dogboye
Gold Member
- Joined
- Nov 23, 1999
- Messages
- 7,139
Yesssss, IT CAME IN!!! The S.U.B. Texan. This is the stubby version of Lynn's Texan, similar handle size, but the blade is shorter.
I have been waiting ANXIOUSLY for this little knife ever since I took the plunge and ordered it (one of the initial runs).
The package:I will start from the outside (of the package) and work in, more or less. The knife arrived today via USPS. Lynn had packaged it inside a ziplock bag, inside a copius amount of bubble wrap, all wrapped up in the "priority mail" box with plenty of tape.
This knife wasn't going ANYWHERE until someone took a good sharp knife to cut it out of that box. Fortunately, I'm rarely without 2 or 3, so I had no problem. OK, enough joking around, let's get down to some serious opinions (some people might call it a review
). Oh, sorry, before that... the knife came with a letter from Lynn that was written from him to me. I really appreciated that. This is my first custom knife, and it really makes you feel good to know that the maker knows you as a customer, a person, and a friend. Not just a statistic, an order number, or an ELU. (I'm not knocking production companies by any means. They obviously operate on scales where they can't do this. This is in a different class altogether. But, it means something.) Maybe all this is obvious to people who have purchased a custom knife before, or especially if you purchased a Griffith knife. But, like I said, this is my first receipt of a new, custom knife, and there may be people that read this who haven't bought their first yet. But, it really meant a lot to me, and maybe will to other "newbies."
The sheath: The sheath is perfectly form-fitted to the knife. There is NO chance this knife is going to come out of the sheath until you want it to. It is of thin kydex, and made of two pieces (front and back side), as opposed to a folded-over sheath (sometimes referred to as a pouch sheath, I believe). It is held together with eyelets, with plenty of additional holes on either edge and the end, to attach the various carry methods to it. I ordered the IWB loop with the sheath, and right now it is riding nicely on my weak side, inside the belt. You don't really need to carry it IWB, since the sheath itself is small/short enough to be virtually hidden by a 1 1/4 inch belt alone. Lynn also sent a keychain (short ball-chain), a key-ring, a spring-clip-thingy (sorry for the tech terms
), and a length of nice, gold colored synthetic twine for neck carry. The knife/sheath is small enough to easily be carried in your front pocket as a slip sheath set-up. Lynn also suggests it can be used as a key-chain knife. My primary mode of carry will probably be as a slip sheath knife, or a neck knife, and press the IWB belt loop into service on one of my other concealex sheaths which I'm starting to make.
The knife: Ahhhh, the knife. I'm almost speechless, I don't know where to start. Well, for one thing, this is a small (and I do mean
SMALL) knife, even though I'm sure it will be plenty big on performance. The knife measure 5 3/4 inches long, OAL. The blade length is 2.25 inches (measured from the edge of the scales to the blade tip), with 2 inches of cutting edge (measured from the ricasso(?) to the blade tip along the long axis of the knife, <u>not</u> along the edge). The edge is RAZOR sharp! Also, the tip of this knife is so keen that it almost feels like a needle if you rest it against the pad of your finger. The blade gradually tapers down in a perfectly linear fashion from beginning of the flat grind to the point (distal taper). The entire knife has been bead blasted, and has a very agressive feeling surface texture. Lynn had told me that he was starting to do this because it stands up to wear better. What I can tell you is that it looks really neat. The bead blast catches the light in such a way that it almost looks like... I dunno... like it has microscopic glitter on it. I can't think or any other way to describe it, even though that sounds ... strange. Anyway, I like it. The knife has thumb serrations on the spine of the blade, just before the "clip" of the blade starts. I don't think this is depicted well in the pictures of the S.U.B. series. The scales are burgundy micarta, contoured in such a way that, when holding the knife, the contour of the scales and the handle makes the knife feel like an extension of my hand. The burgundy micarta shows a grain similar to natural, dark wood, and has a nice surface texture as well. The scales feel like they would remain "grippy" even when wet. The alignment of the scales to the tang of the knife is so well executed that there is no discernible gap in the surface. If you run your nail across the juncture, you cannot feel where the micarta ends and the steel begins. The tolerance is that tight. This knife has to be held ... felt... to be believed.
Unfortunately I haven't had the knife long enough to do ANY cutting with it yet, but I have no doubts of its abilities in that regard.
Lynn said in his letter that customer satisfation is guaranteed, or the knife can be returned. Well, Lynn won't be getting this knife back; it is a keeper.
If anyone is reading this and is thinking about getting a Griffith knife, take the plunge. If this knife is any indication of how his other knives are built (and I believe it is), you can't go wrong with ANY of his models. Now I just need a Tracker, an Expert, maybe a Sniper.... The Expert will probably be my next Griffith acquisition, though. It is another new design that Lynn has. You can see it, and read more about it in The Expert.
------------------
"Absolute safety is for those who don't have the balls to live in the real world."
[This message has been edited by rockspyder (edited 02-16-2000).]
[This message has been edited by rockspyder (edited 02-16-2000).]
I have been waiting ANXIOUSLY for this little knife ever since I took the plunge and ordered it (one of the initial runs).
The package:I will start from the outside (of the package) and work in, more or less. The knife arrived today via USPS. Lynn had packaged it inside a ziplock bag, inside a copius amount of bubble wrap, all wrapped up in the "priority mail" box with plenty of tape.
The sheath: The sheath is perfectly form-fitted to the knife. There is NO chance this knife is going to come out of the sheath until you want it to. It is of thin kydex, and made of two pieces (front and back side), as opposed to a folded-over sheath (sometimes referred to as a pouch sheath, I believe). It is held together with eyelets, with plenty of additional holes on either edge and the end, to attach the various carry methods to it. I ordered the IWB loop with the sheath, and right now it is riding nicely on my weak side, inside the belt. You don't really need to carry it IWB, since the sheath itself is small/short enough to be virtually hidden by a 1 1/4 inch belt alone. Lynn also sent a keychain (short ball-chain), a key-ring, a spring-clip-thingy (sorry for the tech terms
The knife: Ahhhh, the knife. I'm almost speechless, I don't know where to start. Well, for one thing, this is a small (and I do mean
SMALL) knife, even though I'm sure it will be plenty big on performance. The knife measure 5 3/4 inches long, OAL. The blade length is 2.25 inches (measured from the edge of the scales to the blade tip), with 2 inches of cutting edge (measured from the ricasso(?) to the blade tip along the long axis of the knife, <u>not</u> along the edge). The edge is RAZOR sharp! Also, the tip of this knife is so keen that it almost feels like a needle if you rest it against the pad of your finger. The blade gradually tapers down in a perfectly linear fashion from beginning of the flat grind to the point (distal taper). The entire knife has been bead blasted, and has a very agressive feeling surface texture. Lynn had told me that he was starting to do this because it stands up to wear better. What I can tell you is that it looks really neat. The bead blast catches the light in such a way that it almost looks like... I dunno... like it has microscopic glitter on it. I can't think or any other way to describe it, even though that sounds ... strange. Anyway, I like it. The knife has thumb serrations on the spine of the blade, just before the "clip" of the blade starts. I don't think this is depicted well in the pictures of the S.U.B. series. The scales are burgundy micarta, contoured in such a way that, when holding the knife, the contour of the scales and the handle makes the knife feel like an extension of my hand. The burgundy micarta shows a grain similar to natural, dark wood, and has a nice surface texture as well. The scales feel like they would remain "grippy" even when wet. The alignment of the scales to the tang of the knife is so well executed that there is no discernible gap in the surface. If you run your nail across the juncture, you cannot feel where the micarta ends and the steel begins. The tolerance is that tight. This knife has to be held ... felt... to be believed.
Unfortunately I haven't had the knife long enough to do ANY cutting with it yet, but I have no doubts of its abilities in that regard.
Lynn said in his letter that customer satisfation is guaranteed, or the knife can be returned. Well, Lynn won't be getting this knife back; it is a keeper.
If anyone is reading this and is thinking about getting a Griffith knife, take the plunge. If this knife is any indication of how his other knives are built (and I believe it is), you can't go wrong with ANY of his models. Now I just need a Tracker, an Expert, maybe a Sniper.... The Expert will probably be my next Griffith acquisition, though. It is another new design that Lynn has. You can see it, and read more about it in The Expert.
------------------
"Absolute safety is for those who don't have the balls to live in the real world."
[This message has been edited by rockspyder (edited 02-16-2000).]
[This message has been edited by rockspyder (edited 02-16-2000).]
