Richard
BOUNCED EMAIL: I need to update my email address in my profile!
- Joined
- Oct 3, 1998
- Messages
- 1,742
Monday I got the Alan Folts Mantis I traded DeadinNC for. For those not familiar with it go here www.bladeforums.com/ubb/Forum/HTML/001422.html
The sheath on mine is just a hair differant, but not much. My knife is # 7 of 25. I believe the blade is ats34 (is that correct Alan) and the handle is black Micarta. I spoke with Alan about it on in the chat room before I got it. I asked if the handle was glued on, as I could see no pins in the picture. He said it had Micarta pins. Sure enough it does, they blend in well, you can see them if you know they are there. I figured with no grooves in the top guard for you thumb, it might be a little iffy as far as grip security on thrusts. I bit the bullet and gave it a good thrust in a tree, the holes drilled in the Micarta seem to really help give it a good grip and the top and bottom guard do work. The point was fine after that as well. I have a few old 2 X 4s out back that me and my son go hack and carve on from time to time. I used the Mantis for this, the edge held up pretty well, my arm got tired before the edge ever went dull. Just a few strokes down the Spyderco sticks and it was back to shaving easily. As for the sheath, it is well made. It does not work for me as a neck knife, it seems the handle thickness makes it print big time. Probably in winter when I wear bigger, thicker shirts, neck carry may work. I carry it inside the waist band, it conceals very good like that, and the draw is very fast thanks to the thicker handle which allows a quick, secrure grip. I have a rekat neck knife that works very in neck carry, but the thin handle is not as quick to get a good grip on, everything is a trade off I guess. Alans sheath come with a few attatchments for a variety of carry, I have not really messed with them as the IWB carry works great. For carrying it that way, I run a piece of para-cord through the holes in the sheath and then around my belt and tie it off. It keeps everything as thin as possible. It comes with a belt attachment that can screw onto the sheath, but unfortunately when I do that and snug up the screws, it tightens the sheath so much I have to wrestle the knife out, maybe im doing something wrong, I dont know, but my method works great so its no big deal. Sorry this got so long winded, im not very good at writing reviews, but trust me, this is a great, well built knife. Alan is a great guy as well, in the chat room he let me ask all the questions I wanted about the knife, and was very helpful. He told me to let him know if I had any more and he would be happy to answer. If you ever had an interest in getting a custom knife you would do well to get in touch with him. Hopefully this is just my first Folts knife and not my last.
The sheath on mine is just a hair differant, but not much. My knife is # 7 of 25. I believe the blade is ats34 (is that correct Alan) and the handle is black Micarta. I spoke with Alan about it on in the chat room before I got it. I asked if the handle was glued on, as I could see no pins in the picture. He said it had Micarta pins. Sure enough it does, they blend in well, you can see them if you know they are there. I figured with no grooves in the top guard for you thumb, it might be a little iffy as far as grip security on thrusts. I bit the bullet and gave it a good thrust in a tree, the holes drilled in the Micarta seem to really help give it a good grip and the top and bottom guard do work. The point was fine after that as well. I have a few old 2 X 4s out back that me and my son go hack and carve on from time to time. I used the Mantis for this, the edge held up pretty well, my arm got tired before the edge ever went dull. Just a few strokes down the Spyderco sticks and it was back to shaving easily. As for the sheath, it is well made. It does not work for me as a neck knife, it seems the handle thickness makes it print big time. Probably in winter when I wear bigger, thicker shirts, neck carry may work. I carry it inside the waist band, it conceals very good like that, and the draw is very fast thanks to the thicker handle which allows a quick, secrure grip. I have a rekat neck knife that works very in neck carry, but the thin handle is not as quick to get a good grip on, everything is a trade off I guess. Alans sheath come with a few attatchments for a variety of carry, I have not really messed with them as the IWB carry works great. For carrying it that way, I run a piece of para-cord through the holes in the sheath and then around my belt and tie it off. It keeps everything as thin as possible. It comes with a belt attachment that can screw onto the sheath, but unfortunately when I do that and snug up the screws, it tightens the sheath so much I have to wrestle the knife out, maybe im doing something wrong, I dont know, but my method works great so its no big deal. Sorry this got so long winded, im not very good at writing reviews, but trust me, this is a great, well built knife. Alan is a great guy as well, in the chat room he let me ask all the questions I wanted about the knife, and was very helpful. He told me to let him know if I had any more and he would be happy to answer. If you ever had an interest in getting a custom knife you would do well to get in touch with him. Hopefully this is just my first Folts knife and not my last.
