- Joined
- Mar 4, 2014
- Messages
- 3,646
I wanted to try out an HTM (Hand Tech Made Knives), but had held off mostly because of price, and partially because I just didn't see many posts raving about them. But made in the US, decent materials, and quality design collaborators, pushed me over the hill. Well that, and I just happened to find one at the right price to take a chance on a relatively unknown (to me) manufacturer.
First off, the materials. Not the top, but not horrible. Aluminum frame/scales, and 154CM blade. My sample has coated (anodized?) aluminum, and stonewashed blade with recurve. I feel there are as many pro's as con's for re curves, so let's just say it's there and leave it at that. The grenade look is not my favorite and would have preferred another model, but price played a larger role in this purchase. I would NEVER pay the msrp of $350 for this thing. Luckily the street price is less than a third of that, and even that is pushing it with the quality of ZT, Benchmade, Spyderco, etc.
For the most part, the fit and finish were quite nice, save for a few items to be covered in detail in a moment. Flipping action is quite smooth on ball bearing pivot. Locks up solid, but a little too solid. Which is actually one of the biggest negatives. The lock lands at about 35% (perfect for this knife), but there is MAJOR lock stick. The contact point on the lock face seemed ok, but the blade point of contact had significant cross direction grind striations. It takes significant force to break contact. Tried the break-in procedures as have done with other knives for various issues, but over 100 in and no change. I disassembled to try polishing the contact point. It seemed to make a slight improvement in the short term, but soon returned to the rock solid contact.
The bearings in pivot are not captured, so disassembly/reassembly is a trick. And even with very little use, there were already random divot and groove indentations in the unprotected aluminum skate track.
With the large 3D alum handles, it's not the best for my daily carry needs, but does feel really great in the hand. If I could just get past the juvenile looking grenade shape and hash marks, this really could be a great user.
The blade primary grind is very well done, and happened to have perfect centering. However the edge was simply horrible. Not even, balanced, and was about as sharp as a wet noodle. In out of the box condition, you could definitely poke out an eye, but that's about it. Had trouble even tearing paper, let alone cut it. So on day one (today) it went straight on the KME sharpener, and took quite some time. I ended up putting on my signature jeweled edge, and now it cuts like a laser, and looks pretty. [emoji41]
So overall, if you can find one at the right price, and be willing to tweak a bit, I'd say it could be a great blade user.
First off, the materials. Not the top, but not horrible. Aluminum frame/scales, and 154CM blade. My sample has coated (anodized?) aluminum, and stonewashed blade with recurve. I feel there are as many pro's as con's for re curves, so let's just say it's there and leave it at that. The grenade look is not my favorite and would have preferred another model, but price played a larger role in this purchase. I would NEVER pay the msrp of $350 for this thing. Luckily the street price is less than a third of that, and even that is pushing it with the quality of ZT, Benchmade, Spyderco, etc.
For the most part, the fit and finish were quite nice, save for a few items to be covered in detail in a moment. Flipping action is quite smooth on ball bearing pivot. Locks up solid, but a little too solid. Which is actually one of the biggest negatives. The lock lands at about 35% (perfect for this knife), but there is MAJOR lock stick. The contact point on the lock face seemed ok, but the blade point of contact had significant cross direction grind striations. It takes significant force to break contact. Tried the break-in procedures as have done with other knives for various issues, but over 100 in and no change. I disassembled to try polishing the contact point. It seemed to make a slight improvement in the short term, but soon returned to the rock solid contact.
The bearings in pivot are not captured, so disassembly/reassembly is a trick. And even with very little use, there were already random divot and groove indentations in the unprotected aluminum skate track.
With the large 3D alum handles, it's not the best for my daily carry needs, but does feel really great in the hand. If I could just get past the juvenile looking grenade shape and hash marks, this really could be a great user.
The blade primary grind is very well done, and happened to have perfect centering. However the edge was simply horrible. Not even, balanced, and was about as sharp as a wet noodle. In out of the box condition, you could definitely poke out an eye, but that's about it. Had trouble even tearing paper, let alone cut it. So on day one (today) it went straight on the KME sharpener, and took quite some time. I ended up putting on my signature jeweled edge, and now it cuts like a laser, and looks pretty. [emoji41]
So overall, if you can find one at the right price, and be willing to tweak a bit, I'd say it could be a great blade user.
