Hogue Compound G-10 OTF

evilgreg

evilgreg

Why so serious?
Joined
Dec 25, 2012
Messages
4,092
I got this knife in today and I haven't seen anything about them here so I thought I'd fix that.

In an effort to find new ways to blow money on knives I've been buying up various OTFs of late, trying to find out what I like and don't. I've worked my way through a handful, including a Benchmade Phaeton, an Ultratech I bought ages ago and a secondhand UTX-85 that looked brand new, among others.

When I saw the Hogue Compound I was drawn to it for one main reason--the G-10. It's a G-10 outer body around an aluminum frame, instead of the usual mostly-aluminum construction.

It's a useful 3.5" basic drop point blade shape and it weighs 3.5 ounces and it's about 4.9" closed.

I took a few quick pictures today:

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First impressions are great. It has about the average amount of blade play, and it does rattle just a bit, but it feels great in hand. Action is snappy, no complaints. The deep carry pocket clip works well also.

Where most of the autos I've tried are some variation of the aluminum box shape, sometimes with at least the dogleg shape to help provide purchase, this thing feels completely different by way of the full G-10 outer shell. The knife doesn't feel any less sturdy for it, but the G-10 is IMO a big improvement over aluminum. The Compound has the dogleg shape and protrusions at the top and bottom of the side opposite the switch, and I feel like I have the most secure grip with this knife out of the small bunch of OTFs I've tried.

Long story short, if you've ever wanted a nice OTF but were turned off by aluminum handles, this could be the knife for you. I feel like it's already the front runner for being my favorite OTF so far, but I'll have to give it some carry time before I go that far.
 
How's the edge thickness and blade grind? One of the reasons why I like Microtech is they'll give you an auto with an edge that's less than .010" thick, but they usually do have wedge-like blade geometry otherwise.
 
marrenmiller said:
How's the edge thickness and blade grind? One of the reasons why I like Microtech is they'll give you an auto with an edge that's less than .010" thick, but they usually do have wedge-like blade geometry otherwise.
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It's not terrible, but it definitely could be thinner. It's a high flat grind. The cheap digital calipers I have in my desk think it's 0.02" behind the edge (just above the shoulders on both sides of the edge grind). I haven't re-profiled it yet, but I doubt it's ever going to cut as well as my favorite Chinese auto, a Vespa Ripper, which is hollow ground and very thin, 0.01" behind the edge. I already like the Compound enough to know it's a keeper, so I'll knock the shoulders off and thin it down at the edge grind which will help a bit.

It's the handle shape and G-10 that have me loving it, but the blade is fine and I'm sure it will be perfectly functional. It's weird, I found the handle protrusions unattractive when I was shopping for it, but where so many autos give me that "hard to hold onto narrow aluminum box" feel, the compound makes it feel like your hand really locks in. The standard screws (T10 all over, I think) are a nice bonus as well--I hate custom screws with a passion.
 
Give Guardian Tactical a try. Pretty good for less than MT money.
 
ScooterG said:
Give Guardian Tactical a try. Pretty good for less than MT money.
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I think the fact that it is G-10 is what he's happy about. I agree, I'm not a huge fan of metal handles. G-10 bored me, but Hogue has that G-mascus, which is very different.

I like it, though for the price I'd like a better steel.
 
K.O.D. said:
I think the fact that it is G-10 is what he's happy about. I agree, I'm not a huge fan of metal handles. G-10 bored me, but Hogue has that G-mascus, which is very different.

I like it, though for the price I'd like a better steel.
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Yup, it's the G-10 that sets it apart for me. I have a pile of aluminum autos, but this one feels much nicer in hand to me by way of it being G-10.

The knife is on sale at multiple vendors this week, incidentally, I paid ~$240 for it.
 
I'm honestly surprised more otf makers haven't done this. Seems like a natural progression of things. If I could carry an otf, I'd be all over this. I believe bhq has a version for $250 right now. I think that is a reasonable price.
 
craytab said:
I'm honestly surprised more otf makers haven't done this. Seems like a natural progression of things. If I could carry an otf, I'd be all over this. I believe bhq has a version for $250 right now. I think that is a reasonable price.
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I'm surprised as well, after handling it. I prefer the feel of G-10 on it enough that even though my favorite of the other OTFs I've tried is smaller in the pocket, has less play, and is thinner behind the edge, the Compound has leapfrogged it to be my new favorite.

The G-10 is just slightly more textured than being fully smooth, and it has a hexagonal pattern milled into it as well. It feels warmer and more grippy without being so grippy that it's tough on the pants coming out of the pocket.

I carried a green original style Benchmade 940 and I liked the knife a lot, but I pretty much always carry a G-10 variant (usually the 940-1701) when I carry a 940 series knife because I like the way it feels better.
 
Can we get a side-by-side shot of how thick the handle is vs the UTX-85 or other OTFs?
 
evilgreg said:
It's not terrible, but it definitely could be thinner. It's a high flat grind. The cheap digital calipers I have in my desk think it's 0.02" behind the edge (just above the shoulders on both sides of the edge grind). I haven't re-profiled it yet, but I doubt it's ever going to cut as well as my favorite Chinese auto, a Vespa Ripper, which is hollow ground and very thin, 0.01" behind the edge. I already like the Compound enough to know it's a keeper, so I'll knock the shoulders off and thin it down at the edge grind which will help a bit.
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Why seemingly no American company has made an OTF with thin stock, a thin edge, and FFG blade to compete with a good side opener like the LUDT is completely beyond me. I'd buy one and I can't even carry them in this state. The closest I've ever seen to that is the Combat Troodon, and that could be so much slicier.
 
chiral.grolim said:
Can we get a side-by-side shot of how thick the handle is vs the UTX-85 or other OTFs?
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It's almost the same thickness as the UTX-85, just a hair thicker (mind you it's a larger knife, with a 3.5" blade). It's thinner than the Ultratech by a fair chunk. I'm not near calipers (or any other pocket knives at the moment) but I have a ruler and it looks to be almost exactly 0.5" thick.

marrenmiller said:
Why seemingly no American company has made an OTF with thin stock, a thin edge, and FFG blade to compete with a good side opener like the LUDT is completely beyond me. I'd buy one and I can't even carry them in this state. The closest I've ever seen to that is the Combat Troodon, and that could be so much slicier.
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I agree, but I don't want to limit the sentiment to OTFs, I think most expensive pocket knives could do with some thinning down of their bladestock. I have precious few nice knives that have really thin blades. Every time I cut something with my William Henry E10 I'm reminded of just how much too thick most of my knives are.

That said, the Compound isn't a ludicrous wedge like the ZT 0801 or anything, it's just average-too-thick, not special-extra-too-thick. I do wonder if there's some way I could kill the rattle without hampering the mechanism, though.

I like the G-10 enough that it's hampering my shopping already; I'm looking at the GT knives ScooterG ScooterG recommended (a RECON-035 in particular) and I'm having a hard time pulling the trigger on another aluminum handled OTF.

FWIW, the best build quality I've seen on an aluminum OTF so far is on that Vespa Ripper--everything about it feels small and dense and tight and strong. That thing is built like a brick. Less play than most, no rattle and an absolutely stout feel to it. It's smaller than this Compound, but slightly heavier (3.6oz vs 3.5oz, IIRC). However anyone feels about them, the knife is very well made.
 
evilgreg said:
Yup, it's the G-10 that sets it apart for me. I have a pile of aluminum autos, but this one feels much nicer in hand to me by way of it being G-10.

The knife is on sale at multiple vendors this week, incidentally, I paid ~$240 for it.
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May I ask where? Cheapest I've seen was $250 at BHQ but I'm not a fan of the green G-MASCUS. I may just go with a UTX 85 if I can find a decent price locally.
 
K.O.D. said:
May I ask where? Cheapest I've seen was $250 at BHQ but I'm not a fan of the green G-MASCUS. I may just go with a UTX 85 if I can find a decent price locally.
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bladeops, coupon code HOGUE20 ends up being $244.61.

I'm not a big Microtech fan but if you like aluminum handles the UTX-85 is a nice little knife.
 
marrenmiller said:
Why seemingly no American company has made an OTF with thin stock, a thin edge, and FFG blade to compete with a good side opener like the LUDT is completely beyond me. I'd buy one and I can't even carry them in this state. The closest I've ever seen to that is the Combat Troodon, and that could be so much slicier.
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How about the Piranha Rated-R? It's got a pretty thin blade.
 
Thanks for the pics of the internals. Looks real beefy compared to most other brands. I've been thinking of picking one of these up, now with the 20% off code I might just have to do it:thumbsup:.
 
Keep us updated on how you like it. I'm hesitant as always to buy a knife with S30V. I'm on the fence right now.
 
K.O.D. said:
Keep us updated on how you like it. I'm hesitant as always to buy a knife with S30V. I'm on the fence right now.
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I used it on all of my weekend projects. I've been babying the nice autos I've bought, because I knew I'd probably be moving them on to new homes as I'm not super into OTF knives. Previously the only ones I'd beat on at all were the cheap China/Taiwan knives I had no intention of ever selling off when I bought them.

The G10 handle is a game changer for me, though. I like it enough more than all the aluminum ones I tried that I immediately decided it was a keeper. I gave it a quick re-profiling and sharpening and started misusing it immediately. ;)

Over the holiday weekend I did some gardening and also a bunch of small siding and flashing related repairs, and tuned up my snowblower. I ended up cutting some aluminum with it to save a trip down the ladder to get the snips I left on the ground. I cut wire ties, caulk tube tips, cut up excess rodent & bug blocking expanding foam, scraped same foam off brick where I really used too much on the gap next to the flashing above one window and other odds and ends. I scratched it up a bit in use, so it's already starting to get that lived in look. I used it to trim the strips of tire or whatever that were coming apart on the blades of my snowblower when I did some "winter is coming" prep as well. I also whittled with it in the back yard--I have an unending supply of broken cottonwood branches, more every time a storm rolls through, so I noodle on them when we're sitting out.

The bit of blade play still annoys me, the button has a long travel to actuate, and it does have a bit of blade rattle when it's closed. That said, I've been using it heavily since it arrived and haven't pined for some other knife. I'm liking it so far. By way of not having an aluminum box of a handle it's my favorite at this point.
 
Thanks. After all that, any chipping or microchipping on the blade?

Like you, I too am from ill-inois ( :thumbsdown::poop:), and metal handles suck in the winter. That's why I got rid of most of my Ti framelocks. Having a piece of metal in the pocket when it's 10° is not pleasant, especially when wearing slacks.

If I do decide to buy an OTF, I think you've sold me. Still thinking I may not want to spend so much at this point in time. We'll see.

Major thinkage going on. Can you smell the smoke?
 
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