Strider SNG - This Thing ROCKS!!! A Brief Review w/ CRK Comparisons... (Pic Heavy)

[moonwilson]

I own both Striders and CRKs. Both companies make nice knives. I carry my DGG SNG every day, it's my favorite knife. It is unfair to compare a Strider unfavorably to a CRK simply because it is not made to the same standard of finish. Strider and CRK have totally different aesthetic philosophies. CRKs are all about being perfect, perfect, perfect. Striders are about being rough and ready. The little bit of roughness you get with a Strider is part of the package. Having a few cosmetic blemishes just makes it that much easier to use the knife hard, without worrying about "messing it up". Mick Strider is a huge douchebag, and his customer service sucks. But he makes a really nice knife.

 

[LightGuy]

Grab a sharpie or pencil and mark the tang were the lockbar engages, you will see a mark there, that will make it easier to open until it fully breaks in.

Great, thanks. Which does the best job in your opinion - the marker or pencil?

 

[neuron]

Great, thanks. Which does the best job in your opinion - the marker or pencil?

I'm not Ankerson, obviously, but just thought I'd chime in: I've found Sharpie to be the more effective of the two.

 

[Medic1210]

Well, the "lead" on a pencil is really just graphite, which is commonly used to lubricate the innards of a lock when the pins get sticky, so I'd think a pencil would be better for the task.

 

[Ankerson]

Great, thanks. Which does the best job in your opinion - the marker or pencil?

I usually use a pencil, but the sharpie should work just as well.

You won't have to do it for very long, it will save your thumb though.

 

[LightGuy]

Based on the replies in this thread which I have to say I am pretty shocked at, I wanted to make sure everyone knows I in no way intended to disparage Strider. After all, I love my SNG - it is truely a keeper - and I gave them $400 of my hard earned cash!

All I wanted to do here is share my initial impressions and feedback - good and not so good. Like I said, none of the "issues" are a deal-breaker.

Based on my SNG, Striders make great knives. No need to go into full defense mode base upon my review. Where I made an assumption based upon a difference in this knife, it was just that - an assumption, not an attack on Strider.

 

[neuron]

Based on the replies in this thread which I have to say I am pretty shocked at, I wanted to make sure everyone knows I in no way intended to disparage Strider. After all, I love my SNG - it is truely a keeper - and I gave them $400 of my hard earned cash!

All I wanted to do here is share my initially impressions and feedback - good and not so good. Like I said, none of the "issues" are a deal-breaker.

Based on my SNG, Striders make great knives. No need to go into full defense mode base upon my review. Where I made an assumption based upon a difference in this knife, it was just that - an assumption, not an attack on Strider.

Don't worry, it wasn't your fault: it was quite clear from your review that you were very happy with the knife. Like I said three pages ago, this sort of thing just always seems to happen whenever there's a thread mentioning Strider.

 

[Ankerson]

Based on the replies in this thread which I have to say I am pretty shocked at, I wanted to make sure everyone knows I in no way intended to disparage Strider. After all, I love my SNG - it is truely a keeper - and I gave them $400 of my hard earned cash!

All I wanted to do here is share my initially impressions and feedback - good and not so good. Like I said, none of the "issues" are a deal-breaker.

Based on my SNG, Striders make great knives. No need to go into full defense mode base upon my review. Where I made an assumption based upon a difference in this knife, it was just that - an assumption, not an attack on Strider.

Not your fault.

This kind of thing always happens when there is a thread Started about Strider, never fails to bring out the certain types.

Strider is a popular target because they are expensive so there will be a certain element that will target them just for that reason alone and use that to look for any negatives they can find or makeup, parrot ect.

You can use Striders without worry because they can take it and keep going and if you end up breaking the blade (Not easy to do at all) they will fix it no problem.

Can't say the same about most other knives, snap the blade or otherwise damage the knife and see what happens.

Strider makes knives to use and use hard.

 

[Medic1210]

never fails to bring out the certain types.

If by "certain types" you mean people that actually expect a $400 knife to actually show at least the same level of fit an finish as a $30 Kershaw, then I guess I'm guilty. Or did you mean "certain types" as being the folks that own Striders and make all kinds of excuses for the flaws, and get defensive when someone questions the flaws? I mean, it seems there are plenty of both in these types of threads, wouldn't you agree. Same thing happens in Sebenza threads too. Oh well. It took me a LONG time to finally decide to lay that king of $$$ down on a knife, and I'd be a little more than ticked if I received one that was showing obvious flaws. Sure, the logo doesn't affect function, but if something that obvious slips by their Q/C department, you can't help but wonder what else they're letting slip by. Personally, I don't have a dog in the fight. I'm not a Strider customer, nor am I a potential Strider customer. If you guys like the knives, more power to ya. Just a bit too tacticool for my tastes, and I won't even go into my personal opinion about he man himself. That alone would keep me far away from his knives, even if they were flawless otherwise. To each their own.:thumbup:

 

[Ankerson]

If by "certain types" you mean people that actually expect a $400 knife to actually show at least the same level of fit an finish as a $30 Kershaw, then I guess I'm guilty. Or did you mean "certain types" as being the folks that own Striders and make all kinds of excuses for the flaws, and get defensive when someone questions the flaws? I mean, it seems there are plenty of both in these types of threads, wouldn't you agree. Same thing happens in Sebenza threads too. Oh well. It took me a LONG time to finally decide to lay that king of $$$ down on a knife, and I'd be a little more than ticked if I received one that was showing obvious flaws. Sure, the logo doesn't affect function, but if something that obvious slips by their Q/C department, you can't help but wonder what else they're letting slip by. Personally, I don't have a dog in the fight. I'm not a Strider customer, nor am I a potential Strider customer. If you guys like the knives, more power to ya. Just a bit too tacticool for my tastes, and I won't even go into my personal opinion about he man himself. That alone would keep me far away from his knives, even if they were flawless otherwise. To each their own.:thumbup:

I think the photo made it stand out more, photos tend to do that, especially Macros.

So I am not sure it would really be that noticeable unless someone really looked close, but I can't tell because it's not in my hand.

I have noticed flaws on other knives (Not Striders) that I didn't see until I shot macros (Using a Macro Lens), the camera shows everything and the better the lens the more it will show. Then take that Macro shot and look at it on a 32" Monitor and blow that up 100% or more.

 

[johnnytoxin]

I have an sng that I love. I got a good deal on it used but it had a ton of up and down blade play. I live an hour and a half from san Marcos so I drove it to them and they fixed it right in front of me in 10 minutes. They sharpened it too. They were all very nice guys. I carry my sng every day and it has that lovely much used,broken in feel and the lock up is rock solid now.

 

[Ankerson]

I have an sng that I love. I got a good deal on it used but it had a ton of up and down blade play. I live an hour and a half from san Marcos so I drove it to them and they fixed it right in front of me in 10 minutes. They sharpened it too. They were all very nice guys. I carry my sng every day and it has that lovely much used,broken in feel and the lock up is rock solid now.

Yes they really are good guys and they will treat you right, I have had dealings with Mick Strider and Josh and they always took care of me when I needed something.

 

[JNewell]

This post is a friendly discussion reply, not a contentious pick-an-argument reply.

The first two Striders I bought (SnG, PT) were very well-made knives but I would not have said they were bargains. They were well made and function perfectly, but I would have said that (in my opinion) they were "fully priced."

However, the two most recent purchases, an SnG and an SMF (both with S110V blades) show clearly superior F&F. Combined with the fact that they have S110V blades but sold for the same prices that their S30V counterparts sold for, I think those two both qualify as good values - very good values, in fact. Maybe those knives are an exception - maybe all of my knives are exceptions - I don't know. I can only speak from what I've seen and held in my own hands.

If by "certain types" you mean people that actually expect a $400 knife to actually show at least the same level of fit an finish as a $30 Kershaw, then I guess I'm guilty. Or did you mean "certain types" as being the folks that own Striders and make all kinds of excuses for the flaws, and get defensive when someone questions the flaws? I mean, it seems there are plenty of both in these types of threads, wouldn't you agree. Same thing happens in Sebenza threads too. Oh well. It took me a LONG time to finally decide to lay that king of $$$ down on a knife, and I'd be a little more than ticked if I received one that was showing obvious flaws. Sure, the logo doesn't affect function, but if something that obvious slips by their Q/C department, you can't help but wonder what else they're letting slip by. Personally, I don't have a dog in the fight. I'm not a Strider customer, nor am I a potential Strider customer. If you guys like the knives, more power to ya. Just a bit too tacticool for my tastes, and I won't even go into my personal opinion about he man himself. That alone would keep me far away from his knives, even if they were flawless otherwise. To each their own.:thumbup:

 

[Buffalohump]

The S110V SMF was a little more than its S30V counterpart. About $100 more. I assume you're referring to the TNK exclusive?

This post is a friendly discussion reply, not a contentious pick-an-argument reply.

The first two Striders I bought (SnG, PT) were very well-made knives but I would not have said they were bargains. They were well made and function perfectly, but I would have said that (in my opinion) they were "fully priced."

However, the two most recent purchases, an SnG and an SMF (both with S110V blades) show clearly superior F&F. Combined with the fact that they have S110V blades but sold for the same prices that their S30V counterparts sold for, I think those two both qualify as good values - very good values, in fact. Maybe those knives are an exception - maybe all of my knives are exceptions - I don't know. I can only speak from what I've seen and held in my own hands.

 

[Ankerson]

The S110V SMF was a little more than its S30V counterpart. About $100 more. I assume you're referring to the TNK exclusive?

Yeah...

Standard S30V Lego SmF - $475
CC Vers - $550

The S110V vers is - $575

 

[MikeC]

Ok, Ankerson here is my question for you. The chain is only as strong as the weakest link correct? I notice how thin the relief cut is for the lock on the Strider, its obviously even thinner than the CRK umn, in the pictures contained in this thread. Many here don't view the CRK umn as a hard use knife, yet both have lock side handles made from 6Al4v an alpha titanium, so should be same strength, so taking this to a logical conclusion the CRK has a stronger lock than the strider, as it is without question much thicker.

Ankerson, I value your insight and knowledge I own a 2 cold steel american law man's because of your reviews, explain to me if I'm wrong here but I just don't see a "hard use" knife having a relief cut that thin. I love titanium frame locks and all of the ones I have except 2 buck mayo tnts have relief cuts that are a at a minimum of 0.08 inches (just shy of a tenth of an inch) thick. I've even got a STR Heman titanium frame lock that has tenth of inch thick titanium handles and has no relief cut at all, none its a straight tenth of inch handle. I love it, want to talk about ROCK SOLID, I know what rock solid feels like and that puny little relief cut on that strider looks like a shop accident compared to some other titanium frame locks, I'd be pissed off if I ordered one of those and that thing showed up. It would go right back demanding an explanation as to why so much metal was unnecessarily removed for the relief cut.

I keep seeing all of these quotes like rock solid, bank vault, "hard use", man use a titanium frame lock that doesn't have a relief cut and call me to talk about ROCK SOLID.

Help me Ankerson, explain to me where I'm wrong?

 

[JNewell]

The S110V SMF was a little more than its S30V counterpart. About $100 more. I assume you're referring to the TNK exclusive?

Yeah...

Standard S30V Lego SmF - $475
CC Vers - $550

The S110V vers is - $575

If you compare the TNK SMF to a CC SMF, which is the nearest comparison, I think they price the same. Strider CCs price above the regular 'lego'/slab versions.

 

[Ankerson]

Ok, Ankerson here is my question for you. The chain is only as strong as the weakest link correct? I notice how thin the relief cut is for the lock on the Strider, its obviously even thinner than the CRK umn, in the pictures contained in this thread. Many here don't view the CRK umn as a hard use knife, yet both have lock side handles made from 6Al4v an alpha titanium, so should be same strength, so taking this to a logical conclusion the CRK has a stronger lock than the strider, as it is without question much thicker.

Ankerson, I value your insight and knowledge I own a 2 cold steel american law man's because of your reviews, explain to me if I'm wrong here but I just don't see a "hard use" knife having a relief cut that thin. I love titanium frame locks and all of the ones I have except 2 buck mayo tnts have relief cuts that are a at a minimum of 0.08 inches (just shy of a tenth of an inch) thick. I've even got a STR Heman titanium frame lock that has tenth of inch thick titanium handles and has no relief cut at all, none its a straight tenth of inch handle. I love it, want to talk about ROCK SOLID, I know what rock solid feels like and that puny little relief cut on that strider looks like a shop accident compared to some other titanium frame locks, I'd be pissed off if I ordered one of those and that thing showed up. It would go right back demanding an explanation as to why so much metal was unnecessarily removed for the relief cut.

I keep seeing all of these quotes like rock solid, bank vault, "hard use", man use a titanium frame lock that doesn't have a relief cut and call me to talk about ROCK SOLID.

Help me Ankerson, explain to me where I'm wrong?

Most of the good Production frame locks are going to be about the same if tested to failure (Breaking the knives) from what I read awhile back.

The difference comes in when they talk about design, how much pressure before the lock slips, will it slip or hold before breakage (Bending) happens.

I can't answer those questions and those who have those answers aren't going to tell us for various reasons.

So there is no answer based on facts, hard data available.

Only speculation and guess work.

 

[Ankerson]

If you compare the TNK SMF to a CC SMF, which is the nearest comparison, I think they price the same. Strider CCs price above the regular 'lego'/slab versions.

Yeah the TNK is a half and half Lego/CC SmF.

 

[kreole]

Great pics and review! I love the close-ups, like of the G10 pattern.

When I was going through it again, I noticed the jimping on the lock bar is on the outside of the bar, rather than the inside or even all of the top, which doesn't seem as helpful. Is it not jimping but something with another purpose?