yablanowitz
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2006
- Messages
- 10,057
A few days back, Sal asked if I would review something for him. I replied that I would be honored to do so, and a short time later the UPS man dropped off a package from Golden. In it was the new Fluted Titanium Native 5.
While I'm not the pickiest person around, I went over the knife closely (far more closely than I normally do) and didn't find anything to fault in the fit and finish. In fact, the bit of jimping on the end of the lockbar is so well done that I didn't even notice that little touch on my first look.
Overall length is 6 7/8" open, with the blade length being 2 15/16" to let it pass where blade length is legislated to below 3". The handle is on the thick side, measuring 0.412" at the thickest point excluding the clip. The phosphur bronze washers are visible through the clip screw holes, which might be a path for dirt to enter the pivot area, but should provide a handy path to flush it out as well. The edge was ground at 25° included which, while shaving sharp out of the box, proved a bit too thin for the S35VN to stand up to our local hardwoods. At least the edge rolled rather than chipping. The blade thickness behind the edge averaged 0.025" thick, rather chunky for my taste, but reasonable for a tactical knife, I suppose. It certainly minimized the damage caused by the knots in the ash that I used for testing. Once I cut a new secondary bevel at about 35° included, the knife cut quite well, with no further damage to the edge. It was surprisingly comfortable to use as well, with no noticeable hotspots in an hour of constant cutting on some very hard wood.
While I'm not the pickiest person around, I went over the knife closely (far more closely than I normally do) and didn't find anything to fault in the fit and finish. In fact, the bit of jimping on the end of the lockbar is so well done that I didn't even notice that little touch on my first look.
Overall length is 6 7/8" open, with the blade length being 2 15/16" to let it pass where blade length is legislated to below 3". The handle is on the thick side, measuring 0.412" at the thickest point excluding the clip. The phosphur bronze washers are visible through the clip screw holes, which might be a path for dirt to enter the pivot area, but should provide a handy path to flush it out as well. The edge was ground at 25° included which, while shaving sharp out of the box, proved a bit too thin for the S35VN to stand up to our local hardwoods. At least the edge rolled rather than chipping. The blade thickness behind the edge averaged 0.025" thick, rather chunky for my taste, but reasonable for a tactical knife, I suppose. It certainly minimized the damage caused by the knots in the ash that I used for testing. Once I cut a new secondary bevel at about 35° included, the knife cut quite well, with no further damage to the edge. It was surprisingly comfortable to use as well, with no noticeable hotspots in an hour of constant cutting on some very hard wood.
. Sadly I can't own one of these for a while, way too pricey. Is this a sprint Native or production?
