Budget friendly bushcraft knife (elbow grease required)

So, in preparation for a northern Saskatchewan fly in canoe trip, Ive been on the search for a budget friendly, rugged work knife.
I didnt want to take sentimental favourites, as I have been warned that its easy to lose and damage tools on this sort of excursion.
I stumbled across a Condor Bushlore.
The knife was horribly finished (or unfinished as it were), but contained a solid backbone with which to work.
The knife sold, taxes included, for under $50.
It required about 8 hours of filing and sanding, shaping and sharpening, oiling and buffing.
There was a painted coating covering the flats of the blade that I removed by sanding.
I am tickled pink with how it turned out.
There are a few details I could have spent a little more effort on, but I think the finish is useable without being worried about regular use causing any damage.


If anyone has any field use with this blade, I would be happy to hear from you.

The edge was reasonably straight, but too obtuse (I think that's the right word). The edge was also "sharp", but very convex and made it hard to shave nice ribbons from a green stick. The bulk of the actual shaping work was on the handle and tang(wasn't perfectly flush). Most of the time was spent on the sanding and polishing. 100,150, 240, 320, 400, 600, 12micron, 3 micron grit made the blade really come to life. The epoxy paint was covering some pretty coursely finished flats.
Then 6 coats of BLO and buffing in between.
I didt it while the wife zoned out on reality tv, so I was hardly "wasting" my time by comparison!
I do also like mora's. Probably the best knife in its class for the price, but this full exposed tang heavy bladed condor steps it up a notch. If the blade proves to hold an edge, I think it stacks up well against some semi custom jobs worth nearly 4 times the price.
I'm not sure about exact hardness. Advertised at 56-58, it was quite a job finishing the Scandi grind off with a 200,300, 400, 600diamond stone, so I think it might be on the higher end of the hardness scale. Almost too hard.
I finished off the Scandi grind with a 20 degree secondary bevel.
Now, countdown to the canoe trip to test this bugger out!

Well, time for an update.
I pulled the Condor Bushlore out for a winter revitalization.
It's had a season of unforgiving use and I think I have enough experience to finally sound off about my opinion of this reasonably priced "tank" of a knife.
I think the word tank is a very appropriate metaphor.
It is heavily built and very tough. I have never worried about breaking it, but it is also not a finesse tool in any sense of imagination.
The knife has survived a wilderness trip where, as you could imagine, it was called upon to perform a variety of daily chores. It excelled in the brutish tasks like whacking branches from trees and skinning sticks and kindling, but it's ability to perform fine tasks like cleaning fish and preparing food was hampered by it's incredibly thick blade. The sheath is awesome, and was capable of securing the knife throughout a week of all the rigors included in a canoe trip.
It was also used through a season of camping where it provided the family a supply of marshmallow sticks and "arrows" for a greenstick bow.
The blade is very easy to sharpen, and maintains an edge as well as any carbon steel knife I own. Maybe better. Unfortunately, the same carbon steel is about as weather and element resistant as day old newspaper.
After a single evening of being left outside, the morning dew had wreaked havoc on the nice blade I had spent so much time polishing. I am fairly diligent about cleaning and oiling my tools, but nonetheless, after a summer of use the blade had a "patina" that made it appear ten times its actual age.
I know some people like this, but its not exactly what I'm after.
Pretty much the same goes for the brass pins. They look nice when shined up, but it doesnt seem to last very long before the tarnish starts to make it look old and uncared for.
All in all, I guess there was really no surprises at all. And that was the disappointing part. I was hoping to have "discovered" an affordable gem.
The knife has no real faults, other than being constructed of materials that simply have limitations and being designed a little on the clumsy side.
The tool was tough and reliable, but certainly not an all uses all star.
I had to spend an evening with an assortment of abrasives and oils to get the old girl looking new again, and I suppose thats a quality in its own right. It can be easily restored with a little elbow grease.
I will continue to use this knife as a general camping chore knife, kept in drawer in the trailer, but my search has not yet ended with respect to the perfect back country knife.
I'll include a couple pics to give y'all an idea of how this knife weathered the season.

I do love that"nordic" style. I have often looked at knives like that and Helle and even the Mora's. My only hesitation is the lack of full exposed tang. I'm not sure this is as important as I once believed, but it has been a criteria of mine until now. As it turns out, I don't usually choose to use my knives in situations where they take that much abuse. (Those situations are when I get the chance to pull out my expensive Axe!)
In fact, this whole knife journey has been a learning experience. Experience being the optimal word. Many expectations I had were changed after field use.
I think you are right about the stainless. I wanted to give good old carbon steel a chance, just because of everything I have read with regards to ease of sharpening and bushcrafting, but the truth is that stainless is much more forgiving and requires much less maintenance on a tool that is designed to be used hard in adverse conditions.