Well I've never done a review before, but I have never seen anything about this knife on BladeForums. So I thought it would be something different than the 1,000,000,000th Paramilitary 2 review.
It is a Knojis Mino Kami. It is in the same style as a traditional Japanese Higonokami, but with the addition of a liner lock.
I have mixed feelings about the quality. I paid $150 for it, which for me is definitely on the high end of my collection. That being said, I have no qualms about carrying and using it.
When I took it out of the box, the blade was WAY off center. Normally, this doesn't really bother me that much. But in this case it was so far off that it had damaged the damascus finish on the blade.
Meh. Like I said, I plan to carry and use the knife, so it doesn't really bother me. It'll get scratched eventually. It's not worth the hassle or ~1 month turnaround that it would take to send it to the states and back (I'm in Canada).
The only reason it DOES bother me a bit is that it took me all of 10 seconds to get the blade centered perfectly. Had this been done in the first place, the damage never would have happened. Which makes me wonder how many times the knife was opened/closed before I got it. I literally opened the knife and took these pics.
When I was re-tightening the pivot I realised that this knife has a feature that none of my other ones do. I'm not sure what the technical term is, but the pivot has screw heads on both sides that turn. I could crank it down nice and tight and the blade still operated completely smoothly.
Upon closer inspection I also found some weird damage to the blade tang. One side has a weird gouge in it:
Neither of these issues really bother me, but if I was a collector I would be pretty pissed. I am not sure if this is typical of these knives or not, I've never seen another one.
It has better lockup than any other folder in my collection, by far. My Benchmade 940, Spyderco Lum Carbon Fiber, Kershaw Blur, all have slight side to side blade play. This Mino Kami has zero blade play. People say zero, I mean absolutely NONE, not even the tiniest wiggle.
The downside being that the liner lock is very stiff to disengage. I can't close it the way that I typically close a liner lock; I actually have to push down with the end of my thumb, not to the side with the pad of my thumb like I normally would.
The spine of the blade is rough and unfinished. I am not sure if this is typical on Higonokamis or just those by Knojis. Again, it doesn't bother me, I think it's kind of cool actually. Speaking of the spine, the jimping is absolutely excellent. It actually has some bite to it, it is not just decorative.
The knife is heavier than it should be IMO. I will probably take it apart and drill out the liners at some point.
It's been right around 24 hours now and I've already made a slight modification
I really like the way it turned out. Trying to decide if I should paint the screw as well.
When I was shopping for a new knife I had simple but tough criteria; I wanted Carbon Fiber and Damascus for under $200. Maybe some sacrifices had to be made to get those materials at this price point. The knife definitely has a few flaws, but again, I'm not sure if this is typical or if I just got a bit of a lemon.
But I really don't mind any of the flaws, I LOVE this knife!
It is a Knojis Mino Kami. It is in the same style as a traditional Japanese Higonokami, but with the addition of a liner lock.
I have mixed feelings about the quality. I paid $150 for it, which for me is definitely on the high end of my collection. That being said, I have no qualms about carrying and using it.
When I took it out of the box, the blade was WAY off center. Normally, this doesn't really bother me that much. But in this case it was so far off that it had damaged the damascus finish on the blade.
Meh. Like I said, I plan to carry and use the knife, so it doesn't really bother me. It'll get scratched eventually. It's not worth the hassle or ~1 month turnaround that it would take to send it to the states and back (I'm in Canada).
The only reason it DOES bother me a bit is that it took me all of 10 seconds to get the blade centered perfectly. Had this been done in the first place, the damage never would have happened. Which makes me wonder how many times the knife was opened/closed before I got it. I literally opened the knife and took these pics.
When I was re-tightening the pivot I realised that this knife has a feature that none of my other ones do. I'm not sure what the technical term is, but the pivot has screw heads on both sides that turn. I could crank it down nice and tight and the blade still operated completely smoothly.
Upon closer inspection I also found some weird damage to the blade tang. One side has a weird gouge in it:
Neither of these issues really bother me, but if I was a collector I would be pretty pissed. I am not sure if this is typical of these knives or not, I've never seen another one.
It has better lockup than any other folder in my collection, by far. My Benchmade 940, Spyderco Lum Carbon Fiber, Kershaw Blur, all have slight side to side blade play. This Mino Kami has zero blade play. People say zero, I mean absolutely NONE, not even the tiniest wiggle.
The downside being that the liner lock is very stiff to disengage. I can't close it the way that I typically close a liner lock; I actually have to push down with the end of my thumb, not to the side with the pad of my thumb like I normally would.
The spine of the blade is rough and unfinished. I am not sure if this is typical on Higonokamis or just those by Knojis. Again, it doesn't bother me, I think it's kind of cool actually. Speaking of the spine, the jimping is absolutely excellent. It actually has some bite to it, it is not just decorative.
The knife is heavier than it should be IMO. I will probably take it apart and drill out the liners at some point.
It's been right around 24 hours now and I've already made a slight modification
I really like the way it turned out. Trying to decide if I should paint the screw as well.
When I was shopping for a new knife I had simple but tough criteria; I wanted Carbon Fiber and Damascus for under $200. Maybe some sacrifices had to be made to get those materials at this price point. The knife definitely has a few flaws, but again, I'm not sure if this is typical or if I just got a bit of a lemon.
But I really don't mind any of the flaws, I LOVE this knife!
