- Joined
- Oct 3, 1998
- Messages
- 3,264
I've been playing with my scanner again. Here's a link to a 1024w wallpaper size picture of a new Microtech DA SOCOM, an EDI Genesis, and a Benchmade AFCK.
www.chaicutlery.com/images/threeblackfolders.jpg
And a view from above (actually upside-down on the flat-bed scanner:
www.chaicutlery.com/images/threeblackfolders-tops.jpg
The EDI Genesis is frequently compared and contrasted to the Benchmade AFCK. I think the Microtech design may be a closer match. The AFCK has a spydie-hole, which which you can do a drop-handle opening. The AFCK also has a deep finger cut-out by way of a guard, while the Genesis and the SOCOM both have tapered handles, flared at top and bottom at the front. The AFCK handle drops considerably below the blade, while the other two are straight enough in the open position that you can set them down, open, on a flat surface and not have the edge of the blade touch the flat surface.
I hadn't handled a lot of "tanto" SOCOMs before, so I was surprised to see how they did the separate surface at the front end of the blade. It isn't a bevel, like most geo-tanto points, but a shallow plunge cut.
Now I have a question. Note the continuous curve of the edge on the Genesis, versus the 2/3 curve on the SOCOM, changing at a slight angle to a straight edge at the point. The two blades seem to occupy about the same space, with the points in the same place relative to the handle. The SOCOM front bevel is not "reinforced" - if anything the other way around with that little plunge cut.
Would anything you were cutting be able to tell the difference between the two? Or does the Microtech blade do the same work as the Genesis blade, but with a greater show of CNC grinding prowess in all the additional surfaces?
The Microtech DA is a dream of a machine, by the way. Schnick!
It should be, of course, since it's more expensive than the other two knives combined. And it makes arm hair jump out of the way at its approach. The other two are merely very sharp. A little use should equalize.
And I think it's street-legal under Section 653K of the CA Penal Code, but I haven't decided whether I want to test that theory on the street.
Each of the three knives will open in the same two different ways - a thumb-push or a politically incorrect gravity flip. The AFCK has a third way to open it - the aforementioned Spydie-handle-drop. The DA SOCOM also has a third way - that button that releases a spring. Maybe that's intended as an optional liner lock safety, to make the blade resist folding up on your finger. (It passed a "whack" test, by the way.)
About it being street-legal out here (aside from nagging federal questions, of course), here's the code section:
The thumb stud or thumb hole are what keep all three of these knives, and a bunch of others, from being evil gravity knives under that statute, even though they can be flipped open, so the same reasoning should mean that the DA SOCOM is not a "switchblade" for purposes of the CA statute.
Your mileage may vary, of course.
------------------
- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
[This message has been edited by James Mattis (edited 23 July 1999).]
[This message has been edited by James Mattis (edited 23 July 1999).]
www.chaicutlery.com/images/threeblackfolders.jpg
And a view from above (actually upside-down on the flat-bed scanner:
www.chaicutlery.com/images/threeblackfolders-tops.jpg
The EDI Genesis is frequently compared and contrasted to the Benchmade AFCK. I think the Microtech design may be a closer match. The AFCK has a spydie-hole, which which you can do a drop-handle opening. The AFCK also has a deep finger cut-out by way of a guard, while the Genesis and the SOCOM both have tapered handles, flared at top and bottom at the front. The AFCK handle drops considerably below the blade, while the other two are straight enough in the open position that you can set them down, open, on a flat surface and not have the edge of the blade touch the flat surface.
I hadn't handled a lot of "tanto" SOCOMs before, so I was surprised to see how they did the separate surface at the front end of the blade. It isn't a bevel, like most geo-tanto points, but a shallow plunge cut.
Now I have a question. Note the continuous curve of the edge on the Genesis, versus the 2/3 curve on the SOCOM, changing at a slight angle to a straight edge at the point. The two blades seem to occupy about the same space, with the points in the same place relative to the handle. The SOCOM front bevel is not "reinforced" - if anything the other way around with that little plunge cut.
Would anything you were cutting be able to tell the difference between the two? Or does the Microtech blade do the same work as the Genesis blade, but with a greater show of CNC grinding prowess in all the additional surfaces?
The Microtech DA is a dream of a machine, by the way. Schnick!
And I think it's street-legal under Section 653K of the CA Penal Code, but I haven't decided whether I want to test that theory on the street.
Each of the three knives will open in the same two different ways - a thumb-push or a politically incorrect gravity flip. The AFCK has a third way to open it - the aforementioned Spydie-handle-drop. The DA SOCOM also has a third way - that button that releases a spring. Maybe that's intended as an optional liner lock safety, to make the blade resist folding up on your finger. (It passed a "whack" test, by the way.)
About it being street-legal out here (aside from nagging federal questions, of course), here's the code section:
(my emphasis added)
The thumb stud or thumb hole are what keep all three of these knives, and a bunch of others, from being evil gravity knives under that statute, even though they can be flipped open, so the same reasoning should mean that the DA SOCOM is not a "switchblade" for purposes of the CA statute.
Your mileage may vary, of course.
------------------
- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
[This message has been edited by James Mattis (edited 23 July 1999).]
[This message has been edited by James Mattis (edited 23 July 1999).]
