The SAK knock-off thread i posted on the other day made me think again about quality versus price when it comes to knife quality. This is one of the folders i own, the rest are inexpensive but useful ones (Kershaw Vapors, Opinels) - i'm more of a fixed blade fanatic anyhow - so i wrote this review of a cheapo folder.
Key details:
Knife (closed and opened):
Handle and quiality of handle "craftsmanship" - both box and the blade say "handcrafted in China" and rightfully so ... Then again, i own 2 Kershaw Vapors (both made in China) but neither has was made in such an incredibly sloppy manner. Sheesh, i used to work in aluminium foundry, if i put a product that looked like this handle out it'd simply be rejected - if i sneaked it past QC it'd be rejected by the customer (who might in turn reject entire shipment based on few bad samples). Pictures speak for themselves, i added some arrows to point out defects but even an untrained eye should be able to spot them.
(some pictures were taken with flash deliberately to emphasize the manufacturing defects which would otherwise be invisible or extremel hard to notice; no image was retouched)
See the parts where material didn't "run" well into the mold ?
A scratch and another pore from improper casting, again on the right side of the handle.
Left side of the handle shows even more pores (holes) which point to hasty and lousy casting (or extremely lax QC). You can also see grit lines from sanding at the bottom left side.
This bottom image shows how locking liner isn't fitted tightly into the handle (the second screw is tightened way further into the handle slab than the first one is and yet a portion of liner portrudes from the handle slab where that arrow points, it's hard to see because of the background). That portion of the liner doesn't interfere with the blade when closed but is IMHO the point where screw will eventually give in and the liner might fail.
Blade - diametrically opposite of handle "quality" the blade comes sharp out of the box with very few observable manufacturing slops, quite on par with prodcts of other manufacturers in low-cost price range (Kershaw Vapor, Opinel, etc.). It is actually sharper out of the box than Vapor and Vapor II i purchased short while ago, despite the thickness of the blade
(it is almost twice the width of Vapor blae at the top of the spine). I have no beef with the blade, there is absolutely no play (yet) in either direction. Thumbstuds are big - if they were a tad more conical in shape they'd probably feel better.
Locking - lock-up is solid. I whacked the spine against the palm of my other hand so hard that it hurt a couple of times and lock didn't disengage. Aluminium handle leaves something to be desired in this regard and the lock might come loose sooner than it would with all-steel construction. The bottom shot above shows how deep that locking liner engages the blade.
General usage observations - while using it as "gents" folder i was quite irritated by the lack of balance of the knife; since handle is made of aluminium is it too loght, the knife is blade heavy and it doesn't feel quite right so even despite good handle shape (which provides good grip) i sometimes felt as if the knife was about to fall from my hand. Sharp as it was out of the box it dealt with everything i threw at it without problems. I haven't put it to any heavy-duty chores (i have other tools for that) such as spliting wood.
Conclusion - does one get what they pay for with this thing ? You can get Opinel at the same price. Even though not engineering masterpieces Opinels don't display such lack of attention as the handle of this thing does. However the blade makes me thinkthat if instead of trying to pump out cheap knives the designer (? see "caveat" below) would focus on more quality $5 more could go a long way - SS handle would balance the knife better and remove the weakerst link (cast and hastily hand-sanded aluminium handle slabs) from the knife and at $10-15 it would still be cheaper than Kershaw Vapor and quite on-par on quality. If they actually put some effort into designing and making a quality knife it could actually be a good buy in that price range as chinese apparently *can* manufacture decent knives (take cheaper Kershaw models for example). The knife seems to come without warranty (no papers enclosed), just like Opinels, obviously a standard for this price range. Besides, at $5 a pop ican't possibly imagine anybody sending it back for repairs/replacement simply because buying a replacement would be cheaper.
I EDC Opinel #9 from exactly the same price range, same blade and handle length; if i had $5-10 to spend again on a beater folder i'd spend it on Opinel. As a one-time curiosity though i'd don't feel like the money was thrown away (yet),if you feel like getting a curiosity to toy with for a while and perhaps even cut some stuff it should keep you occupied far longer than a visit to the cinema would
At $5 it isn't exactly the cheapest allen wrench with a freebie knife i ever bought but far from the most expensive one either (and those small wrenches are hard to find over here). At approximately 3-4 times the price of this knife you can get Kershaw Vapor II, same dimensions and (allegedly) lifetime warranty.
Caveat - why does the blade say "USA design" ? If it was designed by *somebody* for Master Cutlery one would expect that person (and/or manufacturer) wouldn't be ashamed to put their name on the knife, regardless of manufacturing quality (desig has nothing to do with sloppy craftsmanship). Makes me think it is indeed "USA design", just not made for M. Cutlery or on behalf of M. Cutlery ...
Ironically enough it seems that entire M-tech knock-off business has been discontinued, judging by other posts on the subject and few comments found while browsing the web.
Comments ?
Key details:
- Price: $5.50 + S&H all over eBay
- Weight: 126 grams (says my kitchen scale)
- OAL: just under 21,5 cm (just under 8 1/2 ")
- Blade length: 9 cm (a tad more than 3 1/2 ")
- Blade material: says "440 steel", i take it's 440A
- Handle material: aluminium
- Liner material: my guess is some kind of stainless steel (it doesn't feel, weigh or look like aluminium to me)
- Pocket clip: also appears to be made of SS, on right side of the handle, tip-down carry only
- Opening: thumbstuds on both sides of the blade
- Extras in the box: one hex (allen) wrench for larger type of hex screws used to hold the handle together and in pivot pin (and no wrench for the smaller type of screws also used in this knife to hold things like pocket clip and liner )
Knife (closed and opened):
Handle and quiality of handle "craftsmanship" - both box and the blade say "handcrafted in China" and rightfully so ... Then again, i own 2 Kershaw Vapors (both made in China) but neither has was made in such an incredibly sloppy manner. Sheesh, i used to work in aluminium foundry, if i put a product that looked like this handle out it'd simply be rejected - if i sneaked it past QC it'd be rejected by the customer (who might in turn reject entire shipment based on few bad samples). Pictures speak for themselves, i added some arrows to point out defects but even an untrained eye should be able to spot them.
(some pictures were taken with flash deliberately to emphasize the manufacturing defects which would otherwise be invisible or extremel hard to notice; no image was retouched)
See the parts where material didn't "run" well into the mold ?
A scratch and another pore from improper casting, again on the right side of the handle.
Left side of the handle shows even more pores (holes) which point to hasty and lousy casting (or extremely lax QC). You can also see grit lines from sanding at the bottom left side.
This bottom image shows how locking liner isn't fitted tightly into the handle (the second screw is tightened way further into the handle slab than the first one is and yet a portion of liner portrudes from the handle slab where that arrow points, it's hard to see because of the background). That portion of the liner doesn't interfere with the blade when closed but is IMHO the point where screw will eventually give in and the liner might fail.
Blade - diametrically opposite of handle "quality" the blade comes sharp out of the box with very few observable manufacturing slops, quite on par with prodcts of other manufacturers in low-cost price range (Kershaw Vapor, Opinel, etc.). It is actually sharper out of the box than Vapor and Vapor II i purchased short while ago, despite the thickness of the blade
(it is almost twice the width of Vapor blae at the top of the spine). I have no beef with the blade, there is absolutely no play (yet) in either direction. Thumbstuds are big - if they were a tad more conical in shape they'd probably feel better.Locking - lock-up is solid. I whacked the spine against the palm of my other hand so hard that it hurt a couple of times and lock didn't disengage. Aluminium handle leaves something to be desired in this regard and the lock might come loose sooner than it would with all-steel construction. The bottom shot above shows how deep that locking liner engages the blade.
General usage observations - while using it as "gents" folder i was quite irritated by the lack of balance of the knife; since handle is made of aluminium is it too loght, the knife is blade heavy and it doesn't feel quite right so even despite good handle shape (which provides good grip) i sometimes felt as if the knife was about to fall from my hand. Sharp as it was out of the box it dealt with everything i threw at it without problems. I haven't put it to any heavy-duty chores (i have other tools for that) such as spliting wood.
Conclusion - does one get what they pay for with this thing ? You can get Opinel at the same price. Even though not engineering masterpieces Opinels don't display such lack of attention as the handle of this thing does. However the blade makes me thinkthat if instead of trying to pump out cheap knives the designer (? see "caveat" below) would focus on more quality $5 more could go a long way - SS handle would balance the knife better and remove the weakerst link (cast and hastily hand-sanded aluminium handle slabs) from the knife and at $10-15 it would still be cheaper than Kershaw Vapor and quite on-par on quality. If they actually put some effort into designing and making a quality knife it could actually be a good buy in that price range as chinese apparently *can* manufacture decent knives (take cheaper Kershaw models for example). The knife seems to come without warranty (no papers enclosed), just like Opinels, obviously a standard for this price range. Besides, at $5 a pop ican't possibly imagine anybody sending it back for repairs/replacement simply because buying a replacement would be cheaper.
I EDC Opinel #9 from exactly the same price range, same blade and handle length; if i had $5-10 to spend again on a beater folder i'd spend it on Opinel. As a one-time curiosity though i'd don't feel like the money was thrown away (yet),if you feel like getting a curiosity to toy with for a while and perhaps even cut some stuff it should keep you occupied far longer than a visit to the cinema would
At $5 it isn't exactly the cheapest allen wrench with a freebie knife i ever bought but far from the most expensive one either (and those small wrenches are hard to find over here). At approximately 3-4 times the price of this knife you can get Kershaw Vapor II, same dimensions and (allegedly) lifetime warranty.Caveat - why does the blade say "USA design" ? If it was designed by *somebody* for Master Cutlery one would expect that person (and/or manufacturer) wouldn't be ashamed to put their name on the knife, regardless of manufacturing quality (desig has nothing to do with sloppy craftsmanship). Makes me think it is indeed "USA design", just not made for M. Cutlery or on behalf of M. Cutlery ...
Ironically enough it seems that entire M-tech knock-off business has been discontinued, judging by other posts on the subject and few comments found while browsing the web.Comments ?
