Richard
BOUNCED EMAIL: I need to update my email address in my profile!
- Joined
- Oct 3, 1998
- Messages
- 1,742
I have had this knife for about a month or so, and have carried and used it almost everyday since then.
First off, fit and finish is on the low side of average. Its difficult to see in the small photo, but the inside of the handle has some pretty obvious tooling marks. On the outside of the handle where the rubber inserts are the handle has been milled out for each one so that the inserts are flush. The milling is ok I suppose, but a few tool marks are visible, the the milling is slightly uneven is a couple of places.
The rubber inserts are supposed to aid in grip security...they could have done without them. The rubber is fairly hard and not at all grippy. If your hands sweat then the rubber simply becomes as slick as the rest of the aluminum handle. They do add a bit to the look though.
The blade is aus8 (I think). Edge holding seems to be pretty decent. I have used it on quite a few boxes with good results from the very sharp factory edge. The other night I hit a racoon that ran across the highway at night not giving me enough distance to do anything to avoid him. Apprently it cracked the plastic shield on the underside of my Saturn (darn thing must be 90% plastic car). The next day driving down the road the shield broke off on one side and was dragging under the car. Not having any tools ro remove it and it not being fixable I used the Gerber to cut it away on the shoulder of the road. The plastic was fairly thick (maybe 1/8" or so) and hard. Space underneath the car was tight, and slicing was not working. I grabbed a mag-lite from the car and pushing the knife and smacking the back of the blade (as best I could in the small space) through the plastic. This seemed to dull part of the edge somewhat, although no damage occured.
The black finish on the blade has some scuff marks from the car incident, but no bare metal shows through them, so IMO it held up well enough.
The thumbstuds work well enough, but I dont care for the design. The have small extentions on them which stick out and catch on pockets. They are also not very comfortable on the thumb. I think they could have recessed the frame cutouts some more and left the thumbstuds how they are minus the extentions.
The liner lock seems secure enough for a light to medium utility folder and smacking the back of the blade to help cut the shielding away didnt seem to phase it in the least. I dont do spine whacking, si I have no idea if it would pass or not.
The clip is mounted to allow the knife to ride very low in the pocket. Good for keeping the knife out of site, a pain the in butt for getting the knife out quickly. There is nothing to grab. No big deal really, but I prefer to have a small bit of handle poking out to grab.
The knife is comfortable to hold and use, although if my hands were any larger at all then I think the handle might have been to small...best if you handle one before buying if you have large hands. Construction is solid enough, but as stated above, the cosmetic fit and finsish is on the low side of average.
The knife is priced right, and seems reliable enough, although I think in the same price range that Columbia River knives win hands down. Also some of the offerings from Outdoor Edge would be worth checking out first.
This one will continue to get occasional use as a carry knife, but if I ever lose it I doubt I will get another.
First off, fit and finish is on the low side of average. Its difficult to see in the small photo, but the inside of the handle has some pretty obvious tooling marks. On the outside of the handle where the rubber inserts are the handle has been milled out for each one so that the inserts are flush. The milling is ok I suppose, but a few tool marks are visible, the the milling is slightly uneven is a couple of places.
The rubber inserts are supposed to aid in grip security...they could have done without them. The rubber is fairly hard and not at all grippy. If your hands sweat then the rubber simply becomes as slick as the rest of the aluminum handle. They do add a bit to the look though.
The blade is aus8 (I think). Edge holding seems to be pretty decent. I have used it on quite a few boxes with good results from the very sharp factory edge. The other night I hit a racoon that ran across the highway at night not giving me enough distance to do anything to avoid him. Apprently it cracked the plastic shield on the underside of my Saturn (darn thing must be 90% plastic car). The next day driving down the road the shield broke off on one side and was dragging under the car. Not having any tools ro remove it and it not being fixable I used the Gerber to cut it away on the shoulder of the road. The plastic was fairly thick (maybe 1/8" or so) and hard. Space underneath the car was tight, and slicing was not working. I grabbed a mag-lite from the car and pushing the knife and smacking the back of the blade (as best I could in the small space) through the plastic. This seemed to dull part of the edge somewhat, although no damage occured.
The black finish on the blade has some scuff marks from the car incident, but no bare metal shows through them, so IMO it held up well enough.
The thumbstuds work well enough, but I dont care for the design. The have small extentions on them which stick out and catch on pockets. They are also not very comfortable on the thumb. I think they could have recessed the frame cutouts some more and left the thumbstuds how they are minus the extentions.
The liner lock seems secure enough for a light to medium utility folder and smacking the back of the blade to help cut the shielding away didnt seem to phase it in the least. I dont do spine whacking, si I have no idea if it would pass or not.
The clip is mounted to allow the knife to ride very low in the pocket. Good for keeping the knife out of site, a pain the in butt for getting the knife out quickly. There is nothing to grab. No big deal really, but I prefer to have a small bit of handle poking out to grab.
The knife is comfortable to hold and use, although if my hands were any larger at all then I think the handle might have been to small...best if you handle one before buying if you have large hands. Construction is solid enough, but as stated above, the cosmetic fit and finsish is on the low side of average.
The knife is priced right, and seems reliable enough, although I think in the same price range that Columbia River knives win hands down. Also some of the offerings from Outdoor Edge would be worth checking out first.
This one will continue to get occasional use as a carry knife, but if I ever lose it I doubt I will get another.
the rubber inserts do help in grip for me...i do agree they could have done better. over all a great knife you just gotta learn to love it 
