Chinook II or Tomcat II ?

Y

yam

Joined
Sep 17, 2003
Messages
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If you had your druthers, which one would you pick and why?

This is a no holds barred matchup of these two heavy duty lockbacks.

If you simply wanted a big, heavy use folder and these were your two choices ..... which would you put on your Christmas list?

Include The Good, The Bad, and of course ...... The Ugly.

Mike
 
You should research this thread as it just came up a few weeks ago, but no problem.

For me, it was the Tomcat. It locks up tight, not always possible with a Chinook. It's about 40 bucks cheaper. It takes a razor edge on the Edge-Pro. And even as a clip-point, it's a good camp knife that can actually field dress game. And it's not ugly.

The problem is that a Tomcat might not be as easy to find, although I found and bought two with a little google time well spent.

The rumor is that the Chinook's ugly upturned nose was (sigh) a feature for combat. I think it ruined a good knife. To it's credit I have not heard as many 'wobbles when locked' complaints as I did a year ago, so hopefully the quality issues are behind them.
 
The Chinook II isn't out yet, so I guess that narrows things a bit...

I'd wait and get the Chinook II. It purports to have what a want:

pointy S30V clip point
strong lockback
sounds like "schnook"
 
Tomcat II...Belt carry via nylon sheath.
Chinook...Pocket carry via pocket clip.

The choice depends on how you want to carry it. Both are good, STOUT folders.
 
Hmmm ... I'd vote "Tomcat". Yeah, the blade steel isn't as good as the Chinook's, but I just don't like the Chinook's shape. The Tomcat feels better in my hand and has rock solid lock up with no, and I mean no, blade play. The Chinook's lock up is good, too, but for whatever reason a certain amount of blade play seems to be unavoidable.

Boy, I'd love a VG10 (or S30V) Tomcat.
 
The A.G. Russell Strikeforce may be another good possibility. VG-10 steel, pocket clip and G-10 grips. It's a sweet looking lockback, and nobody has a guarantee like A.G.

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Buzzbait,

I actually have been eyeballing those, particularly the top one (A). They look very appealing. I'm kind of trying to sort out a heavy folder like the Buck 110, except just a tad lighter and with pocket clip and one hand opening. These Strikeforce models look like they fill the bill pretty nicely.

However, since I saw your Buckbenza pictures I have one coming with the BG-42 blade change. Soon, I will order the one armed bandit. Then I will sort out pocket-clip style carry for it. Been thinking about a small pouch that clips inside my front pocket that can hold the Buck 560. Mainly because I don't want to ruin it trying to drill, tap and put on a pocket clip.

Mike

p.s. Buzzbait, I'm still going to get a Military cuz of you! You are deffinately a "bad" influence on me. ;)
 
Wunderbar,

Just because the Tomcat has AUS-6A steel do not count it out of the running. I also have a Strider SnG in S30V, and truth be told, I cannot tell the difference when cutting.;)

Now, for sharpening, that's different, both pro and con. (First off, both knives went through a full rotation and neither stopped cutting.) The edge on the SnG wasn't as perfectly cut as the Tomcat. I had to spend a bit more time evening the edge left to right, and front to back. No biggee, but it was an extra step. I use a Professional model Edge-Pro.

I thought the SnG was easier to sharpen and left a tad less 'slag' on the stones. I even think the Tomcat was hardened a bit more, which doesn't sound logical to me since Paul Bos heat-treated my SnG. Some people believe that there are cutlers who 'over-temper' cheaper steels for edge retention. The Tomcat might be one of those.

But both of their bevels polished like a mirror and sliced cleanly. Perhaps I'm a peasant, but if you would have lied to me and told me that the Tomcat was, say, VG10, I could NOT tell the difference when actually working or cutting.
 
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