Convince me I did the right thing, gave strider another shot.

230grains

230grains

Joined
Jul 10, 2009
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The first strider I owned had terrible fit and finish, horrible edge, just did not feel like a 500 dollar folding knife.

I was torn yesterday and ended up picking up a NIB SMF with tiger stripe blade and green handles. I won't have it until Wed/Thurs so convince me I was wise to give them another shot. If I hate this one too I'll probably sell it and buy an umnumzaan or lionsteel, but i absolutely LOVE the looks and ergos of the SMF.
 
I had a SMF CC and it's a great knife, didn't have any problem with fit and finish.
The lock/action could be a little sticky at first but will smooth out in a week.

If using the two manufactures you mentioned as typical standard, I doubt you'll going be happy with any Strider...

And on top of that this is about the worst place you could possibily ask a Strider question so I suggest you wait till Wed/Thur and find out for yourself.

I personally have never had a problem with their product, their factory edge could be dull but nothing a few strokes on a stone couldn't fix.
 
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if someone screwed up on my $500 production knife I'd never speak to them again. If I can get a perfect Kershaw at $100, there's just no excuse.

But that's just me.
 
It all comes down to how you define "screw up"...

I remember seeing an appropriate analogy someone posted here, basically is says you can't possibly compare an Abram tank's finish to a Mercedes, and an Abram easily costs 10 times as much.

To apply a lesson learned from the recent GB collaboration disaster: "if you have problem with it don't buy it, why the hate."
 
Artfully Martial said:
if someone screwed up on my $500 production knife I'd never speak to them again. If I can get a perfect Kershaw at $100, there's just no excuse.

But that's just me.
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Same here.

Then again, if I was spending 500 bucks, it would be on a custom.
 
I have that exact knife right down to the color and I love it. One of my favorite out of my 20 or so knives. It did not come sharp. Don't expect the blade to be perfectly centered (though it might be). It is not that comfortable to carry. You will have to break it in, they are very tight at first. But like I said. It is one of, if not my very favorite. Yes I have a Sebenza too.
 
newcoyote said:
I have that exact knife right down to the color and I love it. One of my favorite out of my 20 or so knives. It did not come sharp. Don't expect the blade to be perfectly centered (though it might be). It is not that comfortable to carry. You will have to break it in, they are very tight at first. But like I said. It is one of, if not my very favorite. Yes I have a Sebenza too.
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This is exactly why I wont ever buy another Strider again. To get the fit and finish of a five dollar gas station special for $400-$500 is just ridiculous. I had to learn my lesson by buying three SnG's and three PT's. Each one had an issue or multiple issues. For $500 I expect a centered blade, no blade play, little to no lock sticking, and at the very least a sharp blade.
 
Artfully Martial said:
if someone screwed up on my $500 production knife I'd never speak to them again. If I can get a perfect Kershaw at $100, there's just no excuse.

But that's just me.
Click to expand...

Never mind that, my $30 Kershaw is flawless. If Kershaw can do it for so little money, in the USA even, how can Strider fail to do it for so much money?
 
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Tony8179 said:
This is exactly why I wont ever buy another Strider again. To get the fit and finish of a five dollar gas station special for $400-$500 is just ridiculous. I had to learn my lesson by buying three SnG's and three PT's. Each one had an issue or multiple issues. For $500 I expect a centered blade, no blade play, little to no lock sticking, and at the very least a sharp blade.
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True enough. Sometimes I wonder if there's really such a huge gap between a ZT 030X series and the Strider SMF.

I don't really hold much to factory sharpening unless the grind is extremely uneven or the edge has trouble even slicing paper, as I prefer to sharpen the knife myself.

Centered blade is a preference, but I won't fuss over it unless it affects the function of the knife. Blade play I don't mind if I can fix it with a little loctite and some tweaking with a wrench.

Still, you really have to ask what you're paying $500 for.
 
I've owned two Strider's and both of them had a lousy F&F and one of them had a lockup issue. I've vowed to never put another dollar in Strider's pocket for multiple reasons.
 
I will start off saying that I have been hard using a Strider SMF and SNG CC over the last month. I had no problems with F&F and after a couple days they were both "broken in" nicely. These knifes will get it done. The SNG CC is actually one of my favorite knifes now.

That being said I have also acquired a Umnumzaan. Very tough knife with excellent F&F, opens like glass and if you open it slowly the lock up is dead silent.

In my humble opinion they are both excellent hard use/tactical style knives. It really depends on what you are going to be using it for. You could easily count on either knife in a pinch.

A couple of things that I have noticed; the ergonomics are better on the strider, especially on fine work with where you can choke up on the choil. The Strider also seems more comfortable if you are doing any time of stab-type cutting where you are driving the blade into something to start cutting, though both blades do the job equally well, your hand is a lot happier after doing it with the strider. Last is the use with gloves. If you find your self in gloves deploying the Umnumzaan is a pain in the ass, where the strider has that spyderco like hole that you can easily open ambidextrously.

I think "quality" of the Umnum is better, and hard to beat for an EDC ( I like it better than the Seb). For hard use I really prefer the Strider. The CRK Umnum could do anything that the Strider does, I feel like the ergonomics are superior on the strider, especially if you are going to use the knife hard.

Just my .02
 
It does seem like the Umnumzaan is a competitor for Strider. Though the thing that bugs me the most is heat treatment and lasting quality. In my experience, the S30V in my Buck Vantage Pro does seem to hold an edge longer. And since I've heard that Strider uses a Paul Bos heat treat, I'm wondering if that makes it superior to CRK S30V, which seems relatively soft at Rc 57-59.

Also, the titanium on my Sebenza seems to scuff off almost laughably easy(had scuff marks within 2 days of carry). I know G10 seems to last forever unless it has that sandpaper texture. Though I'm curious to know how that flame anodized titanium holds up to use. I like my XM-18 because it's near impossible to find any signs of use on either the handles or the blade.
 
The reason I wanted to give them another shot, was that although I was unhappy with the F&F, the SMF fit my hand PERFECTLY. It felt amazing using, better than any knife i've ever owned. The problem was how tight it was, no matter how many openings, it NEVER broke in. It was dull, which wouldn't have been a problem as I sharpen everything, but I decided not to keep it. I got ticked off at customer service because I didn't hear back from them after emailing so I just unloaded it at a loss with the problems disclosed. I don't care all that much about a perfectly centered blade, and I realize I shouldn't expect Chris Reeve fit and finish, I also don't. I just hope the blade I get is one of the better ones, because I really do love the SMF.
 
I have 3 Striders, and have not had any F & F issues with any of them. My most recent Strider is a CC SnG, and I love it. I love all of mine.
 
I had a lego SnG and sold it because it was a little on the small side for me. Fit and finish was real good - and I had no problems with the knife at all.

Fast forward - I recently purchased a SmF with gunner grips and a digi-cam blade, and again the fit and finish is very good. Blade is centered, sharp, grind is even, and there is little sticking of the frame lock out of the box. It has polished thumb studs, and the titanium side is also polished.

I like the knife, it is very unique in it's appearance, and would buy another Strider in the future without hesitation.

Whether or not they are worth the money is up to you to decide. I could have purchased 5 - $100 knives, but I don't want 5 - $100 knives. I'd rather have the SmF.

For the record - I own a large Sebenza and Umnumzaan (had these before I decided to purchase the SmF). The SmF just satisfies some knife "wants" that the others don't.
 
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Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkfR-5WYP9s

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUsBYRpNjfs
 
Tony8179 said:
This is exactly why I wont ever buy another Strider again. To get the fit and finish of a five dollar gas station special for $400-$500 is just ridiculous. I had to learn my lesson by buying three SnG's and three PT's. Each one had an issue or multiple issues. For $500 I expect a centered blade, no blade play, little to no lock sticking, and at the very least a sharp blade.
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$5 gas station knife? That is really silly to say. The point being is Striders sometimes do not come flawless perfect every time. There are a few minor discrepancies here and there. I KNOW it can be argued for that much bread they better look like God himself made it(OK now I'm doing it). I am arguing Stiders make up for it in strength, ergonomics & (warning. Nutnfancy reference) second kind of cool. $5 at the flea market won't ever get you that. That I love (as many others do) my Striders in spite of the little dings should say something about them. They have a certain merit that precludes perfection.
 
I only have one experience with Strider. I have an SnG that has front to back blade-play because the lock slips. I doesn't do it enough to fail but it's enough that I probably won't buy another. Just my own experience.
 
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