I deliver lumber for a living, so I was looking for a folder with the best combination of large blade, utility and value.
For $38.84, including shipping, my latest folder is the Magna MZ-10. I won't bore you with specs (www.outdooredge.com), but I'll offer some observations.
As you'd expect of a Kit Carson-designed knife, this is a handsome knife. With powder-coasted grey blade, black zytel scales and flat black recessed clip, this knife looks all business and no flash.
The blade measures 3.9", including 3/16" choil. The blade material is AUS-8, and arrived serviceably sharp, with about a 30-degree back bevel grind. I used the Sharpmaker, 600-grit strop and finished with 10000-grit chromium oxide strop, producing an edge as sharp as any other blade in my home in about 15 minutes. For the price of this knife, I think AUS-8 is a good steel, certainly better than the AUS-6 found in CRKT Knives.
The butt of the blade has milled areas top and bottom. When the knife is open, these milled grooves provide excellent thumb-and-forefinger control of the blade for precision cutting tasks.
The studs (ambidextrous) are unusual. They are cupped, providing non-slip control without asny harshness at all. Excellent.
No side-play or wobble in the blade fitting at all. If any develops, a Torx-head #9 screw allows adjustment as needed. Action was perfect out of the box.
Liner-lock was perfectly registered as you woul expect of much higher grade knives, at the left edge of the blade butt, engaged fully, with plenty of room for wear with continued use. I'm certainly no Joe Talmadge, but I couldn't manipulate, whack or twist this knife is any way to induce accidental unlocking of the blade. It locks and stays locked until you manually unlock it.
The combination of zytel scales and thick liners produce a tank-tough knife. This is no 'gents folder'. The thickness of the handle is 5/8". The novel recessed-mount clip design keeps the maximum thickness at 5/8" even over the clip, whi8ch is great for in-pocket carry.
The clip provides tip-down carry. The clip is securely bolted through the zytel scales into the thick metal liner with 3 Torx-head screws. The clip is mounted high for good deep carry with minimum outside exposure of the knife. The clip is outstanding for clipping to the pocket. Due to the tension of the resessed clip design, I had to manipulate the clip a bit to clip inside the waistband of my jeans.
Torx-head screws appear to allow complete disassembly of the knife for detailed cleaning or repair.
As to comforable carry, this large knife is obviously not as comfortable as a Delica or Ascent for inside-waistband carry. For comparison, I found this knife carries inside waistband with the same 'feel' as my smaller CRKT Point Guard.
This knife is an outstanding combination of good looks, tough design, large blade and value. The large clip-point blade is suitable for just about any task.
You can probably perceive that I really like this knife and highly recommend it.
The $38.84 is delivered via Bayou Lafourche.
For $38.84, including shipping, my latest folder is the Magna MZ-10. I won't bore you with specs (www.outdooredge.com), but I'll offer some observations.
As you'd expect of a Kit Carson-designed knife, this is a handsome knife. With powder-coasted grey blade, black zytel scales and flat black recessed clip, this knife looks all business and no flash.
The blade measures 3.9", including 3/16" choil. The blade material is AUS-8, and arrived serviceably sharp, with about a 30-degree back bevel grind. I used the Sharpmaker, 600-grit strop and finished with 10000-grit chromium oxide strop, producing an edge as sharp as any other blade in my home in about 15 minutes. For the price of this knife, I think AUS-8 is a good steel, certainly better than the AUS-6 found in CRKT Knives.
The butt of the blade has milled areas top and bottom. When the knife is open, these milled grooves provide excellent thumb-and-forefinger control of the blade for precision cutting tasks.
The studs (ambidextrous) are unusual. They are cupped, providing non-slip control without asny harshness at all. Excellent.
No side-play or wobble in the blade fitting at all. If any develops, a Torx-head #9 screw allows adjustment as needed. Action was perfect out of the box.
Liner-lock was perfectly registered as you woul expect of much higher grade knives, at the left edge of the blade butt, engaged fully, with plenty of room for wear with continued use. I'm certainly no Joe Talmadge, but I couldn't manipulate, whack or twist this knife is any way to induce accidental unlocking of the blade. It locks and stays locked until you manually unlock it.
The combination of zytel scales and thick liners produce a tank-tough knife. This is no 'gents folder'. The thickness of the handle is 5/8". The novel recessed-mount clip design keeps the maximum thickness at 5/8" even over the clip, whi8ch is great for in-pocket carry.
The clip provides tip-down carry. The clip is securely bolted through the zytel scales into the thick metal liner with 3 Torx-head screws. The clip is mounted high for good deep carry with minimum outside exposure of the knife. The clip is outstanding for clipping to the pocket. Due to the tension of the resessed clip design, I had to manipulate the clip a bit to clip inside the waistband of my jeans.
Torx-head screws appear to allow complete disassembly of the knife for detailed cleaning or repair.
As to comforable carry, this large knife is obviously not as comfortable as a Delica or Ascent for inside-waistband carry. For comparison, I found this knife carries inside waistband with the same 'feel' as my smaller CRKT Point Guard.
This knife is an outstanding combination of good looks, tough design, large blade and value. The large clip-point blade is suitable for just about any task.
You can probably perceive that I really like this knife and highly recommend it.
The $38.84 is delivered via Bayou Lafourche.