PeteyTwoPointOne
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2014
- Messages
- 8,047
Took delivery of my hotly anticipated AD-10 & 15 yesterday. 
I'm gonna limit my mini review to the in-hand feel of the two models-- my early impressions.
First off, I currently own a couple custom AD10's and a 15 and a MG 15. I've owned and carried a few more that I've moved along to make room for other blades. So I'd rate myself as having a pretty decent experience base with the designer and his art.
And I'm over the moon with these CS iterations of Andrew's models.
I especially love the overall contouring of the AD10's g10 slabs and specifically, this thumb stud/choil cove is sublime!
My particular blade seems to sport a perfectly ground and centered edge, check out the "V" under extreme iphone magnification...
The blade deploys hydraulically smooth, but doesn't free drop--- but that's actually perfect
for my uses!!! The TriAD is as smooth as a custom with zero stick and zero blade play in any direction-- again, just like a Demko custom!!!
But there remains a couple tiny quibbles
...
The edges of the liners on the 10 & 15 seem to be near dead-on machined to perfect right angle edges. Those must have been some fresh cutting heads that were perfectly aligned to mill my liners and rear backspacer. Very exacting specs it would seem!
In handholds that are straightforward gripping motions...no issues. But glaze your palm or finger across one, more or less in a parallel motion, and you may get scuffed!
The backspacer, in particular, stung me pretty good on the tender backside of my palm when I was reaching into my RF pocket past the 10 for my car keys. Here's the area in question that's pretty extremely 90'ed...
Even though it has a nice radius along the ends as it blends into the liners, it's the flatter/wider edge that could use a nice chamfer or a bit of easing.
The area fore & aft of the little "trigger" choil area, including the trigger itself could benefit from a little extra machining too, IMHO...
Hope my pics accurately convey that the tolerances are so exacting on these knives since even at max magnification the perimeters of the parts in question are still looking sharp and crisp! IMPRESSIVE in that regard!!!
There's been a lot said about the g10 diamond treadplate like texturing handles on the 15. Specifically how "rough" it is. And I've found that to be true also.
Again, it looks to me, that the raised portions of the pattern are like freshly made little mini-ziggaruts with perfectly stepped right angle plateaus. It's hard to accurately capture 2-D, but I think that's what accounts for the "aggressive" feel. I think a bit of edc will naturally ease the edges of the g10 because note how even just a day of carry in my jeans has "knocked" the edge off a couple of the diamonds...the discolored parts have gotten "burred" over a bit already...
All in all, these things shouldn't curb anyone's expectations or enthusiasm for these wonderful models. It will be a nice project for me to take my AD10 down and ease those liner edges and backspacer with a slipstone. I like making a knife my own that way.
One last thing, beware this area on your 15, it'll pinch the fire out of the meat of your palm when closing if you're not careful...nothing severe
, it'll just give ya a mini-adrenaline rush! 
I'm gonna limit my mini review to the in-hand feel of the two models-- my early impressions.
First off, I currently own a couple custom AD10's and a 15 and a MG 15. I've owned and carried a few more that I've moved along to make room for other blades. So I'd rate myself as having a pretty decent experience base with the designer and his art.
And I'm over the moon with these CS iterations of Andrew's models.
I especially love the overall contouring of the AD10's g10 slabs and specifically, this thumb stud/choil cove is sublime!
My particular blade seems to sport a perfectly ground and centered edge, check out the "V" under extreme iphone magnification...
The blade deploys hydraulically smooth, but doesn't free drop--- but that's actually perfect
for my uses!!! The TriAD is as smooth as a custom with zero stick and zero blade play in any direction-- again, just like a Demko custom!!!But there remains a couple tiny quibbles
...The edges of the liners on the 10 & 15 seem to be near dead-on machined to perfect right angle edges. Those must have been some fresh cutting heads that were perfectly aligned to mill my liners and rear backspacer. Very exacting specs it would seem!
In handholds that are straightforward gripping motions...no issues. But glaze your palm or finger across one, more or less in a parallel motion, and you may get scuffed!
The backspacer, in particular, stung me pretty good on the tender backside of my palm when I was reaching into my RF pocket past the 10 for my car keys. Here's the area in question that's pretty extremely 90'ed...
Even though it has a nice radius along the ends as it blends into the liners, it's the flatter/wider edge that could use a nice chamfer or a bit of easing.
The area fore & aft of the little "trigger" choil area, including the trigger itself could benefit from a little extra machining too, IMHO...
Hope my pics accurately convey that the tolerances are so exacting on these knives since even at max magnification the perimeters of the parts in question are still looking sharp and crisp! IMPRESSIVE in that regard!!!
There's been a lot said about the g10 diamond treadplate like texturing handles on the 15. Specifically how "rough" it is. And I've found that to be true also.
Again, it looks to me, that the raised portions of the pattern are like freshly made little mini-ziggaruts with perfectly stepped right angle plateaus. It's hard to accurately capture 2-D, but I think that's what accounts for the "aggressive" feel. I think a bit of edc will naturally ease the edges of the g10 because note how even just a day of carry in my jeans has "knocked" the edge off a couple of the diamonds...the discolored parts have gotten "burred" over a bit already...
All in all, these things shouldn't curb anyone's expectations or enthusiasm for these wonderful models. It will be a nice project for me to take my AD10 down and ease those liner edges and backspacer with a slipstone. I like making a knife my own that way.
One last thing, beware this area on your 15, it'll pinch the fire out of the meat of your palm when closing if you're not careful...nothing severe
, it'll just give ya a mini-adrenaline rush!
