I picked up a BlackJack Small with Kraton handle at the Blade Show from Ken Warner's BlackJack table - they were priced at $33 - this ia s pretty good price for a well designed knife with a full convexed edge.
As some may know I was very impressed with the Colobolo handled stainless steel BlackJack Small I bought from Ken Warner also at a Blade Show 2 years ago - this has become one of my favorite fixed blades
Please see BlackJack "Small" select Cocobolo stainless.
So I compared them -
The Kraton Small is made in China with 8CR13 (some Chinese stainless steel), and comes with a nylon sheath
The Cocobolo is made in Seki, Japan with AUS10, and comes with a leather sheath.
The Cocobolo is pretty - I actually selected it out of several -
What other differences are there?
Hard to see from just photos -
Kraton upper, Cocobolo lower.
The Cocobolo Small is much thinner toward the edge than the Kraton -
they are both, strictly speaking, flat ground with continuous convex bevel edge.
The continuous convex "bevel" is much narrower on the cocobolo as can be seen in the photo - showing that it is much thinner toward the edge than the Kraton.
What does this mean - since both edges are full convex?
The ability to cut through is affected. The thinner edge should cut through better as shown in my ad-hoc cutting of corrugated cardboard -
This is only a casual and informal test, and not that well controlled.
I merely did two pairs of cuts - trying to cut the same way with both knives.
As can be seen, I was not that consistent between the the two separate pairs - but in both cases the depth cut by the cocobolo Small with significantly better than the Kraton. I could actually feel the difference.
So my Kraton Small is not as good as my Cocobolo Small.
I consider my BlackJack cocobolo Small one of the best fixed blades I have
- whereas the Kraton Small is good value and merely a good "knock-about" knife.
My understanding is that BlackJack is moving their production for their "Performance" blade line to China
(EDIT - to clarify it is only the Performance Blade line to be moved to China)
which means that the Seki, Japan made Smalls are only available for the remaining stocks.
This could be important for some -
it certainly is to me........
--
Vincent
http://clik.to/UnknownVT2007
http://clik.to/UnknownVT2006
http://clik.to/UnknownVT2005
http://clik.to/UnknownVT2004
http://clik.to/UnknownVincent
As some may know I was very impressed with the Colobolo handled stainless steel BlackJack Small I bought from Ken Warner also at a Blade Show 2 years ago - this has become one of my favorite fixed blades
Please see BlackJack "Small" select Cocobolo stainless.
So I compared them -
The Kraton Small is made in China with 8CR13 (some Chinese stainless steel), and comes with a nylon sheath
The Cocobolo is made in Seki, Japan with AUS10, and comes with a leather sheath.
The Cocobolo is pretty - I actually selected it out of several -
What other differences are there?
Hard to see from just photos -
Kraton upper, Cocobolo lower.
The Cocobolo Small is much thinner toward the edge than the Kraton -
they are both, strictly speaking, flat ground with continuous convex bevel edge.
The continuous convex "bevel" is much narrower on the cocobolo as can be seen in the photo - showing that it is much thinner toward the edge than the Kraton.
What does this mean - since both edges are full convex?
The ability to cut through is affected. The thinner edge should cut through better as shown in my ad-hoc cutting of corrugated cardboard -
This is only a casual and informal test, and not that well controlled.
I merely did two pairs of cuts - trying to cut the same way with both knives.
As can be seen, I was not that consistent between the the two separate pairs - but in both cases the depth cut by the cocobolo Small with significantly better than the Kraton. I could actually feel the difference.
So my Kraton Small is not as good as my Cocobolo Small.
I consider my BlackJack cocobolo Small one of the best fixed blades I have
- whereas the Kraton Small is good value and merely a good "knock-about" knife.
My understanding is that BlackJack is moving their production for their "Performance" blade line to China
(EDIT - to clarify it is only the Performance Blade line to be moved to China)
which means that the Seki, Japan made Smalls are only available for the remaining stocks.
This could be important for some -
it certainly is to me........
--
Vincent
http://clik.to/UnknownVT2007
http://clik.to/UnknownVT2006
http://clik.to/UnknownVT2005
http://clik.to/UnknownVT2004
http://clik.to/UnknownVincent
)
.