I feel like I've been a member of BF for a while, but I only now decided to sign up and chime in. I've found it a wealth of information and, between BF and JD, anything anyone ever wanted to know about knives and knife steel is in one or both of these forums.
Anyway, onto an introduction -- of sorts.
I was born in Boston and worked for almost 20 years in Manhattan, commuting via rail from our home in CT. in 2007, for my wife's 40th birthday, we made a radical change -- we retired and bought a small farm in Alabama. After six years we can't imagine being anywhere else, much less ever returning to any of those Constitution-hating communist enclaves in the Northeast. I get to walk out on my porch each morning with a cup of coffee and an AK, AR, or any firearm of my choosing and shoot to my heart's content
Yup... life is good here in the Deep South, and we love every minute of it. We have cattle, hogs, chickens, turkeys, dogs, cats, gardens, and fruit and nut trees. We drink our own raw milk my wife "squeezes" by hand, eat our own beef, pork, chicken, eggs, homemade cheeses and butter, and try to be as "off-the-grid" and self-sufficient as possible. We could never even dream of doing this in NY/NJ/CT/MA -- at least not without being labeled terrorists.
Anywho...
I've contracted a severe case of the knife disease. It's a cruel disease which can only be cured by the next knife. A year ago I would've thought you were clinically insane to spend $300 on a pocket knife, never mind >$1,000. Now, a few short months later I think my wife is planning an intervention behind my back. She dreads the frequent appearance of that damn brown truck!
Well, today my big, brown buddy brought me my latest cure attempt -- a KnifeCenter HTM DDR Gunhammer in S90V. Torpedo, plain edge, stone washed, assisted-open -- and I'm kinda bummed. Something inside me was expecting a chorus of angels to sing when I opened the box, but they must've been at lunch or something, because it never happened.
The blade seems "OK", whereas the handle seems downright cheap. I have both a Hinderer XM24 and the ZT 0560 Elmax "copy" of the XM, and the both seem to just BLOW the DDR Gunhammer away in fit and finish, feel, etc. I don't know what I was expecting, but the frame on the HTM GH seems very "chintzy" and woefully lacking compare to even the ZT 0560. The S90V blade may yet prove itself to be superior to the Elmax in the 0560 (I presume), but the rest of the "package" is a disappointment.
I was using the XM24 as my EDC. It's a big knife, but I'm a big guy and the farm is notoriously hard on everything. I switched to the 0560 and it's taking everything I can dish out. A daily visit to the JRE Strop Bat and she's ready for another day of abuse. I don't get the impression that the handle on the Gunhammer can sustain such abuse, as it really doesn't inspire confidence.
I'm not sure whether I should return it before exposing it to heavy use, or if I should just return it and get something better. I'd like to get something in S110V, CTS-20 / 204p, or S90V like the HTM.
Any thoughts?
Anyway, onto an introduction -- of sorts.
I was born in Boston and worked for almost 20 years in Manhattan, commuting via rail from our home in CT. in 2007, for my wife's 40th birthday, we made a radical change -- we retired and bought a small farm in Alabama. After six years we can't imagine being anywhere else, much less ever returning to any of those Constitution-hating communist enclaves in the Northeast. I get to walk out on my porch each morning with a cup of coffee and an AK, AR, or any firearm of my choosing and shoot to my heart's content
Yup... life is good here in the Deep South, and we love every minute of it. We have cattle, hogs, chickens, turkeys, dogs, cats, gardens, and fruit and nut trees. We drink our own raw milk my wife "squeezes" by hand, eat our own beef, pork, chicken, eggs, homemade cheeses and butter, and try to be as "off-the-grid" and self-sufficient as possible. We could never even dream of doing this in NY/NJ/CT/MA -- at least not without being labeled terrorists.
Anywho...
I've contracted a severe case of the knife disease. It's a cruel disease which can only be cured by the next knife. A year ago I would've thought you were clinically insane to spend $300 on a pocket knife, never mind >$1,000. Now, a few short months later I think my wife is planning an intervention behind my back. She dreads the frequent appearance of that damn brown truck!
Well, today my big, brown buddy brought me my latest cure attempt -- a KnifeCenter HTM DDR Gunhammer in S90V. Torpedo, plain edge, stone washed, assisted-open -- and I'm kinda bummed. Something inside me was expecting a chorus of angels to sing when I opened the box, but they must've been at lunch or something, because it never happened.
The blade seems "OK", whereas the handle seems downright cheap. I have both a Hinderer XM24 and the ZT 0560 Elmax "copy" of the XM, and the both seem to just BLOW the DDR Gunhammer away in fit and finish, feel, etc. I don't know what I was expecting, but the frame on the HTM GH seems very "chintzy" and woefully lacking compare to even the ZT 0560. The S90V blade may yet prove itself to be superior to the Elmax in the 0560 (I presume), but the rest of the "package" is a disappointment.
I was using the XM24 as my EDC. It's a big knife, but I'm a big guy and the farm is notoriously hard on everything. I switched to the 0560 and it's taking everything I can dish out. A daily visit to the JRE Strop Bat and she's ready for another day of abuse. I don't get the impression that the handle on the Gunhammer can sustain such abuse, as it really doesn't inspire confidence.
I'm not sure whether I should return it before exposing it to heavy use, or if I should just return it and get something better. I'd like to get something in S110V, CTS-20 / 204p, or S90V like the HTM.
Any thoughts?
