I'm hoping this will do it for a while...

[Medic1210]

Just received my new-to-me Lg 21 with Micarta Inlay to go with my Sm 21 Insingo Micarta. I will admit that I had toyed with the idea of purchasing a large Insingo and performing a blade swap on this one too so I'd have a matching pair, but I gotta say, I kinda like the blade shape. Man, this thing has a pointy tip. A couple of first impressions... As one would expect, when you've only owned/held and carried a small for 3 months, a Lg feels HUGE. I mean, I'm used to larger knives, owning and carrying both a BM Rift as well as BM 710, so it's not like I've never owned a large folder. I've seen photo comparisons, so I knew it was larger, but still, you don't really appreciate the size difference until it's in your hand. You'd think that for a 1/2" blade difference, the overall difference wouldn't be so much, but it is... It really fits my hand nicely, and I thought the small fit well. I still feel the Small is a perfect EDC size, since it's less intimidating around non-knifers. This thing could really cause some stares in certain environments. Another thing, I think that the larger blade allows the primary grind to be more acute since the primary grind is wider than on the small, making it a better slicer. Since this is a used model, I didn't expect the edge to be factory sharp, so I wasn't disappointed to see that it needed a little touchup on my DMT stones. She's hair poppin' now, and will get a proper re-profile and polish on my Wicked Edge when I get home in June. Until then, she's plenty sharp for what I need. As you can see, she has a polished blade, which is kinda odd since I thought the Micartas were made as 'users' and CR felt the bead blast handles and stone washed blade was the better choice. I gotta say, I think I prefer the stone wash finish. This polished blade shows fingerprint smudges like crazy, and I feel compelled to constantly wipe the blade down to remove them, while this isn't the case with my small Insingo. No biggie though. I can change it if I want to later on. One thing I noticed that kind of surprised me is that the top micarta inlay seems a hair small compared to the hole it's mounted in. You can actually see a gap and when held in the right light, can see shiny metal. Doesn't affect the function in any way, and since this will be a user, I really don't care. I'm just surprised to see that considering the level of precision CRK uses when making their knives. It's almost like the Micarta has shrunk, but I don't think that would happen. No worries though. It's not very obvious unless you were looking for it. Anyway, now I have to decide what's the best way to carry both, or decide if I'm going to swap them out. This is three Sebbies in just under 4 months, so I really need to control myself from this point. I don't like buying knives I'm not going to actually use, so I can't justify any more at this point.

Well, enough talking.... Here's some quick snapshots. I'll post some proper photos when I get home and can use my nicer photo gear. You can kinda see what I'm talking about in the first photo if you look at the top of the top micarta inlay. The thin light strip is reflection of light off the handle cutout. I'm guessing it's not bead blasted prior to insertion of the inlay, so it reflects light showing the gap.

And here is a closeup to try and show better what I'm talking about. Very hard to capture on camera, because you have to hold the knife just right in relation to the light to see it. Not a major issue, but I don't think this is really up to CRK standards.

One more from a better angle....