{"id":7782,"date":"2014-06-16T17:37:35","date_gmt":"2014-06-16T21:37:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/?p=7782"},"modified":"2014-06-16T17:37:35","modified_gmt":"2014-06-16T21:37:35","slug":"freeman-outdoor-gear-model-451-knives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/?p=7782","title":{"rendered":"Freeman Outdoor Gear Model 451 Knives"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Freeman<\/a>I was immediately drawn to Jeff Freeman’s booth at Blade Show 2014.\u00a0 His Freeman Outdoor Gear<\/a> knives looked just right for first responders.\u00a0 I discovered exactly why when I learned that Jeff is a U.S. Army veteran and a former wildland firefighter.<\/p>\n

To honor the men and women with whom he worked in the fire service, Jeff named his Model 451 after the radio call sign “451” which was his crew’s.\u00a0 It is coincidentally the ignition temperature at which paper burns, according to the famous Ray Bradbury novel.<\/p>\n

Regardless of the reasoning, these are some hot knives.\u00a0 The standard and compact 451 are full tang CPM-S35VN steel at a RHC of 59-61.\u00a0 Various shades of Cerakote coat the blades.\u00a0 Machined G10 or Micarta handle scales offer the grip.\u00a0 All of the knives have a precision and professionalism about them.\u00a0 And they are Made in the USA.<\/p>\n

\"Freeman<\/a> \"Freeman<\/a> \"Freeman<\/a> \"Freeman<\/a>The Model 451 comes in a 2.6″ blade neck knife, compact 3.25″ blade, standard 4″ blade, and a new-for-2014 6.5″ Chopper.\u00a0 The three smaller knives have a well-fit kydex sheath.\u00a0 The Chopper comes in a Spec-Ops kydex-lined modular nylon sheath.<\/p>\n

\"Freeman<\/a> \"Freeman<\/a>According to Jeff, “The standard 4″ 451 is a very capable knife, but I have been getting questions about making a larger ‘chopper.’\u00a0 Because, well, sometimes you just need a larger knife.\u00a0 We’ve kept the weight down to less than a pound and kept the overall footprint compact for such a big knife.\u00a0 Same great machining details, same great handle scales.\u00a0 We enlarged the front lower guard, added a front choil for choking up on the handle and added more of a ‘parrot’s beak’ shape to the pommel to aid in retention.\u00a0 We also added some small jimping features on the flat end of the pommel for hammering ‘traction.'”<\/p>\n

Blade steel for the neck knife and the Chopper is Latrobe LSS PGK tool steel, which Jeff says is similar in toughness to D2.\u00a0 The construction and design of the larger knife shows much thoughtfulness toward performance and functionality.\u00a0 In the hand, the Chopper’s balance is slightly forward, as you would want in a knife of its intended purpose.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for me, Jeff was out on the show floor when I stopped by his booth.\u00a0 I was very warmly welcomed by his longtime friends, Brenton Webber and Ben Lester, who talked up Jeff’s products like pros.\u00a0 In corresponding with Jeff, he confided in me that Brenton, a farmer like Ben, has been his “go-to tester” for years, adding, “That guy is just plain hard on gear…”<\/p>\n

Jeff says his knives are carried by “service members, outdoorsmen (hunters, backpackers, guides, etc…), and PFR types.”\u00a0 He continued, “I think it helps that they are great designs made from premium materials, but don’t cost an arm and a leg.\u00a0 They are priced reasonably because I wanted to make a great product that is affordable to the average guy. Plus the knives are fairly compact and light while still being useful in a wide variety of situations.”<\/p>\n

\"Freeman<\/a>Design acumen such as this does not develop in a vacuum.\u00a0 Jeff worked as the lead knife designer at one of America’s largest knife companies for over a decade.\u00a0 If you want to read more about Jeff’s thoughts on the 451, click on this link:\u00a0 My Knife Manufacturing Philosophy and the Model 451 Fixed Blade.<\/a><\/p>\n

MSRP for the necker is $55.00.\u00a0 The 3.25″ and 4″ 451’s run $185.00 and $210.00, respectively.\u00a0 The 6.5″ Chopper is $245.00.\u00a0 These are great prices for the excellent materials and design.\u00a0 Freeman Outdoor Gear offers Military\/LEO\/Fire personnel a discount with proper ID.<\/p>\n

I would have definitely carried a 4″ Model 451 on my load-bearing vest back in my SWAT days.\u00a0 Had I been involved in more woodland ops or marijuana interdiction, I could see kitting up with the Chopper.\u00a0 These are some great tools by a great knife designer.<\/p>\n

Randall<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was immediately drawn to Jeff Freeman’s booth at Blade Show 2014.\u00a0 His Freeman Outdoor Gear knives looked just right for first responders.\u00a0 I discovered exactly why when I learned that Jeff is a U.S. Army veteran and a former wildland firefighter. To honor the men and women with whom he worked in the fire service, Jeff named his Model 451 after the radio call sign “451” which was his crew’s.\u00a0 It is coincidentally the ignition temperature at which paper burns, according to the famous Ray Bradbury novel. Regardless of the reasoning, these are some hot knives.\u00a0 The standard and compact 451 are full tang CPM-S35VN steel at a RHC … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[25,48],"tags":[762],"class_list":["post-7782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-knives","category-swat","tag-blade-show"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p28xkp-21w","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7782"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7823,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7782\/revisions\/7823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}