Mantis knives?

Planterz said:
That's not JUST a Mantis, that's a Jared West CUSTOM! If you don't know what that knife actually sold for, you'll probably shit a wall's worth of bricks.

($1500, for a knife that looks like robot poop, and is probably just as pleasant to hold).
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:D As soon as I upgrade my membership, that last line is gonna be in my sig....great stuff there Planterz!:thumbup:
 
So I put my money down to see how bad their knives are, picked up a Kunitza (state lottery's money technically, so I didn't feel as dirty). Lock-up was surprising good, blade was just as surprisingly sharp. Ergonomics and fit and finish? Made for mutants, by mutants!

Back spacer looks like it spent a year banging around in a junk drawer. They couldn't just put a standard screw head on the pivot, they're too advanced so I can't crack the pos open. The clip and scales are a pro tag team for shredding pockets. Ricasso is big enough that you could have made a second knife out of that material alone.

And the handle shape, dear god the handle shape! Swell custom designed to create the worst hotspot possible at the base of your thumb. Apparently their designer has 7 fingers, 2 of which are thumbs judging by the dip in the handle and the jimping another inch in front of that. So I guess the best I can say is that if you're highly irradiated, sprouting extra fingers, losing brain function, but still want a knife to be proud of, join the Mantis Militia today!
 
I've never owned a mantis knife primarily because of the their ghastly designs. I have however owned and handled some of the GT brand automatics that they manufacture. I must say the
quality is very good.
 
mossyhorn said:
I've never owned a mantis knife primarily because of the their ghastly designs. I have however owned and handled some of the GT brand automatics that they manufacture. I must say the
quality is very good.
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Mantis makes the GT autos?
 
Yes. They sure do. From knives review 2012:

The original GT Knives was actually started by a plastics company which created both GT Knives and the wildly popular switchblade Divix Golf Tool. Although a brand famous for extremely high quality, a butter smooth action, outstanding ergonomic, an innovative and patented button locking mechanism, extremely comfortable billet aluminum handle, and one of the most reliably automatic opening mechanisms in the industry, GT Knives floundered a bit due to the enthusiasm of the management in the finicky knife business. That lead to long back order cycles and a large reduction in their models and variations and ultimately a gap in GT Knives existence until I was thrilled to find out that the company was recently purchased and relaunched by Mantis Knives complete with the same exact original equipment used by GT. Now in 2012, I am happy to day the famous GT Knives brand and quality lives on and picked up an automatic GT Knives plain/serrated combo drop point blade with a olive drab green handle
 
PL_Wshatner.jpg


WTF? As if this would improve knifesales and image?
 
PitbullShogun said:
i there any record of this? not that i dont believe you, but i would love to read some of the stuff they posted.
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http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...a-Mission-BRAVO-one-Post-Spam-for-Free-Knives!

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...ared-West-Mantis-Knive?highlight=mantis loser

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...l-the-MANTIS-Hate/page2?highlight=mantis+army

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...d-West-of-Mantis-Knives?highlight=mantis+army

Required reading on the subject. I've been thinking to ask this for a while; would anyone else be interested in throwing in on a Mantis in "CPM440V" to send to Ankerson if he shows interest in putting it through his usual test? I'm betting that Jared & the Militia would be glad to have the rumors of Mantis lying about their blade steels debunked once & for all.

Also...they're not using 440C or S30V screws. No one is. They don't exist. That would actually cost more than the knife & not work as well as normal screws. That one was just downright funny.
 
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i owned a mantis once.... it was dull and the edge of the blade chipped off in one long chunk i didn't even stress it when i tried to resharpen it the edge just kept falling of the steel was too brittle this was a chaos model so expected durability i guess its a good blunt weapon at best now.
 
mossyhorn said:
Yes. They sure do. From knives review 2012:

The original GT Knives was actually started by a plastics company which created both GT Knives and the wildly popular switchblade Divix Golf Tool. Although a brand famous for extremely high quality, a butter smooth action, outstanding ergonomic, an innovative and patented button locking mechanism, extremely comfortable billet aluminum handle, and one of the most reliably automatic opening mechanisms in the industry, GT Knives floundered a bit due to the enthusiasm of the management in the finicky knife business. That lead to long back order cycles and a large reduction in their models and variations and ultimately a gap in GT Knives existence until I was thrilled to find out that the company was recently purchased and relaunched by Mantis Knives complete with the same exact original equipment used by GT. Now in 2012, I am happy to day the famous GT Knives brand and quality lives on and picked up an automatic GT Knives plain/serrated combo drop point blade with a olive drab green handle
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Wow, I had no idea. Thanks Mossyhorn. I have no animosity toward the company as I somehow missed the whole militia thing, but I do understand the folks that do and were around to see the fiasco. There stuff is way out there and though I would like to to try something from their line, it would be hard to validate spending the money to get one when I probably won't make much use of it. I could not imagine trying to explain to SF or a LEO that it is not a weapon with the way it looks.
 
Wow, their owner west passes off the same knife in several places as different steels! Chinese 440c should not be called S30v 154cm, CPM 154, or Bg interchangeably.

I feel that the adam west from family guy may be based of the owner of mantis ......
 
Kyui Su Kim said:
Other than being short and stumpy there really does not seem to be much in common.
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its the angel of the 755 in the picture.

they both are the same size, from similar materials, with the same blade shape. take away the thumb stud and use the blood groove (Fuller? i cant remember the names of these things anymore) as a thumb hole. jimping in similar places, both are framelocks, and the obtuse curve of the handle in the tough tony is the same place ase the finger choil on the 755 handle.
 
PitbullShogun said:
its the angel of the 755 in the picture.

they both are the same size, from similar materials, with the same blade shape. take away the thumb stud and use the blood groove (Fuller? i cant remember the names of these things anymore) as a thumb hole. jimping in similar places, both are framelocks, and the obtuse curve of the handle in the tough tony is the same place ase the finger choil on the 755 handle.
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Hmm maybe then. I thought the Tough Tony was a liner lock? At least the video on YouTube shows it as one. I just figured Manits, like other companies are hopping on the stubby knife bandwagon.
 
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