Camillus Dominator - first impressions

Klesk

Klesk

Gold Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2003
Messages
1,107
I just opened up the box of my Dominator, and I wanted to share with you some of my initial impressions.

General
The shape and texture of the handle is pleasing to the eye as well as to the hand. It is very comfortable, and grooved in the right places. The size of the knife is about what I expected - approximately the size of my MT LCC, though a little thinner (and lighter). The blade on my knife is centered, and there are no major flaws.

Fit and Finish
Upon closer inspection, the frame cutout has a small area that has been left "rough". There are a couple of tiny, jagged titanium spurs sticking up - luckily, there is no way to catch a finger or clothing on the spurs, so they do not affect the knife's function. It is just a cosmetic issue, but bothersome nonetheless. The blade has a nice stonewashed-type finish, though not quite as nice as Microtech's. My knife has a bunch of dark lines on one side of the blade. They look like scratches or tool marks that were not polished out; again, only cosmetic, but still bothersome. The blade edge grinds are clean and even and the knife is rough shaving sharp. That is, it will shave with a little bit of effort, but is not hair-popping sharp. It will take a little work to get it to "scary sharp" the way I like my knives.

Robo-Assist
Of course, the first thing I did when I opened the box was to try the Robo-Assist feature. I was initially disappointed, in that the blade took a hefty push to get moving, and then the blade would only open halfway. I opened the knife and thumbed back the framelock, and found that the blade didn't move very easily. Once I backed-off the pivot pin to the point that the blade moved freely when the framelock exerted no pressure on it, the Robo-Assist worked quite well. The blade moved out smartly, though not as quickly as a Kershaw Leek. Of course, this is to be expected since the Dominator's blade is much heavier than the Leek's. Likewise, the Leek's blade does not move as quickly as the lighter Chive's. One thing to note about the Dominator's pivot tension adjustment: there is a stop pin right next to the pivot pin that is held in (like all the other frame pins) by a Torx screw. Because of that pin's proximity to the pivot, it is difficult to judge how far the pivot can safely be backed off. At one point, I had the pivot so loose that it was exiting the frame, yet the blade did not wiggle because the stop pin was holding the frame together. I'll probably loosen the pivot until the blade just starts to move freely, then Locktite it in place there.

Other Notes
My particular knife has been heavily lubricated, both on the pivot and on the torsion bar that makes up the Robo-Assist. If I put it into my pocket like this, the lubricant would soon be full of pocket lint - I'm sure this would impair the functioning of the Robo-Assist.

Closing the blade feels very unusual. There is the initial resistance when encountering the torsion bar, a very definite point at which the bar hits center, and then the final closing with little tension and the engagement of the blade's closing detent. I'm not sure if the torsion bar holds the blade closed also, but the blade is difficult to open when just grabbing the exposed top and pulling. I don't think a "normal" knife is that hard to open, when only the blade detent has to be overcome.

Finally...
I like this knife, it will be a keeper. It's a good-looking knife, and of a useful size. It doesn't hurt that the blade is S30V, a steel with which I have had positive experience. I am going to take apart the knife tonight, clean up the extra lube and remove the torsion bar (it looks to be held in by one frame pin) and see how it functions as just a plain old framelock and if the torsion bar is actually exerting some closing force on the blade. The Robo-Assist is cool, but it may attract too much attention. If anyone is interested, I'll let you know how the knife functions without the assist.
 
I just got mine yesterday and I'm very impressed. The machining on mine is flawless, as is the finish on the blade. I initially thought that the action was a little stiff, but now I realize it's just a very strong detent in the closed position. It takes a swift flick of the flipper to get past this detent, but once it does the Robo assist takes over and opens it very nicely.

From what I have read from others, it seems that there is some variances on the out of box quality of the knives, but after hanging out on the Camillus board recently, it sounds like they are very interested in making sure all there customers are happy and well taken care of.

Maybe I got lucky, but my sample has blown me away. The quality, fit and finish on mine rivals that of my small Sebenza at a price that is amazing. It has quickly become my favorite folder and my new EDC. If they could get the QC nailed down so every one comes out the way mine is, I wouldn't hesitate to recomend this knife at twice the price. With the price what it is, I think it's a steal. I havn't been this pleased with a knife purchase since I bought my Dozier about this time last year.
 
Is the grip secure enough to make the Dominator usable as a tactical knife?

By the way, Klesk, given your name and seeing that picture of you, I would say that Hawaii is leading the world in sex change operations these days!
 
Originally posted by W.T. Beck
Is the grip secure enough to make the Dominator usable as a tactical knife?
Click to expand...

Easily! The Dominator has one of the best grips I've seen on a folding knife. The countours make it comfortable and very secure in the hand. It provides slight finger grooves, a distinct bottom hook, and a fully-developed lower guard thanks to the flipper.

--Bob Q
 
I agree completely. The grip is very secure, and the flipper acting as a guard when open makes for a very confidence inspiring hold.
 
Camillus ships the Dominator with a tight pivot intentially. There are some obvious reasons for this and they leave it up to the buyer to adjust to their liking.

Klesk, you are right about the Robo mechanism helping to keep the blade closed. DDR tried to explain the physics (or is it geometry? One of those math subjects I suck at) to me. Quite interesting how this design works.

This is a sweet knife. I have three. I have converted one to tip up carry. It works very well like this. This conversion does go against Camillus' view on how folders should be carried. However, as I said, this knife lends itself to tip up carry. This is coming from someone who really prefers tip down.
 
Well some bad news for me (well, not really bad, just disappointing): I was unable to remove the torsion bar from the knife. The torsion bar is held in pretty tightly, and it would take some special tool and/or more force than I feel comfortable applying to my new knife. So, for now, my attempts to "un-Robo" my knife are on hold. At least the inside of my knife is clean and Tuf-Glided :)

W.T. Beck: Yep, Hawaii does have its share of sex-change operations. BTW, my avatar is my "before" pic... :D

kevtan: Yes, I did notice, but didn't think to wonder about it 'til now. I guess I was too intent on de-Roboing my knife, that detail didn't penetrate my brain. I'm letting the Locktite on the pivot screw set right now, but I'll take a look at it again later and see if I can figure out what the second one is for.

Dirk: Thanks for the info.

jaiden: Sweet! Please post pics when you're done.

I wonder if there's a market for a non-Robo Assisted knife? All I know is that, if Camillus made a manual Dominator, without all the Robo pieces and a commensurate drop in the price, I'd buy at least one. Anyone else?
 
I plan to pick up the manual version from AG Russell. I find myself preferring a well built and smooth manual to any assisted opener. I'll make an exception for the Aftermath. :D
 
From what I heard on the Camillus board the manual version is going to retail for about $155 from AG Russell. That's actually more then I payed for my regular Dominator, but I'd still probably buy one at that price anyway. Besides, the blue anodized handles it is supposed to have will probably look great!

I did notice that there are two ball detents. I like the nice stiff detent, it makes it so the knife is very, very unlikely to accidentally open and gets rid of the need for a lock switch to make the knife safe for pocket carry. I was never a fan of assisted openers before because most of them had some sort of locking switch to keep them from opening in your pocket. That just adds one more step to opening the knife and slows it all down. I much prefer just having a stiff detent so the knife is still safe yet allows for very fast opening when drawn from the pocket.
 
Another reason I'm happy AG is going to have them is for the military discount they're running right now. :D My cost will be considerably less than $155.
 
Yeah, I saw that. If I wasn't such a d*mn honest guy I would have my wife buy one for me, but then it would have to take a detour to Iraq first which would probaly take awhile.

I suppose I could try to use my military ID card that I get for being the spouse of an enlisted person:), but I don't think that is in the spirit of the generous offer from AG Russell. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to pay the full price.
 
I love the Dominator! The handle is one of the most comfortable factory handles I've encountered. I've been carrying mine non-stop for the past two weeks, and I must say, it smooths up wonderfully. I've noticed that some are stiffer out of the box than others, since I own a couple, and have messed with a few others I haven't bought. The pivot tightness isn't real consistent.

The Dominator is so stout it's amazing. With all of the stand-off spacers, including one in front of the pivot, this knife doesn't flex one bit!

Regarding the well lubed robo spring and pivot, I too was concerned. However, I left the majority of the thick lube on the assist spring to see if lint did cause a problem. After two weeks there is some lint clinging to the lubed areas, but haven't caused the least bit of problems in assisting open the blade. Although it appears somwhat complicated upon viewing the internal workings, the design itself is faily open, and doesn't appear to be prone to gumming up. Time will tell.

My advise is to run out and buy a Dominator NOW, they are new and most individuals don't know how good they really are. I'd also recommend the "deep carry" pocket clip thats been talking about in other posts. It's essentially the same clip, but it's been worked over, and folded over much like the old EDI deep carry clips. The Dom really carrys well with the addition of this clip. It was noted that this clip wasn't safe due to the flipper being below the seam of the pocket and possibly catching, I have yet to experience any close calls.
 
Wire edge, I actually ran into the problem of the new deep pocket clip catching on the seam of my pants and partially opening. I was able to duplicate this again, so it wasn't a fluke. I believe the issue arises when you are dealing with afairly loose fabric that permits the flipper to really ride in uder the seem or permit fabric to catch on the flipper. I was wearing baggy shorts and a pair of light weight casual pants when this occurred to me. If the pants are stiffer or of a heavier weight material or if the pocket is sewn into the seam, then that should reduce this the chances of this occurring. Camillus sees it as better safe.
 
Hey Dirk, have you tried the deep clip on a Cuda MAXX? I ordered one for mine as I had one of the originals a few years ago when Darrel first introduced them. The original had the deep carry clip and I really, REALLY liked it. So I hope this one will fit. Figured it was worth the $4.00 to try!:D
 
The new deep pocket clip works well for the CUDA Maxx! It adds a nice look to it as well! It hides those big freakin' knives nicely in the pocket. The shape of the clip and its size actually fooled someone into thinking I had a pen in my pocket!
 
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