Southern Grind

wesessiah said:
i feel like this is going to be a gotcha moment, as in you're going to try to say i don't know the differences in the properties, or try to say a steel above my arbitrary line of premium is more similar to 14c28n than other "premium" steels. but anyway... the obvious one would probably be edge retention... wear resistence and hardenability seem to go hand in hand with premium steels. to give my arbitrary line, to spring the trap, i start at 154cm/vg10 area, and below the commonly referred to super steels. for non stainless d2 would be the starting point, but or my uses the 10 series is about all i need and mostly have. most of my knives have steels below this premium tier of stainless, mostly in the range of aus8 to 440c. one defining feature overall for me would be sharpening. i don't mean fine edge vs toothy, but as simple as how the blade is to get back to a sharp edge from wear beyond just the point of touching up, and actually sharpening.
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Gotcha! :) no I just wanted to hear ypur thoughts.

For me premium always meant wear resistance, but along the line heat treatment, design, geometry and cleanliness or purity became an important factor. I think purity of a steel indicates premium for me.
 
I would buy 2 if it was Elmax, M390, CPM154, CTS-204p, but at the price they are asking,for the steel they are using; nope. Call me a steel snob, I don't care, it's a perception of value. I think the knives look great, seem very well done, but so are several other knives from several companies that use premium steels.

Interesting note here: Spyderco does FRN but puts it with S110V and no one complains. SG uses carbon fiber handles but uses a lower grade steel and folks complain. Hmmmmm, seems steel matters to people. :)
 
I got one used off the exchange for 110.00 which was a great deal. the blade was scratched from someone wiping it with maybe a scotchbrite pad,but I polished up the flats & used 1600 grit sandpaper on the grind,looks pretty good now. its a big knife, but handles well. the pocket clip isn'tbad,being so short, some were complaining about it but I like it,no problems. too bad it wasn't regularly 110.00 I couldn't see paying 250 for this knife,maybe 125-145 the most.i think theres knives with better grade steels out there for less...
 
wesessiah said:
yeah, definitely :thumbup:

nobody is calling it a bad steel, it's a good steel, it's just not on par for overall properties compared to other steels that come on knives in the $250 price range. it just seems like an odd combination to have premium materials and an excellent design then use a blade that's comparable to 440/aus. g10 and even frn serve people just fine... it doesn't mean people want to pay micarta or carbon fiber prices for frn.
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+1. Their knives look great to me and I'd love to get a bad monkey but can't afford the price point and can get a nice sandvick14 blade for Less than $100. Sometimes though one doesnt understand the price till they have a knife as ive only heard of satisfied customers when researching them. But if I had it to blow I would support them they seem to be a nice down home knifemaker. Best of luck to them.
 
I checked them out at BLADE last year. There's nothing particularly awful about their knives... but nothing particularly great either, especially for the price.

Seems to be a cool company though, all-American and they support cool causes. So I wouldn't try to talk anyone out of buying from them. :)
 
Got my Bad Monkey yesterday from Whitty at USA Made Blade, used the GRIND20 coupon so it's less than $200 which is a pretty good deal and a lot better than the normal asking price. The coupon ends Wednesday so if you're on the fence, grab one now.

I like it. I got the flat ground and the edge is convexed nicely, but it's not a very good slicer which I chalk up to the grind. The fit and finish is very nice. Mine developed a squeaky lock not long after I got it, but I fixed that by cleaning it with some cleaning/lubricating wipes I have, need to get the tool kit so I can take it apart. My two main complaints are of course the proprietary hardware, but at least they sell a tool kit so that you can do your own maintenance, it's just more tools to keep track of and my second complaint is the pocket clip. I'm not a fan of shorty clips, it's one of the things I don't like about my Lionsteel knives (other than the HEST/F series), but fortunately on the Bad Monkey they use the standard 3-hole pattern everyone uses and the screws are Torx. I just took the clip off my RAT folder and put it on there and now it's much better. I'm also not a huge fan of the Wave feature, but I can always grind that off.

Blade was nicely finished, laser marking is somewhat sparse and well done. Centering was perfect. Lockup seems a little early but there's absolutely no bladeplay even when not locked and no lockrock when it is locked.

The goodies (leather koozie, leather keychain and paracord bracelet) were a nice touch, but are supposedly going away soon to be replaced with a regular plain old cardboard box. The paracord bracelet was too small for me, but I have tree trunks for wrists (8.25") so that didn't surprise me.

Overall, I'm happy with it. It has a custom feel for a low-end midtech price.
 
I have been on the fence, it's too bad I won't have funds till at least this weekend :/ thanks for the review, I've seen nothin but good things about the bad monkey. I happen to be a fan of the wave and I suppose after reading your review I would grab it in hollow grind, I think I'll be fairly impressed.
 
mrdabble said:
I have been on the fence, it's too bad I won't have funds till at least this weekend :/ thanks for the review, I've seen nothin but good things about the bad monkey. I happen to be a fan of the wave and I suppose after reading your review I would grab it in hollow grind, I think I'll be fairly impressed.
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When I look at it, it makes me think of an Emerson. It even says Emerson on the blade (a very small credit for the Wave feature with the patent number). But I like the blade shape and profile better than anything I've seen from Emerson, it also doesn't have a giant billboard on the sides of the blade like most Emerson knives.

The poor slicing performance could also be the edge profile, it seems very shallow. But then, that also makes for a very tough edge. It DOES go through cardboard like nobody's business!
 
The spyderco Emerson is quite similar in that it says Emerson and has the patent number, and in my opinion is much better than any Emerson so if the bad monkey fits that general profile I'll be pleased.
 
Lost Cosmonaut- you should give the shorty clip a try. When I first got mine I had plans to change it out too. But after carrying it a little I found it has excellent retention and is discrete.
 
If there was one knife I could have left with but didn't at Blade it would have been a Bad Monkey, satin, drop point with the flat grind. To me, they remind me of a "classy" Emerson, but produced by Zac Brown! I handled a few and was very impressed. Seemed very well built. I don't know a helluva whole lot about steels, but my experience with this steel has been positive with every knife I have had that featured it. I will be getting one in the future, prob my next somewhat expensive knife purchase.
 
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