Onterio Spec-Plus knives

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wade

Joined
Sep 22, 2005
Messages
493
What a piece of crap! I handled one that a friend just recieved in the mail today. He didnt know what he was buying, he just wanted a big chopper. I own a RAT7 and is the only knife made by onterio that I have or handled. I cant believe how piss poor thier spec-plus knives are. The thing was so dull it wouldnt cut the box it came in, and the paint was flaking off the blade already. The sheath was some cheap leather with no liner. I told him to send it back and get a Becker instead if he didnt want to spend a lot of money. Has anyone else seen the spec plus knives? Did he just get a bad one?
 
High level of finish is not what one comes to expect from an economical range (ok, maybe make that the entire product range, if its marked Ontario Knives).
 
Ontario has a considerable range of quality. Some of their lines are much better than others. The Retribution folders are great. The RATs are pretty good, too.

I've never handled the Spec-Plus knives and I'm not familiar with their pricing. But if they don't cost too much and they do hold up as camping, hunting, and combat zone beaters, they fill a niche.
 
I have had a couple of these knives in the past and several mates use them. I personally don't think they are too bad for the $$. They are pretty rough, but will do the job. Maybe you got a lemon..
 
I have two, a quartermaster's and a marine combat. Both of them are good user knives. I've used the marine combat one the most, makes a good camp knife, and a nice knife for cutting brush along the reservoirs around here to make spot to bank fish.

Mine do take a great edge, although it took a while to get the initial edge on them. I don't worry so much about the out of the box sharpeness, just so I can get an edge on it and it holds up well.
The kraton handle is nice and grippy, but can give a hotspot if you chopped all day with it. I sliced the top guard off of mine, too, like it better that way.

Overall, I think I like the Becker's are better knives, but there isn't anything wrong with Spec Plus knives that I have. Beckers are really good knives and great values! I do, however, like the kraton grips on the Spec Plus knives a little better. Also, my Becker doesn't work too well with gloves, not enough room for my gloved fingers on the bottom side of the handle.
Better blades than the Spec Plus, though, nice high flat grind!

On your friends, I would hope it's just a QC slip-up?
 
there qc suck. I have about 8 of them. The last to looked like the were ground on "teach your 5 yr old how to use the grinder" day . Ray Charles could have done a better job. But for the price they are still worth it. I have never seen or held one that was sharp out of thr box.
 
I'd also be cautious about using the ones that have a metal pommel screwed onto the threaded tang. Had one break on me right where the 1/4" threaded tang goes into the pommel once, under a little very light chopping--suddenly the pommel just sailed off into the night, leaving blade and tang still stuck into, but not secured within, the kraton tubular handle. I did a writeup on this a few months ago on the testing/reviews forum.
 
I do own three models in the Spec-Plus family:
Marine Combat (ONSP1), Spec Plus Tanto (ONSP14), & Ontario USN-1 (ONSP24 - Factory 2nd)

I am glad I bought the USN-1 as a second, since I paid next to nothing for it, otherwise I would have been very upset. :mad:

In general the cordura sheaths are crap :thumbdn: , as is the black powder coat :thumbdn: (I have seen it flake off a tad on my Marine Combat). They are made of 1095 steel which is decent :thumbup: . I also do not mind the Kraton Handles :thumbup: .

I bought them since they were cheap. Needless to say I just threw them in the garage... and there they have stayed. :yawn:
 
I have 4 of the Spec-Plus knives. I've never used any of 'em, but they do make nice wall-hangers.:D.
 
Ive never bothered buying one. Im a Ka-Bar guy :D. With 1095 blades they must be okay-ish as cheap work knives, but from the sounds of it their QC is terrible so you never know what you'll end up with.
 
I have a few of these:
Frontiersman
Survival Bowie
Bolo
Marine Raider Bowie(I put this one into the hands of someone who could use it's heft)

They're okay beater knives. The Kraton hasn't melted to goo on any of them and they hold an edge reasonably well. They do the grunt work like chopping tree suckers at the root level and weed whacking near the walls of my concrete block home. Ya'll get the idea.;) In this role they are good at what they do. They were all in the $30.00-$40.00 range, so, it works for me.

The Frontiersman is a great, I mean GREAT(!), small machete. The blade is about 11" and it has a good taper from handle to blade tip. It's a nice, light swinger and is really good at taking care of non-woody vegetation. Mikee likee!:thumbup:

I've read where Cliff has had, shall we say, less than stellar results with some of the Spec-Plus line, so, YMMV.
 
I've got one of the SP6 fighters. QC can definately be an issue & the grinds are not exactly perfect, however, I gave it a workout when I first got it including throwing it a bunch & it held up fine. The edge needs to be reground - but that is true of most production knives...
 
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