Seeking Mr. Brownshoe and/or friend

I received the Starmate this weekend after returning from a business trip. It was a trip that went perfect (didn't lose money, may make more money, meetings ended early, no trouble with the planes). Finding the knife when I got home made it an overall perfect day. :)

Thanks a lot Sal.

Now about the new Starmate.

It is the shape and size of the old Starmate, but it has some changes.

Open construction instead of closed.
VG10 steel instead of 440V.
Dual (thick) liners instead of slim nested liners.
Left or right hand, up or down carry options instead of tip down/right handed.
Flat grind instead of mild hollow grind (IIRC)

It has a 4 3/4" (95mm) blade for an overall length of 8 5/8" (219mm) with a blade thickness of 5/32" (4mm) and a total thickness of 7/16" (11mm). It is not light, but not heavy. :)

IIRC, all but the steel change was requested by ELU in past discussions. I believe the model first came out in 2000, so it's been at least 10 years.

The construction is excellent. Fit and finish are top notch, obviously done by one of Japan's best makers. It stands up to the 20x loupe inspection with no suprises. The grind is thin, even and symetrical. Swedges are well done, centered and symetrical. The swedges make the tip very strong but useful. It easily goes through 1/2" of paper. The finish is sweet, not a true mirror finish, but it is very shiny and does reflect an image. Kind of like a polished brushed finish. I like shiny knives.

The edge of the steel liners are polished as well as the spacers and a tube for the lanyard. It has a nice shiny steel pocket clip. There is a spydie on the front side of the blade and the Terzuola name and symbol on the back side.

It opens and closes quickly and smoothly. It came configured tip down. The old Starmate (and all of Bob's designs) had good balance and readily opened with the "spydie pop" (designed to open that way). So does the new one. The balance point is a little behind the pivot, making a well balance knife that in use feels lighter than it is. I have yet to switch it and try it as tip up carry.

It shaved hair out the box. The edge was sharp with no burr or shiny spot for its whole length. The lockup is good with plenty of room to age.

I use every new knife exclusively for a week for every task it can do. In the last two days it's opened mail and helped prepare two dinners. The flat grind is good for vegies and the stout construction made it easy to cut the backbone out of a chicken to flatten it for barbecue. It slices tomatoes. Removed callouses. Opened envelopes and a box. Cut twigs and small branches off some bushes/weeds in the alley. It has been used, dirtied and washed with soapy water at least 4 times. It is easy to clean. Upon receipt, I gave it one shot of Tri-Flow, cleaned off the residue, and it's been smooth and quick opening the whole time.

All and all a great knife for hard use that will last a long time and be easy to maintain.

I know you want pictures, my trouble is that I'm not set up for pictures (i.e. need to borrow a camera and get a photo hosting site) and must leave town again this week. I'll try to get a picture up next week.

Thanks again Sal.
 
This is great to hear brownshoe, thanks for sharing this... It should be out soon, what a sweet knife to look forward to.
 
I tried it out left handed yesterday. There is a cut-out for right handers, but not for the lefties. However, the left side has at least 80% of the spydie hole available. It is fully functional as a lefty. I also gave it to a lefty (she's a delica and endura owner) and they had no problems at all.
 
Hey brownshoe, can you post some pictures of the knife? As well as some side by side comparisons with other models? Much appreciated
 
Please release all of your new knives scheduled for late 2012 by next week. That would be awesome.;)
 
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