Ive seen these Anza knives for sale, they are built out of a file. Im looking for a carbon steel hunting/skinning knife and I was wondering what you guys know about them. If anyone knows of a carbon steel knife brand that they like for under $100.00 Id like to hear about it. Thanks.
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Does anyone know about Anza knives?
- Thread starter steve4570
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I don't have an Anza, but have read a number of good reviews on them.
Here's one of them:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=526921&highlight=anza
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If you are thinking of getting the RAT-3 get the Rat cutlery RC-3 instead new edition. Closer tolerances ectr.
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Yes I know Charlie Davis (owner of ANZA) personally. One of the neatest guys I've ever met, I toured his shop in ElCajon Calif. and was impressed... I make a number of my knives out of old files and they keep a great edge. You won't be dissapointed! Just remember its carbon steel and it will rus tif not taken care of, just wipe it down w/ wd40 b4 you store it and keep it dry.
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i've owned an anza knife for leatherwork about 15 years. My experience may not resemble others due to the extremely repetitive work it was given.
The knife could be harder, it seems softer than I'd prefer, and the amount of wear supports that opinion. Significant. Overall utility is good, it's a bit heavy for it's size and comfortable to use for extended periods. A good crafters knife, would be good for rope or whittling. I'd suggest that IF other Anza blades are similar in performance, they fit more into the 'sharpened crowbar' end of things once you get into 4-5 inch blades. at 1.5-3.5 inches, their weight is small enough not to be fatigueing in use. The larger ones are quite heavy, for the camp jobs they'd fit best. Again, IF they are tempered similarly to mine, they'd be on the soft side. I don't know that they are.
The newer style anza knives seem to be made from a spring steel bar stock, much thinner and lighter, and more easily used for general purpose work. They are a bit like Mora's in hand-feel, quite thin and tough blades, almost an opposite design style of the traditional file blades. I havn't used one enough to know how well it holds up, but it's Extremely Different in basic ergonomics. It would be expected that if you liked either one a lot, you'ld probably not care much for the other.
In my opinion Anza knives are good value in utility blades, as long as you carefully choose the knife to your purpose.
The knife could be harder, it seems softer than I'd prefer, and the amount of wear supports that opinion. Significant. Overall utility is good, it's a bit heavy for it's size and comfortable to use for extended periods. A good crafters knife, would be good for rope or whittling. I'd suggest that IF other Anza blades are similar in performance, they fit more into the 'sharpened crowbar' end of things once you get into 4-5 inch blades. at 1.5-3.5 inches, their weight is small enough not to be fatigueing in use. The larger ones are quite heavy, for the camp jobs they'd fit best. Again, IF they are tempered similarly to mine, they'd be on the soft side. I don't know that they are.
The newer style anza knives seem to be made from a spring steel bar stock, much thinner and lighter, and more easily used for general purpose work. They are a bit like Mora's in hand-feel, quite thin and tough blades, almost an opposite design style of the traditional file blades. I havn't used one enough to know how well it holds up, but it's Extremely Different in basic ergonomics. It would be expected that if you liked either one a lot, you'ld probably not care much for the other.
In my opinion Anza knives are good value in utility blades, as long as you carefully choose the knife to your purpose.