- Joined
- Nov 18, 2006
- Messages
- 2,011
Well, I was supposed to hold off on knife purchases, and pick up one of the new Carbon Fiber Natives when they're more readily available. But I ended up picking up a SOG Twitch at a home improvement warehouse on a whim.
Apologies for the poor pic quality, the lighting isn't all that great where I'm at!
Blade is a nice flat grind, and came razor sharp out of the blister pack. The back lock is an interesting folded piece design, and the back spacer is fully enclosed with metal plates. Which adds some interesting detail to an otherwise very simply designed knife.
The integrated safety is another nice touch. The safety can be activated both in the open and closed position. I'm not 100% sold on the integrity of the mid lock on the SOG. There's a little bit of give in the lock with the safety engaged in the open position. I don't feel it's enough to release the lock, even after some wear, but it's enough to mention.
The lock is rock solid vertically, but there is some slight side-to-side blade play when locked open. I don't know if this is more a side effect of the assisted open feature, or the fact that I'm comparing the midlock of the SOG, which is a $40.00 knife, to a Spyderco Caly 3, which retails for over $100.00. And, of course, is a Spyderco!
The side-to-side blade play becomes more noticeable on closing, and the blade will actually scrape the liners if care isn't taken to close it evenly.
Features:
The assisted opening spring has plenty of kick to it, and the knife opens with authority. However, the knife has been put through at least 50 open/close cycles, and even with scraping against the liner the blade shows very little wear. What does show is no more than is to be expected from normal use.
The assisted opening feature strikes me as more of a novelty on this knife than a practical feature. For one, the safety is too small and "fumbly," and the travel distance for the index finger to flick the safety off, then pull back on the flipper is takes longer than simply flicking open a comparable thumb stud or spyderhole knife.
The "Thumb Studs" on the knife are somewhat deceiving. They serve as stop pins to keep the blade from hitting the back spacer. However, they're dangerous when used to open the knife. I've cut myself several times without thinking, and trying to open the knife slowly like a regular folder.
This is more a combination of me being clumsy and idiotic than any design failure in the knife!
In Summary:
Fit and finish are very good but not excellent.
AUS 8 is a great steel that gets VERY sharp, and holds its' sharpness reasonably well,
The A.O. is a nifty feature, but a little impractical. It strikes me as being more for show than anything else--which I'm perfectly OK with!
The "Thumb Stud" stop pins could stand to be replaced with honest-to-goodness stop pins that don't look like thumb studs. Unless I'm missing the technique, of course.
I can figure out any way to close the knife one-handed. The placement of the mid-lock, combined with the size of the knife and the tension on the assisted open, make it impossible to close one-handed.
**Edit**
Here are some photos of the knife disassembled:
This is the spring and ball-bearing combo I described in an earlier post. As you can see, if you disassemble the knife to this point, you'd better take care not to lose these two!
This is a closeup of the spring opening mechanism, tension released:
More thoughts:
After about three weeks of carrying, I have a few more things to add to the original thread.
From a non-afficiando perspective, it could easily be mistaken for a more expensive knife. The fit and finish are very good, and the blade has a somewhat damascus-like appearance, as if it's been poured and congealed. The blade is also finished with some vertical polishing marks. A little hard to describe, and it's too bad I don't have a better camera. But suffice it to say, the blade looks very nice, and doesn't show wear very well at all, even though it looks polished.
Another nice thing about the appearance is that it doesn't look entirely tactical--even with the assisted opening mechanism, it doesn't seem to draw negative attention.
It packs a relatively large blade into such a small handle. The full-flat grind really shines when being used as a utility knife, and the Aus-8 touches up to a nice, keen edge. The pocket clip is nice and tight, and it hangs on to a cargo pocket quite nicely without giving me any fear of it falling out.
The anodizing on the handle scales has impressed me. I have a metal bead on the lanyard, which sometimes falls inside the pocket where it's being carried. Instead of scratching the handle scales, the anodizing has been hard enough to actually rub metal off the bead, like chalk, but the metal markings rub right off. The knife has also been dropped on various surfaces, yet shows no marring.
Minor Gripes:
I'm not sure if all the models are like this, but it's possible to accidentally prevent the spring tension from opening the blade by pinching the handle too tightly between your middle finger and thumb, while using your index to operate the flipper. This may be a side effect of disassembling the knife, as I've found the screws need to be adjusted carefully, or liner tension prevents proper opening.
All in all, it's a very nice little knife at the price!
Apologies for the poor pic quality, the lighting isn't all that great where I'm at!
Blade is a nice flat grind, and came razor sharp out of the blister pack. The back lock is an interesting folded piece design, and the back spacer is fully enclosed with metal plates. Which adds some interesting detail to an otherwise very simply designed knife.
The integrated safety is another nice touch. The safety can be activated both in the open and closed position. I'm not 100% sold on the integrity of the mid lock on the SOG. There's a little bit of give in the lock with the safety engaged in the open position. I don't feel it's enough to release the lock, even after some wear, but it's enough to mention.
The lock is rock solid vertically, but there is some slight side-to-side blade play when locked open. I don't know if this is more a side effect of the assisted open feature, or the fact that I'm comparing the midlock of the SOG, which is a $40.00 knife, to a Spyderco Caly 3, which retails for over $100.00. And, of course, is a Spyderco!
The side-to-side blade play becomes more noticeable on closing, and the blade will actually scrape the liners if care isn't taken to close it evenly.
Features:
The assisted opening spring has plenty of kick to it, and the knife opens with authority. However, the knife has been put through at least 50 open/close cycles, and even with scraping against the liner the blade shows very little wear. What does show is no more than is to be expected from normal use.
The assisted opening feature strikes me as more of a novelty on this knife than a practical feature. For one, the safety is too small and "fumbly," and the travel distance for the index finger to flick the safety off, then pull back on the flipper is takes longer than simply flicking open a comparable thumb stud or spyderhole knife.
The "Thumb Studs" on the knife are somewhat deceiving. They serve as stop pins to keep the blade from hitting the back spacer. However, they're dangerous when used to open the knife. I've cut myself several times without thinking, and trying to open the knife slowly like a regular folder.
This is more a combination of me being clumsy and idiotic than any design failure in the knife!
In Summary:
Fit and finish are very good but not excellent.
AUS 8 is a great steel that gets VERY sharp, and holds its' sharpness reasonably well,
The A.O. is a nifty feature, but a little impractical. It strikes me as being more for show than anything else--which I'm perfectly OK with!
The "Thumb Stud" stop pins could stand to be replaced with honest-to-goodness stop pins that don't look like thumb studs. Unless I'm missing the technique, of course.
I can figure out any way to close the knife one-handed. The placement of the mid-lock, combined with the size of the knife and the tension on the assisted open, make it impossible to close one-handed.
**Edit**
Here are some photos of the knife disassembled:
This is the spring and ball-bearing combo I described in an earlier post. As you can see, if you disassemble the knife to this point, you'd better take care not to lose these two!
This is a closeup of the spring opening mechanism, tension released:
More thoughts:
After about three weeks of carrying, I have a few more things to add to the original thread.
From a non-afficiando perspective, it could easily be mistaken for a more expensive knife. The fit and finish are very good, and the blade has a somewhat damascus-like appearance, as if it's been poured and congealed. The blade is also finished with some vertical polishing marks. A little hard to describe, and it's too bad I don't have a better camera. But suffice it to say, the blade looks very nice, and doesn't show wear very well at all, even though it looks polished.
Another nice thing about the appearance is that it doesn't look entirely tactical--even with the assisted opening mechanism, it doesn't seem to draw negative attention.
It packs a relatively large blade into such a small handle. The full-flat grind really shines when being used as a utility knife, and the Aus-8 touches up to a nice, keen edge. The pocket clip is nice and tight, and it hangs on to a cargo pocket quite nicely without giving me any fear of it falling out.
The anodizing on the handle scales has impressed me. I have a metal bead on the lanyard, which sometimes falls inside the pocket where it's being carried. Instead of scratching the handle scales, the anodizing has been hard enough to actually rub metal off the bead, like chalk, but the metal markings rub right off. The knife has also been dropped on various surfaces, yet shows no marring.
Minor Gripes:
I'm not sure if all the models are like this, but it's possible to accidentally prevent the spring tension from opening the blade by pinching the handle too tightly between your middle finger and thumb, while using your index to operate the flipper. This may be a side effect of disassembling the knife, as I've found the screws need to be adjusted carefully, or liner tension prevents proper opening.
All in all, it's a very nice little knife at the price!
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