My convenience store Steel Warrior(s)

C

cutter17

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May 16, 2006
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his is the first China made slipjoint I have owned.

I had stopped at a conveinice store, one I pass by a couple times a week but rarely stop at, to buy a pack of cigarettes. As I waited my turn I noticed a small knife case with 8 to 10 slipjoints in it. I stepped out to get a closer look and saw that they were Steel Warrior brand. I spotted what looked like a cigar whittler, or maybe it would be called an equal end whittler(?). It was shorter than the Case Cigar pattern, and it has a locking main blade. The length is a little over 3.75". It operates on two springs making it thinner than my favorite, a Case Humpback Whittler. The main blade started out as a .157" thick piece of 440 stainless probably being 440A, but lost that thickness after a 1/2". It has nickel silver bolsters, brass liners, and red bone handles. The fit/finish is surprisingly good with no gaps, nor any high/low spots to be found. The "walk and talk" is on the lighter side and is pretty close to what the Case Cigar has. Another surprise was to find all three blade razor sharp, being able to cleanly slice newsprint. When I purchased this one there were 4 in the case. I decided to just pick one, sight unseen, and see what the luck of the draw brought me. I have read where the Rough Rider brand, and Steel Warrior to a lesser degree, was a surprise brand of knives. Surprise in regards to price/quality. After this one I can understand that statement.
 
I have a couple of Steel Warrior mini copperheads and a large congress. All three had excellent fit a finish and near perfect walk and talk. All came shaving sharp. My only issue was the obtuse (but sharp) edges on the copperheads.

One of the copperheads is my treat-it-like-a-rented-mule knife. It has held up perfectly, even when subjected to treatment that borders on abuse. It also holds a pretty fair edge.

Pretty darned good slippies for a five spot each.
 
I'm carrying the SW whittler today and plan to for a while in order to give it a workout and see for myself how it does. I'm sure I paid a premium price for this knife and could have gotten it cheaper online.
 
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Here is the SW copperhead whipping-boy.
 
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I have a Steel Warrior lock-back w/a two inch blade. The f and f are superb but I just don't like the knife much. I figure a proper lock-back should have some size and heft to it. Good and sharp out of the box and nicely done bone handles, just doesn't float my boat. Like RR's, great bang for the buck. Just thinking pipedreams, since I don't have any emotional attachment to the SW maybe I should "treat it like a rented mule" purely for scientific purposes.
 
Hi,

This is my only SW, I really like the design. A whittler with a back-lock main blade. Mine just isn't as good as it could be.
100_7034.jpg


It's getting very hard to not like some of these brands. So enjoy your new "gas station" knife! I think you'll find it a good worker.

Dale
 
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Here is the other Sm. Copperhead (locking) and Lg. Congress. The Congress is especially nice.

These Steel Warriors come with all the essential qualities that make a nice slipjoint -except pride of ownership...
 
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That green SW is beautiful. You know the saying beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So enjoy your new slippie!
 
I don't own either brand yet but from what I've read on here about them and the choices from Smoky Mt. Knifeworks there would seem to be alot to choose from. A good way to try a specific pattern for cheap before getting a Case or more expensive brand. Just my 2 cents.

Paul
 
I just picked up 2 Steel Warrior lockbacks on the big auction site. Looking forward to their arrival. I bought a SW congress a few years ago that was very nice and very inexpensive.
 
dalee100 said:
Hi,

This is my only SW, I really like the design. A whittler with a back-lock main blade. Mine just isn't as good as it could be.
100_7034.jpg


It's getting very hard to not like some of these brands. So enjoy your new "gas station" knife! I think you'll find it a good worker.

Dale
Click to expand...
often though you might find "isn't as good as it could be" to be good enough though. i cut things with my knives and that is about the only thing a knife is made to do. and even the cheap ones do just that. there is definitely a line that can be crossed though. i bought some frost cutlery(parent of steel warrior) stockman and when you go to cut something the 2 blades on one end pop the backspring up. not to mention they put "german stainless" on the tang stamp and the on the other side of the blade it says made in pakistan. that's a couple of things i have against the cheapos that and the signature shield most always falls off. i will say though that i do have a steel warrior blue bone congress that works quite well and hasn't done any of the aforementioned quirks. so i guess in my opinion it just depends on how well the individuals experience with a certain knife is.
 
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I have a few Rough Rider trappers with that same locking feature, where you depress the secondary Wharncliffe blade to release the master clip.
These are all the same, with the large hole in the enlarged clip blade--you can one hand open these, but it takes some practice!

Amber jigged bone, sythetic tortoise shell, and checkered brown gunstock bone.
IMG_9964.jpg


They also make it in yellow composition. These are on the standard 4-1/8" closed trapper frame.
 
buckgen5 said:
often though you might find "isn't as good as it could be" to be good enough though. i cut things with my knives and that is about the only thing a knife is made to do. and even the cheap ones do just that. there is definitely a line that can be crossed though. i bought some frost cutlery(parent of steel warrior) stockman and when you go to cut something the 2 blades on one end pop the backspring up. not to mention they put "german stainless" on the tang stamp and the on the other side of the blade it says made in pakistan. that's a couple of things i have against the cheapos that and the signature shield most always falls off. i will say though that i do have a steel warrior blue bone congress that works quite well and hasn't done any of the aforementioned quirks. so i guess in my opinion it just depends on how well the individuals experience with a certain knife is.
Click to expand...

Hi,

I most definitely agree with you, each knife you will ever own is unique to itself as far as quality and quirks. It's one of the things I like about traditional slippies.

But due to my quirks and personality, I'm not overly satisfied with this particular specimen. I do really like the pattern itself, but the execution is a little less than satisfactory. All three blades are loose side to side and the locking blade's lock up is loose vertically. Enough to make me a bit leery of it.

I will probably try another Steel Warrior of two at some point. But I'm more than happy with my Rough Riders.

Dale
 
dalee100 said:
Hi,

This is my only SW, I really like the design. A whittler with a back-lock main blade. Mine just isn't as good as it could be.
100_7034.jpg


It's getting very hard to not like some of these brands. So enjoy your new "gas station" knife! I think you'll find it a good worker.

Dale
Click to expand...



That is the same knife I have. Been carrying it for a couple weeks now and have found it able to do everything my Case Humpback Whittler was doing. Think I mentioned this earlier, but the two small blades are really thin and they both sharpen up like razors which is nice, especially when cutting something a bit fragile. Seems to be a very capable knife.:thumbup::)
 
I had posted earlier this month about a SW Cigar Whittler I had bought. Today I went back to that store and picked up 2 more of these SW's, one was $15.99, and the other $16.99.

I got a 5-bladed one called Kentucky. Red bone with an equal end frame(?). Closed length is 3.75". The fit/finish is excellent. No gaps, no overhangs, good even blade grinds, and paper slicing edge's out of the box. There is a main blade that I would call a clip point, but with a steep downward drop to the point. The other blades are a spearpoint, and a wharncliffe, and they are found on either side of the main blade. Again the spearpoint and wharncliffe blades are very thin and just glide through paper and hair. The main blade is the same thickness as the other four, but with a thicker back. The walk and talk on this one is as good as it gets. The half stop just falls in place like a fully opened, or fully closed knife. I plan to carry this one in place of the whittler, at least for a couple weeks to see how it goes.

The second knife is a 3-bladed stockman pattern that is also equal ended with long rounded bolsters. It has a slight upward curve to the frame. the blades are of thicker stock than the Kentucky above. It is 4.25" long in the closed position. It has blue bone handles. The blades are a clip point, a spearpoint, and a wharncliffe blade. As above, the blades are paper slicing sharp out of the box. Walk and talk is very good, but it doesnt have the half stop that the Kentucky has. I will also carry this one for a couple weeks to see how it holds up to day to day cutting, and will probably carry this one first, with the Kentucky the following two weeks.

Both knives are very well made and come in at a very low price.:thumbup::)


Here is a link to a picture of the Wrangler. Only difference between it and mine is bone color.

SW-112ASC.jpg


This is a pic of the Kentucky. Only difference again is the bone color.

pACE3-4029406dt.jpg
 
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Thanks for cleaning up Blues!:thumbup::D I'll start doing the images, as it appears to be as easy if not easier.

Thanks also for combining the two threads.


I also want to add about the two knives that I did not cherry pick them from the case, as there were 4 of each pattern I got. I simply picked out one and checked to see that it was there. I didn't even unwrap them until I got home.
 
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