I went to the Tanner Gun Show to find some sights and magazines for a couple of pistols. I found neither, but this didn't prevent me from finding something on which to blow my money:
A Hissatsu-2 folder from Columbia River Knife and Tool.
A vendor who had a table visits his daughter in Seattle and there's a CRKT store there that's going out of business. He buys out their supply of knives and sells them here for reasonable prices. I laid out $40 even (no tax was charged) for the knife, which looked new - no box was included. It was likely a display.
I have a SOG Trident with a plain tanto blade, TiNi coated. It's a great knife for clipping to a pocket, but it's a little on the large size - and I work in a school with a bunch of gangbangers, so I don't want a "back-pocket knife" as that sends an anti-social image to already-troubled youth. I had purchased a Boker AK-47 in black/black TiNi, but for the same reasons, a fully-automatic knife is an impossibility in that situation. I really needed something with a smaller blade that would resist pocket damage, offer assisted blade deployment, but be somewhat more circumspect. I had been eyeballing the Hissatasu-2 for about 3 months but decided I'd purchase it because I really, really liked the way it handles - the blade, with CRKT's "Outburst" technology, ejects with about 75% of the authority of the absolutely crazy Boker AK-47.
The Hissatsu-2's blade has a unique shape, with a straight belly and long, slightly-curved tip. Out of the box, it's fairly sharp - you can shave with it in three or four passes. I can - and will - get it one-pass sharp this afternoon so it will compete with the SOG. Steel is AUS-8. Yes, it's made in China, which doesn't seem to have negatively impacted the product quality, as everything about this knife feels like top-shelf stuff. The way the blade moves, the circular thumb stud, the refined satin finish on the blade, the Japanese character engraved on the reverse of the scales - even the font of the laser-etching on the blade is magnificent. All reflects bespoke quality, instead of mass-produced Chinese ho-hum crap.
Highlights: Scales are physically beautiful. The micarta has a sort of subdued wood-grain pattern, coupled with some kind of a carbon-fibre type look which is also highly subdued. All fixtures are satin black as is the moveable clip. The stainless liners offset the all-black scales, along with the stainless AUS-8 blade. LAWKS is NOT an auto, so you must flip it forwards with the thumb. The blade is physically beautiful! The cutout to access the blade acts as a recess for your index finger, which may prevent slippage. A touch more texturing here would have been nice but it's no impedance to safety. The liner lock quickly moves out of the way and the blade swings back on what feels like greased roller-bearings to a spring index point, preventing it from popping into a wayward finger. It's VERY easy to close, but the lock holds it rock-solid. This knife feels like a mini-katana!
The downside: The scales have been rounded into a nice compound curve, and in doing so, it appears that the factory made them a might smooth. The Japanese characters engraved on the ant-clip side offer the user some additional traction, but alas, they are in a location where the user doesn't apply much pressure and so you lose the benefit from this decorative improvement. The could have cross-cut the back of the blade and the thumb stud to give some jimping for the user's thumb. As such it's a cleaner presentation but reduces safety a tiny bit. The lock doesn't snap into place with any authority and seems to be easy to disengage, which is the worst aspect of this knife as it seems like kind of an afterthought.
I've only had this knife for a day and I can tell it's a winner. I am thinking already of customizing the scales with some texturing, a job which can best be accomplished by a professional. Is there anybody on this board that does this kind of work?
A Hissatsu-2 folder from Columbia River Knife and Tool.
A vendor who had a table visits his daughter in Seattle and there's a CRKT store there that's going out of business. He buys out their supply of knives and sells them here for reasonable prices. I laid out $40 even (no tax was charged) for the knife, which looked new - no box was included. It was likely a display.
I have a SOG Trident with a plain tanto blade, TiNi coated. It's a great knife for clipping to a pocket, but it's a little on the large size - and I work in a school with a bunch of gangbangers, so I don't want a "back-pocket knife" as that sends an anti-social image to already-troubled youth. I had purchased a Boker AK-47 in black/black TiNi, but for the same reasons, a fully-automatic knife is an impossibility in that situation. I really needed something with a smaller blade that would resist pocket damage, offer assisted blade deployment, but be somewhat more circumspect. I had been eyeballing the Hissatasu-2 for about 3 months but decided I'd purchase it because I really, really liked the way it handles - the blade, with CRKT's "Outburst" technology, ejects with about 75% of the authority of the absolutely crazy Boker AK-47.
The Hissatsu-2's blade has a unique shape, with a straight belly and long, slightly-curved tip. Out of the box, it's fairly sharp - you can shave with it in three or four passes. I can - and will - get it one-pass sharp this afternoon so it will compete with the SOG. Steel is AUS-8. Yes, it's made in China, which doesn't seem to have negatively impacted the product quality, as everything about this knife feels like top-shelf stuff. The way the blade moves, the circular thumb stud, the refined satin finish on the blade, the Japanese character engraved on the reverse of the scales - even the font of the laser-etching on the blade is magnificent. All reflects bespoke quality, instead of mass-produced Chinese ho-hum crap.
Highlights: Scales are physically beautiful. The micarta has a sort of subdued wood-grain pattern, coupled with some kind of a carbon-fibre type look which is also highly subdued. All fixtures are satin black as is the moveable clip. The stainless liners offset the all-black scales, along with the stainless AUS-8 blade. LAWKS is NOT an auto, so you must flip it forwards with the thumb. The blade is physically beautiful! The cutout to access the blade acts as a recess for your index finger, which may prevent slippage. A touch more texturing here would have been nice but it's no impedance to safety. The liner lock quickly moves out of the way and the blade swings back on what feels like greased roller-bearings to a spring index point, preventing it from popping into a wayward finger. It's VERY easy to close, but the lock holds it rock-solid. This knife feels like a mini-katana!
The downside: The scales have been rounded into a nice compound curve, and in doing so, it appears that the factory made them a might smooth. The Japanese characters engraved on the ant-clip side offer the user some additional traction, but alas, they are in a location where the user doesn't apply much pressure and so you lose the benefit from this decorative improvement. The could have cross-cut the back of the blade and the thumb stud to give some jimping for the user's thumb. As such it's a cleaner presentation but reduces safety a tiny bit. The lock doesn't snap into place with any authority and seems to be easy to disengage, which is the worst aspect of this knife as it seems like kind of an afterthought.
I've only had this knife for a day and I can tell it's a winner. I am thinking already of customizing the scales with some texturing, a job which can best be accomplished by a professional. Is there anybody on this board that does this kind of work?
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