Recommendation? Contego?

stevejams

stevejams

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Joined
Jun 27, 2018
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436
Good evening bf,

Got a serious itch for another blade. Been looking at the contego for a decent while now, was wondering if anyone has anything to say about this knife. It seems like a more menacing crooked river (which I love and carry almost every day) but I’ve never handled one before and my local shop doesn’t currently have any or any coming in anytime soon to my knowledge. Anybody have some experience with this one?
 
stevejams said:
Good evening bf,

Got a serious itch for another blade. Been looking at the contego for a decent while now, was wondering if anyone has anything to say about this knife. It seems like a more menacing crooked river (which I love and carry almost every day) but I’ve never handled one before and my local shop doesn’t currently have any or any coming in anytime soon to my knowledge. Anybody have some experience with this one?
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It depends on what you're looking for in a knife, I found the Contego was too large and heavy for my every day carry even though it was a great knife overall. My complaints about it are simply that it's too sharp for carrying around normally, the glass breaker would catch my hand when I stuck it in the pocket that contained the knife and the scallops on the scales left a sharp and pointy outside edge that made barehand use difficult.

I ended up swapping it for the Rift, it didn't have the sharp edges and points of the Contego and was slightly smaller and lighter which made it more ideal in my EDC role.
 
i’ve had an 810bk for a little over a year now & i split time between it & a 9555 just about evenly. if you like larger knives the contego is definitely something to consider. for me it’s very comfortable to carry & use, the handle shape is awesome & i don’t find the scales or jimping to be too hard on my hands. also, that slab of m4 seems to hold its edge just about forever. it’s truly one of my favorite blades
 
stevejams said:
Good evening bf,

Got a serious itch for another blade. Been looking at the contego for a decent while now, was wondering if anyone has anything to say about this knife. It seems like a more menacing crooked river (which I love and carry almost every day) but I’ve never handled one before and my local shop doesn’t currently have any or any coming in anytime soon to my knowledge. Anybody have some experience with this one?
Click to expand...

The Contego, the Rift and the 940 are all sort of siblings. Contego is the brother that went and became a SWAT team member or a Navy Seal or something, a rugged tactical knife.

Rift is the working man of the family. Small enough to be an edc but tough enough to do some serious work around the farm or jobsite.

The 940 I guess is the brother that moved to the city. It’s a good edc knife for the kind of people who’s job involves cutting open 2 cardboard boxes occasionally and opening up a fresh pack of bottled water. Still has his siblings tough genes though so for a slim light knife it is still strong and capable compared to some other “pure edc” knives.
 
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Get one in hand first and foremost. I had the good fortune to be able to hold one at a store. I held that thing for a millisecond before putting it back down. The large choil at the front of the handle coupled with the sharp and grippy handle made the grip not for me. It looks good in pictures but holding it is a totally different story
 
Thanks for the suggestions everybody. I’m gonna try to stop by the shop today to check out that rift!
 
Knicked Digits said:
Get one in hand first and foremost. I had the good fortune to be able to hold one at a store. I held that thing for a millisecond before putting it back down. The large choil at the front of the handle coupled with the sharp and grippy handle made the grip not for me. It looks good in pictures but holding it is a totally different story
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This! I bought one used as everything about it seemed like it would make a great work knife. But, the handle killed it for me. The gimping through the whole base of the handle, or whatever you call them, was too much for me and hurt my hands when working on shaping up wood and cardboard, even through gloves. They didn't help grip at all either, which was even more of a surprise.

It's a great concept but the handle ruined the knife for me. Getting one in hand first would be ideal, getting used at a fair price so you can throw it back up for sale at a minimal lose is another decent option, IMO.

If I were to get one again, I would dremel all of the gimps/nubs off of the handle and then I think it would be a good knife. But that's a lot of work on a thick stainless lined handle.
 
bikerector said:
If I were to get one again, I would dremel all of the gimps/nubs off of the handle and then I think it would be a good knife. But that's a lot of work on a thick stainless lined handle.
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Not as much work as you might think - I did it on my ZT0200 years ago. I love it, but sometimes wish I hadn't taken it right to smooth.
 
It's a big knife. When open, the Contego is longer than the 162 Bushcrafter fixed blade. When closed, just the handle is longer than an entire Kershaw Launch 4.

I'll echo what others are saying about the handle. I had to Dremel off some of the jimping on the liners and sand the edges of the G10 to make it bearable. Even then, it felt like I was holding onto a rock crab whenever I used it.
 
I have the 810 and the 950. The Rift packs a lot of blade for its size.
I have used the Contego to chop 3" saplings down (didn't have a fixed blade handy).
Love that M4.
The scales don't bother me.
 
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If you go with the Contego, I suggest you look at the Knifeworks Exclusive version: M390 steel, slightly improved texturing on the G10 scales to make it less aggressive, deleted glass breaker. The G10 scales come in grey/black and blue/black. However, I upgraded to custom CF scales from Aramis Ahkmedov (eBay). The CF scales really transforms the knife into something special making it much comfortable in hand and much better looking.
 
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