spec plus blades

J

jcs71

Joined
Mar 30, 2006
Messages
138
Hi there. A while back, several years actually, I inherited a bunch of Spec Plus knives. They are the survival bowie sp-5, marine raider bowie sp-10, survival bolo sp-11-dicontinued, marine combat knife sp-1, spec plus fighter sp-6, a small double edged knife sp-11-looks like a little smatchet and is also discontinued.
Now as you all know they are not fancy but they do look like users. You do have to widen the bevel on these but they do take a great edge. They have very nice steel, 1095.
I do like these knives. I was just curious what your thoughts on them are, and if anyone uses these type knives? Also if you had any problems with them failing.
Thanks.:)
 
I have a Marine Raider Bowie, and it is a very good knife, especially for the $$. I have used it quite hard with no problems, it takes a good edge, and holds it nicely. And yes, I like plain 'ole 1095 for "big uns". (Not saying I wouldn't absolutely love a stupidly huge Busse though)
 
I should keep my mouth shut, and I hate to rain on your guys' parade, BUT...
I got a Spec-Plus Air Force survival-whatever for my daughter. After just a little batoning, and I mean a little, there were chips out of the edge. Maybe I got a bad one, but still, I wouldn't buy another one. :thumbdn:
..thought you should know.
 
I had an Ontario FF6 tang snap once. The pommel on these knives is sort of a mushroom-shaped piece of steel that screws onto the end of the tang, inside the hollow Kraton handle. Most of the tang is 1/2 inch wide, but the last inch or so is slimmed down to 1/4 inch and threaded, so the pommel can be screwed onto it. Problem is that this abrupt thinning from 1/2 inch to 1/4 inch makes for a weak point where stresses can concentrate. I'd slimmed down the rubbery Kraton on my handle, for a better grip--which probably made it a little less supportive, but I'd rather not count on rubber handle material to hold the steel of my knives together--and was doing some minor, not-too-hard snap-cuts against a softwood pole--and suddenly there was a "SNAP", and the pommel went flying off into the night. The tang had snapped right where it thins down from 1/2 inch to 1/4 inch. I suspect this problem will exist with any knife constructed in that way.Therefore, though I have nothing bad to say about, say, Ontario's leather-handled USAF survival knife, or Ontario's Marine Raider Bowie (each of which has a more-robust tang), I would not trust one of the screw-on-pommel variety for any serious, potentially-stake-my-life-on-it kind of use.
 
I've had an SP1 in my tool box for a few years now. I don't like it as much as I do my Ka-Bar MkIIs, but it's a decent knife. You can do better for not much more, but you can do worse for a lot more. Just remember that anything that isn't the blade is just molded onto the tang.
 
I think the Spec Plus are great knives for the money, especially the bigger models. The SP5 is particularly good IMO.
 
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