- Joined
- Jul 9, 1999
- Messages
- 3,316
First let me state that photographs or scans do not do this knife justice. It is one BIG honkin' folder! When you stumble across it in the display case of your local cutlery dealer, it reaches out and snatches your attention to it because of it's size. It is a formidable folder.
The first thing after the initial shock of seeing this beast in the flesh, you'll want to compare it to a comparable folder. In this case, I immediately thought of the REKAT Carnivour. These two look like they could be brothers, except for the fact that the KFF out-sizes and out-masses the Carnivour. The KFF is a heavy knife. So heavy it feels to be the about the same weight as my Sifu or maybe even a shade heavier when I compared the two together.
This is due, I believe, to the very beefy metal spacer on the back of the knife.
Balance of the knife is right at the finger cutout and the blade has an almost distal taper to it. I say almost because the taper starts at about the half way point down the length of the blade and smoothly tapers from that point down to the tip. The edge is kind of thin but furhter up the spine it kind of quickly thickens to just over 1/8" thickness. The grind looks nearly the same as that found on my lg. Microtech M/A SOCOM. Servicable, but not what you would call acutely thin. The edge, OOB, is extremely sharp and polished and pops hair on the arm with ease. The blade shape is a strong clip that is made for action and centers along the middle of the handle. The blade also has a rather good belly to it. A surprise given the strong clip profile of the blade. This is because the blade is 1 3/8" wide. Quite a handful.
The handle is, dare I say(?), more comfortable than my Carnivour. The standard by which I judge the comfort of other folding knives. It fits my hand so well that it feels as if it were made especially for me. The handle is designed in such a way as to virtually eliminate that clip pinch that often times accompanies folders with pocket clips attatched to them. One can hardly tell the clip is even there. You can feel it, but it's not uncomfortable on the hand.
Now for the good stuff, the lock.
The liner lock readily passes the Spine Whack test, even without engaging the L.A.W.K.S. safety mechanism. Once that is engaged, the thing becomes almost a fixed blade. The lever that engages the safety mech. is in the way just a little when you have it engaged and your thumb is riding on the blade spine, but the discomfort is minimal and is easily overcome by moving the thumb a little furhter up the spine of the blade.
Conclusions:
The one and only weak spot in this knife is, IMO, the choice of blade steel. This knife is such a winner that it easily deserves a better blade steel. Even AUS-8A would be an improvement. BUT, if you intend on this knife to serve only in a defensive capacity, and not for utility, then by all means, go get one NOW!. The steel used is AUS-6M. Not a really bad steel, it just needs sharpening a little more often than 8A or 440C, for example.
All in all, IMO, this knife is the new reigning champion of the "Best Bang for the Buck" Award. There is no knife on the market right now, that gives all the positive features that this knife does at this incredibly low price.(Less than $45.00)! It is truly a stand out design and I for one, would gladly take it with me if I had to go into unfriendly environs.
The extremely high overall quality and the extremely fair price of this folder put it in to a category that few other folders can go. It's quality is such that it inspires a great deal of confidence in it and the price is so reasonable that it won't break your budget or your heart if it needs to get tossed or even gets lost.
I am, initially, very happy with this knife.
I will be testing the edge retention tomorrow.
Happy Trails!
------------------
The individualist without strategy who takes opponents lightly will inevitably become the captive of others.
Sun Tzu
[This message has been edited by misque (edited 04-27-2000).]
[This message has been edited by misque (edited 04-27-2000).]
The first thing after the initial shock of seeing this beast in the flesh, you'll want to compare it to a comparable folder. In this case, I immediately thought of the REKAT Carnivour. These two look like they could be brothers, except for the fact that the KFF out-sizes and out-masses the Carnivour. The KFF is a heavy knife. So heavy it feels to be the about the same weight as my Sifu or maybe even a shade heavier when I compared the two together.
This is due, I believe, to the very beefy metal spacer on the back of the knife.
Balance of the knife is right at the finger cutout and the blade has an almost distal taper to it. I say almost because the taper starts at about the half way point down the length of the blade and smoothly tapers from that point down to the tip. The edge is kind of thin but furhter up the spine it kind of quickly thickens to just over 1/8" thickness. The grind looks nearly the same as that found on my lg. Microtech M/A SOCOM. Servicable, but not what you would call acutely thin. The edge, OOB, is extremely sharp and polished and pops hair on the arm with ease. The blade shape is a strong clip that is made for action and centers along the middle of the handle. The blade also has a rather good belly to it. A surprise given the strong clip profile of the blade. This is because the blade is 1 3/8" wide. Quite a handful.
The handle is, dare I say(?), more comfortable than my Carnivour. The standard by which I judge the comfort of other folding knives. It fits my hand so well that it feels as if it were made especially for me. The handle is designed in such a way as to virtually eliminate that clip pinch that often times accompanies folders with pocket clips attatched to them. One can hardly tell the clip is even there. You can feel it, but it's not uncomfortable on the hand.
Now for the good stuff, the lock.
The liner lock readily passes the Spine Whack test, even without engaging the L.A.W.K.S. safety mechanism. Once that is engaged, the thing becomes almost a fixed blade. The lever that engages the safety mech. is in the way just a little when you have it engaged and your thumb is riding on the blade spine, but the discomfort is minimal and is easily overcome by moving the thumb a little furhter up the spine of the blade.
Conclusions:
The one and only weak spot in this knife is, IMO, the choice of blade steel. This knife is such a winner that it easily deserves a better blade steel. Even AUS-8A would be an improvement. BUT, if you intend on this knife to serve only in a defensive capacity, and not for utility, then by all means, go get one NOW!. The steel used is AUS-6M. Not a really bad steel, it just needs sharpening a little more often than 8A or 440C, for example.
All in all, IMO, this knife is the new reigning champion of the "Best Bang for the Buck" Award. There is no knife on the market right now, that gives all the positive features that this knife does at this incredibly low price.(Less than $45.00)! It is truly a stand out design and I for one, would gladly take it with me if I had to go into unfriendly environs.
The extremely high overall quality and the extremely fair price of this folder put it in to a category that few other folders can go. It's quality is such that it inspires a great deal of confidence in it and the price is so reasonable that it won't break your budget or your heart if it needs to get tossed or even gets lost.
I am, initially, very happy with this knife.
I will be testing the edge retention tomorrow.
Happy Trails!
------------------
The individualist without strategy who takes opponents lightly will inevitably become the captive of others.
Sun Tzu
[This message has been edited by misque (edited 04-27-2000).]
[This message has been edited by misque (edited 04-27-2000).]
