Blade Tech Pro Hunter Question

F

Finn-lander

Joined
Apr 12, 2008
Messages
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I just found some photos of the Magnum Pro Hunter and it looks pretty nice. I like the look of the Wegner design. Did Blade Tech make the Pro Hunter Magnum in a hollow grind S30V blade? I see a flat grind S30V in the Pro Hunter, and a 154cm hollow grind in the Classic Line, but not the hollow S30V.

What is the deal with trying to buy these knives? Most places don't seem to carry them and the ones that do seem to be out of stock. Is this an old line that has been discontinued? Limited production? Or a popular line that is hard to keep in stock.

Sorry if this has been asked before.

On a side note, they had it pictured next to a Swamp Rat Rattrap. Are these still in production?

Thanks. Finn-lander
 
Why no love for Blade Techs? They look like nice knives.

A follow up to my original post, I actually found a reference that they produced a hollow ground, S30V blade. It must be old stock. The current models "Magnum" and "Magnum Extreme" are full flat grind.

Finn-lander
 
Regarding the Rat Trap, they are no longer being made, although I try to bring the possibility up to Eric Issacson every time I see him.
 
I have a Pro Hunter Magnum and it is a very well made knife. It ranks right up there with Emersons and high end Spyderco's. The blade is a very thick chunk of S30V, but it still slices very well with the flat grind.

They do seem to be currently unavailable at most internet dealers.
I just happened across one at my local dealer a while back. Until then I had never heard of them.

I got mine for $120. I guess the dealer was moving them out. I was shocked to see the street price on that model after I had bough mine.

I seem to fall into good deals sometimes.
 
Thanks Bearcut,

Most of my collection so far is Spyderco and Benchmade. I would like to try others. I am still a bit confused on this knife as I am guessing it is old stock. The knife is not called "Magnum", and the grind only appears to go up to about mid-blade. All that I can find on the internet, shows the current knife to be FFG. Do you (or anyone else out there on BF) know the history of the "Professional Hunter" line? Were they originally released as hollow ground, then later renamed to the Magnum and Magnum Extreme and a FFG?

Thanks again to all that have answered so far, keep it coming.

Finn-lander
 
Finn-lander said:
Thanks Bearcut,

Most of my collection so far is Spyderco and Benchmade. I would like to try others. I am still a bit confused on this knife as I am guessing it is old stock. The knife is not called "Magnum", and the grind only appears to go up to about mid-blade. All that I can find on the internet, shows the current knife to be FFG. Do you (or anyone else out there on BF) know the history of the "Professional Hunter" line? Were they originally released as hollow ground, then later renamed to the Magnum and Magnum Extreme and a FFG?

Thanks again to all that have answered so far, keep it coming.

Finn-lander
Click to expand...

Sorry, Finn-lander. I didn't see your post until just now. I own quite a few BladeTechs, and I feel they're one of the best deals in the knife world, that is, if you can find 'em. Their American made Pro-Hunter series competes quite favorably with one of my all time favorite knives in existence, the Spyderco Military. That is no small feat!

Spyderco originally made Tim Wegner's (BladeTech's Owner) folding hunter design, and when they did, the blade, made of ATS-34, was hollow ground. Tim Wegner bought the rights to the large model back from Spyderco and began manufacturing it himself. There were certain design elements he added to it when he began making it, many of them borrowed from the Spyderco Military, like the eccentric pivot, a choil, open-back construction, and a flat (saber-flat) grind. The result was one of the best deals around, if you ask me!

BladeTech has since upgraded their American made Pro-Hunters by thickening the blade and the liners, and calling it the Pro-Hunter Magnum. They have added what they call the Pro-Hunter Classic, which is basically the same model as the original BladeTech Pro-Hunter, except it is made in Taiwan and has 154CM instead of S30V for the blade. BladeTech also has a 'Lite' series, which is a lower end lockback version of the original, first made in Japan and then in Taiwan. The blade, which is hollow ground, is said to be 440C or AUS-8.

Spyderco, a couple years back, released a superb piece, also designed by Tim Wegner, called the Ocelot. It is around the size of the original Spyderco Wegner Jr. model, and features a hollow ground blade of VG-10, but it incorporates a choil and cut-outs in the G-10 handle.

There's a moderator on these forums who is BladeTech's number one fan, and he'll undoubtedly be able to provide even more information for you than I was able to. His name is Dennis Bible, and he goes by the forum handle of Shootist. Hopefully he'll see this thread.

Regards,
3G
 
3G,

Thanks. The reason I was asking is that I was watching a NIB Pro Hunter on that big auction site. It was described as a hollow ground S30V blade in olive green. The box read; Blade Tech Wegner Professional Hunter Model BT01 GPEGR. It doesn't have the same markings on the blade as the current stock I see online. I won the bid for what I thought was a reasonable price, so I will have to wait and see what shows up. I would still like to hear from anyone who can tell me what I bought.

Finn-lander

P.S. This all started a few days ago when I bought an Ocelot because of the look of the knife. I started to so some research on the design and came across the Wegner story and that lead me to finding the Pro Hunter. The knife fund is now dry for a while. Ha.
 
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