MOD Mark II question

[Naymit]

MOD Mark II is slowly but steadily becoming one of my favorite folders. So here is the question - was there or is there going to be any high speed steel editions of this knife?
Thanks,
DS.

 

[Esav Benyamin]

Why not contact MOD directly? Any of us would only be guessing. If I were to guess, I'd say, no. It's a fine knife as is, must sell well since it's been in the lineup a long time. Why change?

 

[Naymit]

Why change?

Yes it is a cool knife as it is. Why change though? Because everyoone else does. To continue to sell. I haven't seen this knife listed in many EDC posts lately. Or best folder lists. Or any other... and yet it is an excellnet knife.

 

[Esav Benyamin]

I think it's specialized, almost too good for its own good. I have a manual CQD and CQD Mark II, and I just got a CQD Mark I auto. But they aren't flavor-of-the-month. They have their market, along with the other original MOD knives. It's the newer, sleeker models MOD puts out that they pin their hopes for expanded sales on.

 

[Naymit]

Didn't MOD still Michael Janich from Spyderco recently? Should we expect some new models from them?

 

[Esav Benyamin]

I don't think anybody owns Janich. He collaborates with different companies as a project he's interested in comes up. It would be good to see him work on new designs, yes.

 

[Naymit]

i dont mean to say that someone owns him, but he is now their Director of Product Development according to realfighting.com, so my hopes are up

 

[Esav Benyamin]

That sounds good. Remember, MOD is no longer an independent operator. They've been part of Blackhawk for a while. We should expect innovation, rather than just serving a specialized, limited market.

 

[nozh2002]

MOD Mark II is my permanent EDC. I am looking forward to see new Crucible - I hope it will be awailable soon. Too bad they have very poor website with small useless pictures...

Thanks, Vassili.

 

[ZcouT]

i've been thinkingf about the cqd 1, i want one but i dont know if it is a great knife or not. you who have one (or more) please explains the pro:s and con;s from your point of view

 

[nozh2002]

i've been thinkingf about the cqd 1, i want one but i dont know if it is a great knife or not. you who have one (or more) please explains the pro:s and con;s from your point of view

After analizing why Mark II is so great for me I think that most important is that bump on bolster area and second - handle shape. It has most comfortable grip I know for folders - it just fit my palm!

Also I have great review from one vietnamize SN guy who fight Chinese when it was time (China invide vietnamize and was kicked back in a week or so - it was almost instant and so unnoticed) and now he is instructor for russian and ukrainian SN. His conclusion was same - it is very handy, for CQC especially.

I do not CQC operator - qite far from it, but it is very handy for regular use as well so it is my favorit knife, my permanent EDC.

Only cons is that it has relatively thick edge. It is not quite suitable for "surgical" operations like cut out splinter etc. So for this kind of things I use Microtech MiniSOCOM.

Thanks, Vassili.

 

[ZcouT]

thanks. great explaning!

dam i am going to be broke for years!

 

[Esav Benyamin]

Depending on the size of your hand, you might like to try the large version, too. But it has a huge handle, and frankly, the Mark II doesn't give up much in blade length.

Blade -- Handle

Mk I - 3.75 -- 6.0
Mk II - 3.25 -- 4.5

Both are just about bullet-proof. Extremely strong pivot/tang area, and flat sabre grinds. It's hard to imagine what these knives would consider abuse.

As far as legitimate use goes, both would serve well as rescue knives.

 

[yuchang]

We should have known enough about something before we talk about it, but usually we did not. I felt this when I read your thread mentionning China-VietNam war.

After analizing why Mark II is so great for me I think that most important is that bump on bolster area and second - handle shape. It has most comfortable grip I know for folders - it just fit my palm!

Also I have great review from one vietnamize SN guy who fight Chinese when it was time (China invide vietnamize and was kicked back in a week or so - it was almost instant and so unnoticed) and now he is instructor for russian and ukrainian SN. His conclusion was same - it is very handy, for CQC especially.

I do not CQC operator - qite far from it, but it is very handy for regular use as well so it is my favorit knife, my permanent EDC.

Only cons is that it has relatively thick edge. It is not quite suitable for "surgical" operations like cut out splinter etc. So for this kind of things I use Microtech MiniSOCOM.

Thanks, Vassili.

 

[nozh2002]

We should have known enough about something before we talk about it, but usually we did not. I felt this when I read your thread mentionning China-VietNam war.

Yes I have similar experience - I grow up in communist country also and learnd history communist way in school. Most interesting was History of Communist party - you never know what is right at this moment.

I was in school when we have this parade of great leaders Brezhnev, Andropow, Chernenko and finally Gorbachev - and any time we have different history. It was very funny and I also never felt for sure am I "known enough about something".

Thanks, Vassili.

 

[Naymit]

MOD Mark II is my permanent EDC.

The reason i bought this knife in the first place was the review on your website.

 

[Michael Janich]

Thank you all for your interest in the MOD Mark II. I agree that it's a great knife and one of my favorites in the line.

With regard to steel choice, MOD settled on 154CM early on because it is an excellent cutlery steel that offers a great balance of performance, corrosion resistance, and ease of maintenance. Although there are more sophisticated steels out there, the performance they offer isn't that much better than 154CM for most users and in many cases, they are harder to sharpen. Since many of our knives are in use by military guys in the field with limited resources, ease of maintenance is very important to us.

For the record, I was hired by MOD/BlackHawk in July 2004 as their Director of Product Development. As of October 2005, I took over as Brand Manager for both Masters of Defense and its new "brother" company, BlackHawk Blades. As such, I have had the opportunity to work on a number of knife design projects and am definitely "keeping my hand in" as far as tactical knife innovation.

The first design that I did for Blackhawk Blades (BHB) is called the Kalista. It's a small fixed-blade personal defense knife designed to work in any grip, including the increasingly popular reverse-edge methods. The sheath concept for this knife is also my design. Called the TCCS (Total Concealed Carry Solution), it includes a sheath and all hardware necessary to support more than 70 different carry positions. I'm very excited about this knife and sheath design and am happy to say that it is currently in stock and shipping.

I also worked closely with Kelly McCann on the Crucible project, which consists of a fixed blade, an ergonomically identical folder, and a folding trainer. Kelly designed the original fixed blade. From that, I did the engineering on the folder and also designed a TCCS-style sheath for the fixed blade. In case you're condering, the folders went into stock and began shipping a few days ago. The fixed blades, as well as the limited edition matched sets (with laser-engraved signature and matching serial numbers) should start shipping by the end of next week. The trainers are about 6 weeks out. These are very cool knives and it was an incredible honor to work with Kelly on them.

Finally, as for the BlackHawk web site design, I agree that it leaves a lot to be desired. That's why the entire thing is currently being redesigned from the ground up. Please be patient; it's going to get a whole lot better very soon.

Thank you all again for your interest and support.

Stay safe,

 

[nozh2002]

Great to hear from MOD! Thanks Michael.

You may send Crucible pictures to me and I'll post it on my site and here.

Thanks, Vassili.