Entrek Owners.....

M

MQC

Joined
Jan 10, 2005
Messages
4
Hello everyone,

I joined the forum yesterday to find out more about the Entrek line of knives. After typing "micarta" in the knife section of eBay and sifting through some of the crap overwelming crap being sold I stumbled apon some knives I really liked the look of. Registering with the forum and reading some posts I found about Entrek I surmised that basically the sheaths suck a@$ but the knives are pretty tough. So after some price searching I decided to buy one on eBay. The seller I bought the knife from has a website that might/might not be well known - www.entrekknives.com (Not the manufacturer). Anyway, they have the best prices on the Entrek line of any distributor on the net.

Now getting back to the title of this thread. Any owners of the Entrek, especially the Ranger please feel free to share your experiences with these knives. Also if anyone could suggest where I could get a nice sheath for my new Ranger for around $50 or so. I will search for some custom sheath makers, but I didn't think it would hurt to ask as well.

Thanks,
MQC
 
I had one of the knives. the sheath was bad, the knife OK - just too thick and heavy for its size. I traded it for a different knife.

David
 
I have an Entrek, 7" blade 3/16" stock. It's very nicely ground.
I think these knives are a good value.
 
Entrek knives are an outstanding value. Ray Ennis only makes appx. 50 knives a month. They are hand ground and hand finished. I have a cobra and I love it, very comfortable in the hand. Blade steel is 440C, and his heat treat is good, takes and holds an edge very well. I f you're interested, email me and I'll give you my sheathmakers name. He should be able to fix you up in the $50.00 range for a custom Kydex rig. Hope that helps......Jim :D
 
Thanks for the responce guys. To thick huh? The 1/4" stock is one of the things that I like about the Entrek knives. Of course everyone has their own preference and I certainly respect that, but I don't think I will find the blade is to thick.

Thanks allot for the offer Jim, but I guess I should have been more specific. I'm really looking for a leather sheath. I might even try to make my own. I've never taken kindly to the sound of kydex when sheathing or unsheathing a knife.

Anyway the knife I originally bought was the Recon. Then I discovered that the seller also sold all the other models at a great price as well. So I e-mailed him asking if I could upgrade my order to a Ranger ($25 difference), thinking it wouldn't be a problem (hence my first post). Well it wasn't a problem, except by the time they got my e-mail the knife had already been shipped. :grumpy: So when I get the knife I will decide if it's to my liking. If it's not I will sell the Recon in it's new and unused condition and then order a Ranger. I feel stupid for not looking more carefully at the sellers auction, but in my excitement I simply overlooked it. :o

MQC
 
I have an Entrek Javelina, which I bought primarily for extended winter hunting sessions. It has proven to be a really great knife, though I reprofiled it on a sharpmaker.

As mentioned the sheath really sucks, but it works. My sheath sratched the blade quite a bit. I'm still thinking about having Survival Sheaths make me a custom kydex for it.
 
MQC,

the only thing wrong with the Recon is ..... nothing that I can see !!

WOW, I'll have to do some research on Entrek.

Cheers,

Carl
 
I have owned an Entrek Companion now for several years and it is the best user fixed blade I have ever enjoyed. Ray has a great heat treat on his 440C...the blade really holds a superior edge and its ideal around water because of its effecient rust resistence. Here's one knife I don't need to baby and can always count on to cut easily !

-Regards
 
I have had a Companion for a while now, and I love it. It holds an edge well, has a great handle, and is very sturdy. I made some kydex for it and now it has a great sheath. I recently got a Buffallo that has a 7" single edged blade. The edge was extremely thick before I reprofiled it, but this is a great knife. I altered the factory kydex by moling the mouth of the sheath to hold the knife secuely, and I cut of the kydex balt loop and attatched a piece of nylon webbing instead with a couple of chicago screws. The one thing that really appeals to me about Entrek knives is that Ray Ennis epoxies the handle slabs on in addition to mechanical fasteners. I know that nothing is ever going to get under the slabs and slowly deteriorate the 440C.
 
I've got onje of the precursors to the Entrek line - a Montroc version of the Ronin... Same basic knives, just an evolution in the business...
Ray is a great guy to talk to if you can catch him at a show (I've run into him at the Eugene show several times...) and his knives are, IMHO, in the ballpark with Dozier and John Greco in terms of quality and value...
 
I like my survivor, yes the sheath really sucks. it is @.200 thick not 3/16 as advertised, which I prefer anyway. again I hate the fn sheath. If I want a better/thinner cutter I would get a kitchen knife. :D
 
I have an Entrek Elk. One hell of a knife. As tough as any other I've seen. Ray could use to make an agreement with a good sheath maker, though. ;)
 
I own the USA Javelina, and when I first got the knife I noticed the blade has a slight curve when looking down the spine. Not a huge deal because it still cut great, but over the years I have really gotten into knives and started buying other brands such as Busse, Bark River, Essee....etc. Since owning these other brands it has made me question several more things about this Javelina. The Jimping looks absolutely horrible!! It looks as if whatever tooling that was used to make the jimping was dull because the edges are clearly rough, and full of chatter. The screws holding the Micarta slabs on the handle have grind marks all over them, as if he just screwed in the screws and them put it to a belt sander to make it flush with the Micarta. The sheath is also something that belongs in the trash. The belt "clip" is so weak that when you try to take the knife out of the sheath the entire sheath comes off the belt. However, even with me nit-picking the small things, I will say that for the money these are tough knives. I would recomend looking at one in person before buying it, I should have looked it over better before buying it at Smoky Mountain Knife works, but I didn't and I blame myself. I have not contacted Ray for any warranty work because I blame myself for not paying attention to detail before purchasing it. I will say that this knife has been abused more than any of my other knives have because once I noticed several defects I decided it would be a dedicated work horse and has performed very well. The heat treat seems to make the 440C the best it can be, however I strongly disagree with Ray's thoughts regarding super steels as being all hype....I have had to sharpen my entrek more often than other knives that were used in the same manner for that day. Please don't think I am totally down on Entrek, for the MONEY, they are great knives that will last a lifetime, but if you are an overly picky person and details and aesthetics matter, you might be dissapointed.
 
I've had an older version Entrek Cobra for over ten years now (no jimping). Great little knife. I used it at work on a shipping dock (cutting, prying) for a few years before I switched to a larger knife. I have no complaints regarding the edge retention of my knife. When it got a little dull, I gave it a few strokes on a hone and it was sharp again.

Just to be consistent, the sheath I recieved was sub-par (thin kydex). But I thought I heard that Entrek improved their sheaths. Guess you'll find out. I make my own leather sheaths so I didn't mind the one that came with the knife.

One thing I wish was different about the knife- I wish I could remove the handle bolts. It's not a big deal, I just like being able to take my knives apart.

I also sanded down the bead-blast finish. I like the way it looks, but my knife would sometimes get sweat on it and rust would develop in the blade surface.

I hope you like your knife.
 
Love my Entrek knives. They're users, not safe queens. Yeah, the sheaths suck but you're not paying for a sheath. The new satin and polished finishes he does are much better than the bead blast.
 
marcinek said:
psst. 2005.
Click to expand...

Crap, I got bit by a zombie thread. "I'm a damn ZEKE". Now I'm destined to wander Bladeforums looking to feed my insatiable hunger on hapless forumites until someone plunges a knife through my infected brain. I sure hope it's not some cheap Gerber. Man, being a zombie sucks bad enough without meeting my end on the blade of a Gerber. If I might make a request- perhaps an older model Al Mar fixed-blade. They have a certain elegance to them. Yeah, I don't think I would mind having my un-dead days brought to an end with a nice Al Mar.

Hmm, I'm getting awfully hungry.
 
killgar said:
Crap, I got bit by a zombie thread.
Click to expand...

It was a pretty subtle one, being exactly ten years old to the day.

That said, while I do not own an Entrek, I may very well do so in the future. They seem like very well made knives, made buy a good guy, sensibly designed, at a reasonable price. Very appealing knives.
 
Rightwinger said:
I own the USA Javelina, and when I first got the knife I noticed the blade has a slight curve when looking down the spine. Not a huge deal because it still cut great, but over the years I have really gotten into knives and started buying other brands such as Busse, Bark River, Essee....etc. Since owning these other brands it has made me question several more things about this Javelina. The Jimping looks absolutely horrible!! It looks as if whatever tooling that was used to make the jimping was dull because the edges are clearly rough, and full of chatter. The screws holding the Micarta slabs on the handle have grind marks all over them, as if he just screwed in the screws and them put it to a belt sander to make it flush with the Micarta. The sheath is also something that belongs in the trash. The belt "clip" is so weak that when you try to take the knife out of the sheath the entire sheath comes off the belt. However, even with me nit-picking the small things, I will say that for the money these are tough knives. I would recomend looking at one in person before buying it, I should have looked it over better before buying it at Smoky Mountain Knife works, but I didn't and I blame myself. I have not contacted Ray for any warranty work because I blame myself for not paying attention to detail before purchasing it. I will say that this knife has been abused more than any of my other knives have because once I noticed several defects I decided it would be a dedicated work horse and has performed very well. The heat treat seems to make the 440C the best it can be, however I strongly disagree with Ray's thoughts regarding super steels as being all hype....I have had to sharpen my entrek more often than other knives that were used in the same manner for that day. Please don't think I am totally down on Entrek, for the MONEY, they are great knives that will last a lifetime, but if you are an overly picky person and details and aesthetics matter, you might be dissapointed.
Click to expand...
I can address some of your concerns. As far as the knife being crooked, I'm surprised. Ray surface grinds his knives after heat treat with liquid cooling. Must have been a fluke. Call Ray and he will fix it without question. The knives are cut with a laser or waterjet. The people that laser them need to change tips or slow down if the jimping has burrs. The allen head screws do have some grinds marks on them because they are ground down with the handle to match the profile. Give Ray a call. He is a great guy and will make things right.
 
I have a Ranger and it is from fare away my best 440c knife. Compared to the other ones it is the easiest to sharpen (as easy as 1095) and it keep a very good edge (I will say close to CPM154). Knife Geometry is very good as well as balance for such a big knife then the finish is ... rough and the sheath, well, forget about it! But at the end of the day it is a great reliable tool.
 
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