Smith and Wesson knife...?

[Planterz]

Most of the problem I have found with S&W is simply poor quality controll.

Yeah, that's the other thing. The S&W I had (Texas Ranger series IIRC) was junk. As I said, it was a better class of junk than a lot of knives at that price ($16 closeout), but it was still junk. The black coating (I swear it was blueing, not an actual coating) came off with Simichrome. The liner was weak and there was vertical play when open. The steel, although 440C, was pretty awful. No matter what I didn't I couldn't get it sharp unless I used a coarse diamond, in which case it was more a saw than a knife. Any attempt to smooth the edge out would remove any actual edge. And any edge I was ever able to put on it didn't last very long.

A coworker had another S&W (no idea what series), puke green G10 scales, and a TiN coated 440C blade. It was missing a couple scale screws, there was play in all directions, and I swear the pivot screws were welded shut because I couldn't get them to move to tighten them worth a damn (would have stripped the heads if I tried harder). He eventually retired it and got, much to my chagrin and despite my warning, another S&W. However this one was one of the Darrel Ralph designed HRTs. Instead of a weak linerlock, this was a framelock. Of course, the framelock was about as thick as the liner on my MT SOCOM, but it still beat his old knife. TiN coated (urban cammo) blade and handle. It felt much more solid and safe than the S&W linerlocks I was familiar with. I still can't speak for the edge retention though. I'd hope it's better on the DR designed ones, but somehow I doubt it.

Quality materials like 440C and G10 don't mean anything if corners are cut in the manufacturing process.

 

[Grover_Cephas]

...this knife is for one kid which asks me to buy for him something cool. Is still a kid beginer; he does not know even how to sharpen knife but he will start the survival course in the middle next month..

Back to the point... Regardless of the quality of the steel, the quality of S&W knives in general, and the state of politics in Asia, is this heavy, thick stock, double-guard, apparently-chisel-ground, tanto-pointed, sawbacked sharpened prybar gonna be a great knife for a survival course? I mean, wouldn't a simple, unsexy Erikson/frosts knife from ragweedforge.com be a much better choice at less than half the price?

They don't look "badass", but they work great if your pride isn't dependent on carrying a mean-lookin knife.