#16 452
BANNED
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2002
- Messages
- 87
I recieved my Strider GB on Tuesday July 2nd. I am the second owner but it arrived minty fresh. The smell it had i'm assuming is the "Strider Aroma". My first impression apon taking it out of the USPS box was"DAMN its heavy" I then remembered it sports a quarter inch thick blade. My first impression was that I would never need to buy another folder again. Soon followed buy "I need an AR and SNG". I didn't use it much that day other than destroy my thumbprint area opening it all day. The heavy blade is truly a blessing when performing inertail openings. It swings out wonderfully.
Wed. Day 2:
Woke up and used it to cut up veggies and ham for breakfast. although the tanto blade isn't optimal for this type of cutting the blade grind performed admirably. very clean slices and cuts. After cutting up enough food to make breakfast for 4 people the blade was still hair popping sharp. Stayed in the pocket for the rest of the day except for "knifesturbation".
Thurs. Day 3:
Today was test day! I started by stabbing into soda cans to test how much the blade tip would be blunted, YEAH RIGHT! I moved up to empty paint cans and after making 2 of them look like someone emptied a 12guage on them the point was still very sharp and the only sign of use was slight wear on the Tiger Strip finish. I went to the maintainance office of my apartment complex and asked for the thickest cardboard box they had. After getting the 1inch thick cardboard to my place I went to it. The box broken down made a square about 60inches by 70 inches. i went longways and make cuts top-to-bottom one inch apart. the first 5 or so cuts made the blade feel sharper almost like it was stropping the blade. After 15 cuts that effect subsided and the blade felt somewhat harder to slide through the CB. Halfway through the test the blade would no longer shave hair at all, but was still somewhat "toothy" Keep in mind this is AFTER 35 cuts 60 inches long through 1 inch cardboard. After completing the test, 20 swipes on a shaprmakers white rods brought it back to scalple sharpness. I moved on to some 1/2 inch hemp rope I've had on my patio for over 6 monthes. It was gritty filthy and just nasty . It was perfect. The two pieces I had where 25 feet long each. After the first piece was cut into 2 inch pieces the blade was still in pretty good shape. The rope was full of sand and dirt and made the edge look like crap but it was still able to, with some effort complete the other piece of rope. This time I didn't sharpen it afterwards, I cleaned it well with Palmolive dish liquid to see how smooth it was with no lubricant at all. It was still smooth but not as smotth as it could have been. I made a large roast for dinner and decided since the wife wasn't looking I'd use the GB to slice the roast. Even with the blade edge so dulled from the rope tests it still make very clean smooth cuts in the roast. I left the juices from the roast on the GB and burried it in a spare plant potter I had and covered it with dirt Which I watered until muddy sadly no new Striders began to sprout. I wanna refund
Fri. June 5th:
I unburried the GB at 4 pm today and the action was still smooth. and the finish of any area was still 100%. The lock was somewhat gritty to disengage but otherwise a 100% servicable knife. I hhave owned other knives that had to be completely cleaned out and lubbed before they ould even budge after this test. To clean the knife I put in mt dishwasher on the posts and pans setting with double teh amount of detergent. after 2 complete cycles the action became a little tight, but was still visably 100% and the gritty lockup cleared up. after that I cleaned it propperly here's what I did.
Disasembled completely.
polished washers on 8000 grit waterstone and Metal-Glo metal polish
polished all screws and pivot screw
Polished pivot area of blade and in the pivot hole of blade
removed and sanded/polished thumbstud
lubed with Chris Reeve Florinated grease.
put the whole thing back together.
After the disassembly and polishing it's smoother than any knife I've ever held. Smoother than an Axis lock, smoother than a Sebenza. Polishing the washers made paramount difference in smoothness. Lockup is still the equivilant to a fixed blade that just happens to fold.
I did no lock stregnth tests because IMHO there is no need. Sure i did the spinewack test but thats a given that it passed. I have 999% confidence in that lock.
Forgive my unscientific and somewhat crude testing and relaying the test results to print. I've never written up a rev iew before so I had no idea just what to include. Fell free to ask questions about tests I did. I performed the tests that aquare with what i;ll use the knife for. Food prep, around solvents(dishwasher test) open cans and metal packages and I tend to leave knives in bad places(burried it). I do believ this is the last knife I'll ever need to buy . All other purchases will be because I want it not because I need to replace the GB.
Wed. Day 2:
Woke up and used it to cut up veggies and ham for breakfast. although the tanto blade isn't optimal for this type of cutting the blade grind performed admirably. very clean slices and cuts. After cutting up enough food to make breakfast for 4 people the blade was still hair popping sharp. Stayed in the pocket for the rest of the day except for "knifesturbation".
Thurs. Day 3:
Today was test day! I started by stabbing into soda cans to test how much the blade tip would be blunted, YEAH RIGHT! I moved up to empty paint cans and after making 2 of them look like someone emptied a 12guage on them the point was still very sharp and the only sign of use was slight wear on the Tiger Strip finish. I went to the maintainance office of my apartment complex and asked for the thickest cardboard box they had. After getting the 1inch thick cardboard to my place I went to it. The box broken down made a square about 60inches by 70 inches. i went longways and make cuts top-to-bottom one inch apart. the first 5 or so cuts made the blade feel sharper almost like it was stropping the blade. After 15 cuts that effect subsided and the blade felt somewhat harder to slide through the CB. Halfway through the test the blade would no longer shave hair at all, but was still somewhat "toothy" Keep in mind this is AFTER 35 cuts 60 inches long through 1 inch cardboard. After completing the test, 20 swipes on a shaprmakers white rods brought it back to scalple sharpness. I moved on to some 1/2 inch hemp rope I've had on my patio for over 6 monthes. It was gritty filthy and just nasty . It was perfect. The two pieces I had where 25 feet long each. After the first piece was cut into 2 inch pieces the blade was still in pretty good shape. The rope was full of sand and dirt and made the edge look like crap but it was still able to, with some effort complete the other piece of rope. This time I didn't sharpen it afterwards, I cleaned it well with Palmolive dish liquid to see how smooth it was with no lubricant at all. It was still smooth but not as smotth as it could have been. I made a large roast for dinner and decided since the wife wasn't looking I'd use the GB to slice the roast. Even with the blade edge so dulled from the rope tests it still make very clean smooth cuts in the roast. I left the juices from the roast on the GB and burried it in a spare plant potter I had and covered it with dirt Which I watered until muddy sadly no new Striders began to sprout. I wanna refund
Fri. June 5th:
I unburried the GB at 4 pm today and the action was still smooth. and the finish of any area was still 100%. The lock was somewhat gritty to disengage but otherwise a 100% servicable knife. I hhave owned other knives that had to be completely cleaned out and lubbed before they ould even budge after this test. To clean the knife I put in mt dishwasher on the posts and pans setting with double teh amount of detergent. after 2 complete cycles the action became a little tight, but was still visably 100% and the gritty lockup cleared up. after that I cleaned it propperly here's what I did.
Disasembled completely.
polished washers on 8000 grit waterstone and Metal-Glo metal polish
polished all screws and pivot screw
Polished pivot area of blade and in the pivot hole of blade
removed and sanded/polished thumbstud
lubed with Chris Reeve Florinated grease.
put the whole thing back together.
After the disassembly and polishing it's smoother than any knife I've ever held. Smoother than an Axis lock, smoother than a Sebenza. Polishing the washers made paramount difference in smoothness. Lockup is still the equivilant to a fixed blade that just happens to fold.
I did no lock stregnth tests because IMHO there is no need. Sure i did the spinewack test but thats a given that it passed. I have 999% confidence in that lock.
Forgive my unscientific and somewhat crude testing and relaying the test results to print. I've never written up a rev iew before so I had no idea just what to include. Fell free to ask questions about tests I did. I performed the tests that aquare with what i;ll use the knife for. Food prep, around solvents(dishwasher test) open cans and metal packages and I tend to leave knives in bad places(burried it). I do believ this is the last knife I'll ever need to buy . All other purchases will be because I want it not because I need to replace the GB.
I can't wait to get mine! I want to tell a UPS story about the day my GB comes
Sounds like a great knife, and it just makes me more excited to see mine. Thanks for the review, Reagan
