- Joined
- Oct 3, 2011
- Messages
- 12
This is my first knife review. I am aware that I have chosen a controversial product on this forum, but since existing reviews of this particular knife are few, far between, and written without much insight or humor, I thought I'd take a chance.
By Your Command
If a kukri and an old-school Cylon mated, the Mantis Tough Tony is what the infant roboblade would look like. I'm not being mean, that's just what went through my head. I probably need to cut down on the expired MREs.
I found out about this blade while doing a search for "thick-a$$ little drop point blade folder that's legal to carry in my state, yo," and while my initial impression of the knife was that it was... unnattractive. To its credit, when I compared it to many of the other Mantis offerings, it was Miss America. ...or Miss Taiwan, as the case may be (BTW, I don't hate on a product just because it's made overseas--the Koreans have been making other people's guitars for so long, they've gotten better at it than the big American companies). But that's a matter of taste; some guys think driving the Batmobile to Publix for a gallon of milk is cool, while others might be embarassed to display so much virility.
I bought this knife because:
THE GOOD:
THE BAD:
THE FUGLY:
THE BOTTOM LINE:
I get the feeling that Mantis knives are primarily about design. Some folks will like the "Cyborg from Milan" aesthetic, while others will not. Because of its size, the Tough Tony will not stand out as much as, say, the Chaos Folder, which would eat Mick Dundee's EDC and poop out little keychain knives. The quality is good, but the finishing work absolutely could have been better. It's like a 1970 Plymouth Superbird: Some of your weird friends thought it was the coolest car ever, but the chicks who dug it were not the kind you hung out with if you were concerened about your health, and it needed a bit of work to get to the point where it ran the way you wanted it to--and even then, though it had massive muscle and roared like a wookie, it was quirky and not your top choice for cruising AND driving to work at the Piggly Wiggly. Still, there were times when that car was just perfect for that certain night with a certain chick and a certain case of Olde English 800. Ahhh... memories...
Here it is next to a Kiwi, my beloved German Eye Sodbuster, a RAT Model 1, and a SOG Tomcat 3. I also added some baby chicks because--let's be honest here--everyone loves baby chicks!
Comparing the Tough Tony to any of my other folders is a challenge; its thickness affects how it performs in certain tasks to the point where I can't tell how the quality of the steel or the edge are a factor. Despite its flaws this is definitely a keeper. It'll be my go-to knife when I'm in the woods, I need to strip bark from a tree, skin an armadillo, or tell them kids to get off my propitty, and I don't want to carry around my kukri machete or Ontario SP8. If I know there's going to be zombies around, though, I'm mos def bringing the kukri.
If y'all don't kick me off the board for reviewing a Mantis, my next review will be of the German Eye Sodbuster Jr.--the blade I would carry with me to Valhalla. If I were, like, a white guy who liked to kill stuff and they would actually let me into Valhalla.
By Your Command
If a kukri and an old-school Cylon mated, the Mantis Tough Tony is what the infant roboblade would look like. I'm not being mean, that's just what went through my head. I probably need to cut down on the expired MREs.
I found out about this blade while doing a search for "thick-a$$ little drop point blade folder that's legal to carry in my state, yo," and while my initial impression of the knife was that it was... unnattractive. To its credit, when I compared it to many of the other Mantis offerings, it was Miss America. ...or Miss Taiwan, as the case may be (BTW, I don't hate on a product just because it's made overseas--the Koreans have been making other people's guitars for so long, they've gotten better at it than the big American companies). But that's a matter of taste; some guys think driving the Batmobile to Publix for a gallon of milk is cool, while others might be embarassed to display so much virility.
I bought this knife because:
- I loves me a drop point EDC--it's my favorite blade shape. I put drop point on everything, from steak to waffles to a pile of anchovies. Mmm mmm mmm. Drop point.
- I couldn't find a sub-3" blade that was as thick as my Beckers.
- I've never owned a blade made of CPM 440V, and since I am an edgy but hard-to-tame kind of guy, I wanted some steel to match my disposition.
- $38 for the only seemingly decent-quality knife that fit my criteria wasn't so bad; if it was garbage, I wasn't out too much, and I could always use it as a Hallowe'en prop.
THE GOOD:
- The blade is thick--5mm (just about 13/64") to be exact (yes, I used calipers)--far from the "Holy Jeebus, this thing is a quarter inch thick, yo!" that I've read in reviews. The liners and scales are approximately 2mm each. The thickness of the knife overall is 12.5mm.
- The angle of the blade makes slicing and chopping easier.
- The steel is tough. I batoned some branches with it, and not only was there no discernable wear to the edge, my next door neighbor stopped yelling at me for pulling branches off his prize maple when I waved my knife in his face.
- Despite it's impractical, Back to the Future II appearance, the knife is surprisingly comfortable in the hand. My pinky hangs off the end, though, so I have to make sure I curl it in--skinning a raccoon with your pinky sticking up doesn't exactly reek of manliness.
- This thing locks up tight. There is no horizontal blade play when open or closed, and there is a barely perceptible vertical wiggle when open (less than my Tomcat 3). The liner lock is thick and requires a bit of force to disengage--this knife is not going to close on your fingers, even if you're using the spine to drive in railroad spikes. (Caution: do not try this at home)
- The massive jimping is effective and would remain effective even with hands in gloves, blood, or rich chocolatey syrup. ...not that I like to cover my body in syrup when I play with knives, because that would just be bat$^#& crazy, right? These huge gouges in the blade spine are cut and positioned in such a way that I was able to do some surprisingly aggressive batoning.
- The belt clip is thick and tight. I would say it's too tight, but since I'm going to carry it in a horizontal nylon belt case (that's just how I roll, y'all), I removed it.
THE BAD:
- It can't be opened easily with one hand. The thumbhole thingie is not well-placed, though with liners and scales this thick, you'd have to make a blade and hole that would make a Spyderco blush to be able to open this knife with your thumb.
- While some of the edges are beautifully rounded and finished, others were sharp, mostly the scales, but also along the edges of the jimping and in the opening hole. I was going to go at them with a Dremel before I realized that a real man doesn't use one of those, so I used my favorite emery board instead. To be fair, I've owned much nicer knives that have also needed a little bit of a manicure.
THE FUGLY:
- The finish on edge the edge of this knife was the worst I've seen on a new blade--and I own two Magnum knives (Right? Huh? Right?). It's like someone started with a coarse stone and didn't even finish, let alone go on to a finer stone. If I were a bacterium and I was hiking along that edge, I'd bring along my crampons. I'd also bring some beef jerky, because you got to have your protein, I tell you what. The photo is before I did my usual ham-handed job of sharpening, stropping, and waving a chicken carcass over it, chanting "Ohwa... tagoo... siam..." The blade is respectably sharp now; it shaves off armhair without leaving gouges. I hacked at some cardboard and branch remnants and it has kept its edge admirably.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
I get the feeling that Mantis knives are primarily about design. Some folks will like the "Cyborg from Milan" aesthetic, while others will not. Because of its size, the Tough Tony will not stand out as much as, say, the Chaos Folder, which would eat Mick Dundee's EDC and poop out little keychain knives. The quality is good, but the finishing work absolutely could have been better. It's like a 1970 Plymouth Superbird: Some of your weird friends thought it was the coolest car ever, but the chicks who dug it were not the kind you hung out with if you were concerened about your health, and it needed a bit of work to get to the point where it ran the way you wanted it to--and even then, though it had massive muscle and roared like a wookie, it was quirky and not your top choice for cruising AND driving to work at the Piggly Wiggly. Still, there were times when that car was just perfect for that certain night with a certain chick and a certain case of Olde English 800. Ahhh... memories...
Here it is next to a Kiwi, my beloved German Eye Sodbuster, a RAT Model 1, and a SOG Tomcat 3. I also added some baby chicks because--let's be honest here--everyone loves baby chicks!
Comparing the Tough Tony to any of my other folders is a challenge; its thickness affects how it performs in certain tasks to the point where I can't tell how the quality of the steel or the edge are a factor. Despite its flaws this is definitely a keeper. It'll be my go-to knife when I'm in the woods, I need to strip bark from a tree, skin an armadillo, or tell them kids to get off my propitty, and I don't want to carry around my kukri machete or Ontario SP8. If I know there's going to be zombies around, though, I'm mos def bringing the kukri.
If y'all don't kick me off the board for reviewing a Mantis, my next review will be of the German Eye Sodbuster Jr.--the blade I would carry with me to Valhalla. If I were, like, a white guy who liked to kill stuff and they would actually let me into Valhalla.
Hope to see more writeups from you :thumbup:
