Disclaimer: Ive never claimed myself as a good English speaker, heck I didnt even speak English 3 years ago, so please forgive my English. Make your own corrections if you find funny words, or just plain bad grammar
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I had contemplated on a Talonite knife, especially a skinner, long before I decided to get this knife. Several makers have just begun to make their knives in Talonite version, and I saw this as a double fold opportunity to try some less known makers and of course the material itself, Talonite. I began to contact some makers and was getting ready to hear some obscene prices. Im happy to report that this was not the case. If you dont believe me, check it out yourselves folks. Makers usually charge from $60 to $120 more than similar pieces in stainless or carbon steel.
EDI was probably the first company to announce a production knife based on Talonite. Unfortunately, they still havent come out with it yet. And then there was REKAT, although they only used it on a limited number of Carnivores. Not too long ago, we heard that Camillus is coming with Quest (the name is still Quest, no?). It is based on Rob Simonichs Cetan I believe. All this interest from knife manufacturers and individual makers is like adding fuel to my already burning curiosity. Now the question is where to get them knives? If I could spare 3 to 15 months, then there would be no problem.
One of the makers I contacted was Neil Blackwood (a.k.a Dr. Lathe, a fellow forumite). He had two Talonite knives at that time, a Stag Hunter and Tactical knife with G-10 handle. Unfortunately for me, he informed me, both had already had prospective buyers. Oh no! I began to contemplate on my own skinner design, and was getting ready to commission a Talonite knife. And then came that wonderful news from Neil, both Talonite knives were available! Now it took me a long time to consider between the two, I like the blade of the Stag Hunter better, but I really wanted a G-10 or black Micarta handle for toughness. In the end I decided on the Tactical one, hence my story
To avoid of being redundant on Talonite performance review, plus I just got the knife last night, I will limit this review to the knife itself and spare you all the Talonite performance stuff. However I will include a review of the blade geometry and its influence on cutting performance. I will update my review as soon as I have the time.
First heres a link to the picture: http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Meeting/5520/page2.HTML . The Tactical G-10 is the bottom one (duh!).
The Handle
The knife has a somewhat slimmer and narrower handle than what I expected. This is a happy surprise for me as I have small hands and skinny fingers. While I dont despise a wider handle, I really hate thick handles. There are three holes along the handle, my bet is they are there to reduce weight, hence the skeletonized handle and good overall balance. Seven pins grace the handle and I cannot feel any of them jutting from the G-10 surface. I didnt notice it first, but there appears to be dark blue spacers. Theres a lanyard hole towards the butt, just in case. What is interesting is that Neil sculpted the handle around the holes, and he ended up with a really nice contoured handle. The G-10 itself is polished, but not excessively smooth so that it becomes unnecessarily slippery. Neil told me that he actually did that to increase grippiness of the knife. The knife also makes use of one finger groove for better grip. To test that, I dipped the handle in a jar of machine oil and did stab-and -pull tests with cardboards. Next I used some old rolled mat and did the same stab and pulls. The knife came with flying colors in terms of grippiness. The only thing I want to add is a thumb ramp for positive thumb placement and orientation.
The Blade
The blade has a wide profile compared to the handle in my opinion. This is good. There is a really sexy false edge on it that is really hard to describe and this in turn contributes to the overall slim figure of the blade. I wanted to say that the blade thickness was 3/16, but it sure looks slimmer, so Ill have to ask Neil for this. This is really good! The picture on Neils site doesnt do it justice. The blade was hand rubbed satin finish and the words Talonite and Blackwood were etched on the left side. The knife came sharp, although not scary sharp. However, I maintained this original edge until later when I touched it up on my Sharpmaker 203 after some tests.
The Sheath
The sheath is made of Kydex and is of multi carry option. While Kydex doesnt offer the beauty of leather, I specifically asked Neil for a Kydex sheath. This is a knife that Im going to use a lot, and past experiences with leather sheath dictated that I have a Kydex sheath for longevity reasons. Plus, I can convert it to neck sheath anytime I want.
Simple Cutting Tests
This knife is an excellent slicer, period. I tried it on old leather belts, cardboards, old rugs, meat, and some light materials like bond papers and cigarette papers. On thicker materials, the point of exit is really narrow. With thicker blade, the thickness of the spine would have forced the material to tear as the knife acts like a wedge. This wedge behavior is very much less shown on this particular knife, courtesy of curvy false edge and the slimness of the blade. Dont let the name Tactical fools you, this knife is a good all around knife, enough pointiness to do delicate work and enough belly for cutting power. The Talonite itself is excellent. I agree with others who had said that Talonite performs better with unpolished edge. I sharpened it to polished state just out of curiosity and it was not difficult at all to sharpen. Not until I tested my knife on heavier materials, especially old carpet with some backing (looked like thin plastic to me), that I dulled the knife. I also did some other tests that I would like to include here, but hey, this is already very late. I have whittling and light chopping tests in mind for the near future, and probably some point strength tests (if I have the guts though), and I think that will be in my update (hopefully soon).
Conclusion of This Short (not!) Review
Neils Tactical G-10 is an excellent all-around knife. The highlights of the knife have got to be the handle contour and the blade geometry. Add Talonite to the recipe and you got an excellent knife. And Neil, in case you havent figured it out yet, I love the knife
.
------------------
Reynaert
[This message has been edited by Frantium (edited 02-02-2000).]
I had contemplated on a Talonite knife, especially a skinner, long before I decided to get this knife. Several makers have just begun to make their knives in Talonite version, and I saw this as a double fold opportunity to try some less known makers and of course the material itself, Talonite. I began to contact some makers and was getting ready to hear some obscene prices. Im happy to report that this was not the case. If you dont believe me, check it out yourselves folks. Makers usually charge from $60 to $120 more than similar pieces in stainless or carbon steel.
EDI was probably the first company to announce a production knife based on Talonite. Unfortunately, they still havent come out with it yet. And then there was REKAT, although they only used it on a limited number of Carnivores. Not too long ago, we heard that Camillus is coming with Quest (the name is still Quest, no?). It is based on Rob Simonichs Cetan I believe. All this interest from knife manufacturers and individual makers is like adding fuel to my already burning curiosity. Now the question is where to get them knives? If I could spare 3 to 15 months, then there would be no problem.
One of the makers I contacted was Neil Blackwood (a.k.a Dr. Lathe, a fellow forumite). He had two Talonite knives at that time, a Stag Hunter and Tactical knife with G-10 handle. Unfortunately for me, he informed me, both had already had prospective buyers. Oh no! I began to contemplate on my own skinner design, and was getting ready to commission a Talonite knife. And then came that wonderful news from Neil, both Talonite knives were available! Now it took me a long time to consider between the two, I like the blade of the Stag Hunter better, but I really wanted a G-10 or black Micarta handle for toughness. In the end I decided on the Tactical one, hence my story
To avoid of being redundant on Talonite performance review, plus I just got the knife last night, I will limit this review to the knife itself and spare you all the Talonite performance stuff. However I will include a review of the blade geometry and its influence on cutting performance. I will update my review as soon as I have the time.
First heres a link to the picture: http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Meeting/5520/page2.HTML . The Tactical G-10 is the bottom one (duh!).
The Handle
The knife has a somewhat slimmer and narrower handle than what I expected. This is a happy surprise for me as I have small hands and skinny fingers. While I dont despise a wider handle, I really hate thick handles. There are three holes along the handle, my bet is they are there to reduce weight, hence the skeletonized handle and good overall balance. Seven pins grace the handle and I cannot feel any of them jutting from the G-10 surface. I didnt notice it first, but there appears to be dark blue spacers. Theres a lanyard hole towards the butt, just in case. What is interesting is that Neil sculpted the handle around the holes, and he ended up with a really nice contoured handle. The G-10 itself is polished, but not excessively smooth so that it becomes unnecessarily slippery. Neil told me that he actually did that to increase grippiness of the knife. The knife also makes use of one finger groove for better grip. To test that, I dipped the handle in a jar of machine oil and did stab-and -pull tests with cardboards. Next I used some old rolled mat and did the same stab and pulls. The knife came with flying colors in terms of grippiness. The only thing I want to add is a thumb ramp for positive thumb placement and orientation.
The Blade
The blade has a wide profile compared to the handle in my opinion. This is good. There is a really sexy false edge on it that is really hard to describe and this in turn contributes to the overall slim figure of the blade. I wanted to say that the blade thickness was 3/16, but it sure looks slimmer, so Ill have to ask Neil for this. This is really good! The picture on Neils site doesnt do it justice. The blade was hand rubbed satin finish and the words Talonite and Blackwood were etched on the left side. The knife came sharp, although not scary sharp. However, I maintained this original edge until later when I touched it up on my Sharpmaker 203 after some tests.
The Sheath
The sheath is made of Kydex and is of multi carry option. While Kydex doesnt offer the beauty of leather, I specifically asked Neil for a Kydex sheath. This is a knife that Im going to use a lot, and past experiences with leather sheath dictated that I have a Kydex sheath for longevity reasons. Plus, I can convert it to neck sheath anytime I want.
Simple Cutting Tests
This knife is an excellent slicer, period. I tried it on old leather belts, cardboards, old rugs, meat, and some light materials like bond papers and cigarette papers. On thicker materials, the point of exit is really narrow. With thicker blade, the thickness of the spine would have forced the material to tear as the knife acts like a wedge. This wedge behavior is very much less shown on this particular knife, courtesy of curvy false edge and the slimness of the blade. Dont let the name Tactical fools you, this knife is a good all around knife, enough pointiness to do delicate work and enough belly for cutting power. The Talonite itself is excellent. I agree with others who had said that Talonite performs better with unpolished edge. I sharpened it to polished state just out of curiosity and it was not difficult at all to sharpen. Not until I tested my knife on heavier materials, especially old carpet with some backing (looked like thin plastic to me), that I dulled the knife. I also did some other tests that I would like to include here, but hey, this is already very late. I have whittling and light chopping tests in mind for the near future, and probably some point strength tests (if I have the guts though), and I think that will be in my update (hopefully soon).
Conclusion of This Short (not!) Review
Neils Tactical G-10 is an excellent all-around knife. The highlights of the knife have got to be the handle contour and the blade geometry. Add Talonite to the recipe and you got an excellent knife. And Neil, in case you havent figured it out yet, I love the knife
------------------
Reynaert
[This message has been edited by Frantium (edited 02-02-2000).]
