-
The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Overbuilt folder
- Thread starter Smithguy50
- Start date
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2014
- Messages
- 80
Good to know, I saw a reaper on arizonacustom with green g10 and satin blade for 525, thoughts?
That's a Super Commander by the way. About $300.00. You can find it cheaper though. Hope I helped you in your search.
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2014
- Messages
- 80
I know it's not really an overbuilt knife, but anyone here have an umnumzaan to recommend?
- Joined
- May 26, 2012
- Messages
- 423
I think something like this is your best bet. After falling for the overbuilt craze, I've found myself selling every Ti framelock that I've purchased because they just can't compete with more reasonably thick blades. I saved up for an SnG for weeks, only to find out it is the worst slicer I've owned so far. Even though the Umnumzaan isn't nearly as stout as some of the previous knives listed, you'll soon find out that the scales and blade are more than adequate for nearly any EDC or tactical task you encounter.
Alternatively, you could save a couple hundred bucks and go for a Gen II ZT 550. I just received mine today and put a nasty edge on it. I'm not sure how, but it's a very good slicer despite its thick blade and ridiculously huge Ti slab. I honestly think the quality and performance is better than a Strider(or mine at least).
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2014
- Messages
- 80
Well I've narrowed it down to two, the tsf beast or the spyderco southard ( I know it's not an overbuilt but I just held one and I love it!). But I'm so confused on wich one to get.
TSF Beast by far... Get a tough knife or get an EDC knife. Don't go for a knife that is confused as to what it is.
Southard is a nice looking knife but that's about it: It's nice looking. Super thick blade yet tapers to a fine edge due to the hollow grind narrow blade. Horrible for slicing unless you want to fiddle with the tip area. The massive stock is wasted on the delicate edge.
Those are two very different knives. The steel that the Beast is in has very different properties than the Southard. The Beast uses a steel which favors toughness, and the Southard which favors extended edge retention (still a reasonably tough steel, but M390 is not made with the level of toughness in mind that S35VN gives). Usage would really dictate which one is best for you...
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2013
- Messages
- 616
I have not really found m390 to be an inferior steel to s35vn.....where did you get that info? Just wondering you could be right... I just love my beasts, and they hold the edge great. I have sebenzas that are s35vn that have dulled up quick. Again, I could be very wrong not a metal specialist by any means but would love to see the research.
Not inferior at all...I just see them as having different characteristics that may make one better than the other depending upon usage.
My EDC is M390 because for my usage it gives me at least 4 times between touchups of that of the same knife I have in S30V and 154CM, plus I find it a steel that makes paper thin edges practical that aren't practical at all with most other steels because the edge deforms too quickly/easily. In the edge holding department, M390 is a monster and I have come to really like the steel based on it. And for me M390 has more than enough toughness for the smaller folder I carry daily, in which extreme edge retention and corrosion resistance are the most important attributes I look for. I also agree with you that the S35VN on the Sebenzas is annoyingly soft and frequently needs touchup (a lot of long-time Seb owners prefer the old Sebs in BG-42 as they tended to give a little better edge retention compared to the later S30V/S35VN).
M390 isn't tough like S35VN IMO. Bohler's competition for S35VN is ELMAX, which like S35 holds a very good edge and is very tough with the correct heat treatment. M390 has much higher wear resistance than either, and I think has better corrosion resistance than S35 and ELMAX, which is already excellent. That doesn't mean M390 lacks toughness...Survive! has a few videos of it in fixed blades withstanding pretty heavy usage. It's more that ELMAX and S35VN are just super tough steels with excellent strength and excellent impact resistance. A recent thread showed images of a guy who dropped his ZT0566 face down on concrete and the ELMAX blade only lost a tiny chip on the edge and held the tip 100%...and another thread shows a guy dissecting a concrete block with ELMAX, which withstood the abuse. That is insane toughness for a steel with such good edge retention and corrosion resistance!!!
All are excellent steels but I just see M390 (and all of the equivalents from other makes) and S35VN or ELMAX as slightly different in purpose. IIRC BU advertises their M390 for when corrosion resistance and especially wear resistance are most important, and ELMAX where toughness and chipping resistance is important for a stainless steel that still retains both excellent corrosion resistance and excellent wear resistance.
So I think what the OP intends to do with the knife is what will determine if one is a better choice over the other.
MOhunter92
Gold Member
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2014
- Messages
- 400
Strider all the way