A Week with a Medford Praetorian.

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So I cut up a few more things to show its ability for some.

I have a few tires that need to be disposed of. Some of these were already cut up by my millie, and others still need to be trashed. So I figured I would see how the Praetorian completed the task.

It took a little bit to initially get through. Obviously this knife has a thicker tip and penetrating something like a tire will be more difficult than say using the military or something similar. It also does not help that I had cut up quite a bit of cardboard prior to this which dulled the tip slightly.

Anyhow, once I was able to get the knife through, the hollow grind sliced the tire up with ease.

Where are some pics for you guys.





Coating took a bit of a beating.





Also had some serpentine belts to toss in the trash, so I figured I would see how the Praetorian handled this. Serpentine belts have fiber cords inside of them for strength, sometimes making them difficult to cut. With these, I simply wrapped the belt around the blade while holding the knife in the reverse grip, then pulling back to make my cuts. Not an issue at all.








As you can see the blade it gunked up from the tire and belts. I am going to have to touch it up later this evening when I get home.

Again, I will report as I make more progress on testing this thing out.
 
As for thin knives...sometimes they can be too thin for me.
I have one of the AG Russell Woodswalker knives, and it is light, inexpensive, and has decent steel.

It also has such a thin spine that it hurts me thumb when I try to use it for carving, as I like my thumb on the spine of the knife.
An 1/8" thick blade is the minimum I find comfortable, and a knife with a thicker spine and a full flat grind is even easier on the thumb, while still cutting nicely.

Now sure, the Medford in this thread is even thicker than what I would choose, but I sure wouldn't be reaching for the thinnest Opinel either.

It's almost like there's a wide variety of knives to suit the wide variety of people on the planet, and the different tasks they do, and the varying ways they approach them. :)
 
stabman said:
As for thin knives...sometimes they can be too thin for me.
I have one of the AG Russell Woodswalker knives, and it is light, inexpensive, and has decent steel.

It also has such a thin spine that it hurts me thumb when I try to use it for carving, as I like my thumb on the spine of the knife.
An 1/8" thick blade is the minimum I find comfortable, and a knife with a thicker spine and a full flat grind is even easier on the thumb, while still cutting nicely.

Now sure, the Medford in this thread is even thicker than what I would choose, but I sure wouldn't be reaching for the thinnest Opinel either.

It's almost like there's a wide variety of knives to suit the wide variety of people on the planet, and the different tasks they do, and the varying ways they approach them. :)
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Good points. I sometimes have issues with thinner blades like you describe. When doing any kind of hard cutting, it sometimes can be painful on the thumb or fingers.
 
Gizler00 said:
Good points. I sometimes have issues with thinner blades like you describe. When doing any kind of hard cutting, it sometimes can be painful on the thumb or fingers.
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Indeed; there's a lot that goes into making a knife perform well.
 
Wow!
This thread is a bit of a mess.....

Some people really like a knife, and some don't.

It's nice to contribute your opinion regardless of which side you're on based on something.
Actually using this knife would be a good start.

If you haven't, you can still have an opinion, but at least make it something relevant, not 'for this much $ I could have got X and it will do Y better'
That's an opinion that just tries to pigeonhole people into your way of thinking, and your ideal of what a knife should be.

Nothing wrong with that, but that opinion is based on YOUR wants/likes/needs...

Mark is trying to show what a knife that has never been really shown doing anything but looking pretty can do.

I think we can all respect that, and learn something here.
Even if YOU don't like the knife....
 
Sheezus. That is one serious cutting tool. Thank you for the additional pics. I am going to handle one if I can at Blade. I'm now watching a few that are available elsewhere online, just in case any I might find on a table at Blade are on tables belonging to guys who think their knives are solid gold, and charge accordingly (you tend to see a lot of this at gun-shows around here, so I'm planning accordingly!). The more I see of this knife, the more I like it.
 
Those are pictures that I'm very happy to see. I don't doubt that a thinner blade would have come out similarly unscathed, but it's nice to see that the thickness of the blade on the Praetorian doesn't seem to affect how cleanly it cuts.

Can you give us an idea of how much resistance you encountered while cutting through the rubber, and whether the edge has lost any of its sharpness?
 
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I really like the style of that knife and love the fuller in the blade. It's really neat to see it put through it's paces. Thank you very much OP!
 
Haha, wow, crazy thread, well Gizler00, I personally like your review and style, good job man.
I would like to try a Med one day, but other things need my spare cash right now.
keep up with this review please.

After reading this thread all I could do was laugh cause I imagined the haters like this.

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Critiquing a knife, especially with valid criticisms, does not make you a hater.

In case people aren't keeping track of the discussion:

Gizler00 said:
I like the Medford, it's a great tool that will do all the things the opinel you stated will. Maybe some different, maybe some not as good. I like this knife just like I enjoy drivin my lifted 1985 4Runner. It's not ideal for all situations but it fits me and suits my needs the way I want it to.
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yeah you are right, hater was a strong description, but it just cracks me up how people get so worked up over something they, I assume havent tried or owned.
 
I've toured the Medford production shop. I've handled their products and I've talked to Greg Medford in person about his knives. I've got a pretty good idea of the knives.
 
somber said:
I've toured the Medford production shop. I've handled their products and I've talked to Greg Medford in person about his knives. I've got a pretty good idea of the knives.
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We're all extremely impressed.
 
brancron said:
We're all extremely impressed.
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Why is it that the 'supporters' of this knife are trolling more than the critics?

If the major response to the criticism is that the critics aren't informed enough about the product, well, I felt it was necessary to relay that this isn't the case at all.

Awesome that the OP bought this knife, super.
Awesome that the OP likes the knife, fantastic.
Awesome that he's using the knife and enjoying, awesome.
Awesome that Medford Knife and Tool is able to command a price for their knives, stellar.

My criticism still stands.
 
somber said:
“I had to cringe and the pictures of the squash and the tomato. Yeah, it cut them, I guess.”
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somber said:
“If you're willing to do a video, I'd like to see a video of it doing a fine dice of an onion or perhaps a julienne. The weight of that hammer should do great in crushing the juices out.”
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somber said:
“Cleave is probably a better word to describe how the Medford Praetorian separates those items...”
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somber said:
“...the Medford is .190" thick while the Opinel is .06". That's a huge difference, especially when it comes to use. Do you honestly believe that it can do all the things an Opinel can do?”
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Stellar contributions indeed.
 
Once more, this is why we cannot have discussions like adults. People cannot disagree amicably, or agree to disagree and the topic soon devolves into jabs and pokes at one another. One of these days there maybe hope for some folks to be able to share something they like without having to be hassled or harassed. Great work.
52252-SpiderMan--This-Is-Why-We-Cant-4pxt.jpeg
 
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