Fallkniven TK3 Review

S

sodak

Joined
Mar 26, 2004
Messages
6,223
I recently purchased a TK3 from knifeworks.com, and thought I'd review it for you all. It's a fairly small lockback with no clip and 3G powdered metal laminated blade.

It came very sharp, on par with Spyderco, Dozier, and Buck. Hair popping and treetop trimming. I'll have to add Fallkniven to my list of manufacturers who know how to sharpen a knife! Very nice initial sharpening!

The knife is very comfortable in the hand and in the pocket. It is small enough that pocket carry is fine, although a sheath comes with it, I don't think it's needed. Keep in mind, this is a fairly small folder. It fits fine in my medium sized hands, and I prefer smaller folders.

The steel has very good edge retention. I cut through 10 - 12 ft. of cardboard with very little edge degradation. It still shaved, but didn't "pop" arm hair. It seems to be easily on par with D2 and CPM 3V. I proceeded to accidentally blunt it cutting open a shipping container for a new barbell - barbells dull knives... Sharpening on dmt stones followed by a stropping on a linen strop with Thiers Isaard paste returned it back to it's hair popping ability.

The only downside for me was the choice of handle material. I really don't like natural materials, and prefer synthetics such as micarta. They aren't offered on this one, and so I chose red quince, which ended up having several cracks, which has happened to me with wood, bone, and other natural materials.

All in all, a very nice little folder. The steel really holds a good edge, and sharpens easily.

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q203/sodak_photos/p1010001-5.jpg
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q203/sodak_photos/p1010003-3.jpg
 
thanks for the review/pix sodak :thumbup:
I don't have any of those fancy TK3's .... only a zytel handled TK4 which I thought had the same blade steel as the TK3's .....just significantly cheaper and lighter.....great knife :cool:
 
Nice looking knife. Looks like a gents knife with great steel that's not afraid of real use.
Thanks for the review.
 
Nice review of a nice little knife. I really like these small Fallkniven folders. Excellent steel and a decent edge geometry, plus these knives don't look "dangerous" to the sheeple - and that's a definite advantage in many situations.

Hans
 
I thought I'd follow this up with a more long-term report.

Short story - I love this knife. If I had to have only 1 (pocketknife), this would be on my very short list... The steel is *very* easy to sharpen, and really holds it's edge well. I thinned it out a little (ok, a lot :D), now the edge grind is pretty much out to the lamination junction. I used my Edgepro for doing that, but since then, have been maintaining the edge on dmt followed up by ceramic.

The ergonomics of this knife continue to impress me. It's one of the nicest handling pocket knives that I own. I'm still not fond of the red quince handle material, it has several small cracks. They haven't propagated, but in years to come, probably will. If this knife had Micarta handles, it would be perfect. If you're the type that likes natural handle materials, then it's already perfect for you.

With the edge thinned out as shown in the following pictures, I can easily cut 20 - 30 meters of heavy cardboard and still easily shave hair. I can't wait to try this out on a hog.

To put it in perspective, if I lost this knife, I would order another one tomorrow, regardless of the handle material. I'm not affiliated with Fallkniven in any way.

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q203/sodak_photos/p1010011-3.jpg
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q203/sodak_photos/p1010012-1.jpg
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q203/sodak_photos/p1010187.jpg

PS - There's no ding on the edge, the flash of my camera made it look that way.
PPS - I forgot to mention the lockup is still rock solid after 8 months.
 
Thanks for the update. I have two questions, do you know approximately what the included angle is that you thinned the edge to?

Is this model made in Sweden or Japan, as are the other Fallknivens?
 
My tests show 3G edge retention around AUS-8 nothing close to Dozier D2 or CPM 3V.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
Nozh2002,
Yes, our tests have very different outcomes.

AkaDave2,
Yes, it really works well. Very sharp, and lasts a very long time! This is pretty much my favorite non-pocket-clip pocket knife! This steel really works well.
 
It's in post 5. I just cut the cardboard up and checked on my arm, as well as on phone book pages, which are pretty thin. I'm not doing rope testing for a while, I have aggravated old elbow injuries with that. I have certain boxes from weekly Costco trips that I cut up, and count the cuts, and then compare how well it shaves both before and after, and compare that to other known knives, such as Doziers or Queens in D2.

It's not scientific, but I've done enough of this over the years to get a feel for how the edge is holding up.
 
sodak said:
It's in post 5. I just cut the cardboard up and checked on my arm, as well as on phone book pages, which are pretty thin. I'm not doing rope testing for a while, I have aggravated old elbow injuries with that. I have certain boxes from weekly Costco trips that I cut up, and count the cuts, and then compare how well it shaves both before and after, and compare that to other known knives, such as Doziers or Queens in D2.

It's not scientific, but I've done enough of this over the years to get a feel for how the edge is holding up.
Click to expand...

I am sorry for your elbow, I had same to and recover for a while until I started this session.

But can you put it into some table with other steel?

Problem I have - there is no other data to compare with. But this is very important to see for me to make sure I am doing it right or if I have bad knife, wich is also possible. I was expected from 3G and from SG2 way better performance myself - I thought it should be same as for CPM S30V.

But both Takefu steels I have show if not poor but average performance, which makes me think that this is Takefu problem not mine. Also I tested P folder not TK3. Do you have P with 3G? If so what is your test results for it? And SG2 was on JYD Ti/SG2 may be you have this one as well.

Thanks, Vassili.

Now to my understanding scientific or not is not about fancy lab or tester title. It is about formal testing in same conditions which can be repeated. So if you sharpen knifes to same level, then cut same cardboard until it stop shaving arm and put length of cut to make it dull in table for different steels - it is very scientific to me. AT least it is way more scientific then what we have right now (nothing?).
 
Good points! Sure, I'll put it in a table, but I'm going to have to wait until after Thanksgiving, too busy right now. If you don't hear from me, feel free to shoot me a PM or email and remind me. Also, if you want to double check me, I'll be happy to send this one to you so you can try it under your own methods. I've got no problem with that at all, and would be very interested in your opinion.

I've only got the TK3, and my JYD is Sandvik 13c26, if I'm not mistaken. But seriously, I'd be happy to send this one to you, I've been very happy with it's performance. It sounds like you might have gotten one with bad heat treat or something.

I know what you mean, I've had such strange results with some knives, I sometimes feel like I'm in an alternate universe or something...
 
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