Since Schrade has closed their doors and was bought out by Taylor, they've seemed to be on a downward spiral towards obscurity. If this knife is any indication, they might be getting better quality knives. Please note that the measurements provided in my review are from a ruler, not a website description.
The Handle: The Schrade 304 is a heavy knife, weighing in at 9.7 ounces. Over half a pound. Everything on it is metal, except the two bushings. The knife is 4-3/4" long when closed, and just a hair under 1/2" thick (not counting the pocket clip). The handle is 1-1/8" wide. The handles are stainless steel, just over 1/8" thick each, and are titanium-nitride coated to give them a nice grey color. The non-locking side has five grooves machined in, and they help a little bit with grip. This side also has the Schrade name machined in. A nice groove is there so you can unlock the knife easily. The back of the knife is open, using two hourglass-shaped spacers (also called stand-offs). Each side of the handle slabs uses two Torx (T-8) screws to hold the knife together.
The locking side has no markings. It's a frame lock, and has an external cut-out for the lock. Some of the Schrade frame locks that look like this have a Hinderer-type overtravel disk; this one doesn't. The pocket clip is held on the locking side, and while it's removable (two T-6 screws hold it on) it's not able to be put in any of the other corners. So, it's right-hand tip-down only. The clip itself is good. It's a loop-over deep carry clip, coated the same as the knife. It's a bit long for me (2-3/4" from the tip to the bend) but it works fine after some tightening. As it came, it was loose and would rotate to where it was on top of the lock, pressng it in further, making opening the knife hard because the ball detent would sink further into its hole.
The lock-up is great. Much better than other China-made Schrades I've had. There was a little bit of blade play, but it was fixed by tightening the pivot pin screw (a T-10). The blade stop pin is of a larger size than I'm used to seeing in "cheap" knives, but I like that. When it comes to a 9.7 ounce knife being thumb-popped open, I'd rather have a thick pin to absorb the energy than a smaller one, waiting to snap or crack. A lanyard hole is also provided.
The Blade: The blade is given the same grey titanium-nitride coating as the rest of the knife. It's made of 9Cr13MoV, and is 3-3/4" long. If you're only counting the cutting edge, it's 3-5/8" long. The blade is 3/16" thick and has a hollow grind, starting at the mid-way point. Mine came very sharp, and needed only a light stropping to shave hair. Each side of the blade has a white nylon washer for smooth opening, and the blade flies open easily after the pocket clip is tightened down (see above). There's a thumb stud on each side of the blade, and opening is easy to do with a "flick" of your thumb. It seems that opening the knife in the traditional manner of rotating your thumb along the thumb stud makes the blade "pop" out due to the detent ball. If you want to, you can take the knife apart and round the ball down a little bit.
The blade has no jimping, but a small section on top of the thumb studs is machined out for some traction.
In use, the knife feels good. It's heavy enough that you know it's there, even in the pocket. The corners of the handle are all smooth, and there are no real hot spots unless you're applying a lot of force. Things like carving hard wood, for example, make the lock dig into your index finger because the other side of the handle is cut away. The blade steel seems adequate, and from what Taylor says, it's around 57-59 on the Rockwell scale. I'll say that it holds an edge a little worse than AUS-8. It's very easy to resharpen. Rust resistance is good, especially with the coating. Speaking of that, the coating seems to be pretty tough. Everyday chores shouldn't be a problem, but if you drop the knife on concrete or keep it in your pocket with your keys, it will get chips in it.
Buy the knife? Yeah. Buy it is you want a decent, heavy, China-made frame lock for twenty bucks.
The Handle: The Schrade 304 is a heavy knife, weighing in at 9.7 ounces. Over half a pound. Everything on it is metal, except the two bushings. The knife is 4-3/4" long when closed, and just a hair under 1/2" thick (not counting the pocket clip). The handle is 1-1/8" wide. The handles are stainless steel, just over 1/8" thick each, and are titanium-nitride coated to give them a nice grey color. The non-locking side has five grooves machined in, and they help a little bit with grip. This side also has the Schrade name machined in. A nice groove is there so you can unlock the knife easily. The back of the knife is open, using two hourglass-shaped spacers (also called stand-offs). Each side of the handle slabs uses two Torx (T-8) screws to hold the knife together.
The locking side has no markings. It's a frame lock, and has an external cut-out for the lock. Some of the Schrade frame locks that look like this have a Hinderer-type overtravel disk; this one doesn't. The pocket clip is held on the locking side, and while it's removable (two T-6 screws hold it on) it's not able to be put in any of the other corners. So, it's right-hand tip-down only. The clip itself is good. It's a loop-over deep carry clip, coated the same as the knife. It's a bit long for me (2-3/4" from the tip to the bend) but it works fine after some tightening. As it came, it was loose and would rotate to where it was on top of the lock, pressng it in further, making opening the knife hard because the ball detent would sink further into its hole.
The lock-up is great. Much better than other China-made Schrades I've had. There was a little bit of blade play, but it was fixed by tightening the pivot pin screw (a T-10). The blade stop pin is of a larger size than I'm used to seeing in "cheap" knives, but I like that. When it comes to a 9.7 ounce knife being thumb-popped open, I'd rather have a thick pin to absorb the energy than a smaller one, waiting to snap or crack. A lanyard hole is also provided.
The Blade: The blade is given the same grey titanium-nitride coating as the rest of the knife. It's made of 9Cr13MoV, and is 3-3/4" long. If you're only counting the cutting edge, it's 3-5/8" long. The blade is 3/16" thick and has a hollow grind, starting at the mid-way point. Mine came very sharp, and needed only a light stropping to shave hair. Each side of the blade has a white nylon washer for smooth opening, and the blade flies open easily after the pocket clip is tightened down (see above). There's a thumb stud on each side of the blade, and opening is easy to do with a "flick" of your thumb. It seems that opening the knife in the traditional manner of rotating your thumb along the thumb stud makes the blade "pop" out due to the detent ball. If you want to, you can take the knife apart and round the ball down a little bit.
The blade has no jimping, but a small section on top of the thumb studs is machined out for some traction.
In use, the knife feels good. It's heavy enough that you know it's there, even in the pocket. The corners of the handle are all smooth, and there are no real hot spots unless you're applying a lot of force. Things like carving hard wood, for example, make the lock dig into your index finger because the other side of the handle is cut away. The blade steel seems adequate, and from what Taylor says, it's around 57-59 on the Rockwell scale. I'll say that it holds an edge a little worse than AUS-8. It's very easy to resharpen. Rust resistance is good, especially with the coating. Speaking of that, the coating seems to be pretty tough. Everyday chores shouldn't be a problem, but if you drop the knife on concrete or keep it in your pocket with your keys, it will get chips in it.
Buy the knife? Yeah. Buy it is you want a decent, heavy, China-made frame lock for twenty bucks.
