A little over 2 weeks ago, I posted a preliminary review of this knife. http://home6.inet.tele.dk/ansoe/ansoknives/grsheep.html Fit and function on both knife and the kydex sheath and carry system were superb. I have now carried this knife exclusively for the last 2 weeks and used it for a number of everyday chores and several specific tests. I am happy to report that my initial impression remained correct as this little beauty has done everything that could be expected of a small utility knife. I have used the knife to open letters, slice paper, cut string, electrical tape, paracord, roast, bologna, paper bags, shrink wrap, bags of top soil and speaker wire with no problems at all. The damasteel has held an edge as well as any other knife steel that I have experience with and a bonus is that small scratches are hidden by the damascus pattern. I have had no problems with any type of rust and I have not wiped the knife with oil during he test. I did wash it with dishwashing soap and water before and after food preparation.
The carry system is well thought out with a means to carry in just about any position you would want to put a knife in. The only problem I had was that the belt loops for both vertical and horizontal carry were way too tight for me to get my belt through. I do not wear and overly thick belt (1 1/4" wide, 1/4" thick.) Being a tinkerer and wanting to carry the knife on my belt, I fixed the loops by submerging them in boiling water until the kydex becam flexible, then removing them and running the belt through them and shaping them to my particular belt. This only took about 5 minutes and worked perfectly. I carried the knife in vertical and horizontal on the belt and also by using the flap to hang it upside down from the trauma plate pocket of my body armor while at work. I found this to be a good way to carry the knife as I could unzip my shirt slightly, reach in and the knife handle would be right there. It is actually faster that getting a folder out of my pocket and opening it. I did not get to use the shoulder strap that came with the system as it has been just too hot here to wear a covering garment. Most of the time I just used the supplied paracord to wear the little knife hanging from my neck.
Yesterday, as a final test, I made 30 cuts to a piece of 1050 cord (twice the strength of standard 550 paracord,) and 30 cuts to nylon grass trimmer line. Toward the end of the nylon line, I noticed having to push much harder to get the blade to go through the line. A quick thumb test showed that the blade was a little less sharp near the tip than at the base. I think this is normal due to the fact hat the tip gets far more use. A test on arm hair showed the blade to still be sharp enough to shave with only a small amount of drag, so I have not sharpened it.
In summary, I think this is a great little knife that can actually be used hard and still look great. The damasteel and tan g10 tend make the knife look less threatening and I did not receive the usual comments that I sometimes get when lending the knife to someone at work. This is one that you won't see posted on the for sale board. Jens offers several small personal carry knives at very reasonable prices. If you are in the market, give him a look at http://home6.inet.tele.dk/ansoe/ansoknives
Thanks for reading,
Lewis
[This message has been edited by Lewis (edited 19 July 1999).]
[This message has been edited by Lewis (edited 19 July 1999).]
[This message has been edited by Lewis (edited 19 July 1999).]
[This message has been edited by Lewis (edited 19 July 1999).]
The carry system is well thought out with a means to carry in just about any position you would want to put a knife in. The only problem I had was that the belt loops for both vertical and horizontal carry were way too tight for me to get my belt through. I do not wear and overly thick belt (1 1/4" wide, 1/4" thick.) Being a tinkerer and wanting to carry the knife on my belt, I fixed the loops by submerging them in boiling water until the kydex becam flexible, then removing them and running the belt through them and shaping them to my particular belt. This only took about 5 minutes and worked perfectly. I carried the knife in vertical and horizontal on the belt and also by using the flap to hang it upside down from the trauma plate pocket of my body armor while at work. I found this to be a good way to carry the knife as I could unzip my shirt slightly, reach in and the knife handle would be right there. It is actually faster that getting a folder out of my pocket and opening it. I did not get to use the shoulder strap that came with the system as it has been just too hot here to wear a covering garment. Most of the time I just used the supplied paracord to wear the little knife hanging from my neck.
Yesterday, as a final test, I made 30 cuts to a piece of 1050 cord (twice the strength of standard 550 paracord,) and 30 cuts to nylon grass trimmer line. Toward the end of the nylon line, I noticed having to push much harder to get the blade to go through the line. A quick thumb test showed that the blade was a little less sharp near the tip than at the base. I think this is normal due to the fact hat the tip gets far more use. A test on arm hair showed the blade to still be sharp enough to shave with only a small amount of drag, so I have not sharpened it.
In summary, I think this is a great little knife that can actually be used hard and still look great. The damasteel and tan g10 tend make the knife look less threatening and I did not receive the usual comments that I sometimes get when lending the knife to someone at work. This is one that you won't see posted on the for sale board. Jens offers several small personal carry knives at very reasonable prices. If you are in the market, give him a look at http://home6.inet.tele.dk/ansoe/ansoknives
Thanks for reading,
Lewis
[This message has been edited by Lewis (edited 19 July 1999).]
[This message has been edited by Lewis (edited 19 July 1999).]
[This message has been edited by Lewis (edited 19 July 1999).]
[This message has been edited by Lewis (edited 19 July 1999).]