Got an opportunity to buy a 511

ozgooner

ozgooner

Joined
Sep 24, 2011
Messages
1,486
Met up with a local guy today who wanted to buy one of my knives and we had a bit of 'show and tell' time of our other blades and right at the end he pulled out a Sykco 511 that he's looking to offload. Right away it impressed me but I didn't get a lot of time to play with it. Opinions on this knife would be appreciated as he's going to hold on to it for a couple of weeks for me while I try and rustle up some cash. Any pros/cons I should take into consideration? Looking at it as a basic camp/bush knife which might also see some hunting action. (And yes, I get that asking here is a bit like asking a 'bama native if the Tide are any good at football).
 
Great blade, as long as the handle fit your hand.

Great steel, and great warranty, comfy handle material, what's not to like.
 
I have four of them, the handle fits/works for me (and the intended use of the blade). Quality/warranty/value can't be beat. What sort of $$s is he asking ??
 
It's brand new and he's asking $150, which is not much more than it would cost to order it direct from the Yard by the time you factor in their $54.95 international shopping, and minus the hassle. Is it your pics I've seen on ABF?
 
For me the handle doesn't work. It doesn't feel very well balanced.
I'd rather go with RMD than 511, but it might work for you.
 
What are you waiting for? Don't let this opportunity pass by, you'll kick yourself later if you do!
 
The 511 is just okay for me, the handle worked well for me but didn't care for the blade as a whole. I had one of the Military Overruns with the full flat grind, which had a very nice full flat grind which made for one of the sharpest edges I've seen on a Bussekin blade. But as Elof, mentioned the balance was just really bad for me. The 511 should work well as a camp/hunting/bushcraft knife, but I'd actually go a different route for myself....

I would either go with something larger or smaller personally, reason being that a 5" blade like the 511 will never be a good at chopping, splitting and such. It is also too large to excel at the smaller knife stuff like carving, skinning, and such. I've yet to find a 5" knife that I was satisfied with and I've had quite a few.....

-M/O 511
-Custom Shop RMD
-War Dog
-Scrapper 5 SE
-M/O HG-55

In my opinion these are some of the best 5" blades the kin has produced, but I've ended up parting with all of them as they are just too awkward for the small stuff and not up to the big knife stuff.

My recommendation would be either go for something in the 6-8" range if it will be a one knife scenario, OR a large knife (9.5" +) paired with a small knife (3.5" to 4.5") if you can afford them.

In the 6-8" range, I like the the Rodent 6, Ratmandeux LE, Ratmandu Prototype and 711.

For a large knife I like the 911, Rodent 9, M9 and 1311.

For smaller kin, my preferences are for the 311, 411, Howling Rat LM and Rodent 4.
 
Thanks for the input. I had a friend let me borrow his RMD for a couple of weeks and I just couldn't warm to it. The handle didn't work for me for some reason, although it's undoubtedly a great knife. I do have a couple of big blade knives from other manufacturers so I'm not really looking to go there. To be honest, I probably wouldn't even be considering this one if this guy hadn't pulled it out but since it was there...well you know how it goes. :)
 
ozgooner said:
Thanks for the input. I had a friend let me borrow his RMD for a couple of weeks and I just couldn't warm to it. The handle didn't work for me for some reason, although it's undoubtedly a great knife. I do have a couple of big blade knives from other manufacturers so I'm not really looking to go there. To be honest, I probably wouldn't even be considering this one if this guy hadn't pulled it out but since it was there...well you know how it goes. :)
Click to expand...

For some reason I actually like the Howling Rat LM handle which is ALMOST identical to the RMD. THe only difference is the handle thickness being a good bit thinner on the HRLM, but for some reason it works quite well for me. I also really like the Hairy Carry handle which is kind of a scaled down RMD handle, go figure.....:confused:

I'd say resist the urge on the 511, I find that impulse purchases seldom work out for me when it comes to Bussekin blades. There's just too many designs out there and you really should do some careful study on them before dropping the loot, which I know is not advocated very often here ...... usually the advice is to get as many as you can afford and sell what you don't like. They must have a lot of disposable income......:rolleyes:
 
I wanted a couple to be the sister knives to my 1311s

About 180 for 2 delivered i thought...

I think they are a great size for a bush knife. I wonder how much the coating would limit their use...
 
I have used a coated knife or two and the coating does not seem to have a big affect on performance. Plus if it does, just use the heck out of it to wear it down to your liking. ;)
 
I prefer the Ratmandu to the 511. Feels better and more balanced in the hand to me.
 
pap11y said:
I wanted a couple to be the sister knives to my 1311s

About 180 for 2 delivered i thought...

I think they are a great size for a bush knife. I wonder how much the coating would limit their use...
Click to expand...

It does not limit! It just changes the parameters a bit.
After some use the coating becomes smooth and has little impact on performance.
If you're still not happy... there's the paint stripper...
 
I say get it. You say you prefer it to the RMD and it would cost the same as ordering it direct from the factory but without the wait. It's a no brainer to me.

I love my MO 511, btw.
 
I found the handle on the 511 to be too small for the blade, I think that size handle is be best suited to a small blade. That being said I love the 711, the blade and the handle go together better. I also have a Basic 10 and feel the same way. I had a Basic 4 but again found the handle to not fit the blade for me. I traded that for a wardog and like that combo better. Good luck!
 
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