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The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Impofu - what a monster!
- Thread starter PiterM
- Start date
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2001
- Messages
- 18,423
Man that thing is awesome!
Lone_Wolfe
Mrs G.
- Joined
- May 3, 2011
- Messages
- 13,958
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2005
- Messages
- 1,806
Just hold that thing up, the mail will open itself!
Ha, good one!
Just hold that thing up, the mail will open itself!
With a Sebenza in one hand and the Impofu in the other...it BETTER...like Moses parting the sea. Plus, I'll have no hand free to do it otherwise. Open, mail, OPEN!
The Impofu has arrived here since I last posted, so here are my initial impressions, which do not include any actual use in the outdoors - for the time being it will be put into storage (sorry).
First, the sheath. It is sturdy and a piece of art in leather works, as would be expected from Gfeller Casemakers. In fact, my GF has spent more $$$ on some fancy little handbag (hey, what do I know...) that uses less leather than this sheath and doesn't seem to contain anything more useful than a lipstick or whatever, so by that metric alone I could say that the knife itself is a free add-on by CR!
The knife: Obviously, large. The handle slabs are substantial, grippy, and nicely contoured; much more comfortable than those on my 7" Green Beret (which is also a Harsey design). As with the GB, the full tang stands slightly proud of the micarta handle slabs. Somewhat to my surprise, the spine of the blade is ground flat right up to the swedge instead of rounded-off as it is on the GB (and, e.g., the Nyala or pretty much any other CR knife AFAIK). Also, there are substantial flat-ground portions both on the top and the bottom of the tang, i.e. the handle is quite edgy in those portions. I have no idea what lead to that design choice. The finish on the sides of the blade, with the same Gun-Kote coating, is somewhat rougher than that on the GB. Feels like a high-grit sandpaper. The grind lines are perfect. The edge is sharp. The balance feels great in hand.
Back to the handle, I understand that CR use - in addition to the screws - some type of 3M sticky tape instead of glue to affix the micarta handle slabs. Consequently, there is a noticeable gap to the tang (about 0.15 mm according to the feeler gauge I keep around to adjust the valves on my old Beemer) all along the outer perimeter of the handle slabs. Dare I say that I am more impressed by the handle fit and finish of some of my knives made in Michigan?
All in all, I like it.
First, the sheath. It is sturdy and a piece of art in leather works, as would be expected from Gfeller Casemakers. In fact, my GF has spent more $$$ on some fancy little handbag (hey, what do I know...) that uses less leather than this sheath and doesn't seem to contain anything more useful than a lipstick or whatever, so by that metric alone I could say that the knife itself is a free add-on by CR!
The knife: Obviously, large. The handle slabs are substantial, grippy, and nicely contoured; much more comfortable than those on my 7" Green Beret (which is also a Harsey design). As with the GB, the full tang stands slightly proud of the micarta handle slabs. Somewhat to my surprise, the spine of the blade is ground flat right up to the swedge instead of rounded-off as it is on the GB (and, e.g., the Nyala or pretty much any other CR knife AFAIK). Also, there are substantial flat-ground portions both on the top and the bottom of the tang, i.e. the handle is quite edgy in those portions. I have no idea what lead to that design choice. The finish on the sides of the blade, with the same Gun-Kote coating, is somewhat rougher than that on the GB. Feels like a high-grit sandpaper. The grind lines are perfect. The edge is sharp. The balance feels great in hand.
Back to the handle, I understand that CR use - in addition to the screws - some type of 3M sticky tape instead of glue to affix the micarta handle slabs. Consequently, there is a noticeable gap to the tang (about 0.15 mm according to the feeler gauge I keep around to adjust the valves on my old Beemer) all along the outer perimeter of the handle slabs. Dare I say that I am more impressed by the handle fit and finish of some of my knives made in Michigan?
All in all, I like it.