Rijbak's and INOVA's

C

cutter17

Joined
May 16, 2006
Messages
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I've finally pulled the trigger for a Blade-Tech Rijbak. I'm really looking forward to receiving this one as I fell in love with the original Spyderco Wegner right when Spyderco discontinued them. Always wished that Wegner would come a bit more beefed up. When I heard Blade-Tech was coming into being I thought it might mean a heavier duty knife, but it was not as heavy duty as I wanted. Now comes the Rijbak, a 5/32" thick blade, .080" thick titanium liners, and a 5.5 ounce total weight. This should prove to be right down my alley! Oh, and another plus is the deep carry clip, although for tip down only.

I mentioned the INOVA because I have a hard time passing up flashlights when I get a new knife. It seems I have to have a new flashlight to go along with it. It's not like I don't have enough flashlights as it is, but I guess they are sorta like knives: you can never have too many! This go round was an INOVA T-3. I think when I get my Jeff Hall Bounty Hunter next month I'm going to try a Lenix PD3.:thumbup:
 
cutter17 said:
I've finally pulled the trigger for a Blade-Tech Rijbak. I'm really looking forward to receiving this one as I fell in love with the original Spyderco Wegner right when Spyderco discontinued them. Always wished that Wegner would come a bit more beefed up. When I heard Blade-Tech was coming into being I thought it might mean a heavier duty knife, but it was not as heavy duty as I wanted. Now comes the Rijbak, a 5/32" thick blade, .080" thick titanium liners, and a 5.5 ounce total weight. This should prove to be right down my alley! Oh, and another plus is the deep carry clip, although for tip down only.

I mentioned the INOVA because I have a hard time passing up flashlights when I get a new knife. It seems I have to have a new flashlight to go along with it. It's not like I don't have enough flashlights as it is, but I guess they are sorta like knives: you can never have too many! This go round was an INOVA T-3. I think when I get my Jeff Hall Bounty Hunter next month I'm going to try a Lenix PD3.:thumbup:
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The Inova's have a good build quality, but you better want to buy the Fenix P3D right away, especially the Rebel Led version.
The amount of light this thing puts out will blow the Inova right out of the water.
:thumbup:
 
I was checking out the PD3 last night and saw that in turbo mode it puts out 225 lumens! That a lotta light from 2 CR123's, especially with a runtime of 1 hour or so in turbo mode.
 
The Rijbak is a very heavy bladed Titanium frame-lock. The lock is fitted on mine very precisely. Plus it sets with it's entire width right behind the very first of the blade. My fave knife and fit and finish rate up there with any production knife.
 
Mine came butter-knife sharp, and needed to be sharpened BADLY. Other than that I highly recommend this knife. It feels very sturdy and has held up pretty well to some fairly hard use.
 
Mine came hair poppin sharp and the only thing is it's a tight knife that takes more effort than some to open, but it locks up tight too. It's got a lot of blade for it's handle size.
 
It has been your posts on the Rijbak, JJ, that pushed me to go ahead and get it, so, if it don't meet my expectations..................... LOL! But I don't think I have anything to worry about as I have read nothing but good things about the Rijbak.
 
2ytr7h0.jpg


Here's mine again in case anyone didn't see it, along with a few others. Notice the blade size next to the ZT 0200.
 
cutter17 said:
It has been your posts on the Rijbak, JJ, that pushed me to go ahead and get it, so, if it don't meet my expectations..................... LOL! But I don't think I have anything to worry about as I have read nothing but good things about the Rijbak.
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Will be waiting to hear your impression! I'm certain you will love it.
 
I am looking forward to your review and pics of the Rijbak. Its on my shortlist.

I understand the Pro Hunter is getting an upgrade... the Pro Hunter Magnum. It is going to have a thicker blade, full flat grind, and thicker liners. A framelock version of the Pro hunter is also in the works.
 
DAMN.............magnum you say, now we talking! I would love to see the MLEK get a thicker blade and liners. JJ I really think I'm going to be pleased with the Rijbak. It has specs I really like, and a pleasing design to my eye. I'll do an initial impression when I get it on Thursday. BTW, tight is good. If there is one thing I can't stand it is a loose/sloppy knife. So, tight is good!
 
cutter17 said:
DAMN.............magnum you say, now we talking! I would love to see the MLEK get a thicker blade and liners. JJ I really think I'm going to be pleased with the Rijbak. It has specs I really like, and a pleasing design to my eye. I'll do an initial impression when I get it on Thursday. BTW, tight is good. If there is one thing I can't stand it is a loose/sloppy knife. So, tight is good!
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We are also going to change all MLEK production to MLEK "Magnum". After we change all the PH's and MLEK's to the "Magnum" upgrade, we will offer a lower priced version of the "original" style out of Taiwan that will feature CPM154CM blade, G-10 handles, and double nested liners. We will continue to make our "High-End" knife line here in Lakewood, WA.:D
 
Shavin' Sharp said:
We are also going to change all MLEK production to MLEK "Magnum". After we change all the PH's and MLEK's to the "Magnum" upgrade, we will offer a lower priced version of the "original" style out of Taiwan that will feature CPM154CM blade, G-10 handles, and double nested liners. We will continue to make our "High-End" knife line here in Lakewood, WA.:D
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Dang it... More future paychecks down the hole... Now I'm wondering about a magnum upgrade to the rijbak... .25" blade, .15" titanium liners... heh... :D

It's a sickness to which there is no cure...
 
Oh but such a FINE sickness it be! Thanks for the info. Can you give a time frame when we will see the Magnum models available? What are the exact dimensions on the upgrades? (blade and liner thickness) Will it have exposed double liners or will the liners be nested? Lots of questions, but cant help it as this is exciting news!
 
cutter17 said:
Oh but such a FINE sickness it be! Thanks for the info. Can you give a time frame when we will see the Magnum models available? What are the exact dimensions on the upgrades? (blade and liner thickness) Will it have exposed double liners or will the liners be nested? Lots of questions, but cant help it as this is exciting news!
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WEGNER PROFESSIONAL HUNTER/MLEK "MAGNUM" SPECS
• Blade Steel S30V (Full Flat Grind)
• Blade length 3 5/8”
• Blade Thickness 5/32”
• Overall Closed Length 4 7/8”
• Overall Open Length 8 1⁄2”
• Blade-Tech V-Hole
• Precision D-Nut “Torx” head blade pivot
• Ambidextrous tip-up / tip-down pocket clip
• Double nested liners w/ radius ramp liner lock
• Weight 5.0 oz.
• Choice of Black, Blaze Orange or
“Strider Green” G-10 or Carbon Fiber scales
• Plain Edge Edge only
 
Just got my Rijbak about an hour ago. I've been sitting around playing with it, the Rijbak I tell ya', the Rijbak. Anyway, here is what I think as my first impressions; Btw, if you have seen many of my posts about folders then you should know that I favor big, beefy folders. My normal edc's are a Strider AR, or a BM Rukus 610, or a ZT0200. With that in mind, the Rijbak is almost as beefy, just on a smaller scale.............if that makes any sense at all. It is about 2 ounces lighter than any of my other edc's, Rijbak is 5.5 ozs., but it has as solid a feel as any of my others. It is thinner than the other three, but it is still thick enough to wrap your hand around and know you have a good knife in hand. The fit and finish is right on the money with evrything lined up nicely. The lock comes over so that lock face is completely covered by the blade tang, yet there is still plenty of blade tang left for any wear that may occur. One thing about the lock I would like to point out. On several of my linerlocks, and some framelocks, present and past, I've found that the lockbar seems very easy to move over to an unlocked position. I've never liked the feel of this and I will often times put a little extra bend in the liners so that lockbar becomes stiffer to push over. I've done this on my Strider AR and my Kershaw ZT0200 and now both have a very stiff locking bar that you have to make an effort to push over and unlock. I'm NOT going to have to do this on the Rijbak as it is already fairly stiff and doesn't feel like it is accidently going to move over on its own. The batteries died in my micrometer or I would measure the cut out on the locking liner but from looking at it it might be that Blade-Tech has left it a little thicker than most companies do.....a GOOD thing in my opinion. I really like how the Rijbak feels in my hand and with the handle design, your hand sorta becomes "locked-in" as you grip it. I did tighten up my pivot just a hair as I like to make sure that a blade is not going to come open in my pocket and yet it still glides open and locks up solid. I like the clip, but do wish it could be set up for tip up, but I can live with it as is. About the only thing I can bitch about is that it does not have phospher bronze washers as I've grown accustommed to them. I have some and may try to replace the teflon with them.

Overall? I'm a happy camper! JJ, you steered me right ole' son. I'm going to enjoy carrying and using the Rijbak, and since it is smaller than my other edc's it may even become my Sunday go to meeting knife!

Btw, I'm not sure about the top swedge as it is only on the front/left side of the blade. It took me a few minutes to realize it yet I knew something was off and couldn't put my finger on it. Sorta reminds me of the old Benchmark/Gerber Rolox's and the one sided swedge they had.
 
How about some pics? I've seen pics of the rijbak, but none that were very good.
 
I'm not really set up for pics at this moment. I'll try to get a host site, like photobuckett, and then get some up.
 
Need to make a correction. I took my Rijbak apart to try and change out the washers to phospher bronze ones. To my surprise and delight the washers are already phospher bronze! There was a lot of white lubricant caked up around the pivot that made me think the washers were teflon. I cleaned it all up and applied some Miltec lubricant, and as smooth as it was, it is even smoother now!
 
Shavin' Sharp,
do you've got an idea when the Magnums'll hit the market?
And how much thicker are the liners going to be?

Thanks,Alex
 
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