Apr 7, 20232 min read

Outdoor Edge Chow Pal

The Chow Pal at camp. This is at the South Llano River State Park with some wild pork, black eyed and English peas.

The Outdoor Edge Chow Pal has become a companion piece for me. It's a furthering of the concept of the camp knife. If you think about it, most of the tools of a camp knife, including the knife blade, are for food preparation; the can opener and bottle opener exist for no other reason than getting ready to eat or drink. I see a camp knife as a knife with tools for eating, the Chow Pal as a tool for eating that has a knife.

The Chow Pal design works. Though I haven't used the flat screw driver or the wrench, I frequently use the can opener. The bottle opener is also effective.

It stows in my backpack in a convenient cinch sack.

I appreciate the orange cinch sack. The bright colors is easily seen against dark things and places, like the interior of my backpack.

The blade opens and closes smoothly. A liner lock secures the blade when open. The knife on mine came shaving sharp. A shaving sharp blade isn't required for an eating utensil, but its kind of fun. Using it as a steak knife against a plate is a rough way to treat a fine edge though. I put mine to some sharpening rocks and brought the edge back.

In looking at the edge, mine came with about 95% of the bevel on one side. I figure that is to keep the edge close to the handle while folded. I followed that lead.