- Joined
- Jan 12, 2011
- Messages
- 248
I'd been eying this one for a while and finally pulled the trigger on it. Just landed today and as I've seen nothing about it around these parts, I figured I'd toss some fresh-out-of-the-box opinions out there before these become extinct. Let's get the specs out there to kick this off.
Closed Length: 3.5" (89mm)
Handle Thickness: 0.35" (9mm)
Handle materials comprise a stainless steel frame and lock bar with inlays of Mother of Pearl and abalone. The bolsters are "engraved", though chemically etched would seem to be the more appropriate term in this case.
Blade Length: 2.75" (70mm)
Blade Thickness: 0.12" (3mm)
Blade material is HWS-1, a proprietary steel used by Hanwei (the parent company of Rock Creek). I have no experience with it, but I can at least say they put a fine edge on from the factory!
Let's get the negatives out of the way now so it'll be smooth sailing to the end. The only flaw I found on the knife is a small section where the Mother of Pearl is a bit rough where it meets the handle. While the below picture makes it look nightmarish, the reality is that it's only a 0.2" section about a hair's width wide. The only people that would complain about it are.. us. The back top of the blade is rather proud when open but with a blade this wide on this frame, a sunken joint wouldn't be feasible. The bolsters look fine unless you have them pressed against your face at which point you can see some rough, lumpy-looking edges that give away that it's not hand engraved. The only other gripe I have is just nitpicking and it's that the leather slip that it comes with lets the knife settle too deep and it's a pain to get out. I'm not knocking points off for the extras though.
The good news is that they got a lot of the little things right in fit. The lock bar is perfectly flush open and closed with no gaps between the handle and is perfectly squared with the blade on lock up. Closed, the blade is as near centered as I can hope for in a production knife. The inside is immaculate with no sign of oil + buffing compound sludge (with which I became all too accustomed to with Case). The Mother of Pearl inlays may be quite thin but still have nice depth in the light while the abalone just sparkles, neither of which really come though from pictures. Lastly, costing just over $100 this is a beautiful piece of work all around and I feel I got my money's worth.
While I'm sure there are those who will dismiss it due to being made in China, I'd like to think that CAS Hanwei has earned enough of a reputation in the sword market to be trusted to build a folder. Sadly, there seems to be very few others in the Rock Creek family and this one's scratched my itch so it's back to throwing my money at GEC.
Alright, you've made it this far so you can have pictures:
Thanks for reading, or at least scrolling down to look at the pictures before clicking the Back button. I know the audience; I'm onto you.
Closed Length: 3.5" (89mm)
Handle Thickness: 0.35" (9mm)
Handle materials comprise a stainless steel frame and lock bar with inlays of Mother of Pearl and abalone. The bolsters are "engraved", though chemically etched would seem to be the more appropriate term in this case.
Blade Length: 2.75" (70mm)
Blade Thickness: 0.12" (3mm)
Blade material is HWS-1, a proprietary steel used by Hanwei (the parent company of Rock Creek). I have no experience with it, but I can at least say they put a fine edge on from the factory!
Let's get the negatives out of the way now so it'll be smooth sailing to the end. The only flaw I found on the knife is a small section where the Mother of Pearl is a bit rough where it meets the handle. While the below picture makes it look nightmarish, the reality is that it's only a 0.2" section about a hair's width wide. The only people that would complain about it are.. us. The back top of the blade is rather proud when open but with a blade this wide on this frame, a sunken joint wouldn't be feasible. The bolsters look fine unless you have them pressed against your face at which point you can see some rough, lumpy-looking edges that give away that it's not hand engraved. The only other gripe I have is just nitpicking and it's that the leather slip that it comes with lets the knife settle too deep and it's a pain to get out. I'm not knocking points off for the extras though.
The good news is that they got a lot of the little things right in fit. The lock bar is perfectly flush open and closed with no gaps between the handle and is perfectly squared with the blade on lock up. Closed, the blade is as near centered as I can hope for in a production knife. The inside is immaculate with no sign of oil + buffing compound sludge (with which I became all too accustomed to with Case). The Mother of Pearl inlays may be quite thin but still have nice depth in the light while the abalone just sparkles, neither of which really come though from pictures. Lastly, costing just over $100 this is a beautiful piece of work all around and I feel I got my money's worth.
While I'm sure there are those who will dismiss it due to being made in China, I'd like to think that CAS Hanwei has earned enough of a reputation in the sword market to be trusted to build a folder. Sadly, there seems to be very few others in the Rock Creek family and this one's scratched my itch so it's back to throwing my money at GEC.
Alright, you've made it this far so you can have pictures:
Thanks for reading, or at least scrolling down to look at the pictures before clicking the Back button. I know the audience; I'm onto you.
