I don't think you're very likely to find much on here or on other knife sites. Much like it's difficult to go on a watch forum and find reviews of a Spiderman watch picked up at Walmart, many of the products of BudK don't get a lot of play on these boards. Is this snobbery? Well sure, but it's snobbery of knowledge about materials and design as much or more than it is about the money.
From the description:
"Stretching an amazing 14" long and providing ultimate cuttin action. The 7 7/8" blade is crafted from 420 stainless steel with a black anodized finish. The rubber grip features contoured finger notches that create no slip performance. Includes heavy duty nylon sheath."
First and foremost, I don't find 14 inches to be particularly amazing in any way, nor to I hold out much hope that 420 stainless will provide me the
ultimate cuttin action. Generally, if they don't bother to specifically point out that the steel is 420HC, then that means it's 420J2, which is just about the absolute bottom of the barrel in terms of blade steels and not even considered a blade steel, really, by many here. Also, just the generic "rubber" as given for the grip, as opposed to "kraton rubber" or "resiprine" or "neoprene" etc. tends to make me suspect they either really don't know what kind of rubber it is, or again it's not a material that they feel it's worth making mention of. You add to that the fact that it says, "BudK exclusive" in there (meaning there's nobody else selling it) and then they claim that the "suggested" retail price is twice what they're offering it for in an absurdly transparent attempt to make it seem like a good deal, and my interest wanes that much farther.
Now, all of that said, I often bring up the point that the worst 420 steel knife will still hold an edge better than the best bronze cutting tool that anyone ever had in the entire Bronze Age, so I'm saying that this is useless. It's just that, among enthusiasts, you're not likely to encounter a great deal of interest in it. Bike lovers love to get into the minutiae of design/materials, as do gun guys, watch guys, guitar guys, and yes...knife guys. When the materials for a specific item were chosen to be as inexpensive to produce as possible (with no other real consideration) then the enthusiasts will not be especially enthusiastic. For approximately three times the cost of this knife plus shipping, you can walk into Walmart and be into a Buck or SOG fixed blade that will easily be ten times the knife. If this is currently what you can afford, however, then just keep a good useable sharpener with you and go have at it. Like I mentioned, Alexander didn't have a single steel tool in his arsenal when he conquered the world.
Edit to add: The Cold Steel Bushman sells for less than $20 most places and performs amazingly well, all things considered.
