Skirmish 630 versus Chinook 11 thoughts please

T

timmberman

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Jun 8, 2005
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Normally I carry a 4 inch fixed blade as EDC. Been looking at these knives for a while, what are the comparsions for EDC and SD. Thanks for your help
 
I owned the Chinook and the Chinkook 2. I couldn't warm up to the overall "Feel" of them. Your mileage may vary there. The 630 fits me like a glove. I have the regular and the black versions, and much prefer the black blade\clip\hardware rather than the shinier variations. The 630 worked well for me as both an EDC and in defensive roles. I've used the 630 for a variety of mundane daily tasks without any problems, aside from blunting the tip on one of them (don't know what I hit). During defense training, I found that the
Skirmish worked especially well in the sabre grip and my hand had no slippage even during hard stabs\thrusts. The 630 also slashed especially well, and the blade style helps as well. Same goes for reverse grip techniques as well. I've used the 630 quite a bit in my daily knife training routines and thus far haven't experienced any problems with the framelock disengaging.
 
Thanks. I live far from any decent knife stores so your input is important to me. Currently I use a Gryphon M10 and just got a MOD stinger. I find that the 4 inch size knife wears well on the belt once I go to 5 inch or longer it becomes too big for EDC. The Stinger handle is very interesting, lots of stick-e-ness. The blade and ergomonics of the Stinger are looking like a better EDC, I like the pry bars on the hilt. The M-10 sheath is great and the stinger sheath is frustrating. I only had the Stinger for a week and the M-10 for years so perhaps I have to get used to it. Somebody this weekend suggested an Emerson Commander.It seems to me that the Skirmish seems a bit more advanced than the Commander. Do you have any first hand comparisons of the Skirmish and the Commander?
 
Gryphon Knives were very nicely done! I have a set of M30A1's in a shoulder rig and love'em. I had the M10 for a long time as well, no complaints there either. Very nice EDC fixed blade.
In comparing the Skirmish to the Commander, I used to carry a Commander religiously, and there is generally nothing wrong with it. What I can say from first-hand experience is I feel the liner-lock on my Commander was too thin, and it failed on an irregular basis. I still have the knife and the lock fails with moderate hand pressure on the spine. This happened after about 2yrs or so of EDC. I recently bought a new Commander and have no complaints. Some Commanders have thicker liners than others, pending the year of manufacture. Lately I've been trying to stay away from liner-locks in general. Most of my folders are either frame-locks or AXIS locks. I feel the Skirmish has ALOT going for it overall. Good consistant quality, I currently own 6 (down from 8), and they all have been near-perfect. The Skirmish has good lockup, awesome blade shape (my opinion), Is cheaper than the Commander (pending where you buy), Is a little bit larger (can be good or bad pending your opinion). My only complaint on the Skirmish is the pocket clip orientation, I prefer tip-up carry whenever possible. The Skirmish is the only model I own that is non-reversible. Plus the Skirmish can be had in a pretty polished blade, colored handle dots version or an all-black verison with grey handle and silver dots, pending your preference. IMO, all factors considered, the Skirmish is one serious contender as an all-round carry folder.
 
Normally I would go with the spyderco here, but the chinook 2 does not suit me for everyday carry. I am partial to spyderco in general, but in this case I would go with the skirmish. Absolutely awesome knife, 4 inch + blade, ti handles which I love, solid lock up to say the least. Actually the integral lock covers so much of the blade and requires quite a bit of pressure to disengage, the skirmish is essentially a fixed blade when open. Very hefty feeling in the hand, enough choil to keep the fingers from slipping onto the blade in hard thrusts and a nicely designed thumb ramp. I prefer tip down carry, so thats a plus for me and it cuts cardboard like a scalpel in full speed slashing tests. A little bulky in the pocket, fits nicely i.w.b. I would have full confidence in defending my life with this knife, although I hope I am never put into such a situation. Also when gripping the knife tightly there is very little chance of the lock disengaging, actually its quite the opposite, in very hard thrusts I have managed to further engage the lock. Hope this helps. just my opinion.
 
Marauder 220

Thanks for the information. I called Emerson yesterday and inquired about the new CQC-8 and asked if the liner lock was bigger than the Commander. I told her about the internet concerns about locking failures. She said that they indeed changed the size of the lock for manufacturing ease and it is smaller than the original. That is the same size metal is used on All their liner locks. So the cqc's and commanders have same size. I then said what about lock failure concerns? She said If you use the knife hard or have any doubts about the knife send it back for inspection.Emerson, she said had a great warranty program and they would inspect, repair or replace. So I asked should people plan to send the EDC knife back once a year for inspection and she said Emerson would stand behind their product. Marauder, you know knifes a lot more than me. Do you miss the wave action of the Emerson or does the Skirmish open just as easily as the Emerson? Since I only buy a couple of knives a year if that many. Would you recommend anything other than the Skirmish for a large folding EDC?

My MOD Stinger is now over a week old and getting more and more use. The blade is better than the M-10 for EDC in my opinion. I noticed that the finish on the blade wears not as well the the M-10.However I started to use the pry bars on the hilt and I like this feature. Knife Center in Maryland was having a sale for the plain blade for $130.I ordered it in the afternoon and had it by the next norning at regular standard ship rate.Both the m-10 and the MOD stinger use the Tek-lok belt attachment. However the MOD uses the large size so I can use any size belt while the M-10 uses the small size which does not fit my Wilson combat sharkskin 1.5 inch belt. Which has showned hardly any wear in over ten years.I recommend this belt strongly in sharkskin.I have some cowhide expensive belts that showed wear in less than a couple of weeks.

These discussions have been helpful I have taken out the Chinook 11 in my search.

If the Skirmish 630 opens as easy as the CQC-8 or almost as easy I will order the benchmade.I think that my fixed blade EDC will be used more than the folder. I only have a few folders and they are SAK types.Since you have a lot of different Skirmishes is there a couple of colors that look better than others? The off color green with a black blade looks interesting.The all black seems okay. The gold handle seems a tad flashy.

You might ask why just fixed blades? About 28 years ago I had a Gerber walnut handled knife fail on me. I still can see the scar. Guess I never forgot the accident. I keep the Gerber in my knife drawer with all the other drawer queens.

Again thanks for the input.
 
I do like the wave feature, however with practice, drawing a folder without it isn't hard at all. Just takes time for some. Overall for a large EDC folder, I really can't think of much better than the Skirmish at this point. I have Skirmishes in both the standard verison and the black version. I've no real interest in the gold-laden variations (way too flashy for me). The black version has grey handle scales with silver dots, and overall I like this variation the best. As for easy opening, my Skirmishes actually feel much smoother than my Emerson's. As they all tend to get smoother with use, I feel this is a good thing. My original Skirmish, which has seen the most use opens extremely smooth and is great IMO. Same goes for some of my older Emersons as well, but in a direct comparison, the Skirmish, to me, still feels a tad slicker. The CQC-8 is a very nice piece as well, and is now available with the Wave. If I had to choose between the C8 and the Skirmish, I'd still go with the Skirmish mainly on locking system and overall feel.
Back when I had the Gryphon M10 I ditched the tec-lok and got some IWB belt-loops from blade tech and setup the piece for IWB carry and found it worked quite well and was low-profile if worn in the right place. The sharkskin belt rocks. I have the same thing with about 2yrs of use on it. Can't complain one bit. I also rotate between a Wilderness tactical belt, and a few Galco gunbelts as well, all pending on what my mode of dress is on the occasion.
Back to the folders, both Benchmade and Emerson have awesome warranties, so if something arises, my experience shows both will take very good care of your concerns. Also on the Skirmish, you can boil the handle slabs in a mixture of water and Oxyclean, which will form titanium oxide on the scales making them a darker color. Some people have done this on original Skirmishes that have the blue\yellow\etc dots, in turn making the whole handles much darker in some instances.
 
i don't have the spyderco chinook so i can't compare them,however i can comment on my skirmish and my 635 skirmish.when it comes to smooth action both are indeed superb!! lighting fast openers.lockup is fantastic and flawless every time too.the blades are sharp as hell and hold up as well as any blade made with s30v with good edge geometry.my only complaint has been that the clip could have been stronger on the 630 but the 635 has a great clip and makes a great lil "dress" knife too. go with tha 630 IMHO you won't be dissapointed!!!-fed
 
I don't know much about the BM folder but I've got the Chinook II & have been EDC-ing it ever since I got it. I cannot imagine a better 4" folder for SD applications. Or anything else for that matter. IMO, the design is really that good.

...Guess opinions vary though :)
 
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