AD 20.5 Which blade style?

Anyone having the bad spring problem here? Posts elsewhere are showing the spring wearing out fast so that the blade comes out with a weak shake.
 
greater said:
Clip point looks much better, has more cutting edge, and is slightly longer at 3 3/8 inches.

If you can't have a point for safety reasons or other and/or need a 3 inch blade to comply with local laws the sharks foot is good.

I don't know why they keep listing the Clip point as having a 3 inch blade when I have seen one measured at 3 3/8 inches.

Serrated sheep foot ("shark foot" that's marketing) version would probably be a good rescue knife and if that blade slot was wider it could probably make a good oxygen tank wrench as well. One nit pick is a rescue knife usually has bright handles. I remedied this by removing the orange scales on a clip point and replacing the dull colored scales on a serrated sharks foot version with them.

RGT micarta scales really turn these into a different knives altogether. These add on American infusions are slightly thicker and provide a much better grip and feel. You do lose that unusually thin (flat) profile that the grivory grips provide but the extra thickness of the micarta is by no means excessive.

I have to warn you these micarta grips significantly change color when exposed to oil. The orange RGT micarta comes delivered as a very light orange tan that turned burgundy after tiny bit of ballistol was rubbed into it. The blue denim micarta which actually feels like slightly oiled denim turned from a very faded blue jean color to greenish gray with tiny little white spots (denim jean white fabric) after oiling with balistol. Using a toothbrush and dishwashing liquid did lighten them a little but overall the after oil colors remained Not what I expected but they still look and feel great. Even if you don't oil these I suppose the oils from your hand and sweat will do the same eventually.

I have to say even in stock configurations these are not cheap $35.00 knives. They have caged ball bearings around the pivots, fit and finish is second to none right out of the box. Blades came sharp with even grinds out of the box. Unlike the triad lock (a great lock) which is based on the well established lock back design with a few added modifications the shark lock is a new design that would likely need new tooling to manufacture. I do not consider AUS 10 garbage steel at all. It's an adequate steel. The shark lock delivers in just about every area that people whine about. It's super strong (I wish people would whine more about protecting their fingers than easy one hand closing,) it opens easier and definitely close safer, faster, and easier than most other one handers on the market.

So they want a small starting company to produce a knife in the US with super steel and a great but very unique locking system that needs to have a US factory (another good questions is will a US factory even do it) set up their tooling to produce and sell it for $150.00 to compete with huge established knife manufacturers that make knives in established factories using standard designs and tooling otherwise sell it for $35.00 dollars if you are forced to use standard quality steel and a foreign factory that is willing to make it to top specs. Dream on it's a problem but I haven't heard one common sense solution. Maybe you will just have to wait for the design to become established if you want to pay a lower price which i doubt will be $35.00.

Pictures are not great but they are a fairly accurate approximation. The denim looks black in the picture but it's has a greenish tint to it in reality.
Click to expand...

If they could have someone like Hogue make these with S30/35/45 for $180-200, that'd be a killer product.

How much thicker do the RGT scales make the knife?
 
OrangeBlueOrangeBlue said:
If they could have someone like Hogue make these with S30/35/45 for $180-200, that'd be a killer product.

How much thicker do the RGT scales make the knife?
Click to expand...

With the stock scales it's 2/5 (0.4 inch) of an inch thick. With the RGT scales it's 9/20 (0.45 inch) of an inch thick That would make it ~ 1/20 (0.05 inch) of an inch thicker with RGT scales. These are approximate using cheap crappy hard to read imported vernier calipers. They are a little off and require a magnifying glass to read but it's in the ball park.

It's not excessively thick and it is better with the RGT scales (looks, feel in hand, ergonomically, and much stronger) unless you have a need for the very flat profile of the thin factory stock grivory scales.
 
Last edited:
kreole said:
Anyone having the bad spring problem here? Posts elsewhere are showing the spring wearing out fast so that the blade comes out with a weak sha
Click to expand...
No that is news to me. I don't see that happening anytime soon. It uses a simple coil spring and a replacement with whatever tension you want should not be hard to find.

I think this may be the best folder out there for those who like to obsessively flick their folders open and closed all day. Being a coil spring using thin wire rust could knock it out quick if allowed to form and create a stress riser otherwise it should go on and on like the energizer bunny.
 
Last edited:
kreole said:
Anyone having the bad spring problem here? Posts elsewhere are showing the spring wearing out fast so that the blade comes out with a weak shake.
Click to expand...
Mine is only a few days old, but if I give it a firm wrist flick it locks open, but I obviously don’t think that has as much to do with being worn as I do it just being butter smooth. Rolls open silky smooth, and drops shut.
And I’m not one of those fidgeters (although I can see how this would be a good one to play around with), it’s only been opened to use and then put right back in my pocket.
 
MxfDr4l.jpg
 
shanerbass said:
MxfDr4l.jpg
Click to expand...


I see you don't like thumb studs. I imagine it makes cutting and sharpening easier without it. How is the blade holding up if I may ask. I get the impression from your choices that you do a lot more using than playing when it comes to your knives.
 
Last edited:
greater said:
I see you don't like thumb studs. I imagine it makes cutting and sharpening easier without it. How is the blade holding up if I may ask. I get the impression from your choices that you do a lot more using than playing when it comes to your knives.
Click to expand...
Thumb studs seems pointless on this knife. The shark lock mechanism plus the hole are more than enough for deployment. The studs just gets in the way when cutting and sharpening. The Aus 10 steel has been great. I work this knife all day in my line of work mostly cutting up cardboard boxes and it performs wonderfully. Not sure why this steel gets a bad rap from some folks. Really great knife all around
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top