- Joined
- Oct 19, 1999
- Messages
- 2,836
"I REPEAT!! STEP AWAY FROM THE SNAKEWOOD HORN FLIPPER!!"
(sorry old joke
from GigOne)
I just took delivery of my JIM SMYTH FLIIPPER today - what concept.. a custom delivery ON TIME
and I must admit I am so blown away it is insane the knife.. really.. but the delivery was cool too.. better than MY deadlines 
. it was definitely worth the wait and I am sure you guys have heard about this gentleman's work - it really is all that. not only is he a super friendly guy to deal with who takes pride in his work and customer satisfaction, but he grinds an AWESOME knife and fit's it so well.. the pictures definitely don't do it justice ad I wish I can show this piece to everyone..
To cut to he chase I saw my buddy, UW Mitch's snakewood handled SMYTH flipper and was brought to tears.. (well apart from the foo foo blue liners which I can never warm up to) and BEGGED Jim to make me one just like it sans the blue.. it is really great to find an honest guy who is willing to bend over for their customer, but more so a man who is experienced with snakewood.. let alone BRAVE enough to work with it after being bitten. (since it can be a bitch a lot of times) Mr. Jim prefers not to work with wood (natural material in general) in the future but I guess I got lucky.. I have yet to see a guy who says i'd rather work with snake than burl.. (go figure that out) to cut to the chase "YEAH DF!!"
Like Mitch's knife I have a S30V blade and contrasting bead blast bolsters and blade. Ti liners and full micarta backspacer. I spent quite a bit of time handling this knife closed, trying to find errors in it but it is just so well made.. everything is flush and dehorned tastefully without going gaga on the meltdown to lose crispness. It is beefy and solid.
Half of the fun is inspecting it closed (sushi bar for lunch today), but the fun REALLY started spewing when I opened it.. the flipper is smooth and works. The action is fast yet consistent.. with seemingly hardly any friction it it.. In the open position the liner looks like it barely engages but flexing it the blade stays solid and secure. NO BLADE PLAY. The tolerances seem so tight (reminds me of a Dobruski balisong) that you know something is WRONG.. I don't get it but I cant find any voodoo.. maybe that's it.. they must put something in the beer up in IL.
I can't continue praising his construction to the point where you think it's foo foo and I am lying, but man if there's any error I cant find it.. I sincerely believe Tom Mayo cant say a bad word about this knife no matter how many beers he's had or how much he tries
the JOY doesnt stop there.. the true GENIUS of this blade is in the smooth flowing lines.. apart from being pleasing to the eye and to the motion of the blade it ****ING WORKS..
I don't know how else to say it but it just ****ING works.. it must be an epiphane from high above because I believe and feel that this handle is COMFORTABLE in all FOUR GRIPS that being:
Forward edge down.
Reverse edge out.
Reverse edge IN (pikal)
forward edge UP (Sakas Tripas style)
I always RELIGIOUSLY believed that you can't have your cake and eat it too
but this really blew my mind.. maybe I lucked out with a small hand size but the curves really melted in my hand nomatter how I held it.
YES it really does work in all FOUR grips.. i wat to bring it to shows along wth my SKIRMISH!! (ahem)
The blade is also well made mind you the grinds are crisp and flowing.. and the edge is ground in a pseudo zero edge pioneered IMO by Hossom and Onion.. it sees to hollow slightly then convex into a thin edge. A REFLEX GRIND as Jerry would call it. It's a thick stock with a thin edge while not compromising friction and frailty... Comapring Jim to Hossom n Onion IMHO would be a crime but since we all can't be lucky to handle one I have to compare it to these two... To me tho Smyth is Smyth..
Mr. Jim.. thank you for putting blood sweat and tears into this great folder.. but also for treating me like a friend not just a customer.. it is stuff like this that makes me excited about knife collecting again
(Please put me on your waiting list again
.. I will put the Chicago show in my itinerary this year)
PS. Sumimasen Byron, I included your Snowman in the pic but he got cut off >_< )
(sorry old joke
from GigOne)I just took delivery of my JIM SMYTH FLIIPPER today - what concept.. a custom delivery ON TIME
and I must admit I am so blown away it is insane the knife.. really.. but the delivery was cool too.. better than MY deadlines . it was definitely worth the wait and I am sure you guys have heard about this gentleman's work - it really is all that. not only is he a super friendly guy to deal with who takes pride in his work and customer satisfaction, but he grinds an AWESOME knife and fit's it so well.. the pictures definitely don't do it justice ad I wish I can show this piece to everyone..To cut to he chase I saw my buddy, UW Mitch's snakewood handled SMYTH flipper and was brought to tears.. (well apart from the foo foo blue liners which I can never warm up to
) and BEGGED Jim to make me one just like it sans the blue.. it is really great to find an honest guy who is willing to bend over for their customer, but more so a man who is experienced with snakewood.. let alone BRAVE enough to work with it after being bitten. (since it can be a bitch a lot of times) Mr. Jim prefers not to work with wood (natural material in general) in the future but I guess I got lucky.. I have yet to see a guy who says i'd rather work with snake than burl.. (go figure that out) to cut to the chase "YEAH DF!!"Like Mitch's knife I have a S30V blade and contrasting bead blast bolsters and blade. Ti liners and full micarta backspacer. I spent quite a bit of time handling this knife closed, trying to find errors in it but it is just so well made.. everything is flush and dehorned tastefully without going gaga on the meltdown to lose crispness. It is beefy and solid.
Half of the fun is inspecting it closed (sushi bar for lunch today), but the fun REALLY started spewing when I opened it.. the flipper is smooth and works. The action is fast yet consistent.. with seemingly hardly any friction it it.. In the open position the liner looks like it barely engages but flexing it the blade stays solid and secure. NO BLADE PLAY. The tolerances seem so tight (reminds me of a Dobruski balisong) that you know something is WRONG.. I don't get it but I cant find any voodoo.. maybe that's it.. they must put something in the beer up in IL.
I can't continue praising his construction to the point where you think it's foo foo and I am lying, but man if there's any error I cant find it.. I sincerely believe Tom Mayo cant say a bad word about this knife no matter how many beers he's had or how much he tries
the JOY doesnt stop there.. the true GENIUS of this blade is in the smooth flowing lines.. apart from being pleasing to the eye and to the motion of the blade it ****ING WORKS..
I don't know how else to say it but it just ****ING works.. it must be an epiphane from high above because I believe and feel that this handle is COMFORTABLE in all FOUR GRIPS that being:
Forward edge down.
Reverse edge out.
Reverse edge IN (pikal)
forward edge UP (Sakas Tripas style)
I always RELIGIOUSLY believed that you can't have your cake and eat it too
but this really blew my mind.. maybe I lucked out with a small hand size but the curves really melted in my hand nomatter how I held it.YES it really does work in all FOUR grips.. i wat to bring it to shows along wth my SKIRMISH!! (ahem)
The blade is also well made mind you
the grinds are crisp and flowing.. and the edge is ground in a pseudo zero edge pioneered IMO by Hossom and Onion.. it sees to hollow slightly then convex into a thin edge. A REFLEX GRIND as Jerry would call it. It's a thick stock with a thin edge while not compromising friction and frailty... Comapring Jim to Hossom n Onion IMHO would be a crime but since we all can't be lucky to handle one I have to compare it to these two... To me tho Smyth is Smyth.. Mr. Jim.. thank you for putting blood sweat and tears into this great folder.. but also for treating me like a friend not just a customer.. it is stuff like this that makes me excited about knife collecting again
(Please put me on your waiting list again
.. I will put the Chicago show in my itinerary this year) PS. Sumimasen Byron, I included your Snowman in the pic but he got cut off >_< )
.