Shadow tech knives

D

DL Robin

Joined
Dec 1, 2007
Messages
614
Anyone have any experience w/ shadow tech knives? Looking forward to trying the hiker model out when it arrives. Decent/useful designs, 1095 steel, their heat treat is done "in house".
Thanks
 
from a cursory look through their website:

good:
-good steel
-inexpensive
-nice blade shapes
-many models
-decent looking sheaths

bad:
-coatings look like spray paint, or poorly applied
-i would prefer a higher secondary bevel
-guard on the spike model looks terrible
-scales are poorly applied in some pictures, better in others
--in particular, one uses bolts and nuts, which are ground down, it looks terrible.
--the pinned models look much better
-i dont understand a sharpened swedge on a wharncliffe

if i were to guess, i would say they are fairly new, and perhaps with time their knives will become more refined.
 
Something else to consider is to be sure their heat treat was done correctly. I agree the blade coatings look way off (Krylon style), a nice DuraCoat would have been way better. The Nuts/Bolts do not scream quality to me, it screams, here it is, MacGyver did it!
Instead of these, I'd get a EESE, Busse, or similar styled knife. Something just says, stay away.
 
Kinda rough, unrefined, but good steel. I like the hiker a lot. This could be a real winner of a company in about ten years.
 
I just saw an ad in one of the magazines and checked out the website. I liked the spike styled knives and was wondering if they are actually sharp. I guess they are new. Time will tell. Prices seem very reasonable if of decent quality.
 
There is always a market for inexpensive basic knives that you can carry on the job and not worry about losing or ruining due to mis-handleing. These seem to fit that niche.
 
i'm always happy when a new company introduces products with good quality materials at relatively low prices. there is room for improvement and the hope is that they will improve. the fact that they don't offer their items at ridiculously high prices like other startups is a bonus. these knives can be bought and tinkered with without to much regret. just because they don't immediately have products like busse, EESE, etc does not mean they can't in the future.
 
Should be getting my hiker model any day. Also e-mail correspondence to my questions was very timely and I was told by John their knives were hardened to 57.
 
DL Robin said:
Anyone have any experience w/ shadow tech knives? Looking forward to trying the hiker model out when it arrives. Decent/useful designs, 1095 steel, their heat treat is done "in house".
Thanks
Click to expand...

I first met these guys at local gun shows around Ohio. They eventually got into building their own designs and Marketing them under Shadow Tech. I am lucky enough to have 2 of their knives and have been impressed with their performance. I'm also excited to know the makers and they have asked for my input on a couple of things. I love having local makers and Dave and John are good guys! These are tough knives! Although I'm not a big fan of blade coatings, the coatings on these knives have been satisfactory to me. The original idea behind their knives was to market to police and military applications. The guys at Shadow Tech have a lot of friends who are serving and that was the market they chose to enter. Now they are opening their designs for other applications and I am excited when they come out with a new model. This is a great knife for the money! I have been pounding on one to see how much it can take and so far, it has performed admirably. I have seen their skills improve over the last year and it probably won't be long until their popularity starts to drive their prices up. Right now, you get a lot of knife for the price. Check them out!
 
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