- Joined
- Jul 22, 2009
- Messages
- 11,409
At 10.25" Overall length with a 4.5" blade length, this is among my longest knives. It's definitely a handful of knife, and at about 6.5 oz it's no lightweight.
The lockup is nice and early:
The main attraction is of course the lightning strike carbon fiber scales:
Of course, I do find myself wondering if tarnishing is a possible future concern with that copper or bronze wire weave. Would be nice if anyone could confirm it, and whether or not I should put Ren wax on it.
I find myself comparing it closely to my Large Sebenza 21. While the tolerances aren't quite as impossibly tight, I actually haven't noted any custom knife thus far to have Sebenza level tolerances. The fit and finish however is superb. The contour of the handles is very smooth and brings out the pattern in the LSCF quite well. The carbon fiber itself is finished smooth in every millimeter of it from the sides to the back. The satin finish on the blade is beautifully done.
The only possible complaint is that the blade came at about "Benchmade standard" sharpness. That is to say, the angle is fairly obtuse at about 25 degrees per side or greater, and there was a small touch of a burr left on one side. Needless to say, I felt the need to put my own edge on the blade. During sharpening, I did notice it took quite a bit longer to rebevel than my Sebenza(about 20+ minutes on my Worksharp with a moderately worn 60MX belt), which to me suggests a significantly higher Rockwell hardness of somewhere in the 60-61 range, or maybe even higher. Which to me is more desirable for S35VN. To the maker it can make grinding in the annealed state a good deal easier, though the customer would see more benefit if the steel is pushed harder than S30V, which it can definitely handle.
Also the liner sticks a bit, though so did my R.J. Martin Overkill, my Yuna Mini Hard 2, and my Galyean Pro Turbulence, so it just needs to be broken in(or break ME in
) some more. I call it a gentleman's knife because it can be wrist flicked open, though the lock will stick even harder if I do, so it obviously wasn't meant to be opened in a hurry. I also feel this knife has some significant appeal to people who like the ergonomics of Emerson knives, but could do without the wobbly liner lock, the 154CM steel that chips more while being softer, and a higher level of fit and finish:thumbup:.