- Joined
- May 25, 2013
- Messages
- 3,700
Well, the title says it all. Today I received a brand new Mantra. It was a gift from a good friend and I could not be happier with it. I had the chance to handle one several months ago and knew I was going to like it but man, I cannot put this knife down. This is the most excited I have been about a folder in a long time now. Here are some of my initial thoughts from my first day of use...and a lot of fondling. 
I knew from the first moment I saw pics of this design that it was modeled after the Delica and that is a wonderful thing in my book. For me though, the Mantra actually improves upon the Delica in several ways. The handle of the Mantra is ever so slightly shorter than the Delica, yet the blade is a fair bit longer. When you compare cutting edges its not even close. The Mantra has a cutting edge that is nearly equal to that of the Stretch and manages to squeeze it into a handle shorter than the Delica. That's kind of a big deal IMO.
The next thing I noticed was that I like the handle ergonomics even better than those of the Delica. I love the handle of the Delica but I have always felt just a tiny bit cramped when holding it. Even though the Mantra handle is slightly shorter, I felt like I had more room. On closer examination I noticed that the first groove on the Mantra is slightly longer than that of the Delica. That allows a bit more room for my first two fingers and leaves the handle feeling like it gives me more room despite it being shorter.
The blade is a total winner too. The Mantra has a negative blade angle which I like. Holding it next to the Delica I can see that it is a couple of degrees "more negative" than that of the Delica. I guess it depends on what you like, but for me this is a nice design feature. Gives more power to pull cuts but is still subtle enough that the belly works fine against a flat surface. The profile is ever so slightly more "leaf shaped" than I like so I took a piece of sandpaper to the spine and flattened it out just a hair. I might go just a bit flatter after giving it a bit more use...we'll see. The next thing I noticed about the blade was the grind. It is actually quite thin. My copy is about .015-.018 from heel to tip and is quite the slicer. As usual, the (Taichung) knife came with an edge bevel that is slightly more obtuse than 30 degrees but since it is ground so thin, that only took 5-10 minutes to reprofile to 30 with the sm and diamond rods.
Now to the flipper. It works great and mine has silky smooth action. I am not overly into flippers but I certainly have nothing against them. The good news is, this knife works perfectly with the spyderhole and the flipper nub is small and does not get in the way "in pocket". It also makes for a very functional finger guard. So for me, I am happy to have the flipper but the ability to still open with the spyderhole is a huge plus.
There's plenty more to like on this model but I will stop there so I don't bore you guys. Suffice it to say that I am extremely impressed with the Mantra and honestly I'm a bit surprised that we don't hear more folks ranting about this outstanding model. I can tell you this. The Mantra is the new king in my pocket and the contenders are going to have their work cut out for them!
Finally, here's a couple of quick pics for you.
The first is a just a quick glamour shot.
This one shows it after its done a bit of kitchen slicing. It actually worked quite well slicing the tuna up nice and thin. The extra half inch of cutting edge was just enough to make this knife capable of a job for which the Delica would have fallen a bit short.
I knew from the first moment I saw pics of this design that it was modeled after the Delica and that is a wonderful thing in my book. For me though, the Mantra actually improves upon the Delica in several ways. The handle of the Mantra is ever so slightly shorter than the Delica, yet the blade is a fair bit longer. When you compare cutting edges its not even close. The Mantra has a cutting edge that is nearly equal to that of the Stretch and manages to squeeze it into a handle shorter than the Delica. That's kind of a big deal IMO.
The next thing I noticed was that I like the handle ergonomics even better than those of the Delica. I love the handle of the Delica but I have always felt just a tiny bit cramped when holding it. Even though the Mantra handle is slightly shorter, I felt like I had more room. On closer examination I noticed that the first groove on the Mantra is slightly longer than that of the Delica. That allows a bit more room for my first two fingers and leaves the handle feeling like it gives me more room despite it being shorter.
The blade is a total winner too. The Mantra has a negative blade angle which I like. Holding it next to the Delica I can see that it is a couple of degrees "more negative" than that of the Delica. I guess it depends on what you like, but for me this is a nice design feature. Gives more power to pull cuts but is still subtle enough that the belly works fine against a flat surface. The profile is ever so slightly more "leaf shaped" than I like so I took a piece of sandpaper to the spine and flattened it out just a hair. I might go just a bit flatter after giving it a bit more use...we'll see. The next thing I noticed about the blade was the grind. It is actually quite thin. My copy is about .015-.018 from heel to tip and is quite the slicer. As usual, the (Taichung) knife came with an edge bevel that is slightly more obtuse than 30 degrees but since it is ground so thin, that only took 5-10 minutes to reprofile to 30 with the sm and diamond rods.
Now to the flipper. It works great and mine has silky smooth action. I am not overly into flippers but I certainly have nothing against them. The good news is, this knife works perfectly with the spyderhole and the flipper nub is small and does not get in the way "in pocket". It also makes for a very functional finger guard. So for me, I am happy to have the flipper but the ability to still open with the spyderhole is a huge plus.
There's plenty more to like on this model but I will stop there so I don't bore you guys. Suffice it to say that I am extremely impressed with the Mantra and honestly I'm a bit surprised that we don't hear more folks ranting about this outstanding model. I can tell you this. The Mantra is the new king in my pocket and the contenders are going to have their work cut out for them!
Finally, here's a couple of quick pics for you.
The first is a just a quick glamour shot.
This one shows it after its done a bit of kitchen slicing. It actually worked quite well slicing the tuna up nice and thin. The extra half inch of cutting edge was just enough to make this knife capable of a job for which the Delica would have fallen a bit short.
