summer. I'd been going to give it a test on a trip I've been planning to take to search for an old POW camp near here, but it keeps getting postponed. One afternoon I got off work early and on my way home I stopped at one of those travelling tool sales to check it out. Although it's usually cheap PRC junk, occasionally you can get a good deal on something. Down at the knife section I spied what appeared to be a knock-off of the Ontario knives survival machete for $7.99 (about $5 for you folks who use green money). The blade shape was the same although the handle was different. It had kind of a straight plastic handle with some sort of flat lace wrapped around it. I decided, "what the heck, for the price I'll pick it up". Then I had a better idea. Why not compare the cheap Chinese knock-off to the bolo? I got home and the first thing I did, to give the cheap chopper a chance, was to wrap the handle with para-cord to make it more comfortable. It didn't have all that bad an edge, but I touched it up anyway to give it the same angle as the Ontario knife. The Knives:


	Ontario Knives SP11 Bolo. (bottom) Blade length, 10", OAL 15". Blade thickness, 3/16" . Style, modified kukri/bolo type. Handle, kraton. The Bolo came with a very serviceable sheath in leather and heavy nylon cordura that lends itself well to conversion as a knife kit, a-la V-Shrake. The belt loop is attached to the sheath with a steel D-ring. There is another D-ring at the bottom of the sheath. Both rings are handy for attaching extra equipment. I added four feet of 550 paracord to the bottom ring. I've since added a zipper pull button compass, Kershaw fire steel and a small carbon steel folding knife to the top ring. Chinese Machete (top) Blade length, 12", OAL 17". Blade thickness, 1/8" . Style, straight blade, flat point. Handle, plastic. The PRC knife came with a simple, black nylon sheath with a belt loop. We had a couple of poplar trees in the yard that were shading the Scotch pines that the kids have been planting on Arbor Day over the last few years so I thought I'd get rid of them rather than cutting down just any tree to try out the knives. The first tree was 2" in diameter and I chopped it down first, using the Chinese knife. It took 21 blows to chop the tree down.

The second tree was 3 ½" in diameter and it took only 9 chops to take it down with the Ontario bolo.


	The following picture shows the average size wood chips made by each knife (shown to the right of the knife). As you can see, the chips from the bolo are much larger.


	Both knives were about equal in the ease at which they chopped off up to and including thumb sized branches. The bolo was by far the leader in dispatching the larger ones up to wrist size. Both knives were pretty equal in splitting kindling without a baton, with a slight edge going to the bolo. The bolo easily surpassed the PRC knife when splitting larger blocks of wood with a baton. There was just more surface to hit and it just gave, for a lack of a better term, a "surer" hold, for the hand holding the knife. The bolo, hands down, due to the curved blade, was the winner in the whittling department. The shape of the bolo blade, also, in my opinion, gave it the advantage in the chopper department. I wouldn't even attempt to skin game with the China knife unless I had absolutely nothing else, but I think the bolo might do a fair job with cardboard or bark wrapped around the blade ahead of the handle to give you a grip closer to the point. Added note: In the months following the original test, I've since had the opportunity to test the bolo while skinning a moose. Although kind of awkward, mostly because of the size of the knife, with some birch bark wrapped around the blade and duct taped in place, it did the job. I only used it long enough to prove it could be done before switching back to my old Kershaw skinner, but it WILL do the job! Final Conclusions The bolo is far and away the better of the two, but of course that wasn't any real surprise. The one thing that the bolo could benefit from is a slightly thicker blade. A 1/4" blade would be perfect. That would give it a better heft, I think. For 10 times the price you get ten times the knife. My youngest boy has now claimed the Chinese machete, so I guess it wasn't a total waste of money!