- Joined
- Dec 27, 2010
- Messages
- 6,852
Well, I was lucky enough to have my name pop out of the hat for the GAW from Phantom Steelworks, and picked it up from the post office yesterday. I wanted to start by saying that it's a very sweet little blade, and it feels both artistic and stabby. It's most definitely designed for SD, and even more particularly for certain types of grips. I thought I'd share a few impressions and pics with everyone.
I opened the box, and out popped a sexy little knife, complete with a kydex sheath. Sheath appears to be well made, and finish on it is good.
Retention on the sheath is good, and it comes with a Tek-Lok.
The knife is definitely unique, and has a distinctive look to it. Here's a couple full body shots:
Fit and finish is solid. It's not mirror finish or anything, but does a good job of showing off the character of the steel, and it's got a lot of texturing along the spine and tang:
It didn't come particularly sharp along the edge, which is not a huge deal (and actually kinda beneficial until you get used to how it handles, more on this in a moment), but then again, it's a VERY stabby knife, and with as much of a sharp point, I'm not sure how sharp the edge really needs to be, even.
It's got a relatively rough finish, certainly less than 100 grit, if my eye serves, which I think is probably for aesthetic reasons, because the textured portions are finished more finely, so it's got a really good looking contrast.
The handle texturing is nice, and also has contrasting patterning in the texture. It looks kinda art-deco, and gives me the feeling that I'm carrying art, as well as a functional weapon. I'm not sure quite what it is, but I kinda feel like sheeple wouldn't mind this knife so much, because it looks as artistic as it does dangerous. That's a bonus for an SD weapon, in my mind, because it just feels pretty discreet.
The handle is held on by epoxy, I'm sure, but also has a lanyard hole tube as a pin, and there's another really discreet looking pin, maybe out of grey G10? I'm not sure what it's made of, and I missed it the first time I was looking for it.
Okay, so let's talk design. The first thing you may have noticed is that the grind and edge are on the opposite side as usual. There's a finger groove, which dictates how it's actually comfortable to carry this blade. Given where the finger groove is, a saber grip, with the thumb along the spine, clearly isn't going to work that well, because that will put your thumb on the edge of the blade. That's part of why I'm glad this knife didn't come scary sharp. I would have definitely cut myself while I was figuring out how to carry it, because I do tend to use saber grip fairly often. Hammer grip is really the way to go with this.
Now, with the blade in this orientation, you've got the edge facing towards you. That means that this isn't an EDC blade, really. It's designed for hooking your opponents arms and cutting them, or cutting a throat, or otherwise doing damage to an assailant. I mean, you could use it as an EDC if you really wanted, but with the super pointy tip, and the orientation of the blade, it's not all that comfortable that way. If you want a classy looking knife you can use for self-defense, however, this is your ticket.
Now, for SD fighting with a little knife like this, I prefer a reverse grip. I usually do blade out, but a lot of styles go for edge-in, and that's how this knife is MOST comfortable, in my opinion.
Notice in the previous picture how natural it would be to hook an opponent's arm, and on the pull, do some damage with the cut. That's why the blade is oriented inwards. It's clearly very stabby, and I almost feel like the tip is delicate, but it's not as delicate as you might think. I certainly wouldn't do prying, or stab any seriously tough target (like body armor), but it's going to get great penetration on your average mugger or thug entering your home. It's pretty uncomfortable edge out, however, with the guard, such as it is, digging into your hand.
Overall, I like this blade for it's clearly intended SD purposes. It's well made, good looking and unique, and has a lot of new school character.
There's a few things that I did want to remark on though, so you don't think I only do sunshine reviews. First, I like to carry my blades horizontally along the back of my belt, and the sheath is a little weird for that. The blade is angled up towards the crease, for one, and I haven't really figured out why, although I suspect it's intentional.
Also, it's really hard to resheathe, because it's so pointy, and there's no flaring at the lip of the sheath (like you might see on a Mashed Cat or Azwelke kydex, for instance). It's not so bad if you can see the sheath, but it's quite hard to resheathe if you do carry it like I prefer to. You can get the blade out relatively quickly, which is the most important thing, but it's not exactly easy to put away.
I also don't like how easy it is to have your fingers slip onto the blade. There's a guard, but it prevents you from touching the spine of the blade. I'd like to see some protection for the edge side. That little choil on there is actually really critical for safety reasons. It's the only reason I think this blade isn't kinda scary to use, because it provides just enough distance from the edge. That was clearly a well thought-out design feature.
Aside from that, I'd really prefer to have a hook or something built into the handle to make it easier to draw, and to help lock it into your hand. It's very important in knife combat to keep your blade in your hand, and not have it go flying. While the texturing makes it easy to keep a grip on the knife (even if soaked in something like oil, which is what I use to test retention), it's harder to draw than it would be if there was a bit of a hook (think Jay Fisher designs, for instance).
It's a very cool knife, and if you're looking for something to carry that will be legal most places, discreet, and not look too scary, but still meet your SD needs, definitely give one of these a look. It's certainly going to get carried fairly often. My wife and parents (who are both artists), both found it to be very artistic, and not really scary looking on first glance, and the word "dressy" even got bandied about a couple times. It's a knife for a specific niche though, and not for the EDC knife-as-tool crowd.
Thanks very much to Phantom Steelworks for the generous giveaway, and I'm truly proud to have something so unique and interesting to carry for my SD needs.
I opened the box, and out popped a sexy little knife, complete with a kydex sheath. Sheath appears to be well made, and finish on it is good.
Retention on the sheath is good, and it comes with a Tek-Lok.
The knife is definitely unique, and has a distinctive look to it. Here's a couple full body shots:
Fit and finish is solid. It's not mirror finish or anything, but does a good job of showing off the character of the steel, and it's got a lot of texturing along the spine and tang:
It didn't come particularly sharp along the edge, which is not a huge deal (and actually kinda beneficial until you get used to how it handles, more on this in a moment), but then again, it's a VERY stabby knife, and with as much of a sharp point, I'm not sure how sharp the edge really needs to be, even.
It's got a relatively rough finish, certainly less than 100 grit, if my eye serves, which I think is probably for aesthetic reasons, because the textured portions are finished more finely, so it's got a really good looking contrast.
The handle texturing is nice, and also has contrasting patterning in the texture. It looks kinda art-deco, and gives me the feeling that I'm carrying art, as well as a functional weapon. I'm not sure quite what it is, but I kinda feel like sheeple wouldn't mind this knife so much, because it looks as artistic as it does dangerous. That's a bonus for an SD weapon, in my mind, because it just feels pretty discreet.
The handle is held on by epoxy, I'm sure, but also has a lanyard hole tube as a pin, and there's another really discreet looking pin, maybe out of grey G10? I'm not sure what it's made of, and I missed it the first time I was looking for it.
Okay, so let's talk design. The first thing you may have noticed is that the grind and edge are on the opposite side as usual. There's a finger groove, which dictates how it's actually comfortable to carry this blade. Given where the finger groove is, a saber grip, with the thumb along the spine, clearly isn't going to work that well, because that will put your thumb on the edge of the blade. That's part of why I'm glad this knife didn't come scary sharp. I would have definitely cut myself while I was figuring out how to carry it, because I do tend to use saber grip fairly often. Hammer grip is really the way to go with this.
Now, with the blade in this orientation, you've got the edge facing towards you. That means that this isn't an EDC blade, really. It's designed for hooking your opponents arms and cutting them, or cutting a throat, or otherwise doing damage to an assailant. I mean, you could use it as an EDC if you really wanted, but with the super pointy tip, and the orientation of the blade, it's not all that comfortable that way. If you want a classy looking knife you can use for self-defense, however, this is your ticket.
Now, for SD fighting with a little knife like this, I prefer a reverse grip. I usually do blade out, but a lot of styles go for edge-in, and that's how this knife is MOST comfortable, in my opinion.
Notice in the previous picture how natural it would be to hook an opponent's arm, and on the pull, do some damage with the cut. That's why the blade is oriented inwards. It's clearly very stabby, and I almost feel like the tip is delicate, but it's not as delicate as you might think. I certainly wouldn't do prying, or stab any seriously tough target (like body armor), but it's going to get great penetration on your average mugger or thug entering your home. It's pretty uncomfortable edge out, however, with the guard, such as it is, digging into your hand.
Overall, I like this blade for it's clearly intended SD purposes. It's well made, good looking and unique, and has a lot of new school character.
There's a few things that I did want to remark on though, so you don't think I only do sunshine reviews. First, I like to carry my blades horizontally along the back of my belt, and the sheath is a little weird for that. The blade is angled up towards the crease, for one, and I haven't really figured out why, although I suspect it's intentional.
Also, it's really hard to resheathe, because it's so pointy, and there's no flaring at the lip of the sheath (like you might see on a Mashed Cat or Azwelke kydex, for instance). It's not so bad if you can see the sheath, but it's quite hard to resheathe if you do carry it like I prefer to. You can get the blade out relatively quickly, which is the most important thing, but it's not exactly easy to put away.
I also don't like how easy it is to have your fingers slip onto the blade. There's a guard, but it prevents you from touching the spine of the blade. I'd like to see some protection for the edge side. That little choil on there is actually really critical for safety reasons. It's the only reason I think this blade isn't kinda scary to use, because it provides just enough distance from the edge. That was clearly a well thought-out design feature.
Aside from that, I'd really prefer to have a hook or something built into the handle to make it easier to draw, and to help lock it into your hand. It's very important in knife combat to keep your blade in your hand, and not have it go flying. While the texturing makes it easy to keep a grip on the knife (even if soaked in something like oil, which is what I use to test retention), it's harder to draw than it would be if there was a bit of a hook (think Jay Fisher designs, for instance).
It's a very cool knife, and if you're looking for something to carry that will be legal most places, discreet, and not look too scary, but still meet your SD needs, definitely give one of these a look. It's certainly going to get carried fairly often. My wife and parents (who are both artists), both found it to be very artistic, and not really scary looking on first glance, and the word "dressy" even got bandied about a couple times. It's a knife for a specific niche though, and not for the EDC knife-as-tool crowd.
Thanks very much to Phantom Steelworks for the generous giveaway, and I'm truly proud to have something so unique and interesting to carry for my SD needs.
