- Joined
- Feb 22, 1999
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- 3,357
On a whim, and foolishly disregarding my inclination to avoid both S&W licensed products and Taylor Cutlery in general, I picked up one of these knives for a mere $12.99 from Smoky Mountain Knife Works.
According to the KnifeCenter of the Internet (from where I linked that little photo) the blade is 440C. Overall length of the knife is 7.5", weight 1.93 oz.
First let's talk about the molded plastic sheath. The Knifecenter bills this blade as a neck knife, and I suppose you could wear it as such. There are six mounting holes in the sheath, and you could thread a cord or chain through the ones nearest the tip (though no cord or chain is provided). The sheath is obviously intended to look and feel sort of like kydex or concealex, but unless it's mere ABS.
The blade does not snap into the sheath in any positive way. Rather, it gets harder and harder to move it as you push the knife into the sheath, until eventually the blade is just stuck in there. I tried to dislodge it by shaking the knife and couldn't do it, so I guess you could call it secure, but it sure feels sloppy.
The sheath also has a removable boot/belt clip, also of molded plastic. This moves up and down within its slot but is prevented from coming off completely by the bulge at the lip of the sheath. So it won't pop off of there until you want it to, but it doesn't exactly stay in one place while installed.
Okay, now we'll talk about the knife itself. It reminds me very much of the Gerber Guardian (and could be considered another in Taylor's long line of rip-offs, though the styling of the Guardian is pretty basic as double-edged boot knives go.) The blade was reasonably sharp out of the box. The grinds aren't entirely symmetrical from one side of each edge to the other, though.
The rubber-coated handle is comfortable enough but feels a little slick. It feels solidly bonded to the blade tang, and has a lanyard hole through the end.
My final assessment? This isn't a bad knife for $12.99, but wasn't worth disregarding my reservations about S&W or Taylor.
According to the KnifeCenter of the Internet (from where I linked that little photo) the blade is 440C. Overall length of the knife is 7.5", weight 1.93 oz.
First let's talk about the molded plastic sheath. The Knifecenter bills this blade as a neck knife, and I suppose you could wear it as such. There are six mounting holes in the sheath, and you could thread a cord or chain through the ones nearest the tip (though no cord or chain is provided). The sheath is obviously intended to look and feel sort of like kydex or concealex, but unless it's mere ABS.
The blade does not snap into the sheath in any positive way. Rather, it gets harder and harder to move it as you push the knife into the sheath, until eventually the blade is just stuck in there. I tried to dislodge it by shaking the knife and couldn't do it, so I guess you could call it secure, but it sure feels sloppy.
The sheath also has a removable boot/belt clip, also of molded plastic. This moves up and down within its slot but is prevented from coming off completely by the bulge at the lip of the sheath. So it won't pop off of there until you want it to, but it doesn't exactly stay in one place while installed.
Okay, now we'll talk about the knife itself. It reminds me very much of the Gerber Guardian (and could be considered another in Taylor's long line of rip-offs, though the styling of the Guardian is pretty basic as double-edged boot knives go.) The blade was reasonably sharp out of the box. The grinds aren't entirely symmetrical from one side of each edge to the other, though.
The rubber-coated handle is comfortable enough but feels a little slick. It feels solidly bonded to the blade tang, and has a lanyard hole through the end.
My final assessment? This isn't a bad knife for $12.99, but wasn't worth disregarding my reservations about S&W or Taylor.