- Joined
- Jan 26, 2012
- Messages
- 29,050
This thing is a sexy beast! One of the best looking fixed blades IMO. Thick heavy blade nice handle. F&F is spot on. When these first came out I wanted one but was wary of the price for the steal and the Sheath (I'll get into that later). Well, one came up on the exchange for a screaming deal so I couldn't resist. Having it in hand I now think it is a lot closer value to the asking price new than my original assessment.
Some pictures with other knives I own in this size range. These two have won a spot in the rotation over many other knives. The Arvensis seems to be right there. The Esee 6 is more of a woods blade. The Difensa is more of a combat utility knife. The Arvensis seems to sort of be in between these two. Thick enough to handle harder tasks like batoning or prying. Heavy enough blade to to get some chopping done. Still combaty enough to fill whatever that roll might be. The handle feels very good. It is not as good as the others pictured but that is not a slight. It is hard to compete with contoured Micarta from Bill Harsey and the G10 handles from TKC. The Arvensis' handles are flat so that is where it lacks a bit. Still very good though.
Sheaths are very important to me. A bad sheath can make a great knife terrible IMO. An area where I have always felt BM has repeatedly failed on fixed blades is the sheaths. Their Nylon sheaths while well made, unlike some companies, just aren't for me. I don't do Nylon. Their Kydex sheaths or plastic sheaths are just funky. Often they have some retention device to release the knife that is totally unnecessary in a well executed kydex or plastic sheath.
This sheath is much better! It still fails in one aspect for me but lets start with the good. The form factor is great. No wasted kydex space around the edges. No funky retention device. The strap could be tighter but it does hold the knife in if it becomes dislodged from the kydex retention. The kydex retention is adequate with the use of the strap. I always mod my kydex sheaths to increase retention. This sheath was no different. There is a retention dimple where the forefinger guard enters the sheath. I added a very small bolt next to it. This alows for adjustable retention. For my uses this knife is not going anywhere now, so much so I removed the strap (super easy, it just snaps on both sides). I'm not sure I would jump out of a plane with it inverted but as a belt carry knife it is perfectly secure.
The bad with this sheath is the attachment system. BM touted this system in their ad copy. I immediately called BS when I saw what it was. They are using the American Sportsman clip. I've had lots of these, mostly on SOGs. They work but are nothing to write home about and certainly are not the innovation BM claims. For the Arvensis they make the knife stick way out on your belt. Like waaaayyyyy out. Look here:
Those other two knives are using the Esee 5/6 clip plate which is what I use on most of my belt knives. I will be swapping the American Sportsman out for an Esee clip plate. It is a must for me.
So in conclusion, I love this knife. Admittedly, I just got it and haven't used it yet but it is right in the wheel house of other knives I own in a similar size. It should do just fine. The sheath is a win for BM but the attachment system is not.
If you are on the fence about this knife, I think it is the best fixed blade BM has put out and you should just bite the bullet and pick one up.
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