Ozark Trail Knife

I must say that Ozark Trail has really stepped up their game. I, too, was skeptical. However, after viewing several videos online about them, I decided to buy one. This was about 3 months ago. Actually, I bought five different models. All are sufficient, but the tan handled one is quite good. Sturdy liner lock, flips open and closed like butter, no blade play, and it is easy for me to sharpen. It seems like a tough knife. I'm actually still rather astonished that a knife under $4 is decent. But it is! Sure, I'd rather carry a Buck, Case, or Spyderco, but this Ozark Trail knife sure makes a good beater knife. Just my two cents.


Alex
 
If you think plastic washers flips like butter just wait till you flip a bearing knife or polished bronze phospher washers.

I've flipped my share of knives with plastic washers. They function but damn sure don't open like an Emerson iron dragon.
 
shinyedges said:
If you think plastic washers flips like butter just wait till you flip a bearing knife or polished bronze phospher washers.

I've flipped my share of knives with plastic washers. They function but damn sure don't open like an Emerson iron dragon.
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Well, it flips a lot smoother than many of my more expensive knives. Not all of the Ozark Trail knives flip well. Mainly just the tan one. Just today I loaned the tan Ozark Trail knife to an acquaintance who came over to replace the battery and all fluids in my Yamaha scooter. I don't know him all that well, so when he asked for a knife, I loaned him the Ozark Trail. He didn't complain about the knife, and the knife did its job well. This is exactly the sort of situation that caused me to buy these cheap knives.


Alex
 
FelineGirl said:
Well, it flips a lot smoother than many of my more expensive knives. Not all of the Ozark Trail knives flip well. Mainly just the tan one. Just today I loaned the tan Ozark Trail knife to an acquaintance who came over to replace the battery and all fluids in my Yamaha scooter. I don't know him all that well, so when he asked for a knife, I loaned him the Ozark Trail. He didn't complain about the knife, and the knife did its job well. This is exactly the sort of situation that caused me to buy these cheap knives.


Alex
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No doubt, I can see them as a good loaner knife to save you from giving your actual knife to someone.

For me, I'm won't carry a knife just to give out. And I have no qualms with saying no to someone if I don't trust them with my knife.

To each their own though.
 
I got one a while back when that big thread started about them. For a sub $5 I think they are decent enough, I think you can have some major differences in quality from one knife to the next due to lack of QC and mass production. Mine was built pretty well, feels pretty good in hand and locks up solid. Does not hold an edge at all but is just about the easiest thing to sharpen ever. Even blade play on mine was very minor compared to other cheapo knives i've had. If my budget was $5 for a knife it would certainly not scare me to carry this.
 
These popped up around the 2015 holiday season, and there was quite some buzz on Youtube and on the various forums when some of them turned out to be decent knives--for the materials, of course.

If you were too lazy to read the BF thread that NJBillK linked to for us, a couple of the big takeaways:

- The "$2 deathtrap" model is not part of the new line, and is supposedly being discontinued.

- Quality definitely varies from model to model (the tan flipper is by most accounts the best one), but apparently the $4 line is getting some personal love and attention, and it's not just rebadged OEM crap.

On my last trip to the U.S., about six weeks ago, I found myself in a small town in New Mexico needing a tire patched. Wal-Mart it was, so while the auto center saw to that I headed to the sporting goods department to amuse myself--and, yes, see if I could find one of these things. Unfortunately, they didn't have the tan flipper, so I settled for the Buck 112 clone. (I mean, would you really pass that up?)

I didn't actually open it until a few weeks ago, but I have to say that it surprised me despite the built-up hype. Authoritative lockup, zero blade play, and paper-cutting sharp out of the packaging. I haven't used it enough to dull it yet, but I imagine it would do so quickly and then take an edge back in about two minutes.

Anyway, you guys can go back to looking down your noses at the "people of Wal-Mart" and rejecting out of hand something you've never even seen, but $4 for a cute little throwaway knife is a pretty good value, IMO.

(As for travel: What TSA should do, rather than sell confiscated knives online in lots, is set up vending machines outside arrivals at which, for a couple of bucks, you'd get a random knife dispensed blindly. This is the next best thing--that is, next to sensible security policies, which we know won't ever happen. But I digress.)
 
Been using it daily for over a week now and it will no longer slice paper like it once did but it is still locking up tight and the blade has no signs of premature failure. Tonight I am going to strop it only (no stone work yet) and see how it does tomorrow. The lock has wore in and no longer hangs up, it still is not the easiest knife to open but it does ok, I may spray some kind of lube on the swivel and see what happens.
 
Sad about the quality slipping on these. My original purchases were solid but a few months later i got a copy of each the tanto and the tan ones and they both failed miserably. Thew em out they failed lockup entirely. A wack on the palm of my hand made them both fold. I love the first ones i got so hoping they fix production issues.

Sent from my LG-H811 using Tapatalk
 
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