I got an Ontario "Hell's Belle" a few weeks ago and have been very pleased with it. The fit and finish are excellent. I know that the handle is made of a laminate (pakkawood?), but it looks very nice and feels solid. If I hadn't known its composition I would have assumed it was "solid" hardwood (although I must admit to being a little curious as to why Ontario chose to use a laminate for a relatively high-end production piece). The balance of the knife is very good; it feels very "lively" in the hand. The primary edge of the knife was quite sharp out of the box. I understand that the proprietary steel used in these bowies is a modified 440C; I would expect similar edge retention but I really haven't used the knife enough to find out. My only complaints are the fact that the clip is unsharpened (which is correctable) and the presence of an escutcheon plate which rather conspicuously identifies the name of the model (I don't find the escutcheon particularly appealing, but I've heard that it can help in "indexing" the blade). All in all, I'm very pleased with this knife and am glad to see a traditional company like Ontario expand its product line beyond functional (if inelegant) "beaters".
Jim