Condor Pipe Dagger
When I first saw the Pipe Dagger, I thought Condor were taking liberties charging $ 79.98 for a sharpened piece of pipe, because that’s what it is it is. To be fair it’s a 16 3/4″ and 1/8″ thick piece 1075 high carbon spring steel (HRC 55) hollow pipe, weighing 0.75 lbs, with an anti-rust black satin powder finish, and an 11″ blade cut at an angle from the handle to the tip, sharpened to a fine point on both edges. It’s got a rubber stopper on the end, which you can remove and it looks better if you do. So you’re probably asking why I bought this knife and why my favourite Ecuadorian knife manufacturer made it?
Arlan D. Lothe the designer came across some head-hunters in the Borneo jungle saw their bone daggers, and asked them whether they registered the patent. They said, “course we’re ain’t, we’re cannibals, we’re going to eat you, what you going on about?” So to cut a long story short, he escaped and nicked the design off them. Alright I’m making that up — but he did copy them off the Borneo head-hunters’ ceremonial bone dagger.
I bought it just for the novelty, but it’s actually a decent fighting knife and hog-sticker. I’ve used it on a few pigs — just don’t tell the farmer. Condor say that if you rotate the blade on the thrust it will cut a hold double its width, which is true, but what I found is that if you do that, you tend to rotate it on the way out as well. That gives you a cut over three times the size. And you can also thrust in and just keep twisting, which will chew up flesh. It also double slashes and because it’s tapered it draws into a V shape, which is going to be very difficult to stitch up.
There are two screw holes under the butt cap so you can attach it to a spear shaft. It also comes with a black hand made leather sheath, and like all Condor knives, with a limited life time warranty. Although this dagger is long, it’s not that wide so you can conceal it on your person if you wanted. Personally, I think I’ll probably just end up using it as a spear.
Cool. Does Condor make other knives that are cool as well? With the right kydex holster, a knife like this but 5.5 ” long would be a highly concealable self defense weapon.
I’ll have to tell those hog stickers down in rice growing country about this knife. They’d like it.
The more I look at it, the more I likee. I have absolutely no use for that knife at all. I have a spear/gigging head in my survival bag for attaching to a stick for catching fish, crabs, frogs, snakes and the like but you could do the whole Lord of the Flies thing on a hog with this pig sticker.
I like the rubber cap, although instead of a crutch tip they could have gone with some kind of drum industry rubber tip for a cymbal stand, like an old 1970′s rubber Ludwig Atlas or Hercules Stand Tip. Maybe a Drum Workshop stand tip would fit.
If you did want some sort of tip on the handle end, Rob, a trip to a drum store would likely find just the right rubber or plastic cap that would fit. A drum store would be better than a music store, particularly if they sell used drums, because they’ll have parts galore.
Then again, you may like the hatless variety.
el Fish —
Not being a cannibal, I don’t have much use for it either but it’s just fun to use. A 175 mm version with a 90 mm (3.5″) blade would make a good tactical dagger. I’ll probably make one. It’s not uncomfortable without the stopper and it’s really easy to clean the blood off when it’s naked. Condor make loads of cool knives and they’re not politically correct. They a company that believes there’s no reason why you can’t have some fun when you’re using lethal force. The Multi knife is designed for stabbing and doing the maximum damage on the way out. The Gladius hunter, Kukri Hunter, Inca knife and Aztec Cleaver are all cool knives too. I have the Bush and Rodan knives. The Bush knife is an Italian agricultural billhook (Ronca), and the Rodan is a decent utility knife. I use those as tools rather than weapons.
@ Rob, any pics of the original bone daggers?
Thanks for the post. I hadn’t ever seen the original bone daggers before – pretty interesting. I have to agree with you that the Condor dagger would function really well as a survival item … as a spearpoint.
Rob – by the way. Completely separate topic. I’d be interested in your thoughts about knife sharpeners. Right now if I want a really good blade I usually do it the old-fashioned way … hand-sharpened on a fine grinding stone with knife oil. But that’s not to say that some sort of automatic tool might not work better – I just haven’t found one that’s really good yet.
cheers,
P
P —
Didn’t see this comment before. I’ll do a post on sharpening next.
@ Rob, here’s a second on knife sharpening posts.
I did finally figure out a use in Texas for it other than pig sticking. Shark sticking. Sharks are commonly caught on the beach in Texas when fishing. Often, sharks are unintionally caught when fishing for other fish. Many are too big, meaning too dangerous to try to push back into the water. This dagger as a spearhead would be just the ticket.
Ah! Justification.
Shark fishing? I think I’d be more inclined to use a heavy machine gun, elephant gun on a shark or grenade on a shark. I’ve harpooned a dolphin before — they’re dangerous bastards.
I have the Condor machete that looks like a Gladius, nice piece and nicely convexed.
I have their version of a Staffordshire (I think?) bill hook also.
I’ve abused the hook to death, pulling briars with the hook and chopping seasoned timber as well as green wood with the hatchet side of it.
It’s a lot tougher than the cheap plastic handle would suggst, I’ve had no rolling or chipping out of the edge and I am very impressed by the value to be had.
That said, the Rodan seems a little pricey from Heinnies for a basic bushcraft knife, I could have a few Mora’s for the money and I know I like those knives! The clipper, Hunter and Flexi knife from Mora are very nice for the price, and feel good for reverse grip edge in Filipino style things also, which is nice!
I bought my Condor knives off Condor. How many Euros are Heinnie selling them for, they’re usually reasonably priced but don’t have the range of Collini.
The Rodan is thirty quid (sterling) from Heinnies, that’s three Mora’s!
I like Condor, but that’s the market they are looking at with these and the bushcraft/Nessmuk models they’ve brought out lately.
The gladius and billhook knives are £52 each there, can’t remember what I paid for them as I ordered them online at the time.
The Rodan is $39.98 and the Gladius Hunter $49.98 if you buy direct from Condor Knife and Tools. I wouldn’t swap a condor Rodan for three Mora knives.