- Joined
- Oct 3, 1998
- Messages
- 4,842
In the following review, I kind of assume everyone knows about the TTKK and it's design criteria. If not let me know, and I'll discuss it more ...
----------
A few weeks ago I received my TTTKK from Trace Rinaldi. You can see
its 4" brother at www.pe.net/~thrblade
The design:
The knife design is aimed at light camp and overall utility use. It has
a dropped point for control, enough belly for slicing and chopping
food, a 1/8" thick spine and full flat grind for excellent cutting
ability all around. And it's got a drop-blade format (rather than a
guard) for finger protection, so you can rock the knife on its belly
while chopping food. I love this format for both camp and around the
house use, I don't like not having finger protection, but formal
guards can get in the way for certain jobs.
The knife as it arrived was absolutely gorgeous! With burgandy micarta
handles and mosaic pins, it was really classy looking. One of my
objectives was to have an innocuous-looking travel knife that cuts like
crazy, and this definitely fit the bill. I think almost everyone has at
least a niche-need for a knife that looks nice enough not to scare
people, but cuts well.
Caveat:
Trace made me a nice deal on this knife, as a thank you because I had
designed it originally. I feel my review is completely objective, but
if such things make you suspicious, now you know.
As a cutter:
Okay, the talonite blade had an edge on it that ranged from about 15
degrees near the tip, to probably 18-20 degrees along some parts of the
flats. The knife cut nicely even in hard rope -- talonite has a
reputation for being "slippery", but if so, the thinness of the edge
seems to have made up for it somewhat. My ATS-34 TTKK didn't seem to
slice particularly better than the talonite. However, I did not really
do a full head-to-head test of the two materials, so I (and you
should too) continue to withhold judgement about talonite's slicing performance. It also whittled extremely
well, due to the thin edge. Again, this was a quickie performance check
rather than my usual head-to-head testing, so I'm not coming to any
conclusions yet, but whether in talonite or ATS-34, this knife appears to perform exceedingly well! Ergonomics in all cutting was comfortable and
secure.
The handle:
The handle has a single index-finger cutout, followed by a palm swell,
and ends in a bird's beak. The handle worked really well for me, the
index finger groove and palm swell provided good comfortable security,
and the bird's beak came in handy in a number of uses.
Chopping:
I next went to see how well the talonite would hold up at the edge.
This knife is NOT designed as a wood chopper -- it's purposely
thin-spined and thin-edge for maximum cutting efficiency and food
chopping. But I took it out and whaled on a soft log for a while. Even
with the thin edge, the talonite held up perfectly, not a ding anywhere.
Then I took out a kamagong (ironwood) stick, and that did finally take
some small pieces from the edge. An ATS-34 blade with similar thin
edge did get slightly roughed up on the kamagong, but not quite as
much. This thin edge is perfect for the talonite TTKK, but for a
talonite knife designed as a chopper, you'll definitely want it thicker.
Resharpening:
I re-sharpened the edge to my standard 15/20 edge despite the fact
that I still hadn't seen any edge degradation. I used the Spyderco
204 Sharpmaker and a DMT x-coarse stone. Leaning the DMT stone against
the sticks, I did most of the original 15-degree reprofiling. Then
finished the 15-degree reprofiling with the spyderco coarse sticks,
then went to 20 degrees, finished with fine sticks and the strop.
Sharpening was not too difficult at all.
I've since redone the tests I had originally done, and confirmed
that with the 15/20 edge it performs just as well as Trace's
original edge, if not a bit better.
In the Kitchen:
I've been using the knife at barbecues and around the kitchen.
It handles very well as a kitchen knife, and still doesn't need
resharpening. Again, I haven't done head to head tests yet, but by
gut feel, I think an ATS-34 blade would have been dulled by now.
One of the nicest things about the TTKK is that it doesn't look
*exactly* like a kitchen knife, which means no one uses it but me,
which means it's always sharp for me. Ah, another thing, I've left
this knife gunked up with food juices and various acidic fruit juices
for hours and sometimes overnight, not even a hint of rust.
If you're heavier on kitchen knife use, ask Trace to make the knife
with a little less belly. The current design, with the typical
amount of belly you'd see on, say, a hunter, leans slightly more towards
utility or hunting use, but still performs great in the kitchen.
The sheath:
Trace made me a multi-carry carbon fiber concealex (that's what it is,
right Trace?) sheath. It's nicely done. I'm using it these days as
a slip sheath, but it has attachments for horizontal carry, IWB
carry, and my fave for around camp, swivel-clip carry. With the
swivel clip, you can quickly move the knife&sheath from your belt
loop to a pack without taking your belt off.
As a defensive knife:
A defensive knife? The TTKK? Yeah, definitely! Look at it: the
ergonomics are excellent, the point is dropped, plenty of belly for
slashing, incredible edge geometry for maximum cutting, comfortable and
secure in earth grip for those of you who favor it (though not as strong
here as a knife designed for that grip), multicarry sheath for a number
of carry options. And even at 1/8" thick, tough enough to handle a
whole lot. And hey, get it in burgundy micarta and mosaic pins, and it
won't even scare your family and friends ... too much. This is a time
I feel a purpose-designed camp/utility knife works fine for defense.
Conclusions:
I love this knife. Performance in its targeted areas is just superb --
exactly what you'd think you'd get from a thin-spined thin-edged
drop-point blade. The ergonomics work very well, and I've found
a number of uses where wrapping a finger around the bird's beak made
things easier to do. The looks, depending on the material choice,
can be from utilitarian to utterly classy -- for me, the classy
look is my goal for this knife. I'm still discovering talonite
but so far love it for this application -- it cuts well, doesn't
rust out from under you when you (or whoever is preparing food
with it) leaves it covered with rust-causing substances for too
long.
Of course, remember the most important conclusion -- I designed this
knife, it's hardly a surprise that it ended up working out perfectly
for me! Your mileage may vary depending on your needs, but I've
tried to outline the design objectives so you could decide for yourself
how useful this knife would be to you.
----------
A few weeks ago I received my TTTKK from Trace Rinaldi. You can see
its 4" brother at www.pe.net/~thrblade
The design:
The knife design is aimed at light camp and overall utility use. It has
a dropped point for control, enough belly for slicing and chopping
food, a 1/8" thick spine and full flat grind for excellent cutting
ability all around. And it's got a drop-blade format (rather than a
guard) for finger protection, so you can rock the knife on its belly
while chopping food. I love this format for both camp and around the
house use, I don't like not having finger protection, but formal
guards can get in the way for certain jobs.
The knife as it arrived was absolutely gorgeous! With burgandy micarta
handles and mosaic pins, it was really classy looking. One of my
objectives was to have an innocuous-looking travel knife that cuts like
crazy, and this definitely fit the bill. I think almost everyone has at
least a niche-need for a knife that looks nice enough not to scare
people, but cuts well.
Caveat:
Trace made me a nice deal on this knife, as a thank you because I had
designed it originally. I feel my review is completely objective, but
if such things make you suspicious, now you know.
As a cutter:
Okay, the talonite blade had an edge on it that ranged from about 15
degrees near the tip, to probably 18-20 degrees along some parts of the
flats. The knife cut nicely even in hard rope -- talonite has a
reputation for being "slippery", but if so, the thinness of the edge
seems to have made up for it somewhat. My ATS-34 TTKK didn't seem to
slice particularly better than the talonite. However, I did not really
do a full head-to-head test of the two materials, so I (and you
should too) continue to withhold judgement about talonite's slicing performance. It also whittled extremely
well, due to the thin edge. Again, this was a quickie performance check
rather than my usual head-to-head testing, so I'm not coming to any
conclusions yet, but whether in talonite or ATS-34, this knife appears to perform exceedingly well! Ergonomics in all cutting was comfortable and
secure.
The handle:
The handle has a single index-finger cutout, followed by a palm swell,
and ends in a bird's beak. The handle worked really well for me, the
index finger groove and palm swell provided good comfortable security,
and the bird's beak came in handy in a number of uses.
Chopping:
I next went to see how well the talonite would hold up at the edge.
This knife is NOT designed as a wood chopper -- it's purposely
thin-spined and thin-edge for maximum cutting efficiency and food
chopping. But I took it out and whaled on a soft log for a while. Even
with the thin edge, the talonite held up perfectly, not a ding anywhere.
Then I took out a kamagong (ironwood) stick, and that did finally take
some small pieces from the edge. An ATS-34 blade with similar thin
edge did get slightly roughed up on the kamagong, but not quite as
much. This thin edge is perfect for the talonite TTKK, but for a
talonite knife designed as a chopper, you'll definitely want it thicker.
Resharpening:
I re-sharpened the edge to my standard 15/20 edge despite the fact
that I still hadn't seen any edge degradation. I used the Spyderco
204 Sharpmaker and a DMT x-coarse stone. Leaning the DMT stone against
the sticks, I did most of the original 15-degree reprofiling. Then
finished the 15-degree reprofiling with the spyderco coarse sticks,
then went to 20 degrees, finished with fine sticks and the strop.
Sharpening was not too difficult at all.
I've since redone the tests I had originally done, and confirmed
that with the 15/20 edge it performs just as well as Trace's
original edge, if not a bit better.
In the Kitchen:
I've been using the knife at barbecues and around the kitchen.
It handles very well as a kitchen knife, and still doesn't need
resharpening. Again, I haven't done head to head tests yet, but by
gut feel, I think an ATS-34 blade would have been dulled by now.
One of the nicest things about the TTKK is that it doesn't look
*exactly* like a kitchen knife, which means no one uses it but me,
which means it's always sharp for me. Ah, another thing, I've left
this knife gunked up with food juices and various acidic fruit juices
for hours and sometimes overnight, not even a hint of rust.
If you're heavier on kitchen knife use, ask Trace to make the knife
with a little less belly. The current design, with the typical
amount of belly you'd see on, say, a hunter, leans slightly more towards
utility or hunting use, but still performs great in the kitchen.
The sheath:
Trace made me a multi-carry carbon fiber concealex (that's what it is,
right Trace?) sheath. It's nicely done. I'm using it these days as
a slip sheath, but it has attachments for horizontal carry, IWB
carry, and my fave for around camp, swivel-clip carry. With the
swivel clip, you can quickly move the knife&sheath from your belt
loop to a pack without taking your belt off.
As a defensive knife:
A defensive knife? The TTKK? Yeah, definitely! Look at it: the
ergonomics are excellent, the point is dropped, plenty of belly for
slashing, incredible edge geometry for maximum cutting, comfortable and
secure in earth grip for those of you who favor it (though not as strong
here as a knife designed for that grip), multicarry sheath for a number
of carry options. And even at 1/8" thick, tough enough to handle a
whole lot. And hey, get it in burgundy micarta and mosaic pins, and it
won't even scare your family and friends ... too much. This is a time
I feel a purpose-designed camp/utility knife works fine for defense.
Conclusions:
I love this knife. Performance in its targeted areas is just superb --
exactly what you'd think you'd get from a thin-spined thin-edged
drop-point blade. The ergonomics work very well, and I've found
a number of uses where wrapping a finger around the bird's beak made
things easier to do. The looks, depending on the material choice,
can be from utilitarian to utterly classy -- for me, the classy
look is my goal for this knife. I'm still discovering talonite
but so far love it for this application -- it cuts well, doesn't
rust out from under you when you (or whoever is preparing food
with it) leaves it covered with rust-causing substances for too
long.
Of course, remember the most important conclusion -- I designed this
knife, it's hardly a surprise that it ended up working out perfectly
for me! Your mileage may vary depending on your needs, but I've
tried to outline the design objectives so you could decide for yourself
how useful this knife would be to you.