This past summer I purchased an ESEE knife. I bought it because I was going to go on some minimalist camping trips at the end of summer and I had heard nothing but good things about the ESEE knives. So I thought I would give them a try and see how they would hold up to the abuse of hard weekend of camping.

The ESEE I procured was the ESEE Laser Strike.

The ESEE Laser Strike is labeled as a “Survival Craft and Fire Making” knife. The size and extras that come with it make it ideal as a backup (or primary) backpacking or remote hiking knife. It seemed to be a good mix of both worlds, longer and thicker than a standard camping/hiking knife, but shorter and lighter than a machete or heavy chopping knife. It is ten inches in overall length, with a blade just shy of five inches and a cutting edge of 4.5 inches.. The blade and tang are one solid piece of 1095 carbon steel, so you have to take care of the blade if you don’t want the edge and laser engraving to rust or stain. It is not difficult to take care of, just be careful of the edge, which is incredibly sharp for a factory edge. It also came with a nice ambidextrous kydex sheath and a sturdy belt clip. I should say that I did not purchase it directly from ESEE. I purchased it through one of the numerous knife websites, like knifecenter.com or knifeworks.com. Considering everything that you get with such a good knife, it is a fair price.

Unlike most of ESEE’s other blades, the Laser Strike does not have different options you can choose to semi-customize the knife. It has a rounded pommel, black protective powder coating on the blade, a plain edge, gray-green micarta handles, and a lanyard hole at the pommel. That’s it. No serrated blades, no colored handle grips, no colored or uncoated blades, no different blade/point styles. What you see is what you get. That said, there are some aftermarket grips that you can buy to replace the factory grips if you do not like them. Some websites, occasionally have a desert tan colored blade in stock, but it is hit or miss finding them in stock. I bought the standard set up and kept all of the factory parts to see how they would perform. I did not think there was any point spending more money if all the factory parts worked well.

Another reason I kept the original grips is that a bow drill divot was worked into the handle. My camping trips were going to take me pretty far from any easy help, so I wanted every edge I could get in case something bad happened (thankfully nothing did). The lanyard (made of standard 550 paracord) had a small washer threaded onto it so that it could be used to remove the handle grips. Inside the grips is a small slot that contains a small ferrocerium rod and a couple of tinder tabs as an emergency fire starter kit. Thankfully, I did not need to use these items during my trip. I’ve kept them as a last ditch emergency fire starter kit. During my trips, the knife was submerged several times when I crossed streams or ponds. When I returned home, I took it apart and found that the inside of the handle was completely dry. The ferrocerium rod and tinder tabs were completely dry. The handle grips did a good job of keeping the everything dry.

This knife impressed me right out of the box and it has continued to impress me, through my camping trips and general use to the present day. It may not look overly pretty or seem very impressive or fancy, but it has held up through some serious abuse in the months that I have used it, some of the abuse being intentional to test the knife and some of it was not.

During the camping trips, the Laser Strike was my primary knife. I used it to shave tinder, split logs with a baton, cut and dice food, cut down branches and trees, gut and butcher game, and make traps. I also used it as a pry bar, screwdriver, and a hammer, among other random uses and needs during the trip. The Laser Strike served well and the edge held up through everything. After the trip, the blade edge did not have any nicks despite the severe use and abuse over three days. There were a few spots of rust on the edge and in the laser engraving from when the knife was submerged a few times, and a few scrape marks on the powder coating. But other than those few spots, the knife looked great.

The kydex sheath that came with the knife was also very good. It was a solidly made sheath with thick walls and good retention. The sheath did not loose any of its strength or retention during all of the use during the camping trip either. Since my trip, I have drilled a small hole at the bottom of the sheath to help water drain out of the sheath. But that is about the only improvement I have made to the entire set up.

Overall, I have been very impressed with the strength, resilience, and edge retention of the knife. Everything is still factory standard. I have not replaced the grips, sheath, or belt clip, or any other part of the knife set up. I have not needed to, and to me, that is a sign of a good knife. I have greatly enjoyed all the times I have used the knife, both out in the woods on trips and at home around the hard. I have found myself using the knife quite often. At ten inches overall with a 4.75 inch blade, it is too large to carry it everywhere, but the ESEE Laser Strike has become my go-to camping and hiking knife. If I am going to hit the woods, I always have it hanging from my belt. In fact, I liked the Laser Strike so much that my back is now an ESEE knife, an ESEE 3. It has also been a great knife and companion to my Laser Strike. And you can be sure that I will take of this Laser Strike so that it can see me through many more