Custom Damascus folders for under $40?

[Mossyhorn]

**Update**

I picked out the hawk bill liner lock as my test subject. The blade is a little thick at the edge and will need to be re-profiled, but I did sharpen it more. The steel seems to be pretty hard, I started with ceramic rods, but was not making any progress so I switched to a diamond hone.

I got a good working edge and was able to shave hair, so I started to cut up a cardboard box. I broke down a medium sized box , but the thick edge and not the sharpness was the negative factor here. You can see some of the tearing in the photos.

When I was finished , the edge needed a sharpening , but was not blunt.
As an added test I wrist flicked the knife a few times to see if the blade stop or tang was soft, it held up.

And so when I was done there was no blade play and it locked up fine. I will try to re-profile it in the future. The shape of the blade is a pain to sharpen.

I'm not sure why you decided on the testing procedure that you used, but the unusually long thumb stud has to be a nuisance.

 

[JPD1998]

I rarely have an urge to share stories about how I cut mundane things with an abundance of cutlery.

As to the legendary Pakistan cutlery industry, They are instantly recognizable in form and always abysmal in quality. They never use quality materials.

But you had an urge to troll this thread.... interesting.

 

[JPD1998]

I'm not sure why you decided on the testing procedure that you used, but the unusually long thumb stud has to be a nuisance.

The thumb stud is a nuisance. I tried to cut in front of the stud.
I was more interested to see if there was any heat treat done to the blade at all. I started to re-profile the blade last night and the steel seems to be very hard.

The bottom line here is that these have a lot a hand work to them... definitely interesting , but best served as a desk knife or for decoration.
And as pointed out earlier , these are being cobbled together with varying attention to detail. Not handmade by a single individual.

 

[Rat Finkenstein]

But you had an urge to troll this thread.... interesting.

Trolling?
[video=youtube;G2y8Sx4B2Sk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2y8Sx4B2Sk[/video]

 

[TomD]

Ser Rat, don't have much experience with this forum but if I may be allowed to interject, if you aren't trolling just make your comment and back it up with evidence.

 

[G. Scott H.]

Thanks, JPD. The fact that the steel didn't smear away like butter when you sharpened it is a good sign. I'm sure the steels and heat treats on these are as variable as the fit and finish, but it appears they're at least not all dead soft pot metal, as some have suspected. :thumbup:

 

[JPD1998]

Thanks, JPD. The fact that the steel didn't smear away like butter when you sharpened it is a good sign. I'm sure the steels and heat treats on these are as variable as the fit and finish, but it appears they're at least not all dead soft pot metal, as some have suspected. :thumbup:

You're welcome. The steel is harder than I thought it would be. I spent an hour last night trying to thin out the edge. The ceramic rod was barely removed any metal, so I switched back to a diamond hone. I might have to use stones.

If I get a chance , I'm going to post a few pictures of the sheaths, some of them are too nice to ignore.

 

[trey999]

I have a used knife I bought here a year or two ago that was supposedly made in South Africa that looks an awful lot like these knives.
The thumb stud is identical. Damascus blade and chunky handles. Do you think these are kits?

 

[JPD1998]

I have a used knife I bought here a year or two ago that was supposedly made in South Africa that looks an awful lot like these knives.
The thumb stud is identical. Damascus blade and chunky handles. Do you think these are kits?

I think they are. The first thing I noticed was the similarity in the materials. The only real difference is their build quality and a couple of them are embellished a bit more.

It also struck me as odd that all the liner locking knives were designed almost identically.

One of the reasons I started this thread was so someone here wouldn't overpay for these.
I've seen these being advertised as custom made knives , with asking prices of over $100.00.

 

[TomD]

The one that I ordered arrived. I make no pretensions about knowing anything in depth about knives past what I like so I won't pretend a "review", just a couple of impressions and pictures.

It's a good thing I have you guys to tell me this is no good, otherwise I wouldn't have known. joke, that's a joke, but maybe not entirely. Honestly, if you had shown this to me 2 weeks ago and then told me it cost $24 + shipping, I would have fallen out with surprise. Even with my limited knowledge, I wouldn't have confused the quality with one of my Benchmades or Mcustas or even the Kershaws but "crap", no. Maybe I got a good one, the lock up is tight, no play, blade centered. The brass liner lock wouldn't bode well for long term use but who would expect a $24 knife to last anyway? Visually, the fine detailing and fit is the main giveaway to the price level, but you have to look.

Blade steel? Who knows? I did make a few passes with the fine belt on my Work Sharp and it didn't touch the fine original marks on the blade which, I assume, tells me that the steel isn't soft. I'll drop to a medium grit to reprofile, then try the fine again. Look at my last picture, it shows a defect in the blade that I didn't notice until i loaded the pictures on my 27" monitor.

I don't think you would expect to take one of these into the Blade Show and impress anyone but for carrying around in the pocket for some rough duty? Biggest carry problem is the weight, pretty heavy for a pocket knife at 6.6 oz. I think this one will end up in my range box that I take to rifle competitions.

I think the knife is well worth the price just for amusement purposes if nothing else. I'm pretty sure I've paid more for a worse knife, maybe a number of times.

See the hairline crack in the blade edge?