Mine just arrived today, I purchased it directly from Grayman. It’s a tank of a knife, seriously thick blade stock, oversized stop pin, and huge thumb studs. It’s a beast. I’m sure they’re not for everyone, but if you’re into the big, tough folder scene, this is one to have for sure.
I like Grayman and I rather like the looks of it, but would need to handle one. I like beefy/overbuilt, but there's a practical limit for regular (ie. non-cargo pants/BDU/duty type) clothing and I normally don't wear a belt sheath. BOSS
I like the blade shape. Is this going to be a user for you? or an addition to the collection? What about other comments that the scales are "too sharp"? I know a lot of people who love the titanium scales, and other all-metal scales, are buying them for collections and not for actual use. Except for those few all-metal knives that manage to be both ergonomic and non-slippery in use, it would have to be a "safe queen" for me, because I'm done trying to actually use knives that slip around if my hand gets sweaty, or damp for any other reason.
I haven’t noticed the scales being sharp, but I’m also used to edc-ing a Strider DGG SnG. Ergonomically speaking, I have no issues with it. It is quite heavy, but that comes with the design, and I’m ok with that. I have a small collection so all of my knives are users, however I’ll have to see if this one is staying for the long haul. I really like everything about it, but if it’s not going to get any pocket time, it’s gotta go. At this time I’m undecided, but after fondling it all afternoon it feels like a keeper.
Well, 7.2 oz is heavy, but for those that need to carry a 5"+ blade for heavy duty work... What? It's a 3" blade? Oh. Lol?
My ZT 0909 weighs in around 7 oz with a 3.6 inch blade, and it doesn't seem heavy in my pocket. I usually wear jeans, if I had to wear dress slacks with any frequency, or lived in Hawaii and ran around in shorts all the time, I might feel differently. I just realized the Proelia TX020 weighs almost 7 oz, and it doesn't seem heavy to me at all. But different strokes...
The weight wouldn't bother me...but this knife is an odd mix of appealing and unappealing (IMO). Not for me... or, at least, not with my money.
I got my Tiga last weekend. Did a quick overview on my IG. https://www.instagram.com/p/BhAHEogHFSc/?taken-by=stabbycyclist It did require a little tweaking to get it to my liking. Stripped it down, polished the PB washers, applied 10wt Nano-oil to the washers and 85wt to the detent track. The stop-pin is designed to rotate to combat wear so it had slight side-to-side play which gave a little rattle when the blade was opening. I put a little dab of blue Loctite on each side and that alleviated the issue. I should mention, the blade never had any kind of play with the rotating stop-pin. Lastly, the clip needed to be a bit tighter so I took it off and bent it to have better pocket retention. I emailed Grayman Knives about all these issues and they offered to fix them for me. I didn't feel like shipping the knife back so I took care of it all myself. I'll admit, it is definitely not a knife for everyone. It's heavy. It's thick. It's on washers. It feels like it would be at home in a toolbox with wrenches, vicegrips, and speed-handles. I have a soft spot for this kind of thick bladed, absurdly overbuilt knife; e.g. Eutsler Equalizer, DSK DBV2, Grayman Satu, CKF Muscle, or any of Crusader Forge's offerings. There's just something satisfying about a chunk of useful metal in hand. Just a little background, I work in Navy aviation and my command has been preparing for deployment. I've been carrying this knife for the past week as we've been transferring pallets of assets, consolidating supplies, clearing out tri-wall boxes of unused materials. It's times like this that a sharpened, folding prybar comes in very handy. In aviation every single tool has to be checked out in a log, so a simple task becomes time consuming when you just need a flathead to open the metal clips on a crate. That complication is avoided when you have something to pry with (yeah, I know most knives are purely for cutting and not prying). The sharp edge comes in very handy when there are tri-walls that need to be broken down. If you're not familiar with a tri-wall box, they are massive triple-thick cardboard boxes used to ship heavy tools and gear. After all that, I used the knife to trim a little window in some bubble wrap to view the part-number/serial-number on a piece of sensitive electronic equipment. The Tiga handled all these tasks without issue. Could thinner-bladed knives have handled these tasks? Probably. My Spyderco Shaman is usually my go-to work knife but I would have been hesitant to pry metal clips with it. Most of my shipmates have their own pocket knives but most have the tips broken off and dulled from prying. The Tiga's blade shape and thickness gives me confidence that few other knives provide.
Great post! Proving once again that knives that don't work for certain users or certain tasks may prove ideal to other users and tasks! Thank you for your service.
I just got a Tiga via trade. It’s a beast (big/heavy) but I like it. I think Graymans are overlooked. They are very well-made knives.
Kinda reminds me of a Medford only....you know a knife. Like if someone that had use a knife before redesigned a Medford .
I actually really like the looks and considered getting one til I saw the weight. If was anywhere in the 5’s I would get one. And I agree that Grayman’s are often lost amidst all the knife fodder out now, but look to be amazing as far as I can tell. Now, If they would make a CF scale for it I bet I would be in.
The TIGA looks somewhat interesting but it's blade shape doesn't really appeal to me. I'm still waiting for Grayman to have more Satu's in stock.
