Leo Greer
Gold Member
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2021
- Messages
- 877
Olamic Wayfarer
Hey y’all! I saw a few Wayfarer 247s come up on the exchange, and having admired them from afar for a while now, I decided I would spend the money in order to try one out for myself.
I paid about $325 for a 247 with a satin M390 blade, gray Ti, blue ano’d hardware and pivot, and a 3D timascus clip. Not a bad deal given what the knife cost originally and what condition it’s in. I’m now either the third or fourth owner.
My knife arrived just recently with fast shipping and in excellent condition, along with the case, card, and pivot tool.
I opened it up, confirmed the condition, flipped it, flipped it more, contacted the seller, disassembled the knife, left the seller good feedback, switched the bearings assembly out for the parts from a Vero Synapse XL… and now I’m ready for my early impressions review.
First: build quality relative to price.
This category is for me as much about how the knife feels as how well I know it to actually be built. In either case, the 247 shines here. Solid titanium, amazing ergonomics, classy smooth finish on the handle, all combine to really make this knife feel like a $400 knife. Does it really feel like $750, maybe not, but I haven’t held enough knives in that range to compare it to anything yet.
Definitely feels worth the $325 in this aspect.
It’s also built pretty solid as well…
Design aesthetics:
I think this is a very nice looking knife. It just is for me. Easy as that. Maybe I would remove the hole in the blade and go for a tumbled finish, but Olamic offers at least half of that if I wanted to order my own, so no issue there.
Detail work:
For what I bought it for, the detailing is nice. The titanium has been nicely sculpted and chamfered absolutely everywhere, and things like the backspacer pull it together.
For $750, I’d want acid rain personally…
Blade steel:
M390, no issues. Maybe I’d like to see some variety here, but it’s not a problem, per se…
Design function: blade shape:
No issues here. Basic drop point/spear something with a little flair.
Action:
We’re starting on the can of worms…
I do not like the action on this knife. I just don’t. It’s finicky, not super smooth, and just doesn’t achieve drop shut no matter how I tune it. (Yeah, I know not everyone likes drop shut, but this is an opinion pieces, so I’m choosing to call pivot friction a bad thing)
To go deeper, this knife runs on caged steel bearings and thrust washers. No real problem, except the fact that the washers don’t actually fit in their places. Yes, that’s correct: the washers are smaller than their cutouts in the knife, and so they have the ability to shift slightly. I don’t know if this is causing any trouble with the action specifically, but it struck me as sloppy.
Steel bearings… what’s the advantage there? Ceramic just seem to be smoother, and they’re not that expensive… especially not for a knife that retails at $650+!
To give some anecdotal evidence, I noticed that the bearings and washer cutouts were the same size as the ones on my Vero Synapse XL, which has amazing action. I said, “Huh,” and proceeded to switch the bearings and washers.
The knife immediately had noticeably better action. Not crazy better, and not enough to resolve all of my issues, but noticeably smoother and faster.
The detent is fine. No real issue there. I’m not aware of whether the white ceramic detent ball on this knife. has less or more friction than the black ones I see more often. No easy way to know how much friction the lockbar tension and detent ball are causing.
The pivot is really finicky. Unless you want bladeplay and centering issues, there’s only one setting for the pivot; fully tight. It also loosens up again shockingly quick.
Of course, locktite is an option, but how many of us want to do that to our screws? I for one like to clean and customize my knives, and for most things that means disassembly. Locktite = probably not.
For a more random and me-specific caveat, I often have trouble getting my thumb into the right place to disengage the lockbar while also leaving enough room for the blade to fall onto it, AND, getting past the detent ball. This is crazy annoying. If I don’t get the blade far enough past the detent, it will shake back into lockup instead of shaking closed like most knives.
Customization options:
Yes, those are cool, but I don’t care about those if I don’t like the rest of the knife. Cool customizations on a knife that I don’t like does not equal a knife that I am happy to carry.
Price:
At $325, I’d call this a hard, hard maybe with where the action stands.
At $650+… NO WAY! Not for me!
I do want to point out that if I could ignore the issues (mainly the action), this would 100% be a $325 knife for me.
I also want to add that in no way am I impugning my seller’s pricing, or the product he delivered. I bought what I payed for, and the fact that I don’t like it a ton does not come into play as to how well the seller did their job!
Overall, this knife is pretty well designed with hand melt ergos and some cool options, but I probably won’t carry it as I hate the action. This will probably be sold or traded for right around where I bought it pretty soon…
Thanks to MSC-22 and to BF for helping provide me with this knife to try out and review!
Hey y’all! I saw a few Wayfarer 247s come up on the exchange, and having admired them from afar for a while now, I decided I would spend the money in order to try one out for myself.
I paid about $325 for a 247 with a satin M390 blade, gray Ti, blue ano’d hardware and pivot, and a 3D timascus clip. Not a bad deal given what the knife cost originally and what condition it’s in. I’m now either the third or fourth owner.
My knife arrived just recently with fast shipping and in excellent condition, along with the case, card, and pivot tool.
I opened it up, confirmed the condition, flipped it, flipped it more, contacted the seller, disassembled the knife, left the seller good feedback, switched the bearings assembly out for the parts from a Vero Synapse XL… and now I’m ready for my early impressions review.
First: build quality relative to price.
This category is for me as much about how the knife feels as how well I know it to actually be built. In either case, the 247 shines here. Solid titanium, amazing ergonomics, classy smooth finish on the handle, all combine to really make this knife feel like a $400 knife. Does it really feel like $750, maybe not, but I haven’t held enough knives in that range to compare it to anything yet.
Definitely feels worth the $325 in this aspect.
It’s also built pretty solid as well…
Design aesthetics:
I think this is a very nice looking knife. It just is for me. Easy as that. Maybe I would remove the hole in the blade and go for a tumbled finish, but Olamic offers at least half of that if I wanted to order my own, so no issue there.
Detail work:
For what I bought it for, the detailing is nice. The titanium has been nicely sculpted and chamfered absolutely everywhere, and things like the backspacer pull it together.
For $750, I’d want acid rain personally…
Blade steel:
M390, no issues. Maybe I’d like to see some variety here, but it’s not a problem, per se…
Design function: blade shape:
No issues here. Basic drop point/spear something with a little flair.
Action:
We’re starting on the can of worms…
I do not like the action on this knife. I just don’t. It’s finicky, not super smooth, and just doesn’t achieve drop shut no matter how I tune it. (Yeah, I know not everyone likes drop shut, but this is an opinion pieces, so I’m choosing to call pivot friction a bad thing)
To go deeper, this knife runs on caged steel bearings and thrust washers. No real problem, except the fact that the washers don’t actually fit in their places. Yes, that’s correct: the washers are smaller than their cutouts in the knife, and so they have the ability to shift slightly. I don’t know if this is causing any trouble with the action specifically, but it struck me as sloppy.
Steel bearings… what’s the advantage there? Ceramic just seem to be smoother, and they’re not that expensive… especially not for a knife that retails at $650+!
To give some anecdotal evidence, I noticed that the bearings and washer cutouts were the same size as the ones on my Vero Synapse XL, which has amazing action. I said, “Huh,” and proceeded to switch the bearings and washers.
The knife immediately had noticeably better action. Not crazy better, and not enough to resolve all of my issues, but noticeably smoother and faster.
The detent is fine. No real issue there. I’m not aware of whether the white ceramic detent ball on this knife. has less or more friction than the black ones I see more often. No easy way to know how much friction the lockbar tension and detent ball are causing.
The pivot is really finicky. Unless you want bladeplay and centering issues, there’s only one setting for the pivot; fully tight. It also loosens up again shockingly quick.
Of course, locktite is an option, but how many of us want to do that to our screws? I for one like to clean and customize my knives, and for most things that means disassembly. Locktite = probably not.
For a more random and me-specific caveat, I often have trouble getting my thumb into the right place to disengage the lockbar while also leaving enough room for the blade to fall onto it, AND, getting past the detent ball. This is crazy annoying. If I don’t get the blade far enough past the detent, it will shake back into lockup instead of shaking closed like most knives.
Customization options:
Yes, those are cool, but I don’t care about those if I don’t like the rest of the knife. Cool customizations on a knife that I don’t like does not equal a knife that I am happy to carry.
Price:
At $325, I’d call this a hard, hard maybe with where the action stands.
At $650+… NO WAY! Not for me!
I do want to point out that if I could ignore the issues (mainly the action), this would 100% be a $325 knife for me.
I also want to add that in no way am I impugning my seller’s pricing, or the product he delivered. I bought what I payed for, and the fact that I don’t like it a ton does not come into play as to how well the seller did their job!
Overall, this knife is pretty well designed with hand melt ergos and some cool options, but I probably won’t carry it as I hate the action. This will probably be sold or traded for right around where I bought it pretty soon…
Thanks to MSC-22 and to BF for helping provide me with this knife to try out and review!
