- Joined
- Jan 28, 2005
- Messages
- 2,154
So I was looking for a more traditional looking knife, similar to my old Buck 110 but that had some modern upgrades. I wanted a pocket clip, thumb studs for one handed opening and a less bulky profile.
Enter the Cold Steel Mackinac Hunter...
For a $50 knife I am very impressed with the feel, fit and finish. This thing feels of quality and durability.
First off it is much thinner in profile than the Buck 110 and has the pocket clip. Slides in and out of the pocket easy yet the small clip has very good retention. The knife also rides just deep enough to not be overly "deep carry". I hate having to fish way down into my pocket to get blades with super deep carry. You do get a spare pocket clip with every knife, and free stuff is always good.
The blade is AUS8 opposed to the 440 of the 110. AUS8 is fine.. keeps a decent edge and is easy to sharpen. Every knife doesn't have to be a super steel and I think sometimes we are a bit spoiled with the amazing steels being made today. It has an attractive hollow grind that I preferred the looks of over it's bigger flat ground brother the "Lone Star Hunter". The wide blade has lots of belly and comes down to a fairly substantial tip. Lockup is tight both up/down and side/side. Out of the box it was hair shaving sharp.
The Mackinac Hunter has nice thumb studs making one handed opening very easy. I don't find the studs off-putting or taking away from the looks of the knife but a nail nick version is also available if you want the traditional look and two handed opening.
The lock is the Tri-Ad lock which is well known to be a substantial locking mechanism. The lock is very strong but also requires quite a bit of force to close. You have to depress the back-lock all the way down to get this sucker to disengage. The edges of the lock are a bit sharp on my specimen but a little sanding should clean that up and make a bit more comfortable. You can close with one hand but make sure your index finger is high in the choil or you could get nicked by the blade. I've done the "depress lock and give a little wrist action to get the blade to stop on my index finger knuckle" lots of times and no scars yet.
It is heavy at over 5oz but so is the 110, so wash. The body is built completely out of metal other than the Durlin faux bone scales. The scales are the one thing that I think people will have issue with.. but again minor. They don't look awful but they don't look great either. They used Durlin opposed to real bone/stag for two reasons. One to keep cost down, and second b/c over time of wet use (blood, water, etc) the real bone would shrink and crack.. making owners even more upset. So it's more of a function over form thing. The nice thing is that they are just screwed on, so if you want to pimp it out with G10, micarta, carbon fiber or real bone, you can do that too. The ergonomics of the knife are very nice and I don't get any hot spots when gripping the knife hard for periods of time.
Once small thing I like is the back-spacer is a gray bead blasted aluminum I think. It breaks up all the polished steel and adds a nice touch.
If you want a traditional looking knife that is robust and made for one handed opening, give this a shot.
Enjoy the pics!!
Enter the Cold Steel Mackinac Hunter...
For a $50 knife I am very impressed with the feel, fit and finish. This thing feels of quality and durability.
First off it is much thinner in profile than the Buck 110 and has the pocket clip. Slides in and out of the pocket easy yet the small clip has very good retention. The knife also rides just deep enough to not be overly "deep carry". I hate having to fish way down into my pocket to get blades with super deep carry. You do get a spare pocket clip with every knife, and free stuff is always good.
The blade is AUS8 opposed to the 440 of the 110. AUS8 is fine.. keeps a decent edge and is easy to sharpen. Every knife doesn't have to be a super steel and I think sometimes we are a bit spoiled with the amazing steels being made today. It has an attractive hollow grind that I preferred the looks of over it's bigger flat ground brother the "Lone Star Hunter". The wide blade has lots of belly and comes down to a fairly substantial tip. Lockup is tight both up/down and side/side. Out of the box it was hair shaving sharp.
The Mackinac Hunter has nice thumb studs making one handed opening very easy. I don't find the studs off-putting or taking away from the looks of the knife but a nail nick version is also available if you want the traditional look and two handed opening.
The lock is the Tri-Ad lock which is well known to be a substantial locking mechanism. The lock is very strong but also requires quite a bit of force to close. You have to depress the back-lock all the way down to get this sucker to disengage. The edges of the lock are a bit sharp on my specimen but a little sanding should clean that up and make a bit more comfortable. You can close with one hand but make sure your index finger is high in the choil or you could get nicked by the blade. I've done the "depress lock and give a little wrist action to get the blade to stop on my index finger knuckle" lots of times and no scars yet.
It is heavy at over 5oz but so is the 110, so wash. The body is built completely out of metal other than the Durlin faux bone scales. The scales are the one thing that I think people will have issue with.. but again minor. They don't look awful but they don't look great either. They used Durlin opposed to real bone/stag for two reasons. One to keep cost down, and second b/c over time of wet use (blood, water, etc) the real bone would shrink and crack.. making owners even more upset. So it's more of a function over form thing. The nice thing is that they are just screwed on, so if you want to pimp it out with G10, micarta, carbon fiber or real bone, you can do that too. The ergonomics of the knife are very nice and I don't get any hot spots when gripping the knife hard for periods of time.
Once small thing I like is the back-spacer is a gray bead blasted aluminum I think. It breaks up all the polished steel and adds a nice touch.
If you want a traditional looking knife that is robust and made for one handed opening, give this a shot.
Enjoy the pics!!
. At the end of the day I find modern knives with traditional touches here and their to be very interesting in their styling.
