So while waiting for my BK14 to be shipped to my country. (Which is taking forever.) I started reading about EDC and got to thinking about how many times a knife would have come in handy and I didn't have one. (Part of the reason why I pulled the trigger on the BK14.) So I decided, rather than sitting on my ass, I would do two things.
1. Go grab a cheap knife to EDC and practice sharpening on.
2. Order more knives.
So let's start with 2. I've found that in my worktime, I don't need the strength of a fixed blade, and there are so many pretty folders out there. *_* So I've placed an order for a couple cheap ones to try out. (Cheap for you guys, they run me at least 200 bucks each in my currency.) Currently I'm waiting on the CRKT Ignitor, and the Buck Vantage Avid, though I plan to give the latter to my dad for his birthday. He's a lapsed knife-nut himself, but he was the one who sparked my interest when I was young. I figure I'd return the favour. :3
And now on to 1. I mentioned in a previous post that I have a cheap AFD Boker that I picked up for RM40 (USD14.95) but after reading and reading and handling the blade, I still like it, but the shape and edge angle isn't really suited to utility tasks. It's more for stabbings. So I went out and picked up another cheap folder from this store, this time, a counterfeit Gerber. At least I'm pretty sure it's counterfeit, I can't find the damn thing on the net anywhere. Hey, it only cost me 40 bucks. And the logo looks legit anyways.
So I give you, my current EDC.
So, as you can see, it's a pretty generic folder. Here are the thing's stats:
Blade Length: 3.75"
Overall Length: 7"
Blade Material: Mystery Stainless Steel
Handle Material: Feels like aluminium.
Blade Style: Modified Drop Point
Opening: Dual, ambidextrous thumb studs
Locking Mechanism: Liner lock
Carry Method: Non-reversible, tip-down carry pocket clip.
And here's my mini-review:
The Blade
The blade is a modified drop point, that goes from about 1/8" at the base of the spine nearest the handle, to about 1/16" from halfway up the spine to the tip. Despite the thinning though, the tip feels solid and hasn't bent despite being stabbed into a table and bent this way and that and dropped onto the floor point-first. (By accident, of course.) Coated in some mystery black material, it does create some drag that you can feel by running your finger across it, but on the things that I've used it on so far, that hasn't been much of an issue. Still, I'm thinking of stripping it just to have a nice, shiny blade.
There is a thumb ramp near the handle but for my hands, the thumb ramp is a little too far back to really be useful, and the jimping is so shallow it doesn't provide any traction at all, though I'm sure that can be fixed with a little file work.
The blade itself looks to be a high flat grind, after running it over my dad's ages old whetstone of unknown grits and composition, and stropping on the uncoated rough side of an old belt, for a total of about 20-25 minutes, it's now shaving sharp, removing about half the hairs it passes across on my legs. With a little more work it should be perfect. If you look at my pictures closely you can see the nasty scratches from my initial crappy sharpening. I've since perfected my technique and I haven't had to deal with any new scratches since. Yay me!
The Handle
As listed above, the handle scales feel like aluminium, they have a strange sort of groove pattern machined into them that I assume is for grip though as far as I've noticed they don't seem to help all that much. The handles also have a tendency to get slick when held in a sweaty hand, but not when wet. So that's a little weird.
The handle itself though, is very comfortable in the hand. The finger choil is adequately deep for my hand size, but my fingers are relatively slender, for someone with bigger hands it may be slightly too small. The liner is nicely jimped providing adequate grip, not too shallow and not too sharp.
Shape-wise I find the handle's aesthetics pleasing, it even has what looks like a pointed glass-breaker style angle at its pommel. I haven't hit anything with it so I don't know how it would fair, but by the shape I would assume it would do some pretty nasty damage if you felt the need to hammer someone with it.
The scales are removable! There are two little I'm-not-quite-sure-what-type screws that secure it down, and if you unscrew them the scales can be taken off if you so desire. I haven't tried it, but that sure is a nice feature.
Misc. Observations
The blade has a long cutout near the top which I assume is meant to be a finger hole of some sort, an alternate opening method. I never use it and it sucks if that's what it's meant for. Utterly useless, I'd prefer that the blade was solid, I have a sneaking suspicion that the generous cutout weakens the overall integrity of the blade.
The dual thumb studs are removable! One side screws into the other and can be unscrewed with a little effort for cleaning. I remove them when I'm sharpening because they get in the way of my getting the right angle. I've taken them off quite a few times and once they're screwed in they don't move an inch. I like that feature.
The pocket clip. It's not deep carry, but that doesn't really bug me. The style of the clip though, is the same as on the Benchmade 890 Torrent, I was watching nutnfancy's review of that knife and he expressed concerns with the clip design saying it might snag on things and bend because of it's protrusion. I carry in my back pocket so I haven't had a problem with this, but front pocket carry may make that a worrisome thought.
The blade lock-up is rock solid. I've been flipping it open and closed all the time since I got it and jamming it point first into that old wooden table in the pictures and there's not even a hint of vertical or horizontal blade play. The whole thing feels solid in the hand.
Overall: 7.5/10
For a cheap piece of junk blade, I'm really surprised at how much I like it. It sharpens easy, locks up solid, and feels good in the hand. If I had my way though, I'd much prefer to not have the cutout in the blade, and grippier handles. Maybe I'll get to work on making my own set of scales.
I don't know how well the knife performs under hard use yet, if I can get another copy, I'll turn this one into a tester and bash on it a little to let you guys know what I find. For 40 bucks? I'd say it's definitely a good performer.
Hope you enjoyed the random review! This is what I do when I'm bored and knifeless.
I'll post more pics of specific parts if you ask for them!
1. Go grab a cheap knife to EDC and practice sharpening on.
2. Order more knives.
So let's start with 2. I've found that in my worktime, I don't need the strength of a fixed blade, and there are so many pretty folders out there. *_* So I've placed an order for a couple cheap ones to try out. (Cheap for you guys, they run me at least 200 bucks each in my currency.) Currently I'm waiting on the CRKT Ignitor, and the Buck Vantage Avid, though I plan to give the latter to my dad for his birthday. He's a lapsed knife-nut himself, but he was the one who sparked my interest when I was young. I figure I'd return the favour. :3
And now on to 1. I mentioned in a previous post that I have a cheap AFD Boker that I picked up for RM40 (USD14.95) but after reading and reading and handling the blade, I still like it, but the shape and edge angle isn't really suited to utility tasks. It's more for stabbings. So I went out and picked up another cheap folder from this store, this time, a counterfeit Gerber. At least I'm pretty sure it's counterfeit, I can't find the damn thing on the net anywhere. Hey, it only cost me 40 bucks. And the logo looks legit anyways.
So I give you, my current EDC.
So, as you can see, it's a pretty generic folder. Here are the thing's stats:
Blade Length: 3.75"
Overall Length: 7"
Blade Material: Mystery Stainless Steel
Handle Material: Feels like aluminium.
Blade Style: Modified Drop Point
Opening: Dual, ambidextrous thumb studs
Locking Mechanism: Liner lock
Carry Method: Non-reversible, tip-down carry pocket clip.
And here's my mini-review:
The Blade
The blade is a modified drop point, that goes from about 1/8" at the base of the spine nearest the handle, to about 1/16" from halfway up the spine to the tip. Despite the thinning though, the tip feels solid and hasn't bent despite being stabbed into a table and bent this way and that and dropped onto the floor point-first. (By accident, of course.) Coated in some mystery black material, it does create some drag that you can feel by running your finger across it, but on the things that I've used it on so far, that hasn't been much of an issue. Still, I'm thinking of stripping it just to have a nice, shiny blade.
There is a thumb ramp near the handle but for my hands, the thumb ramp is a little too far back to really be useful, and the jimping is so shallow it doesn't provide any traction at all, though I'm sure that can be fixed with a little file work.
The blade itself looks to be a high flat grind, after running it over my dad's ages old whetstone of unknown grits and composition, and stropping on the uncoated rough side of an old belt, for a total of about 20-25 minutes, it's now shaving sharp, removing about half the hairs it passes across on my legs. With a little more work it should be perfect. If you look at my pictures closely you can see the nasty scratches from my initial crappy sharpening. I've since perfected my technique and I haven't had to deal with any new scratches since. Yay me!
The Handle
As listed above, the handle scales feel like aluminium, they have a strange sort of groove pattern machined into them that I assume is for grip though as far as I've noticed they don't seem to help all that much. The handles also have a tendency to get slick when held in a sweaty hand, but not when wet. So that's a little weird.
The handle itself though, is very comfortable in the hand. The finger choil is adequately deep for my hand size, but my fingers are relatively slender, for someone with bigger hands it may be slightly too small. The liner is nicely jimped providing adequate grip, not too shallow and not too sharp.
Shape-wise I find the handle's aesthetics pleasing, it even has what looks like a pointed glass-breaker style angle at its pommel. I haven't hit anything with it so I don't know how it would fair, but by the shape I would assume it would do some pretty nasty damage if you felt the need to hammer someone with it.
The scales are removable! There are two little I'm-not-quite-sure-what-type screws that secure it down, and if you unscrew them the scales can be taken off if you so desire. I haven't tried it, but that sure is a nice feature.
Misc. Observations
The blade has a long cutout near the top which I assume is meant to be a finger hole of some sort, an alternate opening method. I never use it and it sucks if that's what it's meant for. Utterly useless, I'd prefer that the blade was solid, I have a sneaking suspicion that the generous cutout weakens the overall integrity of the blade.
The dual thumb studs are removable! One side screws into the other and can be unscrewed with a little effort for cleaning. I remove them when I'm sharpening because they get in the way of my getting the right angle. I've taken them off quite a few times and once they're screwed in they don't move an inch. I like that feature.
The pocket clip. It's not deep carry, but that doesn't really bug me. The style of the clip though, is the same as on the Benchmade 890 Torrent, I was watching nutnfancy's review of that knife and he expressed concerns with the clip design saying it might snag on things and bend because of it's protrusion. I carry in my back pocket so I haven't had a problem with this, but front pocket carry may make that a worrisome thought.
The blade lock-up is rock solid. I've been flipping it open and closed all the time since I got it and jamming it point first into that old wooden table in the pictures and there's not even a hint of vertical or horizontal blade play. The whole thing feels solid in the hand.
Overall: 7.5/10
For a cheap piece of junk blade, I'm really surprised at how much I like it. It sharpens easy, locks up solid, and feels good in the hand. If I had my way though, I'd much prefer to not have the cutout in the blade, and grippier handles. Maybe I'll get to work on making my own set of scales.
I don't know how well the knife performs under hard use yet, if I can get another copy, I'll turn this one into a tester and bash on it a little to let you guys know what I find. For 40 bucks? I'd say it's definitely a good performer.
Hope you enjoyed the random review! This is what I do when I'm bored and knifeless.
I'll post more pics of specific parts if you ask for them!
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