S&W Extreme Ops

udtjim

udtjim

Joined
Sep 4, 2007
Messages
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We talked on the General forum a week or so ago about S&W Knives. I have had this EO folder for a year or so and carried it a lot because it is really light. I didn't figure it would be much of a knife for real use. However today I decided to take it out to the shop and work on some walking sticks. I cut the small twigs off three seven foot long sticks then shaved all the bark off and carved the ends a little. The knife held a very good edge and took only about two minutes on the edge maker to have it shaving sharp again. This one at least was well worth the ten bucks I paid for it at the farm store.
 
The S&W Extreme Ops was my very first knife.

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It was a good knife for the $25 I payed years ago for it (back when I was a mall ninja :o). Ah, the thought of the knife brings back memories. I might have to pick one up this weekend :D
 
Congratulations! I was beginning to think I was about the only one here who's had anything good to say about Smith & Wessons. Constructionwise, the Exreme Ops are, for the most part, kind of low grade linerlocks; however, they do have some decent mid-price framelocks and, yes, I, too, have found them to hold their edges significantly better than expected. There have been exceptions, of course, but I've seen many Gerbers that have been far worse!

Smoky Mountain has an outstanding deal on the Smith & Wesson Homeland Security Tanto ($29), which for the price I was expecting to be unmitigated junk. It has held its edge remarkably well and, like you, I found that sharpening it to hair-splitting sharp was effortless.

In short, there are many knives out there a LOT worse than the Smith & Wesson line, and overall they've been underrated for their discount prices. They do have a miserable linerlock with magnesium handles sellling for $50+, and who knows what the story behind that abominnation is? It, too, is reasonable in the ten-buck range, but it's a linerlock. If someone has a magnesium deficiency, fine, they can buy one and stick it in their mouth, but they shouldn't be surprised if someone calls them a sucker!
 
If the holes in the handle are to lighten it up, it sure works Mine has a drop point style blade. I have four other S&W knives and really they are not bad knives and sure don't break the bank.
 
I looked at that Tanto at Sportsmans Warehouse and was rather impressed. However I didn't like the Sheath as the knife would only fit in it by brute force. Maybe they had the wrong Sheath.
 
I've only recently started collecting knives, and at the moment have a very few knives, the extreme ops being my first:). I don't know a huge amount about knives (still learning) but seemed to me pretty good value for money.

Somehow though I've managed to dent the edge of the blade, as well as bend the tip slightly:confused:.
 
udtjim said:
I looked at that Tanto at Sportsmans Warehouse and was rather impressed. However I didn't like the Sheath as the knife would only fit in it by brute force. Maybe they had the wrong Sheath.
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Nope, that's the way it is. But it gets much better when you've broken it in. I had the same problem. After drawing it a number of times, it's fine. When it's in all the way, it's very secure. But by just dropping it into the sheath during use, it remains loose. It's actually a very good safety feature, but when I first got mine it required a huge wrench to free it.
 
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