Camillus Arc Lite

S

SarcoBlaster

Joined
Jul 1, 2002
Messages
602
Well, I just got the Arc Lite that I ordered today and was surprised at how thin the knife and sheath are. It pretty much disappears underneath my shirt, but too bad I can't carry a fixed blade concealed here in California. Anyway, once I pulled the knife out of the kydex sheath, I saw a relatively large scratch on the right side of the blade. There were some small scuffs and scratches here and there on the blade as well, which is really annoying seeing as this knife is new :mad:. Has anybody else had this problem with their Arc Lite? It also came a little dull, but a few passes on fine stones fixed that. Thanks!
 
I am suprised that you got an Arclite in that condition. I have been wearing one every day since mid-November and the only scratches are from where I have gotten sand in the sheath from operations on the beach. It also came shaving sharp.

IMHO this is a good back-up blade especially if you need one to be low profile.:D
 
dude ~ the kydex sheath system do have a harder RC rating.. sometimes, when grit and sand gets caught in the sheath, it'll scratch the surface of the ARC lite.. I had this experience with mine and on mirror-polished blades, the situation is much worse.. thankfully, most of my fixed blades are for hard use, so it doesn't really matter if its not pleasing aesthetically.. :D

Sam
 
Mine came slightly scratched, got much worse as I sheathed and unsheathed it a couple hundred times.

It's probably not that the sheath is harder than the blade, but that there's dust and gritty stuff in the sheath, scratching up the blade when you pull it out. Pretty much inevitable, just be glad it's not an expensive knife.
 
I don't expect to keep any knife in LNIB condition forever, so scratches and whatnot throughout the course of time is inevitable and I understand that. However, being scratched out of the box is what surprises me.
 
I understand why you're surprised about the scratching. Perhaps your knife was examined by the seller before shipping to you. Maybe it was to take pictures of the exact knife. I really don't like this, since I think that if the seal is broken, the knife isn't NIB. If this is a big concern, you might want to email the seller to make sure the box has not been opened before.

However, some knives have their sheaths moulded around the exact knife the sheath is to be made for, so I'd expect some scratches in this case.
 
Ah well, I'll just contact the website since the seal on the box was intact and everything. Thanks for the replies everybody.
 
I had to do some work on both my D2 ArcLite and its sheath to get it up to par. I was still very happy with it, and don't know where I would have gotten something comparable for the price.
As to contacting the manufacturer about a scratch on a $20 knife....the time you spend, plus any shipping costs for sending in the knife will be more than it's worth.
It's a $20 knife. You'd have to pay someone $20 to duplicate the sheath, much less the knife. How people can complain about nitpicking little problems when they got a great design, with a usable sheath, and a halfway decent steel for $20 is beyond me. You pay $20, and expect a Sebenza, I guess.
Then on the other hand, you've got people getting $350 Striders that are scratched up out of the box, and they're ok with it.
I'm not sure which group confuses me more:rolleyes:
 
Originally posted by OwenM
Then on the other hand, you've got people getting $350 Striders that are scratched up out of the box, and they're ok with it.
I'm not sure which group confuses me more:rolleyes:
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Nah, my sheath-scratched Strider MFS was only $200. :) I'm not too concerned about sheaths scratching knives, more about the fact that some sellers might open up the package without letting you know.
 
:D
Some of that was "tongue in cheek", I guess they call it, but the thought did strike me funny.
 
Sorry to hear that the aesthetics aren't entirely pleasing.


I saw a relatively large scratch on the right side of the blade. There were some small scuffs and scratches here and there on the blade as well, which is really annoying seeing as this knife is new
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How about a spot of Flitz and a few minutes with a cleaning patch? Or a dremel and polish wheel?

Best regards
 
You can hand rub a new finish on the blade, that will resist scratches from the sheath much better.
I try to finish any blade I make that gets kydex sheaths with a lengthwise satin finish on the blade. It doesn't really resist scratches but it masks them pretty well.
Clean the sheath out with running water fairly often, but if you plan on carrying or using this knife much at all its going to get scratched. Kind of sucks having it come from the factory that way but its understandable. Its just about impossible to make that many sheaths and not have one go out without a peice of grit or something in it.
 
I have resigned myself that kydex scratches happen and there's nothing at all to do about it. Usually, they are faint scratches that only show when looking at the blade in a certain light. And I am talking about expensive custom knives that do this.

We'd all like our stuff to remain new looking, but if you use the knife and sharpen it, you'll have lot's more character going on than the mere kydex scratches.
 
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