I was curious to prove the higher end chinese manufacture and this knife also was a nice opportunity to prove the XM18 without breaking the bank, so...
There are several reviews on youtube about this knife, also an edge retention test by russians (some of the coolest, most useful test-reviews are made by Russians
:thumbup
, I suggest to check them if you are interested about this company and their knives.There are several levels of quality in chinese knives and Kevin John - Triumph precision is at the highest level-best quality and still good value.
Packaging:
The knife arrives in a nice opening box with a nice stamped useful cloth.
I have made the lanyard.
You can also check my super cool, self made disassembly tool
I just modded a flat bit, for the female pivot pin.
The quality of hardware and machining is top level: all the screws (1.5mm metric for the standoffs) are heat treated and the treading is perfectly executed, crappy screws are comon in chinese knives, but this XM18 has high quality stuff, on par with american-european knives (even better than many).
There are no relevant machining signs on the handles, everything is perfectly assembled: no bladeplay, perfect centering of the blade, good detent hole-blade retention.
Material for the handles and clip is titanium, confirmed with a magnet.
The only little exception is the finish of the bronze washers: it's raw, you can see the scratches on the washers; the washers are perfectly cut and drilled and in general high quality but they need a polishing.
After the picture I polished them on my Fallkniven D4 stone, ceramic 6000 grit and in 10 minutes max they had a mirror polish, without removing material.
With the polished bronze washers and a little bit of Ballistol (best oil for knives and firearms IMO) the knife has a far superior action, it's "smooth like glass", with the pivot tight.
I consider the bronze washers way superior to the teflon-nylon-plastic ones, I am also a balisong guy and with time the plastic washers get ovalized, loose thicknes, in general they are more fragile; on the other hand the bronze ones last forever and with minimal break in and minimal lubrication they are super smooth.
I have reassembled the knife with a very little quantity of blue Loctite tread locker (best friend of knife knuts and shooters
), stay away from stronger products and don't overtight.
You can see that the stop pin for the blade has a hole machined in the opposite hanlde, so it's fully supported, really nice.
LOCK:
the face of the lock on the blade is perfectly machined, the lock up is about 50% consistent (even after disassembly).
I have tested the lock with the "STR method", with the open knife you apply pressure with your hands (keeping fingers free of the travel of the blade, SAFETY FIRST!!!) and the lock must not move at all, if it moves is a fail, if the knife closes is an epic fail.
The knife passed the lock test completely, the frame does not move: tested several times and it always remain solid and it is never sticky to disengage.
It has the over travel stop.
So the lock is perfect it's on par with the best frame locks from US (ex ZTs, Spydercos, BMs...), huge :thumbup:
I will ad that I prefer 100% steel frame locks over titanium, that IMO is used primarily for "cool factor", and I don't consider frame-locks as sturdy and reliable as a front-lock (ex Spydercos) or even better a Triad lock (best on the market!) by Cold Steel; but these are only my personal opinions, also I don't buy-trust liner-locks.
Blade retention by the detent is good, I will say a medium level, for my tastes I will prefer a slightly stronger detent, but in general the detent works really well.
Fit & finish:
Superb!!!
The blu finish on the titanium is beatiful and they polished the borders of the hanldes to make a nice contrast; there are no imperfections of any kind in handles or the blade, that is perfectly grinded.
Logos are: titanium and Kevin John, so they not used the Hinderer name or logo, that's a good thing.
The tumb stud is the best that I ever proven, it's big and rounded, without sharp edges so it's extremely efective and most important confortable.
Now a small edge retention test:
I cut completely a cardboard box, checking periodically the edge with newspaper gunmagazine (pushcutting), the carboard cutting was done with a slicing action with a 45° angle on the cardboard fibers to maximize wear on the edge.
The edge was most factory (on par with ZTs or CS), I just refined it quickly with my DC4 and strop (less toothy).
From the russian test on youtube I have allready see that the KJ XM18 is a solid performer and I can confirm it from my own experience: the knife cut really well and retained most of its edge.
After the cardboard slicing, I push cut some leather and cord (without sharpening of course) with no problem, the knive has lost the ability to shave hair (shaved only a little bit), but it push cuts leather and cord easily.
I Like a lot the spanto blade, it cuts well with the hollow ground sides and the reinforced tip is nice, the knife is also produced with the slicer grind, but I admit that I prefer the spanto also for being "different-unique".
At the end of the little test I though about resharpening the knife on my Norton water stone 4000-8000 also to bring out the full potential of the blade, but since it lost so little sharpness I just sharpened on my DC4 and strop and in 10-15 minutes it was hair popping, the Sandvik 12C27 sharpens really easy, quickly and reacted really well with very fine abrasives (I like highly polished edges).
IMO wondersteels are not a necessity, I am not a steel snob, they are nice when properly heat treated and not overpriced, but I also enjoy good steels, not hyped but perfectly functional like in this case.
Simply: Sandvik 12C27 + KJ heat treat :thumbup:
Some comparison pics:
(with some original knives of my knife "user-active" collection)
Here with one of my favourite knife the ZT566 (IMO the best ZT ever! especialy without the speedsafe, deassised).
Mr Rick Hinderer is one of the best knife designer of modern times, his knives are super ergonomic and nice to use.
The KJ XM18 small, is a confortable little cutting knife, the choil in the blade is functional and useful (even if I prefer a full blade without it, but I like to prove different stuff), I have medium hands and it gives me enough support for the pinky, even better with my little lanyard.
PROs:
-excellent fit and finish, realy top notch!
-Sandvik 12C27 + KJ heat treat = happy user!
-reliable lock
-bronze washers (I hate teflon ones)
-high quality screws and pins
-good detent, medium level blade retention (IMO it would be even better a little bit stronger)
-the jimping on the handles is very confortable and well done, no sharp edges on the handles
-great action with polished washers
-Titanium and KJ logos
-Spanto blade is functional and original/cool, it's produced also in the slicer configuration and I also saw some specials...
-super cost effective, the closest rival in US imo are ZTs (especialy the 566, my "loved minimalist"
)CONs:
-the washers need polishing (it' s easy)
-some little sharp edges in the flipper zone, on the blade (being super picky, easily fixed with fine sand paper)
Conclusion:
I consider this knife a "Chinese jewel", I like it a lot, I know that it's not a real XM18 (that probably is awesome, if you can buy it) but everyone can judge and choose what they want, making an educated decision.
Be aware that there are several manufactures in China, that produce versions of the XM18 and there are different levels of quality.
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