Review Manly Folders: Comrade, Peak, Wasp. Fixed Blades: Patriot and Drugar, Made in Bulgaria

Gary W. Graley

Gary W. Graley

“Imagination is more important than knowledge"
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Mar 2, 1999
Messages
27,254
Hi folks, with a company name like Manly, you'd expect something, well, Manly right? and so it is, just got this in from Blade HQ, fast service good guys there too. Folder has a strange steel, but am told it's a cousin of D2 which is fine with me. And it is a slip joint with a twist, or fold if you will, it has several detent stops along the way of being opened and closed. Think of it as safety stops, some will not care for it but it's a non issue with me and hopefully you will feel the same. Now while it has a nail nick in there, I about busted a nail as it isn't very deep, but the blade is opened easier by pinch gripping the blade and so that is how I do that since the one time try. I'm a slow learner on somethings but that I caught on quick :)

The blade, wow, this arrived very sharp and is ground down quite thin too but not so thin you would risk damage I think, but then I don't know what you guys/gals might do! But whittled on some hard wood and sliced receipt paper cleanly, she's sharp!

The clip is quite strong, sorry lefties but it's setup just for righties. While it is retained by just one screw the end is set into a recessed area and is flush with the scale material, nicely done.

Scales, these are the contoured or grooved G10 version, mine is black, I might want to give another colour a try some time down the road but went for the least expensive of the choices and speaking of expense, these are very reasonably priced especially in view of the quality of the fit and finish and blade grind, well done and worth the money, in my opinion.

Here are some images taken today of this folder, sunny 'spring like' day here in northern PA today!

Manly_closed_name by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Manly_closed_clip by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Manly_partial by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Manly_open by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Manly_vertical by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Here you can see that it's ground down fairly thin with a spine thickness about 3mm that tapers down to a fine pointy tip

Manly_edge by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Manly_blade by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Manly_hand by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

I've been to Bulgaria, flew into Sofia and hitched a ride to Plovdiv for a couple weeks of work there in a glass factory, on our inspection equipment they had.
People were great, I was not overly fond of their food though.

But their knives? this one feels like a winner to me.
G2
 
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Thank you for taking the time to post this. I've been eyeing a Comrade myself, happy to hear about the grind. Personally, I'm considering adding a kwik stud to make it an OHO, do you think the quad stop would cause any issues with that?
 
Yes, I'm afraid that it might be tuff to open with that, the back spring is quite strong, which is something you do want in a slip joint!

G2
 
Hehe ! I have the same knife, and it is awsome !!! It cuts like a razor, or maybe beter !!! I have a fix blade in cpm154 from Manly too. They do not make fixblades for now,but this was one series, a contract for our forum. It's my favorite. It's perfect, every thing on it !!!
 
Nice Punky! Sofia is a big town! on my way out early that morning, the Bulgarian police stopped the sedan I was getting a ride to the airport in, it was quite early, 4am, the driver said they were probably just bored. They checked our papers and inspected my luggage...interesting place :)
G2
 
well, didn't mean to bring up bad feelings, but I can see where you are coming from, might want to edit some text as there are also young folks just learning about knives that frequent the review area too.

And speaking of review, a friend reminded me that I neglected a few specs, I guess if people were aware of the Manly folder they'd check it but it's handier in one place so here are the following specs provided on the nice card that comes with the knife;

Model: Comrade
Length: Open 205mm, about 8"

closed 115mm about 4 1/2"

Width: 22mm about 3/4" ( I take this to be the scale width)

Weight 110 grams

Steel is 1.2379
Corrosion resistance: Low ( so care is needed to prevent rusting )

Sharpen angle 15 degrees, which I take to be 30 degrees inclusive

Hardness 59/61 HRC

I measure about .019" thickness at the top of the edge bevel so ground down fairly thin.

G2

Edited to add a few fine points, the multiple detents I am guessing is that there is a V cut into the back spring that the corners of the tang drop into, causing the knife to halt at each passing.

The steel liners have large cut outs for weight reduction, still a hefty knife but less so due to that removal of steel.

When closed the back spring is flush

With the blade half open, the spring is also flush

With the blade fully open, the spring is again flush, amazing level of detail provided in such a moderate priced and rugged folder, well done !
 
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Manly:
034977522.jpg

and Manly:
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and Manly:
033394514.jpg

032635733.jpg

032635734.jpg

032635735.jpg

032635736.jpg

032635739.jpg
 
Very nice collection there!
G2
 
I believe that it is a lock release
G2
 
Raj said:
Any dealer here, who sells the other models, that VESO RAD posted .
Click to expand...

I'm not very sure, but they have a contract with Boker only for the "Comrade" model. The other one, only from them in this moment, I think.
 
Thanks for the informative review. I have been eyeing these.

I confess, the biggest thing I don't like about them is the bold MANLY logo on the clip! Why, why, why on the clip where everyone who sees you walk past can read "MANLY" sticking out of your pocket? It seems a little pretentious to me. I mean, I can almost hear someone lean over to the person next to them and say "Oh, so he's advertising how MANLY he is, must be a wimp!" or words to that effect. Generally I don't care much what other people think, but I do care what I think. And that seems pretentious to me.

The other option would be to stick it down in my pocket where no one can see the clip, but to me the biggest advantage of clips is that they preserve more space in your pocket in case you are carrying other items.
 
Haha I wondered about that too but since it isn't the model name but the company I can live with that and it certainly can be a conversation starter. :)

I do like that fixed blade too. !
G2
 
I think you'd like it Rolf, they have an orange and black coloured G10 and as you know Orange is the new Red...so there ;)

Check it out here at Blade HQ

And I do have to say, if anyone intends on getting one, and I do recommend that you do, please do not rely on the nail nick as I feel it really is there for looks, as it is not cut deep enough for your nail to catch a purchase in order to open the blade, better to pinch the blade to open right from the start, perhaps mine is not like the rest, but it's quite shallow groove there.

G2
 
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