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

Sooo... it's been a while since I sold my Manly Comrade and I just came across an old pic of it.... I really want another one! Is there anywhere I can get these from a US seller now. I did a little searching and cannot seem to find anyone selling (in the US). I think last time I bought mine from a Bladeforums member... Obviously PM me if your response is not a Bladeforums supporter or something!
 
Dean51 said:
You're going to like it, I put mine to work right away.
The first week it opened 15 bags of mulch, 5 boxes and styrofoam packing, a couple blister packs and a dozen saplings. The knife handled it all and is still sharp.

It's much easier to open than the Comrade. The pull weight on the first two stops is half of what the Comrade is but full open it locks up as tight as the Comrade. The blade measured 0.105, I'm glad it was thinner than the .110 advertised. Thin is what makes this knife an amazing slicer but it's still strong enough for heavier cuts.
It even got accidentally painted and the paint came off with a little WD-40 and a soft brushing.
aXOHDFh.jpg

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Click to expand...
It arrived today, what a slicey little beast! Love it :thumbsup:

Pictured here with its big sibling:

8peuCGs.jpg


:)
 
A mini-review of the Wasp:

Living in the UK, it was inevitable that I would end up with a Manly Wasp, as unlike its older sibling, the Comrade, it qualifies as legal to carry: <3” blade and non-locking. I don’t own Spyderco’s UK offering, but I do own an Enzo PK70. Pictured below is the Wasp, with the PK70 below and the Fällkniven U2, which despite its diminutive size is not legal to carry here due to the back lock.

W1xWFBW.jpg


I’ve been using this over the weekend. The weather is hot, and limes and lemons are sliced in abundance. It’s my daughter’s 10th birthday party and lots of packaging has been cut and more.

It’s a beautiful knife with a gorgeous flat grind. It’s a pleasure to use and it has the deeply pleasing walk and talk found in the Comrade. The stock is thicker than the U2, but has more width and belly to justify it. The PK70 stock is slightly thicker, and with that Scandi grind it will never win any slicing competitions, though it is an excellent knife in other respects. The Wasp feels as if the most has been made of its potential through geometry, allowing for slicing relatively deeply.

This is a real win from Manly, and I am very happy to recommend this excellent knife.
 
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Some folks have asked about having a lanyard/fob made like what I use, if anyone would like to have one done you can email me or PM me about it. Or if you are interested in how it is done and want to try your hand at it, here is a Link to a tutorial I made on lanyards

Takes some practice but, that's how you get to Carnegie Hall...Practice Practice Practice, ;)

G2
 
Thanks to Lubo for extending me one of the Wasp folders, it arrived safely today and is a peach of a knife, my thoughts and searches were always for those knives with a thin blade profile and thin behind the edge, this is as thin a knife as I've ever handled, I don't know if I've seen any kitchen knives with as thin an edge as this has, with the S90v steel to support such a grind, I'm liking this right out of the box and she arrived very sharp too.

The folder does have the multiple step opening similar to what the Comrade slip joint folder does. Some may not care for that, myself I like the difference from all the rest out there so it makes no never mind for me.

The blade comes in under 3" from tip to handle, barely under but definitely less than 3" for those that may worry if carrying a knife with a longer blade could get you in trouble in your locale.

The clip is a deep pocket carry holds well and is changeable for left or right hand tip up only carry, while it has only one nail nick, well done and it is a real nail nick where the Comrade was more of a decorative grind and not meant to be a nail nick, but like the Comrade I would say most people would be able to pinch grip the blade open easily. The pull rates a little higher than say an SAK main blade and possibly if you adjust the pivot screw that may lighten it but I don't want to start messing with that as I can pull it open easily. Speaking of messing around, the folks at Manly send the folder in a nice small box, one area the knife fits into and a partitioned area there are two allen keys provided in case you do need to remove to clean the folder, good of them to do so, also inside is the Manly card that provides the details about the folder, steel and overall specs of the knife.

The spine of the blade is quite crisp, lets say sharp, I will be taking some sharpening stones to lightly round off those edges.

The scales are the digital camo, very nice look to them, my first ;), but the inside edges of these also are quite crisp, ok lets say sharp and I'll be taking a small bit of sand paper folded up to soften those edges as well. Neither bit of fussing with is that hard to do and should not deter you from picking one of these up at your first opportunity, but I wanted to make folks aware that you may need to do that as I have also had to do similarly to other makes of folders too, so it isn't unique to this brand.

There are steel liners as well, and they have large areas removed to keep the weight down, I don't own a scale but the knife has a little heft to it but not what I would call heavy, just more like a very solid knife.

There isn't any jimping anywhere on the handle nor blade but being a smaller knife they probably felt it wasn't warranted to do so. The blade spine ramps up a slight bit as well as ramping down slightly by the edge which provides a little bit of a guard to protect you from sliding onto that razor sharp edge, man that is a thin edge! I was just whittling on some hard wood and it cut very well and handled nicely too.

Here are some images of this folder,

Wasp by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Wasp by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Wasp by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Wasp by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Wasp by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

My one bit about it as well as the Comrade/Peak folders is they do lack a lanyard attachment, on the Peak I have I 'forged' out a piece of copper wire into a lanyard ring that fits into the area the clip filler sits and works well, so I guess I'll be doing a similar thing to this one :)

I'll post more after using her a bit longer,
G2
 
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Gary W. Graley said:
Thanks to Lubo for extending me one of the Wasp folders, it arrived safely today and is a peach of a knife, my thoughts and searches were always for those knives with a thin blade profile and thin behind the edge, this is as thin a knife as I've ever handled, I don't know if I've seen any kitchen knives with as thin an edge as this has, with the S90v steel to support such a grind, I'm liking this right out of the box and she arrived very sharp too.

The folder does have the multiple step opening similar to what the Comrade slip joint folder does. Some may not care for that, myself I like the difference from all the rest out there so it makes no never mind for me.

The blade comes in under 3" from tip to handle, barely under but definitely less than 3" for those that may worry if carrying a knife with a longer blade could get you in trouble in your locale.

The clip is a deep pocket carry holds well and is changeable for left or right hand tip up only carry, while it has only one nail nick, well done and it is a real nail nick where the Comrade was more of a decorative grind and not meant to be a nail nick, but like the Comrade I would say most people would be able to pinch grip the blade open easily. The pull rates a little higher than say an SAK main blade and possibly if you adjust the pivot screw that may lighten it but I don't want to start messing with that as I can pull it open easily. Speaking of messing around, the folks at Manly send the folder in a nice small box, one area the knife fits into and a partitioned area there are two allen keys provided in case you do need to remove to clean the folder, good of them to do so, also inside is the Manly card that provides the details about the folder, steel and overall specs of the knife.

The spine of the blade is quite crisp, lets say sharp, I will be taking some sharpening stones to lightly round off those edges.

The scales are the digital camo, very nice look to them, my first ;), but the inside edges of these also are quite crisp, ok lets say sharp and I'll be taking a small bit of sand paper folded up to soften those edges as well. Neither bit of fussing with is that hard to do and should not deter you from picking one of these up at your first opportunity, but I wanted to make folks aware that you may need to do that as I have also had to do similarly to other makes of folders too, so it isn't unique to this brand.

There are steel liners as well, and they have large areas removed to keep the weight down, I don't own a scale but the knife has a little heft to it but not what I would call heavy, just more like a very solid knife.

There isn't any jimping anywhere on the handle nor blade but being a smaller knife they probably felt it wasn't warranted to do so. The blade spine ramps up a slight bit as well as ramping down slightly by the edge which provides a little bit of a guard to protect you from sliding onto that razor sharp edge, man that is a thin edge! I was just whittling on some hard wood and it cut very well and handled nicely too.

Here are some images of this folder,

Wasp by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Wasp by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Wasp by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Wasp by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Wasp by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

My one bit about it as well as the Comrade/Peak folders is they do lack a lanyard attachment, on the Peak I have I 'forged' out a piece of copper wire into a lanyard ring that fits into the area the clip filler sits and works well, so I guess I'll be doing a similar thing to this one :)

I'll post more after using her a bit longer,
G2
Click to expand...
Great write up and pics. I am currently in the Eastern Pyrenees, using the same model exactly. Great knife.
 
Thanks and I agree, great knife! Cuts very good !

I added a bobtail fob to mine, I put the paracord just ahead of the screw that holds the clip, that screw limits how far the edge of my pants pocket will go, at least on the heavier cloth pants I wear. So I figured I would tie the bobtail fob just ahead of it and the head of the screw helps prevent the fob from sliding down or off, works well. I made the whipping knot close to the clip so it keeps put.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Some cutting at work today, the knife flew through what little I had to cut, ;)
G2
 
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Question about the Wasp, with the higher carbon content in the s90v blade, does it make the blade brittle?
 
Good question, heat treat says it is at RC 60/61 and with such a thin grind, just measured mine and it comes in at a whopping .008" behind the edge :thumbsup: where my Case Peanut main blade comes in around .017" bte so, as you can guess, this rascal cuts!

I've whittled on some pretty hard wood, without any lose of edge or any chipping, but being a small knife I don't intend to horse that edge a lot, I'll use it as it was intended, one slicing machine !

The steel should help it retain it's edge, others may chime in regarding S90v heat treat and it's brittleness
G2
 
Technically speaking, yes it is more brittle. However it is a steel, and not glass :)
The Wasp S90V knifes are perfect for edc (cardboard cutting, skinning of game and etc.), the edge will last forever, but I wouldn't use it for batoning and serious wood work.

Take the Sandvik 12C27 Wasp, its a has a lot less carbon, its less brittle and with out heat treat it becomes extremely sharp. The Wasp with that steel exhibit strong durability, wear resistance and very resistant to rust as well. And its extremely easy to sharpen.
 
From left to right the knives are; Drugar, Peak2 and that thin bladed Wasp!
the shine you see along the edge is the one side of the bevel, the Wasp has nearly no edge bevel since she is so thin edged! If you were ever looking for a folder with a razor like blade, your search is over :)

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

All three cut very well, but the Wasp as you can see, she be thin to win !
G2
 
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Lubo, I have friends asking when the Drugar will be back in stock? Which was funny as I was whittling with that very knife tonight admiring how well it handled and cut well into the hard wood, a very good fixed blade and super comfortable handle.

G2
 
Thanks Lubo, that makes sense as I know folks were waiting on those to be in stock, the D2 one I have is a great cutter, I added some thread around the handle just to see how that feels in hand, it provides a little more grip but overall it probably isn't a real necessity as the handle's contours work great. The thread is a wax thread I use when sewing sheaths, the thread is on the handle in a whipping type knot, meaning the knot itself is pulled beneath the wrap so you do not see a start or ending nor any actual knot is visible, a good way to add such a bit of grip area to a handle.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

G2
 
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Here is another shot of the Drugar with the whipped knot tied on, for me it adds a bit to the overall feel and handling of the knife, one fellow at work said 'hey you can machine part of the handle down so the cord sits into the handle' yeah...lol right, this works fine as it is and even if I did have the capabilities to do so, the tang would not be machine down as it is pretty hard so the cord would still be proud of the actual handle and that is really what this provides, a grip point so your hand doesn't slide backwards or forwards.

IMG_7154 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

G2
 
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