- Joined
- Oct 3, 1998
- Messages
- 3,264
Gerber has hired a factory in Taiwan to make a Michael Walker design liner lock. Here's a scan of it:
<A HREF="http://www.chaicutlery.com/gerber/walker.jpg" TARGET=_blank>
large image</A>
Here's the other side:
www.chaicutlery.com/gerber/walker-closed.jpg
And a close-up look at the lockup, showing how the safety, when engaged, blocks the liner lock from being released.
www.chaicutlery.com/gerber/walker-lockupdetail.jpg
It's ATS34, G10, and a design by a liner lock guru who can get good money for his work, and it's priced to compete with Spyderco and Benchmade. A lot of folks think "cheap" when they see "Made in Taiwan, but Taiwan is an industrial democracy with a high-tech industrial base where quality control may be bought, and this is a precise product. The grinding is precise, the action is smooth (though tight), the blade goes right down the middle of the handle, etcetera. We'll know more about performance, like how good their heat treat is, after they've been in use for a while.
I do have one class of nit to pick with this knife. Sharp edges. Right angles that should be "broken" for comfort. My unscientific survey in the office says that the pocket clip is too sharp along the edge, and needs careful work with a fine file to break the corners. Even more so with the safety. You push it to engage it, and you pull it to disengage it, and when you pull it your thumb tells you that that front edge of the safety is sharp! A little careful attention with the diamond file on a Leatherman Wave made it a bit less nasty.
The clip, by the way, is for all practical purposes unremovable, since it takes some special tool to turn the pivot screws.
The blade is a terribly practical general purpose shape, such as you find on a typical puukko for example - a mostly straight edge, with some belly at the above-center point.
We'll know more as these knives get used more.
------------------
- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
[This message has been edited by James Mattis (edited 08 December 1999).]
<A HREF="http://www.chaicutlery.com/gerber/walker.jpg" TARGET=_blank>
Here's the other side:
www.chaicutlery.com/gerber/walker-closed.jpg
And a close-up look at the lockup, showing how the safety, when engaged, blocks the liner lock from being released.
www.chaicutlery.com/gerber/walker-lockupdetail.jpg
It's ATS34, G10, and a design by a liner lock guru who can get good money for his work, and it's priced to compete with Spyderco and Benchmade. A lot of folks think "cheap" when they see "Made in Taiwan, but Taiwan is an industrial democracy with a high-tech industrial base where quality control may be bought, and this is a precise product. The grinding is precise, the action is smooth (though tight), the blade goes right down the middle of the handle, etcetera. We'll know more about performance, like how good their heat treat is, after they've been in use for a while.
I do have one class of nit to pick with this knife. Sharp edges. Right angles that should be "broken" for comfort. My unscientific survey in the office says that the pocket clip is too sharp along the edge, and needs careful work with a fine file to break the corners. Even more so with the safety. You push it to engage it, and you pull it to disengage it, and when you pull it your thumb tells you that that front edge of the safety is sharp! A little careful attention with the diamond file on a Leatherman Wave made it a bit less nasty.
The clip, by the way, is for all practical purposes unremovable, since it takes some special tool to turn the pivot screws.
The blade is a terribly practical general purpose shape, such as you find on a typical puukko for example - a mostly straight edge, with some belly at the above-center point.
We'll know more as these knives get used more.
------------------
- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
[This message has been edited by James Mattis (edited 08 December 1999).]
