I just recieved a Commander from Botach. Now I have heard alot of bad things about Botach. Mine was delivered when they said it would be and they even sent a tracking #. On the other hand I ordered a SF green handled knife. What I rec. was a black bladed, black handled plain edge Commander. At first I was kind of bummed, but then giving the knife the once over I am glad they sent it. I like it. Probably would have liked the green handles just for something different but this sure does look tactical. Now for the good part and that is the QC. It is done very nicely. The blade centers perfectly, I have alot of leeway on the pivot adjustment, and the blade was sharp out of the box. The coating was perfectly done with no thin spots. The thing I have noticed about the CQC and the Mach 1 I have is that although out of the box lock up and blade centering was very good the sharpness left alot to be desired. These are both SF blades so didn't worry about the coating. What I like is a very very sharp blade and all of my knives are this way. Safer and easier to use. Although the Comm. was sharp it still wasn't close to hair shaving sharp like I like them. The first two were a bear to sharpen cause I had to reprofile the edges. The Comm. was much easier to sharpen. I am surprised by this as tis type of blade lends itself to being very difficult to sharpen. It wasn't and I was able to do this on my Lansky system without goobering up the edge and the catel to the edge matched pretty decently all the way down the knife blade with 30deg. ON the other two it wasn't really close. Probably the biggest thing I don't like about the knife is the wave on the spine. It waves very nicely by the way and is very easy to deploy fast. Problem is I can see where it has a definet advantage in a defensive situation, I don't buy any of my knives for that reason. I have had a CCW for giong on 28 yrs and carry a .45acp for this type of social endeavour should the need ever arise. Twice in my life it has BUT with 0 shots fired. Did save my bacon and my wifes hide once too. The thing is the wave tears up my pants pocket and I would like to be able to draw the knife easily without the blade comming open. The other thing is the clip, it is very tight to the pants pocket and this knife sits lower in the pocket than the CQC or the Mach1 so a bit harder to deploy. I will also state here I am not a real big fan of the chisel ground edge. Although all 3 will cleanly shave on both sides of the blade now. That being said I also don't think the finish on the liners is up to what it should be. Tool marks etc. That is about it. Outside of cosmetics really and the wave the Commander I have is solid, sharp and intimidating to draw and look at. For the price it was a steal. Much less than what used are going for. Check out there site and call to make sure it is in before ordering. I think you will once again enjoy a well made knife for muc less than the retail or resale price. Keep'em sharp and Merry Xmas.
