BM 830 Ascent

[Jackal]

I'd like to hear a little on this knife. I recently purchased one about 2 weeks ago and haven't heard much about it. It seems that most of the attention goes toward the more expensive knives. Any thoughts??? -AR

 

[Yekim]

The Ascent series of knives are some of my favorites. I admid I was a little disappointed when I first got mine(bm840), and compared it to my GF's Goddard lightweight. The blade finish is twice as rough as the spyderco, and the handle wasn't as grippy, but it was comforatable. It initiall failed the spine whatck test, but after some work, I made it fairly reliable. What makes this knife shine though, is on the inside....The blade pivot pin is huge compared to the goddard. It is easily twice the diameter, and made of stainless steel. The toggle pin is also huge, and made of much harder and thicker steel than the toggle pin of the Goddard. I have yet to hear of any real complaints about the 830, and from what I hear, some people carry it more often than the more expensive paices in their collection.


YeK

 

[Jackal]

I use mine for daily carry and it is my favorite knife for using. I noticed that the width of the steel in the lock is thicker than the steel in my Endura. I've heard that the lock in the 840's was defective. However, the 820 & 830 were supposed to be fine. One thing I like about the blade is the rough finish. I prefer it over the polished look in the knives that I actually use. -AR

 

[prn]

I have had the smaller Ascent, the 820, for a bit over a month now and it has been my daily carry knife. It is very lightweight, but seems quite solid, is comfortable both in my hand and in my pocket and very easy to open and close. I like the Spydie-type hole. It came reasonably sharp, but not impressively so. However, as Joe T correctly points out, the factory edge is just that and you will need to sharpen it yourself eventually anyway. Once I did sharpen it, I have been quite satisfied with the edge.

If I were ordering right now, I might be tempted to get the 830 as the 820 sometimes seems a little on the small side. OTOH I did buy it that way on purpose since I intended to carry it in my pocket rather than clipped on and I didn't want it to look too tactical to use in a "white collar" environment, so overall, I'm not dissatisfied with it in that regard. I took the clip off and at first was afraid that without the clip, my fingers didn't have a lot to hold on to when opening one-handed, but a little practice turned out to be all I needed. If I were planning to keep and use the clip, then I would definitely buy the 830, but for in-pocket carry, the 820 without the clip is very comfortable.


------------------
Paul Neubauer
prn@bsu.edu

 

[Kdarmy]

I really like mine alot...The only thing that kind of turned me off to it was that a friend of mine upon getting out of his lazy-boy... got it snagged and yanked the clip along with the studs right out of it, I thought it would take more than that. He had to put the clip on the other end.

~Keith~

 

[TomMarker]

I carry the 830s Eclipse/Ascent everyday and find it incredibly useful. I've often heard QC with the Ascents is kinda hit or miss; i.e. you either get a really great knife, or a piece of garbage. The only thing I don't like about it is that the point is very thin, and I'm not sure well it would hold up.

For me, the 830 is a nice sized blade. I bought my dad the 840 for his birthday, and it just doesn't have the same feel to it... Seems a little off balanced, but that could just be because I'm an a moron

I've never seen the 820, but it just seemed far too small..

It's a reasonably priced blade, and for the money, I doubt you could get much better.