Canal Street White Buffalo Pinch Lockback

confucius37

confucius37

Joined
May 18, 2008
Messages
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I've been spying the offerings from Canal Street Cutlery for some time and I finally decided to take the plunge and ordered a pinch lockback. I was drawn by the D2 steel, the handle material, and the lockback since I have no knives with any of those features in my collection.

First off, the D2 was definitelly much harder to sharpen. I use a DMT aligner and it took me about 2 hours to reprofile the edge down to ~25-30 degrees inclusive starting from an extra extra coarse diamond hone. I am looking forward to a long lasting edge with the D2, personally I prefer some of the harder more carbide laden steels. I know it may not be traditional, but to me there's nothing quite like a razor sharp edge that just keeps on cutting.

The pinch lockback is a bit lighter than my other slipjoints mostly because it only has a single bolster, but also the blade stock is fairly thin. The blade 3/32 stock, which I was quite happy with because I prefer knives with thin "slicey" blades that have very high abrasion resistance.

On my particular specimen I found the tolerances to be quite good, not quite the same as some of my GECs but still very good. The blade is ever so slightly off center, but to me it is a non-issue since it has no effect on performance. The locking mechanism works quite well and there is no blade play.

This knife feels like a worker to me. Similar to how my GEC Bullnose feels like it was made for hard work, the Pinch Lockback feels like it would take on anything you put in front of it. The pull on the blade is fairly mild (~6) and for a working knife, I prefer it that way. The handle material is very nice and has a positive grip from the grain in the horn. The handle size is just right for medium sized hands and its more than enough for a 4 finger grip. It's a very slim knife and disappears in the pocket.

I'm looking forward to putting some use on this one.









 
wow, ya dont see many CS offerings, this one is beautiful! nice score
alot of guys hate that CS coin shield but i love it, different than everybody elses shields, definitely sets it apart
regards
gene
 
That's a beauty alright, congrats!

All three of my Canal Street's have great handles, and while I've found FnF not always perfect they've been very very good.
 
ive been pretty impressed with the D2 in my Cannitler. i put an edge on it with paper wheels and it easily the best performing traditional in my collection.

once the wife "forgets" about the new Half Moon Trapper and GEC #25......... the Pinch is high on my list of next things to get.
 
thanks for the comments!

Voodoosix, how do you like the Half Moon Trapper? I'm now interested in trying the 14-4 CrMo offering from Canal Street to see how it fares.
 
i havent gotten to put the Half Moon through its paces yet, but i do have a CSC Hawbaker Muskrat in 14-4CrMo that performs excellent. it ranks 2nd in my traditionals behind the D2 and ahead of the 1095s.
 
confucius37 said:
thanks for the comments!

Voodoosix, how do you like the Half Moon Trapper? I'm now interested in trying the 14-4 CrMo offering from Canal Street to see how it fares.
Click to expand...

I have one of the half moon trappers in 14-4CrMo.
If you are familiar with the performance of 154CM, then you know the performance of 14-4 CrMo:
Holds an edge better than 1095, better than 440C, not as well as D2.

I asked CS if they would please make other models in that alloy, as I was most enthused with the ability to get a production priced traditional model in such an excellent performing alloy. Walter was kind enough to respond and told me that they were pretty much limited to trappers at that time because they were unable to get thicker stock. But it is a very nice trapper.
 
I'll second the recommendation for the Half Moon Trapper. I got a red stag handled version and it's a sweet, slim knife and came nice and sharp from CS. Good thing too since I'm a newb sharpener :D
 
I was lucky enough to win a Half Moon Trapper about a year ago, and it's a great knife to have around. Mine has the reclaimed chestnut, and looks spiffy. Considering the lockable version, and with D2, it would be hard to avoid, especially if I can find one with scales like the OP's.

View attachment 276764
 
I have no experiences with CS knives, nor with D2. But I like the look of that one. The horn scales make it to a real looker. Thank you for sharing it. I´m sure, it will serve you pretty well :)

Kind regards
Andi
 
here's a pic of the Half Moon Trapper in comparison to some other blades. closed it is shorter than the Muskrat but the slightly longer blade evens them out once open. the Case large Trapper, Cannitler and GEC #25 are tossed in for size reference. enjoy!

DSCI0003-2.jpg


ill have to ad a Pinch to the line up in the near future, while the 14-4CrMo is excellent.... the D2 in the Cannitler is the stuff heroes are made of! if the Pinch is anything like its brother ill be more than happy.
 
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Those look great! I like the summer grass scales. I'm hoping to get my hands on a half moon trapper sometime soon, but I may have to wait a while since I just bought some knives.

Once I do get one I'll post some pictures comparing the lockback and the half moon trapper. From what I can gather online the half moon trapper has a 3 3/8" blade where the lock back has a slightly smaller 3" blade
 
i do have to add that the HMT does have the weakest spring of all my traditionals. (the Cannitler and #25 Jack have the strongest)
 
The spring on the lockback is also my weakest, but it doesn't bother me at all. It's strong enough that I would be comfortable using the knife without the lockback and it still has a nice snap to it.

I've gotta say I'm quite happy with the knife, its light and carries extremely well, but has plenty of blade and in D2 steel to boot. I also like the grind very much, its nice a thin behind the edge, I couldn't be happier with how sharp I was able to get it and this D2 steel is real grabby.
 
even though its the weakest, i wouldnt call it wimpy or anything. its actually pretty smooth and nice feeling after growing accustomed to the stronger springs.

i do wish these companies would list specs better for those of us who have to buy sight unseen. here's a measurement run down on the Half Moon Trapper-

closed length - 3.80 inches (handle length)
open length - 7 inches
blade length - 3.2 inches (end of handle to tip of blade)
blade length - 2.94 inches (end of ricasso to tip of blade)
weight - 2.2oz

if you can, see how close the Pinch is to that. i assumed they were pretty close in dimensions.
 
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I don't have a scale handy, but I assume the pinch might be the same or slightly lighter due to the lack of the second bolster

Here is what I have for the pinch:

closed length - 3.8 inches (handle length)
open length - 6.8 inches
blade length - 3 inches (end of handle to tip of blade)
blade length - 2.8 inches (end of ricasso to tip of blade)

It's interesting that they use different blade lengths, I would have though they would just modify the standard blade for a lockback, but I guess not.
 
hmmm...that is interesting. i figured the blades would be almost identical, but then again from just looking at photos i also assumed that the Muskrat shared blades with the Trapper as well.

for the record the Muskrat dimensions (with one blade open) are-

closed- 3.98in
open- 6.9in
blade- 2.96in (handle to tip)
blade- 2.64in (ricasso to tip)
weight- 2.6oz
 
Hey Voodoosix, any chance you can make a measurement of the blade thickness?

The lockback is ground from 3/32" stock as measured at the tang where it meets with the spring.

As knarfeng noted one of the reasons CSC isn't able to make more models in the 14-4 CrMo steel is lack of thicker stock so I wonder if the half moon trapper has thinner stock, something like 1/16" perhaps?
 
looks like the same thickness by my tape, 3/32" at the tang then it tapers down to a little over 1/16" to just before the nail nick and then tapers to the tip.

definitely slimmer than the 3/16" beefcake on the Cannitler.

DSCI0006-2.jpg
 
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