- Joined
- Jul 30, 2006
- Messages
- 42,651
I grew up with traditional style pocket knives. Thats pretty much what was available in the 50s and early 60s in production knives. Over the years, Ive carried traditionals, SAKs, multi-tools, locking blades, and one-hand openers. But there is still something about the look and feel of a well-made traditional folder that speaks to me. But in using some of those other designs, I became enamored of alloys with good edge retention. With the exception of Buck, 420HC just isnt what I am looking for in a knife anymore. I want better edge retention. Whats a traditionalist steel junky to do?
Enter Canal Street, a new, high end knife maker. I understand that Canal Street Cutlery is staffed by a lot of ex-Schrade folks, folks who know how to make a pocket knife. I had occasion to trade a couple of emails with the Canal Street folks. Very nice people who obviously care about the product they make.
Enter Latrobe Steel, and their alloy, 14-4CrMo, the composition of which is a dead ringer for 154CM, one of my favorite alloys. I like American Steel in an American-made folder. Ill buy blades made elsewhere with steel made elsewhere, but my preference is American made. Latrobe is the maker of BG42. They are also a supplier of 420HC. That is to say, they are not strangers to the knife trade.
Enter the Canal Street Single Blade Half Moon Trapper with Aberdeen Caramel Scales in 14-4CrMo. I looked at it, and it was love at first sight. Bought it in August for my wife to give me in October. Hard wait.
I have been carrying this for a bit over a month now and am ready to talk about it. Bottom line: I am still in love.
Design:
Trapper, single blade. The knife itself is 0.4" thick. The blade length is 3¼" The closed length is 3¾". The blade thickness is 0.081"
Fit and finish:
Very nice. The bone is beautifully done and fits the handle just right. No gaps in the back springs are visible when you hold it up to the light. The spring action is perfect, firm, but not hard to open. No half-stop. (I dont like half-stops, so this is good for me.). Once open, there is no wiggle to the blade. This is a good feeling and well functioning knife.
The blade:
I measured the hardness of the blade: 59HRC.
OOB sharpness was very sharp. Judging by my work on the Sharpmaker, it came with an edge angle of ~22° per side. I changed that to 15° and commenced rope cutting. 3/8" manila rope. 20 slicing cuts using 2" of the blade. Examine the edge for deformation using a 3x hand lens and compare to that of other knives. It came in on the order of 154CM, and ATS-34. My Grip in 154CM at 60HRC might be a tad better. My Ka-Bar Large Dozier in AUS8 at 59HRC was markedly lower. That is to say, the Canal Street came in right about where one would expect it.
Using the knife:
Because it is so thin, it just is not very noticeable in the pocket. Its easy to forget that it is there. The handle shape fits my hand nicely with a gently curving back. And the size is about what I like to carry. The blade is a bit thinner than what I like to carry, but most trappers have that, so I dont take that as a negative against this knife. But it does really cut like a dream. It takes a very sharp edge and holds it just like I want.
To paraphrase fellow former San Dimas dwellers, Bill and Ted, this knife is "EXCELLENT!"
Enter Canal Street, a new, high end knife maker. I understand that Canal Street Cutlery is staffed by a lot of ex-Schrade folks, folks who know how to make a pocket knife. I had occasion to trade a couple of emails with the Canal Street folks. Very nice people who obviously care about the product they make.
Enter Latrobe Steel, and their alloy, 14-4CrMo, the composition of which is a dead ringer for 154CM, one of my favorite alloys. I like American Steel in an American-made folder. Ill buy blades made elsewhere with steel made elsewhere, but my preference is American made. Latrobe is the maker of BG42. They are also a supplier of 420HC. That is to say, they are not strangers to the knife trade.
Enter the Canal Street Single Blade Half Moon Trapper with Aberdeen Caramel Scales in 14-4CrMo. I looked at it, and it was love at first sight. Bought it in August for my wife to give me in October. Hard wait.
I have been carrying this for a bit over a month now and am ready to talk about it. Bottom line: I am still in love.
Design:
Trapper, single blade. The knife itself is 0.4" thick. The blade length is 3¼" The closed length is 3¾". The blade thickness is 0.081"
Fit and finish:
Very nice. The bone is beautifully done and fits the handle just right. No gaps in the back springs are visible when you hold it up to the light. The spring action is perfect, firm, but not hard to open. No half-stop. (I dont like half-stops, so this is good for me.). Once open, there is no wiggle to the blade. This is a good feeling and well functioning knife.
The blade:
I measured the hardness of the blade: 59HRC.
OOB sharpness was very sharp. Judging by my work on the Sharpmaker, it came with an edge angle of ~22° per side. I changed that to 15° and commenced rope cutting. 3/8" manila rope. 20 slicing cuts using 2" of the blade. Examine the edge for deformation using a 3x hand lens and compare to that of other knives. It came in on the order of 154CM, and ATS-34. My Grip in 154CM at 60HRC might be a tad better. My Ka-Bar Large Dozier in AUS8 at 59HRC was markedly lower. That is to say, the Canal Street came in right about where one would expect it.
Using the knife:
Because it is so thin, it just is not very noticeable in the pocket. Its easy to forget that it is there. The handle shape fits my hand nicely with a gently curving back. And the size is about what I like to carry. The blade is a bit thinner than what I like to carry, but most trappers have that, so I dont take that as a negative against this knife. But it does really cut like a dream. It takes a very sharp edge and holds it just like I want.
To paraphrase fellow former San Dimas dwellers, Bill and Ted, this knife is "EXCELLENT!"
