- Joined
- Jan 26, 2012
- Messages
- 29,050
I've had this for just over 36 hours so naturally I'm an expert on it, and have some thoughts on this modern take on a traditional knife!
I know you are mostly here for the pics so I won't bother with the specs and I'll keep my thoughts brief. This obviously isn't going to compete with the 5,000 lb gorilla that is GEC. How could it. A great deal of the GEC selling point is not just in the traditional patterns and materials, but also in the process they are made. A GEC purist, some on these very boards, have scoffed at this knife. Well, this knife really isn't for them anyway, so that is fine. I would just hope that the hardcore traditionalist can appreciate what this knife is, but if they don't, I guess I can understand that too.
So who is the Federalist for? I think it is kind of for a guy or gal like me. Someone who is mostly into modern folders and fixed blades but who likes to dabble in traditionals. Someone who would like to maybe own more traditionals like all the nice GECs but has no chance at getting any when they "drop" and who is unwilling to pay the price in dollars, time, and frustration on the secondary market. The Federalist is a modern made, traditional style knife, using materials that straddle the genres, USA produced, and backed by a company that modern folks are very comfortable with. The price is right at around $100. It costs less than most of the Italian modern traditionals that a guy like me was also considering. Did I say USA made?
That was a lot of words so let's see some pics!
I like the blade shape, sort of. There is no recurve but you get that sort of effect in cutting because of the angle of the straight edge. The belly is a bit bulbous IMO, just under the point of being funny looking. The blade is thin and cuts really well like a traditional should. The spine is not rounded like the Italian traditionals but is nicely chamfered. Gimping is effective. The handle is comfy in hand, if a little thin. Materials are spot on for the price and purpose of this knife. I like CPM 154 as the steel choice, not a "super steel", but not the 1095 we always see in GECs, and no D2 which is currently everywhere in the Chinese imports.
Let's talk about the double detent. It is interesting. I really do like that it is different than other traditionals and moderns. Since there is no back spring with the double detent, the weight savings as compared to a traditional traditional (
) is drastic. This knife is extremely light for the size. Yes, it also achieves that with how thin it is but I think the lack of a back spring is the main weight saver. The downside for me is that it is less forgiving of accidental closing pressure from the spine side of the blade. Way more than any other traditional I've ever owned. Once that detent is overcome, it closes far easier than if there was constant back spring pressure. There is a half stop, which is really nice, but the ease of closing takes some getting use to. Still though, an overall win in the design column, for me anyway.
So, overall, there is way more good about this knife than bad, more good than I'll go over here. With that in mind, I'll go over a few nit-picks. Since we were just on the double detent, I have an issue with the half stop. To me, with the height and angle of the blade, it is more like an 80 degree stop (or 160, I don't know). Point is, if you grip the knife and try to close the blade to the half stop with your thumb, it will cut you and deep. This will be especially true for those of you with sausage fingers. I'm not sure this really matters that much but for me at least, I would have liked to be able to close the knife half way in this manner. As is, I still can, I just need to reposition my hand a bit and really trust that half stop (remember the bit above about the double detent being easier to overcome?).
I like the fact that this knife does not have a torx screw right in the show side pivot. This is something that has kept me away from most of the Italian Traditionals. I just find that ugly, and very untraditional. Now, what bugs me about the shield thing the Federalist has is that it appears to me to be off center, and not geometrically aligned with any other angle on the knife. It is just sort of there with no rhyme or reason. Completely my own OCD, I know, and in no way a deal-breaker, but it does bug me.
Two last minor gripes, I'd like to see the liners milled. Traditional folks may not care but coming from modern knives, I see an unmilled liner and say "why not mill that?". The knife doesn't need to save the weight, but why not mill it? Why? And last, the torx nuts aren't flush. The tox bolts on the show side are. Why not make them flush? I can't feel them in use, but why not make them flush? I think Kershaw could have figured this out.
I need a clip on a knife that is going to be carried regularly. I just do. I've had too many a SAK slip out of my pocket just carrying them loose. I usually attach a little dangler clip with a split ring so I did the same here but with a hollowed out piece of 550 cord neatly melted together to make it small and slim. While as I said in the opening, after 36 hours with this knife I am an expert on it, but I'll need more time to see if carrying it in this way will work for me as an EDC (the SAKs are always carried in this way as a back up blade, not constantly in and out of the pocket). If this does not work, a clipped pocket slip will be in my future.
I know you are mostly here for the pics so I won't bother with the specs and I'll keep my thoughts brief. This obviously isn't going to compete with the 5,000 lb gorilla that is GEC. How could it. A great deal of the GEC selling point is not just in the traditional patterns and materials, but also in the process they are made. A GEC purist, some on these very boards, have scoffed at this knife. Well, this knife really isn't for them anyway, so that is fine. I would just hope that the hardcore traditionalist can appreciate what this knife is, but if they don't, I guess I can understand that too.
So who is the Federalist for? I think it is kind of for a guy or gal like me. Someone who is mostly into modern folders and fixed blades but who likes to dabble in traditionals. Someone who would like to maybe own more traditionals like all the nice GECs but has no chance at getting any when they "drop" and who is unwilling to pay the price in dollars, time, and frustration on the secondary market. The Federalist is a modern made, traditional style knife, using materials that straddle the genres, USA produced, and backed by a company that modern folks are very comfortable with. The price is right at around $100. It costs less than most of the Italian modern traditionals that a guy like me was also considering. Did I say USA made?
That was a lot of words so let's see some pics!
I like the blade shape, sort of. There is no recurve but you get that sort of effect in cutting because of the angle of the straight edge. The belly is a bit bulbous IMO, just under the point of being funny looking. The blade is thin and cuts really well like a traditional should. The spine is not rounded like the Italian traditionals but is nicely chamfered. Gimping is effective. The handle is comfy in hand, if a little thin. Materials are spot on for the price and purpose of this knife. I like CPM 154 as the steel choice, not a "super steel", but not the 1095 we always see in GECs, and no D2 which is currently everywhere in the Chinese imports.
Let's talk about the double detent. It is interesting. I really do like that it is different than other traditionals and moderns. Since there is no back spring with the double detent, the weight savings as compared to a traditional traditional (
) is drastic. This knife is extremely light for the size. Yes, it also achieves that with how thin it is but I think the lack of a back spring is the main weight saver. The downside for me is that it is less forgiving of accidental closing pressure from the spine side of the blade. Way more than any other traditional I've ever owned. Once that detent is overcome, it closes far easier than if there was constant back spring pressure. There is a half stop, which is really nice, but the ease of closing takes some getting use to. Still though, an overall win in the design column, for me anyway.So, overall, there is way more good about this knife than bad, more good than I'll go over here. With that in mind, I'll go over a few nit-picks. Since we were just on the double detent, I have an issue with the half stop. To me, with the height and angle of the blade, it is more like an 80 degree stop (or 160, I don't know). Point is, if you grip the knife and try to close the blade to the half stop with your thumb, it will cut you and deep. This will be especially true for those of you with sausage fingers. I'm not sure this really matters that much but for me at least, I would have liked to be able to close the knife half way in this manner. As is, I still can, I just need to reposition my hand a bit and really trust that half stop (remember the bit above about the double detent being easier to overcome?).
I like the fact that this knife does not have a torx screw right in the show side pivot. This is something that has kept me away from most of the Italian Traditionals. I just find that ugly, and very untraditional. Now, what bugs me about the shield thing the Federalist has is that it appears to me to be off center, and not geometrically aligned with any other angle on the knife. It is just sort of there with no rhyme or reason. Completely my own OCD, I know, and in no way a deal-breaker, but it does bug me.
Two last minor gripes, I'd like to see the liners milled. Traditional folks may not care but coming from modern knives, I see an unmilled liner and say "why not mill that?". The knife doesn't need to save the weight, but why not mill it? Why? And last, the torx nuts aren't flush. The tox bolts on the show side are. Why not make them flush? I can't feel them in use, but why not make them flush? I think Kershaw could have figured this out.
I need a clip on a knife that is going to be carried regularly. I just do. I've had too many a SAK slip out of my pocket just carrying them loose. I usually attach a little dangler clip with a split ring so I did the same here but with a hollowed out piece of 550 cord neatly melted together to make it small and slim. While as I said in the opening, after 36 hours with this knife I am an expert on it, but I'll need more time to see if carrying it in this way will work for me as an EDC (the SAKs are always carried in this way as a back up blade, not constantly in and out of the pocket). If this does not work, a clipped pocket slip will be in my future.
