First, thank you to Spark for providing the AR for us to try out, to Dave for organizing this and to Gryffin for taking over the nuts and bolts of the passaround.
In the interest of full disclosure, a bit about me: I have no allegiance to Strider, this is in fact the first opportunity that Ive had to use one of their knives. If I had to be put in a box, Im a Spyderco guy. My EDC is a Military and that is the benchmark to which I compare other knives.
Conversely, I have absolutely no animosity towards Strider. I visit their forum, generally enjoy it and have always been treated well there. I have done several passarounds before, most recently the Straight River Sebenza. My reviews are available simply by searching my username if anyone wants to compare what I did here against those from the past. I carry and use knives every single day, at work and home, mostly for mundane tasks, sometimes for things as serious as you can get. I offer this info simply because unlike most brands: Spyderco, Benchmade, whoever; Strider tends to generate some intense emotion on both sides. I want to be clear that I have no dog in this fight. And as I said in an earlier post, my review may not make some people happy, mostly because what I found doesnt fit the paradigm of either the Strideristas or the Anti-Strider League.
On to business: Do I need to say what everyone else has, that this is a big knife? I think not. I can tell you that it weighs 252g, which by way of comparison is more than twice (112g) a CPM 440V Spyderco Military.
About fit and finish: Ive read so many attack Strider for this. Its often said that since their focus is toughness, appearances arent considered. I found this to be inaccurate. The f&f on this AR was excellent. The blade was perfectly centered. The G-10 of the scales was evenly textured and nicely rounded providing a comfortable grip. The blade grinds were symmetrical. The edge was sharp and even after the re-grind it was pointy. The notches on the thumb ramp and blade spine were the finest I have ever used. For me, they were perfect in size, shape and bite. Absolutely functional. Spin the knife around into an icepick grip and you find equally perfect notches at that end too. Each notch is exactly mirrored between G-10 scale and metal liner. Really, really nice work here. There was no blade play in any direction. The stripes on the blade are as expected, and a matter of preference rather than function. There was a bit of what appeared to be rust pitting on the blade. It seemed to be only a surface issue and I left it alone. I observed another questionable spot on the liner (see photos for detail) that could be corrosion or simply residue from the manufacturing process.
General Function: This knife was very smooth. Opening and closing was slick, much more so than I expected from such a brute. Again, flying in the face of anti-Strider propaganda. The thumb stud worked well, it was comfortable to use, but as noted with the Sebenza, I would want a double set. The blade can be kinetic-opened with a quick enough snap of your wrist, so lefty thats the quickest way to go. The clip (old style three screw model) did come loose early on. It holds quite tightly and the three small screws werent up to the level of stress the clips grip imparts. -Irrelevant to new model ARs as Strider has now changed the mounting method.
The blade on this AR is the older BG-42. Im not experienced with this steel, but in this example it was very good. It has a Bos heat treat. The edge was shaving sharp when it arrived, but not scary sharp (a subtle difference, I know.) It does cut well. It is not a sharpened prybar. That said, the AR did not slice like the Military. Not surprising of course, the blade is quite a bit thicker. When slicing vegetables for example, the edge initially cut cleanly through but the thickening of the blade towards the spine tended to cause binding. Similar performance occurred on cardboard. It seemed very tough, meaning resistant to rolling or chipping.
The lock was strong and reliable. It too is exceptionally thick. It was easy to intentionally unlock under all conditions and never became stuck. Its position is an ideal blend of recessed to avoid unintentional unlocking and accessability for user-friendliness. I was unable to induce a torque-failure with the blade stuck into various media.
In use: I did all the normal things with the AR, some mentioned above. Additionally I did some light chopping. The weight of the knife and its sharpness made it effective at chopping through 1" diameter branches. I also did a bit of stabbing, icepick thrusts into a live oak tree. For this I donned a pair of Hatch kevlar lined leather gloves. The blade penetrated well, I didnt measure depth but even a medium-force strike was sufficient to leave the blade deep enough to support itself suspended. The lock never moved and, as before, was never difficult to unlock. However, after three such stabs the knife had a small amount of side to side blade play. The function of the knife was not impaired, but since I was uncertain how to tighten the pivot, I stopped this activity. I also seated the blade about half its length into an existing fissure in the top of an old fence post and pried the gap wider as if to place a wedge. I did not apply much pressure and the AR performed this task without drama.
Overall, and this is where the Strideristas may be displeased, I found this to be an okay knife but there was no magic here. The AR is built very heavily. The blade is thick, the scales are thick, the liners are thick. It cut well, but did not stand out. ...And one is not going to cut my Military in half with an AR, as Ive read in the past. It performed as well, but not better than many knives I have used. It had some pleasing features (e.g. the thumb notches.)
By way of comparison, and accepting the expectation that I might be destroying my Military, I repeated all the tests I had performed on the AR. This was a real eye-opener for me. The Military also started with no blade play. I already knew it sliced better. After identical chopping, stabbing and prying it still had no play, no lock malfunction and no damage to the edge. Im not saying that the Military is stronger, all the additional material in the AR certainly gives the impression that its ultimate strength would be higher. Im just not sure what that means. I guess if you put it in a vise and bent it until it broke the Mil would go first. If you hammered both with a hand sledge I would expect the Mil to come apart first. But what I saw with my own eyes was that in identical use the much heavier construction did not translate into greater durability.
It seems as though the much higher price of the AR is in the warranty and the desire of the buyer to own a Strider. If one doesn't care about the company I wouldn't recommend the AR as a superior alternative to many other high quality available blades. My Military has not failed me in over five years of daily carry. If it broke tomorrow I could have it repaired for a small fee. If it was beyond repair I could replace it. Though this is exceedingly unlikely, I could do it nearly four times before spending the price of the AR. My conclusion is that if you like Strider, buy one, you'll be happy and the knife will do everything that you want. If you don't really care, choose another major manufacturer, you'll save money, you'll be happy and the knife will do everything that you want .
In the interest of full disclosure, a bit about me: I have no allegiance to Strider, this is in fact the first opportunity that Ive had to use one of their knives. If I had to be put in a box, Im a Spyderco guy. My EDC is a Military and that is the benchmark to which I compare other knives.
Conversely, I have absolutely no animosity towards Strider. I visit their forum, generally enjoy it and have always been treated well there. I have done several passarounds before, most recently the Straight River Sebenza. My reviews are available simply by searching my username if anyone wants to compare what I did here against those from the past. I carry and use knives every single day, at work and home, mostly for mundane tasks, sometimes for things as serious as you can get. I offer this info simply because unlike most brands: Spyderco, Benchmade, whoever; Strider tends to generate some intense emotion on both sides. I want to be clear that I have no dog in this fight. And as I said in an earlier post, my review may not make some people happy, mostly because what I found doesnt fit the paradigm of either the Strideristas or the Anti-Strider League.
On to business: Do I need to say what everyone else has, that this is a big knife? I think not. I can tell you that it weighs 252g, which by way of comparison is more than twice (112g) a CPM 440V Spyderco Military.
About fit and finish: Ive read so many attack Strider for this. Its often said that since their focus is toughness, appearances arent considered. I found this to be inaccurate. The f&f on this AR was excellent. The blade was perfectly centered. The G-10 of the scales was evenly textured and nicely rounded providing a comfortable grip. The blade grinds were symmetrical. The edge was sharp and even after the re-grind it was pointy. The notches on the thumb ramp and blade spine were the finest I have ever used. For me, they were perfect in size, shape and bite. Absolutely functional. Spin the knife around into an icepick grip and you find equally perfect notches at that end too. Each notch is exactly mirrored between G-10 scale and metal liner. Really, really nice work here. There was no blade play in any direction. The stripes on the blade are as expected, and a matter of preference rather than function. There was a bit of what appeared to be rust pitting on the blade. It seemed to be only a surface issue and I left it alone. I observed another questionable spot on the liner (see photos for detail) that could be corrosion or simply residue from the manufacturing process.
General Function: This knife was very smooth. Opening and closing was slick, much more so than I expected from such a brute. Again, flying in the face of anti-Strider propaganda. The thumb stud worked well, it was comfortable to use, but as noted with the Sebenza, I would want a double set. The blade can be kinetic-opened with a quick enough snap of your wrist, so lefty thats the quickest way to go. The clip (old style three screw model) did come loose early on. It holds quite tightly and the three small screws werent up to the level of stress the clips grip imparts. -Irrelevant to new model ARs as Strider has now changed the mounting method.
The blade on this AR is the older BG-42. Im not experienced with this steel, but in this example it was very good. It has a Bos heat treat. The edge was shaving sharp when it arrived, but not scary sharp (a subtle difference, I know.) It does cut well. It is not a sharpened prybar. That said, the AR did not slice like the Military. Not surprising of course, the blade is quite a bit thicker. When slicing vegetables for example, the edge initially cut cleanly through but the thickening of the blade towards the spine tended to cause binding. Similar performance occurred on cardboard. It seemed very tough, meaning resistant to rolling or chipping.
The lock was strong and reliable. It too is exceptionally thick. It was easy to intentionally unlock under all conditions and never became stuck. Its position is an ideal blend of recessed to avoid unintentional unlocking and accessability for user-friendliness. I was unable to induce a torque-failure with the blade stuck into various media.
In use: I did all the normal things with the AR, some mentioned above. Additionally I did some light chopping. The weight of the knife and its sharpness made it effective at chopping through 1" diameter branches. I also did a bit of stabbing, icepick thrusts into a live oak tree. For this I donned a pair of Hatch kevlar lined leather gloves. The blade penetrated well, I didnt measure depth but even a medium-force strike was sufficient to leave the blade deep enough to support itself suspended. The lock never moved and, as before, was never difficult to unlock. However, after three such stabs the knife had a small amount of side to side blade play. The function of the knife was not impaired, but since I was uncertain how to tighten the pivot, I stopped this activity. I also seated the blade about half its length into an existing fissure in the top of an old fence post and pried the gap wider as if to place a wedge. I did not apply much pressure and the AR performed this task without drama.
Overall, and this is where the Strideristas may be displeased, I found this to be an okay knife but there was no magic here. The AR is built very heavily. The blade is thick, the scales are thick, the liners are thick. It cut well, but did not stand out. ...And one is not going to cut my Military in half with an AR, as Ive read in the past. It performed as well, but not better than many knives I have used. It had some pleasing features (e.g. the thumb notches.)
By way of comparison, and accepting the expectation that I might be destroying my Military, I repeated all the tests I had performed on the AR. This was a real eye-opener for me. The Military also started with no blade play. I already knew it sliced better. After identical chopping, stabbing and prying it still had no play, no lock malfunction and no damage to the edge. Im not saying that the Military is stronger, all the additional material in the AR certainly gives the impression that its ultimate strength would be higher. Im just not sure what that means. I guess if you put it in a vise and bent it until it broke the Mil would go first. If you hammered both with a hand sledge I would expect the Mil to come apart first. But what I saw with my own eyes was that in identical use the much heavier construction did not translate into greater durability.
It seems as though the much higher price of the AR is in the warranty and the desire of the buyer to own a Strider. If one doesn't care about the company I wouldn't recommend the AR as a superior alternative to many other high quality available blades. My Military has not failed me in over five years of daily carry. If it broke tomorrow I could have it repaired for a small fee. If it was beyond repair I could replace it. Though this is exceedingly unlikely, I could do it nearly four times before spending the price of the AR. My conclusion is that if you like Strider, buy one, you'll be happy and the knife will do everything that you want. If you don't really care, choose another major manufacturer, you'll save money, you'll be happy and the knife will do everything that you want .
