The essential trio (Americanas, Razorback, and Ferret) are all made from 1095 carbon steel and finished with Cerakote gun coat. The simple hourglass-shaped rounded handles on the larger Americanas and Razorback, as well as the slight contoured scales of the Ferret, set them apart from the crowd in both comfort and appearance.
TERRILL HOFFMAN PHOTOS
Self Reliance Essentials Inc. is a unique company built around a simple philosophy: To sustain a free society, individuals of that society must have knowledge of, and access to, the tools that will allow them to ensure their individual survival and prosperity. SRE strives to provide tools for self-sufficiency, liberty, and survival of individuals, families, and communities. They have focused their efforts on the development of superior designs that will stand the test of time. The SRE website offers a wealth of information on preparedness, sustenance, firearms and blade designs. One page really caught my attention. It said, “Practical survival skills, normally learned at an early age by humans of primitive days, have become unnecessary and therefore lost by all but the most dedicated students of self-sufficiency. It becomes more important to have a backup plan to ensure one’s survival and comfort should technology become unusable during times of crisis.”
The author found the thumb ramp to be a good place to not only give his hand a positive secure grip, but to pound with a beater stick when splitting larger logs. A full 1 ½-inches of gripping surface.
Essential Cutlery
Jared Corry is the artist who designs and oversees production of all the knives and cutting tools for SRE’s own line of knives called Omnivore Blade-Works. He is a 30-year-old North Carolinian who earned manufacturing and mechanical engineering degrees from the Oregon Institute of Technology. Jared’s inspiration as a designer begins with his innate need to be practical, efficient, organized, and effective in all tasks. His very persona has driven him to create knives and tools that are truly multi-functional. They are constructed with purpose, artistry, and care.
The knives and tomahawk I received from Jared are all made from quarter-inch full-tang 1095 carbon steel, a personal favorite of mine. American Metal Treating, Inc. in North Carolina performs the heat treatment. The blades are Austempered to provide maximum toughness while attaining a Rockwell hardness of about 52. The Austempering process offers benefits over the more conventional oil-quench-and-temper method of heat-treating springs and stampings. The process consists of quenching the part—at the proper austentizing temperature—directly into a liquid salt bath between 590 and 710 degrees Fahrenheit. The blade is held at this quench temperature for a recommended time to transform the Austenite into Bainite. The part is then removed from the salt quench and air-cooled to room temperature.
All blades are coated with electroless nickel-plating. The Razorback and Americanas are additionally black coated with NIC Industries’ Cerakote. Most commonly used as a gun coat, Cerakote is a coating that provides a durable, weather- and corrosion-proof, ceramic-based protective finish.
Seen with the Omnivore Blade Works logo, the Ferret bears the mark of the opossum tracks. Not your typical EDC, the tanto tip point can be used for a plethora of tasks. The author found the 1 ½-inches of thumb serrations made for a sure grip while doing hard push cuts.
