I have a Apache Tac 1 and I really like it - light, strong, great blade shape and very ergonomic handle. I like it but don't love it because it's slow/sticky to open even after taking it apart, cleaning and relubing it several times with different lubes such as nano oil. miltech, steelshield, gun butter and others. It's been like that from the day it arrived and has stayed that way after thousands of openings and closings. Is it simply a property of button locks? Second is a pet peeve of mine - the blade was not sharpened along it's whole length. What I mean is the edge grind ended about a quarter of an inch in front of the choil, which I see on a lot of knives, not just this one. Why, why, why - especially when you've incorporated a sharpening choil? What's the logic behind stopping before you get to the choil you designed into the knife? Took me a couple of hours to reprofile that area by hand. Third, the steel choice - 440C is ok but I'd really rather see a higher end steel like S30V, D2, 154CM or whatever. The 440C, paradoxically, seems to be both hard to sharpen and yet loses the edge fairly quickly - maybe a heat treat issue? And lose the bead blast and go satin or stonewash.
So, there's the big question - any chance of getting this potentially great knife in a satin or stonewashed higher end steel with a proper edge grind and smooth, easy opening and closing? Roller bearings maybe? Bet you could sell them at twice the price - although I should get the first one free as the animating spirit.
So, there's the big question - any chance of getting this potentially great knife in a satin or stonewashed higher end steel with a proper edge grind and smooth, easy opening and closing? Roller bearings maybe? Bet you could sell them at twice the price - although I should get the first one free as the animating spirit.