- Joined
- Oct 19, 1999
- Messages
- 2,836
I recently received this awesome new knife from my good buddy Jim Smyth - and have been carrying her in my pocket for over a week now and thought to share it with you guys 
both to show my enthusiasm as well as to publicly say "Thank you!" to a fine knife maker, but more so, to a very good friend.
This little guy is called the YUKON JACK (aka. the "Step away from the Snakewood Dagger Ring Guard Flipper!"
)
Here are the specs:
-She sports a 1-1/16" wide 3-1/4" single edge blade. (OAL = 7-3/4")
-The blade steel is a very interesting Norris made, San-Mai. It has an S30V core and Swedish 19C27 on the sides. The blade has a fine ceramic bead blast finish that faintly shows the fine San-Mai lines. (I am not sure what I should call it.. a San-Mai hamon temper line?).
-Bead blasted Titanium Bolsters and fully serrated spine and titanium backspacer which has fine purchasing power yet has the edges broken so its easy on the hands.
-Jim's hidden floating stop pin.
-Handle material is the ONLY natural material Jim will work with.. Ironically it's Snakewood (a very temperamental material that somehow behaves in Jim's shop. Go figure??!?).
I have liked Jim's knives eversince I saw Dexter Ewing's initial post and just had to have one (Just like UW Mitch's - only different ) To my surprise I met a super nice guy who, was relatively eager to work in Snakewood (well compared to other woods). The lines were good, the fit and finish on this one is, as expected, tight, well rounded, comfortable, and smooth in operation. I have a few of Jim's knives and am always eager to get more (I kinda regret letting that one F16 CF piece I had, go, but one day i will get it back - I know I will )
This flipper is a bit unorthodox in that it uses a very large apparatus to launch the blade open, and the said apparatus (Ring guard flipper = RGF) looked very strange to me when he first shoed it to me in Blade 2002. But like many things in life you just have to feel it to believe.
First of all the ring flipper adds a lot or mass and also length to add to the launching power of the knife. The blade opens and locks effortlessly and positively (aren't ALL, TRUE flippers supposed to?). The folder has NO blade play, but operatives smoothly when you want it to. very little effort is needed to put her into open position.
Secondly, the Dagger RGF, sits very well in the pocket. You would think (and I said this to Jim when I first saw it in his hand) that it looks like it would just get in the way and not want to sit in your pocket. However, Jim got this design right. The ring sits pretty in my pocket and does not stick out or gets in the way. As an added bonus, the ring guard acts as a very CONVENIENT, SECURE and also very usable purchase point when drawing it from your pocket.
Thirdly, I know a lot of people might chime in to say that any knife with a ring is dangerous as it does not give you freedom to let go of the knife in an emergency situation (and will also tend to want to break your finger if it torques the wrong way). I will be the first to admit this is the case for any blade longer than a standard Fred perrin La Griffe. Some also say that a ring limits the number of ways one can hold and maneuver a knife. Some people say the same thing about finger groove(s).
However, I am happy with this design. There are pitfalls and high points with any knife design and those assumptions should never influence a man's desire to try something new at least once, hey he might learn something and teach someone else a thing or two, don't you agree? There are "theoretical" down points for this design, but it also has a lot of added plus points not readily available in others. Because of my small fingers this knife gives me a comfortable grip. Even when gripping it as hard as I can I feel as if it is very secure yet I can let go of it when needed. FWIW the ring does not go past my second finger joint, and does not restrict my movement as much as I initially thought. it is also comfortable in both reverse and forward grip.
The knife sports two sets of thumb grooves that offer versatility and aids in muscle memory, whether you want a sabre grip with your thumb back or forward.
Fourthly - the Snakewood. I can't begin to describe how much I love the character and somewhat appealing chaotic texture of this natural material. I will let my bad pics do the talking.
This knife has a funny, well maybe not so funny short story. I met Jim in person for the first time in Blade 2002. I had talked to him on the phone and had him make another nice Snakewood flipper for me in the past and loved it. I ran into him by surprise and found him to be a really humble and down to earth guy, and I couldn't help but regard him as a buddy eversince. That was when he first showed me his prototype RGF - that night at the pit, he brought a nice little bottle of YUKON JACK. Nasty stuff!!! but we drank it anyways just for shits and giggles and that was when this knife was born. "Make a DAGGER RGF, JIM!" Ofcourse he abhorred the idea from day 1, and swore never to do it. It took me two years to convince the bastard but I am happy with the results.
I hope he's happy too or at least learned a thing or two or three. I really appreciate the favour, bud, and hope that making it didn't give you the same feeling it did after we downed all that YUKON JACK in Blade 02.
Finally, The pocket clip has a nice S. engraved on it as a nice elegant touch.
This is a long babble.. sorry to go on, but just wanted to share this awesome knife with everyone.
http://www.pointblankassassin.com/junks/ringdagger2.jpg
http://www.pointblankassassin.com/junks/ringdagger3.jpg
http://www.pointblankassassin.com/junks/ringdagger4.jpg
http://www.pointblankassassin.com/junks/ringdagger5.jpg
http://www.pointblankassassin.com/junks/ringdagger6.jpg
both to show my enthusiasm as well as to publicly say "Thank you!" to a fine knife maker, but more so, to a very good friend.This little guy is called the YUKON JACK (aka. the "Step away from the Snakewood Dagger Ring Guard Flipper!"
)Here are the specs:
-She sports a 1-1/16" wide 3-1/4" single edge blade. (OAL = 7-3/4")
-The blade steel is a very interesting Norris made, San-Mai. It has an S30V core and Swedish 19C27 on the sides. The blade has a fine ceramic bead blast finish that faintly shows the fine San-Mai lines. (I am not sure what I should call it.. a San-Mai hamon temper line?).
-Bead blasted Titanium Bolsters and fully serrated spine and titanium backspacer
which has fine purchasing power yet has the edges broken so its easy on the hands.-Jim's hidden floating stop pin
.-Handle material is the ONLY natural material Jim will work with.. Ironically it's Snakewood (a very temperamental material that somehow behaves in Jim's shop. Go figure??!?).
I have liked Jim's knives eversince I saw Dexter Ewing's initial post and just had to have one (Just like UW Mitch's - only different
) To my surprise I met a super nice guy who, was relatively eager to work in Snakewood (well compared to other woods). The lines were good, the fit and finish on this one is, as expected, tight, well rounded, comfortable, and smooth in operation. I have a few of Jim's knives and am always eager to get more (I kinda regret letting that one F16 CF piece I had, go, but one day i will get it back - I know I will ) This flipper is a bit unorthodox in that it uses a very large apparatus to launch the blade open, and the said apparatus (Ring guard flipper = RGF) looked very strange to me when he first shoed it to me in Blade 2002. But like many things in life you just have to feel it to believe.
First of all the ring flipper adds a lot or mass and also length to add to the launching power of the knife. The blade opens and locks effortlessly and positively (aren't ALL, TRUE flippers supposed to?). The folder has NO blade play, but operatives smoothly when you want it to. very little effort is needed to put her into open position.
Secondly, the Dagger RGF, sits very well in the pocket. You would think (and I said this to Jim when I first saw it in his hand) that it looks like it would just get in the way and not want to sit in your pocket. However, Jim got this design right. The ring sits pretty in my pocket and does not stick out or gets in the way. As an added bonus, the ring guard acts as a very CONVENIENT, SECURE and also very usable purchase point when drawing it from your pocket.
Thirdly, I know a lot of people might chime in to say that any knife with a ring is dangerous as it does not give you freedom to let go of the knife in an emergency situation (and will also tend to want to break your finger if it torques the wrong way). I will be the first to admit this is the case for any blade longer than a standard Fred perrin La Griffe. Some also say that a ring limits the number of ways one can hold and maneuver a knife. Some people say the same thing about finger groove(s).
However, I am happy with this design. There are pitfalls and high points with any knife design and those assumptions should never influence a man's desire to try something new at least once, hey he might learn something and teach someone else a thing or two, don't you agree?
There are "theoretical" down points for this design, but it also has a lot of added plus points not readily available in others. Because of my small fingers this knife gives me a comfortable grip. Even when gripping it as hard as I can I feel as if it is very secure yet I can let go of it when needed. FWIW the ring does not go past my second finger joint, and does not restrict my movement as much as I initially thought. it is also comfortable in both reverse and forward grip.The knife sports two sets of thumb grooves that offer versatility and aids in muscle memory, whether you want a sabre grip with your thumb back or forward.
Fourthly - the Snakewood. I can't begin to describe how much I love the character and somewhat appealing chaotic texture of this natural material. I will let my bad pics do the talking
.This knife has a funny, well maybe not so funny short story. I met Jim in person for the first time in Blade 2002. I had talked to him on the phone and had him make another nice Snakewood flipper for me in the past and loved it. I ran into him by surprise and found him to be a really humble and down to earth guy, and I couldn't help but regard him as a buddy eversince. That was when he first showed me his prototype RGF - that night at the pit, he brought a nice little bottle of YUKON JACK. Nasty stuff!!! but we drank it anyways just for shits and giggles and that was when this knife was born. "Make a DAGGER RGF, JIM!" Ofcourse he abhorred the idea from day 1, and swore never to do it. It took me two years to convince the bastard but I am happy with the results.
I hope he's happy too
or at least learned a thing or two or three. I really appreciate the favour, bud, and hope that making it didn't give you the same feeling it did after we downed all that YUKON JACK in Blade 02.Finally, The pocket clip has a nice S. engraved on it as a nice elegant touch.
This is a long babble.. sorry to go on, but just wanted to share this awesome knife with everyone.
http://www.pointblankassassin.com/junks/ringdagger2.jpg
http://www.pointblankassassin.com/junks/ringdagger3.jpg
http://www.pointblankassassin.com/junks/ringdagger4.jpg
http://www.pointblankassassin.com/junks/ringdagger5.jpg
http://www.pointblankassassin.com/junks/ringdagger6.jpg
