The superior design features are difficult to ignore.
According to Steve Hravey the Sandvik blade steel is fine grained, sounds like a candidate for a polished edge to me.
The latch gate, and removable latch are solid design advantages.
The prev mdl 45 latch was a severe problem. At first I thought I could overcome the tendency for the latch to stick under the handle and damage the blade. But my attempts to manipulate with more authority resulted in crinkled chrome on the cast handles.
Most of the custom Ti handled balis I've seen are bead blasted for grip and not drilled to save weight.
Still the grip should be good and I like the traditional drilled handles over fancy inlaid micarta handles.
The old mdl 45 weighed in at 5.0 oz, the new 42 is quoted at 4.0 oz. Not much difference. Of course it may not feel right when it hits the street, but I suspect it will work just fine.
Anodized handle colors?, whatever.
And I suppose if one does not like the blade shape and material one could have a blade ground to whatever shape and out of whatever material and finish one desires. It would void the warranty, but this doesn't seem like a big deal to me.
I love the feel of a full sized (4") bali in my hand.
I think it's gonna be tits.
------------------
Ron Knight
[This message has been edited by RKnight (edited 03-22-2000).]
According to Steve Hravey the Sandvik blade steel is fine grained, sounds like a candidate for a polished edge to me.
The latch gate, and removable latch are solid design advantages.
The prev mdl 45 latch was a severe problem. At first I thought I could overcome the tendency for the latch to stick under the handle and damage the blade. But my attempts to manipulate with more authority resulted in crinkled chrome on the cast handles.
Most of the custom Ti handled balis I've seen are bead blasted for grip and not drilled to save weight.
Still the grip should be good and I like the traditional drilled handles over fancy inlaid micarta handles.
The old mdl 45 weighed in at 5.0 oz, the new 42 is quoted at 4.0 oz. Not much difference. Of course it may not feel right when it hits the street, but I suspect it will work just fine.
Anodized handle colors?, whatever.
And I suppose if one does not like the blade shape and material one could have a blade ground to whatever shape and out of whatever material and finish one desires. It would void the warranty, but this doesn't seem like a big deal to me.
I love the feel of a full sized (4") bali in my hand.
I think it's gonna be tits.
------------------
Ron Knight
[This message has been edited by RKnight (edited 03-22-2000).]
