Den folgenden Bericht habe ich ursprünglich für Bekannte in
den USA und Portugal geschrieben. Da einige Forumiten ebenso Interesse haben können, wie
sich eine Beta Titan Klinge im Outdooreinsatz bewährt, poste ich hier.
lets go:
Mission MPT 12 Ti Serrated.jpg
It is clear
to me that a knife should be judged for the reasons it is sold.
The primary intention of the MPT is a tactical knife for fighting (with gloves) and utility
use and for areas which are very cold, hot, wet, salty or sandy.
That being said I wanted to test the MPT for general bushcraft and survival use.
Opposite to the impressing youtube tests from Greenbeetle the materials, which have been used for
testing, are just wood and food, no concrete, ropes, plastics and so on.
Batoning is essential for fire and shelter. Unlike the
other videos where mainly dried
4*4 wood from a store is used, wood was picked up from the ground to make fire.
There was snow everywhere so some wood might have been frozen and some of the wood had
branches inside. After splitting arm thick 4 logs into smaller pieces, the
plain blade was dulled remarkably, could not carve anymore and there have been several
very small little dents and some edge rolling. This could be seen by holding
the blade against the sun. 15 touch ups per side were needed to bring it back
to the originally sharpness. The sharpening could be easily done with a diamond
sharpener. For further batoning and cutting food the blade would have still worked
but wood carving was definitely not possible with the plain blade anymore.
I do not know if this is the same to all Ti Mission knives. The hardness was tested before
and showed 47 Rockwell.
Fine carving is not the best thing to do with the MPT.
You have most power at the front end of the grip which can´t be
used because of the ricasso and serrations. So you have to use the front part
of the blade and use special techniques like holding the backside of the blade
to your knee. Additional, a blade longer than 12 cm is almost too long and the
sharpness is not razor sharp.
Serrations: They are usually not bushcrafters best friend
for delicate tasks because there are no fine cuts and serrations tend to „tear
things“. Even though this was the biggest positive surprise to me. The serrations withstood the
batoning without any dings and stayed sharp throughout the whole test. It is
amazing how the serrations cut through wood, e.g. to make a spear. Like a
breadknife through bread. Cutting wood is a pleasure and you can proceed very
fast. Of course a very sharp even plain regular steel knife would perform the
same but its disadvantages are the Ti´s advantages (100% corrosion free, resistance
to cold, less weight...).
The grip is very good for several
positions. At first I thought that it might be a little bit too thin because it
was designed for wearing tactical glove use but there is no disadvantage. Maybe
the MPK is a little bit better in the hand but just for the hammer grip.
Because of the light weight it is clear that it is not a good chopper.
The MPK must also have a better prying capability because the part of the grip has more
material. If the MPT was designed and bought by military units it should be
strong enough.
After the cleaning the knife it almost looked like new. It is a kind of irony to me that
the regular sheath makes almost more tiny scratches on the blade compared to
drive the knife through wood.
Personal conclusion:
The MPT is not a good choice for a bushcraft knife.
A totally plain blade, which is also available, would be better for carving but
the plain Ti blade dulls too fast on wood.
As a survival knife even the MPT is a good option. It is very sturdy and you
can carry a low weight knife for emergency situations.
The best survival knife is the one you always carry with
you and which can be used in all kind of environments without needing any
care. The serrations are of superb quality, stay sharp for a long time which
makes sense for a soft hardness knife. The disadvantage of the serrations would
be that it takes much more time to get them sharp again compared to a plain
edge. This might be the reason why there is the compromise with serrations and
plain part.
My personal wish is a Mission with a longer serrations part because it will be used mainly
for rough tasks where fine cuts are not necessary.
weiter so!
.