- Joined
- Aug 9, 2006
- Messages
- 718
Entrek knives don’t seem to have a high profile on the various forums but the little I have read on them has been very positive. They seem to be pitched at the hard use, heavy duty end of the market.
This is my first experience with one of their knives – indeed it is the first Entrek I have actually seen.
The model is the Backup Utility and is the ‘baby’of the Entrek model lineup.
The knife is 8 7/16 inches overall with a 3 7/8 inch blade. Blade thickness is 3/16 inch. The steel is 440c, hollow ground with a dull grey finish and has black canvas micarta scales over a full exposed tang. There is a lanyard hole in the grip.
The Backup Utility comes with a black kydex sheath fitted with a belt clip. There are holes around the outside of the sheath if you want to tie or lash it to something.
The knife as delivered was sharp enough for use but needed some work. It would shave hair but only just. The edges seemed nicely ground but not very symmetrical. Easy enough to remedy and no worse than most knives on the market.
Overall workmanship was good – close examination showed some minor variations in grind lines between the two sides of the blade but you have too look hard and very critically to see them. The micarta slabs are well fitted.
Someone remarked to me that the Entrek looked a bit like a kitchen paring knife and I can see what they mean but in the hand it feels a lot more substantial. The grip might look minimal but the handling qualities are good and it provides a very secure hold.
I have provided some comparison pics showing knives with similar overall dimensions. The Entrek is shown between a Busse Active Duty and a Fallkniven F1. These are all pretty chunky mid sized knives.
The sheath is something I can’t get positive about. The first time I drew the blade it came from the sheath covered in bits of black kydex. This is still happening as the accompanying pic shows. Sometimes it is hard to get the knife back into the sheath as the tip or blade hang up on something internally. If I hold the sheath upside down and give it a good shake the knife falls loose. I would never lash the knife in the vertical position. As the construction of the knife makes it very grip heavy, the sheathed knife is a bit unstable when clipped to a narrow belt.
Overall
This is a well made knife that has shown good edge holding in the tasks it has been put to so far. I really don’t do much in the way of artificial testing of knives but I get a feel for them pretty quickly. The ergonomics are good for me and the only criticism I have in this regard is that too much of the weight is back in the grip. These knives are marketed as tough, hard use pieces and to criticise them for being overbuilt is not really fair. But, having acknowledged that, I think this would be a better knife if the tang were partly skeletonised. I don’t think the integrity would be compromised much but the balance would improve as a result and the weight of the knife would be reduced to be more proportional to its size.
I recommend the knife. I don’t have the same enthusiasm for the sheath.
This is my first experience with one of their knives – indeed it is the first Entrek I have actually seen.
The model is the Backup Utility and is the ‘baby’of the Entrek model lineup.
The knife is 8 7/16 inches overall with a 3 7/8 inch blade. Blade thickness is 3/16 inch. The steel is 440c, hollow ground with a dull grey finish and has black canvas micarta scales over a full exposed tang. There is a lanyard hole in the grip.
The Backup Utility comes with a black kydex sheath fitted with a belt clip. There are holes around the outside of the sheath if you want to tie or lash it to something.
The knife as delivered was sharp enough for use but needed some work. It would shave hair but only just. The edges seemed nicely ground but not very symmetrical. Easy enough to remedy and no worse than most knives on the market.
Overall workmanship was good – close examination showed some minor variations in grind lines between the two sides of the blade but you have too look hard and very critically to see them. The micarta slabs are well fitted.
Someone remarked to me that the Entrek looked a bit like a kitchen paring knife and I can see what they mean but in the hand it feels a lot more substantial. The grip might look minimal but the handling qualities are good and it provides a very secure hold.
I have provided some comparison pics showing knives with similar overall dimensions. The Entrek is shown between a Busse Active Duty and a Fallkniven F1. These are all pretty chunky mid sized knives.
The sheath is something I can’t get positive about. The first time I drew the blade it came from the sheath covered in bits of black kydex. This is still happening as the accompanying pic shows. Sometimes it is hard to get the knife back into the sheath as the tip or blade hang up on something internally. If I hold the sheath upside down and give it a good shake the knife falls loose. I would never lash the knife in the vertical position. As the construction of the knife makes it very grip heavy, the sheathed knife is a bit unstable when clipped to a narrow belt.
Overall
This is a well made knife that has shown good edge holding in the tasks it has been put to so far. I really don’t do much in the way of artificial testing of knives but I get a feel for them pretty quickly. The ergonomics are good for me and the only criticism I have in this regard is that too much of the weight is back in the grip. These knives are marketed as tough, hard use pieces and to criticise them for being overbuilt is not really fair. But, having acknowledged that, I think this would be a better knife if the tang were partly skeletonised. I don’t think the integrity would be compromised much but the balance would improve as a result and the weight of the knife would be reduced to be more proportional to its size.
I recommend the knife. I don’t have the same enthusiasm for the sheath.
