I got this the other week.
It's not new and has apparently been out since 2019 but hey 2020 seems to be just disappearing eh? It's from Nieto knives, or rather Miguel Nieto in Spain; the Ranger XXL Lock Back Folder (R-011 G10), not to be confused with the non XXL model which is only an 8cm blade. (R-010 G10). The Nieto Ranger XXL (sounds like a kebab doesn't it? "I'd like to order the XXL chicken kebab please"!) has an approx 4.5mm thick blade which is a sabre grind to regular bevelled edges. Milled finish and slight polish. The knife has been designed by Miguel De La Torre.
A big chunky glass breaker is present if u feel the need..........
Closed length: approx:5 1/8"
Perfect mating of all surfaces
Precise lock up with well designed parts. Plus a fire steel is easily struck against the gimping seen here.
Overbuilt Tanto style tip (here seen plunged -with some difficulty- and guilt- into a living birch tree trunk of some age-not a woosy young birch!)
At a glance, traditional lock back with a good angle to the lock notch <90 degrees and obviously the locking lever, super strong but not ridiculously strong spring bar (just a chunk of wire spring)- see below
G10 scales with a colored liner (my one is like a toxic green but the original ones back in 2019 I believe were dark red. approx 1.5mm stainless liners (partially milled); allen bolt fixings.
Perfectly assembled and perfect movement out of the box and still after a day of use in the forests. Blade Böhler's N695 (440C), with a double fuller created via EDM with a coarse setting-it looks pretty cool I reckon. (see below)
Rounded spine so one can apply lots of finger pressure without mashing their fingers during long and hard carving sessions.
Now the thing which is obviously different to trad lock backs is the presence of thumb studs to enable one handed opening of this lock back folder.
The fuller of course can be used to also open the knife instead of what would normally be some sort of nail notch.
The knife also came with an xlnt heavy denier Nylon pouch, fully Molle compatible, tactical belt wearable and able to be mounted upon just about any part of a regular rucksac via a couple of Nylon loops.
There was also a bit of like venetian blind cord included in the lanyard hole. I don't have a problem with the blade steel, let's face it 440C has been around for yonks and I'm old enough to remember when the marketing hype for this stainless said something to the effect of it being the "new wonder steel" for knives LOL! Don't ask me what other colors it comes in I have no idea as this is an older model now and going to their website, i didn't see it for sale but only other models. The funny thing was there was no listing for the blade HRC but all I can say is that it didn't go blunt on me after a day of slicing into birch bark on long dead timber and some not so long dead trunks in the forest. After some plunging and slight levering and a bit of carving (not that i expected it) there was zero play in the mechanism. BTW I tried just for the heck of it to close the knife once locked to see if i could budge the lock, no chance! Let's not forget the lock back design IS STRONG- no one has to reinvent the wheel, if properly constructed it will be very strong.
Enjoy!
It's not new and has apparently been out since 2019 but hey 2020 seems to be just disappearing eh? It's from Nieto knives, or rather Miguel Nieto in Spain; the Ranger XXL Lock Back Folder (R-011 G10), not to be confused with the non XXL model which is only an 8cm blade. (R-010 G10). The Nieto Ranger XXL (sounds like a kebab doesn't it? "I'd like to order the XXL chicken kebab please"!) has an approx 4.5mm thick blade which is a sabre grind to regular bevelled edges. Milled finish and slight polish. The knife has been designed by Miguel De La Torre.
A big chunky glass breaker is present if u feel the need..........
Closed length: approx:5 1/8"
Perfect mating of all surfaces
Precise lock up with well designed parts. Plus a fire steel is easily struck against the gimping seen here.
Overbuilt Tanto style tip (here seen plunged -with some difficulty- and guilt- into a living birch tree trunk of some age-not a woosy young birch!)
At a glance, traditional lock back with a good angle to the lock notch <90 degrees and obviously the locking lever, super strong but not ridiculously strong spring bar (just a chunk of wire spring)- see below
G10 scales with a colored liner (my one is like a toxic green but the original ones back in 2019 I believe were dark red. approx 1.5mm stainless liners (partially milled); allen bolt fixings.
Perfectly assembled and perfect movement out of the box and still after a day of use in the forests. Blade Böhler's N695 (440C), with a double fuller created via EDM with a coarse setting-it looks pretty cool I reckon. (see below)
Rounded spine so one can apply lots of finger pressure without mashing their fingers during long and hard carving sessions.
Now the thing which is obviously different to trad lock backs is the presence of thumb studs to enable one handed opening of this lock back folder.
The fuller of course can be used to also open the knife instead of what would normally be some sort of nail notch.
The knife also came with an xlnt heavy denier Nylon pouch, fully Molle compatible, tactical belt wearable and able to be mounted upon just about any part of a regular rucksac via a couple of Nylon loops.
There was also a bit of like venetian blind cord included in the lanyard hole. I don't have a problem with the blade steel, let's face it 440C has been around for yonks and I'm old enough to remember when the marketing hype for this stainless said something to the effect of it being the "new wonder steel" for knives LOL! Don't ask me what other colors it comes in I have no idea as this is an older model now and going to their website, i didn't see it for sale but only other models. The funny thing was there was no listing for the blade HRC but all I can say is that it didn't go blunt on me after a day of slicing into birch bark on long dead timber and some not so long dead trunks in the forest. After some plunging and slight levering and a bit of carving (not that i expected it) there was zero play in the mechanism. BTW I tried just for the heck of it to close the knife once locked to see if i could budge the lock, no chance! Let's not forget the lock back design IS STRONG- no one has to reinvent the wheel, if properly constructed it will be very strong.
Enjoy!
