- Joined
- Apr 9, 2011
- Messages
- 156
The 888 professional SOL is a small knife with a unique folding method allowing it to be double edged. It was designed by Kirk Rexroat, custom knife maker and long time collaborator with Al Mar knives and is inspired by O.S.S. (Office of Strategic Services) thumb daggers that were used during WW2.
The handle of the SOL is definitely its star feature. The scales and blade rotate in parallel around an over sized axle 888 calls their "T8P Axel" The resulting mechanism is very strong in comparison to the size of the knife making it one of the toughest little edc tools I've used. The handle is made from 420 stainless and has slight grooves along its edge that help you grip the small frame. The whole thing is finished off with a pocket clip and lanyard-keychain-necklace hole.
The partially serrated blade is made from AUS8 and has a black coating. Although small, the geometry and fact that the blade is double edged gives it good cutting power for its size. It would be nice however, to see these made out of a Martensitic steel like S30V and maybe have a Tini coating as found on Spydercos or ZTs. In my opinion these materials would better match the strength of the handle design.
Over-all the SOL is a pretty cool little dagger that's durability pulls it out of gadget territory and into contention as one of the best edc cutting tools in its size and price class. A clever and robust opening system that allows for a double edged blade is a definite plus. Multiple wearing options (neck, key-ring, clip or lanyard) also increases practicality. Lastly, the T8P axle design can accommodate several other blade types.
FYI I'm giving one away on my blog :thumbup: : http://www.edgeobserver.com/?page_id=222
Thanks for reading + have a good weekend!
