Honest objective criticism

jbmonkey said:
except the few of us who knew from the getgo and told ya we knew what it was. im in walmarts a lot.

for 4 bucks give or take its likely not bad for what it is....not sure on heat treat though.......may have to buy one and test it myself .......
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That would be great, because my cutting needs aren't too demanding.
I would say it touched up about like a Victorinox, a little harder than my old 440a colonial.
 
marcinek said:
If it serves your performance and finish needs and expectations, great. :thumbsup:

Though, to me, Vic steel far outperforms 440A.
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Well my Victorinox knives and this old colonial I have are similar in sharpening, maybe it's American 440a was just well treated.
Anyways the blade in this knife is in the range of a Victorinox or maybe the 420hc of the blade on my Leatherman.
 
Hickory n steel said:
Well my Victorinox knives and this old colonial I have are similar in sharpening, maybe it's American 440a was just well treated.
Anyways the blade in this knife is in the range of a Victorinox or maybe the 420hc of the blade on my Leatherman.
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"In the range" of those steels for what? Just ease of sharpening?
 
Hickory n steel said:
Well my Victorinox knives and this old colonial I have are similar in sharpening, maybe it's American 440a was just well treated.
Anyways the blade in this knife is in the range of a Victorinox or maybe the 420hc of the blade on my Leatherman.
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What's the blade length on it?
 
marcinek said:
"In the range" of those steels for what? Just ease of sharpening?
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Pretty much, I'll have to use it more but I'd bet it holds an edge similarly.
It's obviously a lot cheaper than a Victorinox, but I've had a lot of cheapo knives that I really couldn't get to take an edge.
 
PWatkins said:
What's the blade length on it?
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Blade is 2-7/8" , cutting edge is 2-5/8".
The handle is exactly 3-3/4" with exactly 3" of room for your fingers if you don't consider the pinky hugging the back end of it.
I guess I've got small hands because it fits mine perfectly.
 
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marcinek said:
Look, a 4 dollar knife isn't going to explode on you....but will it's edge hold up to any use? Will the lock or pivot fail? Will the blade snap due to imperfections or bad HT?
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All good points, Hickory. Before you use it, you might want to check the warranty. It does have a full lifetime warranty, doesn't it? :D :thumbsup:
 
I'm glad you guys could be objective about this knife.
In my opinion its decent and punches way above it's price tag.
Like me you're probably not generally into ultra inexpensive folders like this , but what this knife is for the price is a good sign.
We still don't know exactly what were getting blade steel / treat wise , but we can at least get a knife that's not totally cringe-worthy if we need to pick up something really cheap like this for some reason.

I've got a Case slipjoint coming my way that I'll need to put in my pocket, but I will carry this for the week at least and maybe here and there down the road if it goes well.
 
If these sell for ~$5 like someone else mentioned then I'm going to pick some up to practice my sharpening skills on my new to me KME.
 
If these are the ozark trail knives they are 420j steel. The designer behind this line of knives wrote about his philosophy behind making these knives and mentioned the steel was 420j. His main goal was a sturdy lock so it was safe to use
 
leghog said:
Which are the most important data to know. Not having any clue DOES make the knife "totally cringe-worthy" IMHO.
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in my opinion for a knife this inexpensive all that really matters is that it takes a good edge and is safe to use without failing in short order.
For a work bench, loaner, or tackle box knife thats just fine.
 
Hickory n steel said:
in my opinion for a knife this inexpensive all that really matters is that it takes a good edge and is safe to use without failing in short order.
For a work bench, loaner, or tackle box knife thats just fine.
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And have you gotten any evidence of that?

To me taking a good edge isn't that important. Anything will do that. Keeping a good edge is important.
 
I have such a knife in my wife's tackle box, but that makes in no less "totally cringe-worthy".
 
stonproject said:
If these are the ozark trail knives they are 420j steel. The designer behind this line of knives wrote about his philosophy behind making these knives and mentioned the steel was 420j. His main goal was a sturdy lock so it was safe to use
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That's good to know, and seems to fit with how easily it touched up.
No 420j is not known to be great, but I think that's because a lot of it is ran too soft to even take an edge.

This knife won't stay sharp forever, but if I can bring the edge back in seconds on the bottom of a coffee cup I can work with it.

You guys aren't going to believe this, as I was typing this I was opening a pack of crackers with this Ozark trail knife. I wasn't paying attention when closing it and cut the tip of my index finger pretty good.
 
Hickory n steel said:
That's good to know, and seems to fit with how easily it touched up.
No 420j is not known to be great, but I think that's because a lot of it is ran too soft to even take an edge.

This knife won't stay sharp forever, but if I can bring the edge back in seconds on the bottom of a coffee cup I can work with it.

You guys aren't going to believe this, as I was typing this I was opening a pack of crackers with this Ozark trail knife. I wasn't paying attention when closing it and cut the tip of my index finger pretty good.
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Ouch! Now you have to keep it. I'm gonna pick one up and do some cut test with it. Hopefully i can avoid losing any blood.
 
PWatkins said:
Ouch! Now you have to keep it. I'm gonna pick one up and do some cut test with it. Hopefully i can avoid losing any blood.
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Definitely.
The ironic thing is that I was typing about how easy it was to sharpen when it reminded me how sharp it is.
 
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