My first ESEE is an ESEE 4 with the Blue&Black 3D G10 handle and molded sheath. Given that ESEE seems to have a reason for everything, I just don't understand the short hunk of 550 and plastic barrel cord lock? It's too short for a leg tie, or most anything I could think of using it for. Nobody seems to mention or question it, so perhaps I'm just being a dullard. Eventually I just pulled off the small cord and stitched a more usable sized hunk of cord through the unused sheath holes. How I came around to ESEE. As an aging backpacker turn adventure motorcycle tourer, I've owned a lot of small folders over the years. SpiderCo and Gerber paraframe mostly. A recent riding budy pulled out a Cold Steel SR1 and started batoning kindling. Now I needed a new larger knife. I bought the SR1 Lite and found it did what I wanted but just doesn't feel good. Why buy a folder if I could just carry a real fixed blade knife? So I started looking until I fell in love with the ESEE line. Coming from small knives the ESEE 4 was about as big as I could convince myself to buy, and I really like the shortest possible handle in both positions. Just loving this ESEE 4 3D G10 handled knife, and wondering what else I've been missing. For my L/XL hands the ESEE 3D grip couldn't be any smaller, but seems to work very well. I've also purchased a Zancudo (with handle hole) in S35VN. And just ordered a ESEE 4 S35VN with the aftermarket extended handle. I feel like I'm going to end up with an ESEE 3 before long, and would like to try an HM version at some point. Yes I'm now an addict.
You can use it to improvise lashing to attach the sheath to something else or to attach something extra to the sheath. I always wove the 550 cord around the sheath into belt loops for running my belt through for horizontal carry.
OK, I guess it wasn't quitr the grand mystery I expected. But that makes sense. Thanks for enlightening me.
