Colt slippies + comparison

G

garryt

Joined
Dec 8, 2013
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75
Well my Colt slippies arrived today, so some (brief) thoughts and comparisons.

My photography sucks, so rest assured all the knives look better in the flesh......:D
Firstly, both came in really nice quite classy boxes - but I forgot to take photo's of them...:grumpy:

The Muskrat is a surprisingly heavy handful and really does come across that it could take some serious abuse. The "spey" blade (if you can call it that) is actually quite funky and I've not really seen anything like it before, but it's actually quite nice. This is a very comfortable knife to use.
Not a hint of blade play, but the blades could be finished better.

The stockman is a very attractive little knife, with the scales filling the hand quite well. Again, no blade play and the blades could be finished better. A disappointment was that it had blade rub from the box (but then again, so did my £55 Case stockman!!)

Both knives are let down by minor finishing flaws. The bolsters are obviously cast and it shows. The inside of the Colt "C" tells you this. The Colt emblem in the scales also looks a bit "cheap" close up. These are all things that you could rectify with a dremel and polishing attachment in minutes, but they could have made a bit more effort here.

So, the inevitable comparison to Rough Rider and the CRKT classics..
Out of the box, the RR's are the sharpest by a country mile, with the CRKT's second. The Colts were not that great and the Muskrat struggled to cut paper.

Overall fit and finish, the CRKT's win. It's actually hard to fault them. Give the spine / back springs a polish and you'd be forgiven in thinking that you're holding a Case.
The Colts are a step up from RR, but not by a lot at all. However, the walk and talk on the Colts are best and they have a very nice positive half stop which has a real feeling of quality.
The finish on the blades is better on the RR's and CRKT's, with the CRKT's being the best.

Overall, these are actually quite nice knives. Pricing is about right, being between RR and CRKT.
Just a short ramble, so any questions just ask...:D

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Nice review, and thanks for sharing :)
I own 4 Colt knives, with a whittler & hawkbill pruner (both with jigged bone scales) being the best of the 4.
My other two, a canoe & a peanut (both having smooth black bone) are okay, but not quite as nice overall. These last two also have that titanium coating, which in all honesty, takes something away from them, rather than adding to them, imo. That pruner and whittler I have, have no business being so nice overall for the money they get for them.... true value leaders! :)
Thanks again for sharing your review :)
 
Interesting observations, I like the extreme, upswept, profile of the spey blade. Colt has impressed me, with their level of fit and finish. but I do need to land a CRKT just to see how they stack up.
 
I have two Colt branded knives, and both are great examples of knife making regardless of price. BUT... I do understand that like all manufactured goods, "your mileage may vary". Anytime I get a knife that I am happy with anymore that I buy sight unseen I am pleased!

If they had more patterns I was interested in I would no doubt buy another.

I have had two a CRKT traditionals, and while some folks have had some problems with theirs, I wasn't one of them. I still have one and it is a beauty (again, knocking on wood!).

Robert
 
Is there a possibility of removing the coating?

I just got a Case Russlock for my birthday but failed to take into consideration that I may have wanted the CV blade and based the purchase solely on the handle material... Resulting in a stainless steel blade.

Since I'm attached to it and don't want a second Russlock and doubt a trade would occur, it'd be nice to play with some other patterns before buying another Case in CV, and if the Colt can be patina'd post coating removal, that'd be awesome!
 
Well, I've had these for a bit now, so thought I'd update...

I decided to give these a bit of abuse on purpose. Just making things like fire sticks and hacking up large cardboard boxes as much as I could.
Edge retention is about the same as RR's - which is fairly decent and they sharpen up quickly as well.

The more I use these, the more I've liked them and pick them up more than the RR's or CRKT's..

They've developed no blade play at all - nada.
As I said, the Muskrat is a beast and I think it will survive a lot of use / abuse. The Stockman grows on me more by the day - it's a really pretty little knife.
I mentioned it previously, both have a really nice very, very positive half stop, closing and opening with a quality feeling snap.

I'm liking these a lot.
More rubbish pics for you....

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