My thanks to jhillas for the loan of this Temperance pass-around knife!
First Impressions:
- Hand-filling grip with good comfort, control and secure-grip properties.
- Piercing and slicing properties look good - excellent utility grind and blade-shape.
- Light carry-weight for a knife/sheath combo with a sturdy 4-1/2" blade.
- Sheath provides good blade-retention, Tek-Lok attachment system included.
- This is a pass-around knife, so no judgement is possible on factory-supplied Temperance edge quality.
Balance:
Neutral - right on the forefinger.
The VG-10 Blade:
The combined blade-grind, point-shape and blade thickness provide an excellent combination of a sturdy blade with excellent slicing and piercing efficiency.
Tip-strength seems adequate for moderately heavy use - just don't you be pryin' lids off paint cans and such!
The high straight-grind blade is an excellent slicer, with moderate belly suitable for good draw-cutting.
A serrated thumb-ramp on the spine provides enhanced control for fine-cutting tasks.
Neither blade-mass nor balance-point favor chopping, but the blade easily handled baton-assisted splitting (details below).
Edge-retention is outstanding (details below).
The Handle:
The FRN handle comfortably accomodates a full-hand grip. Molded 'finger guards' fore and aft protect the forefinger from slipping forward onto the blade-edge in hard thrusts - and also resist the fingers slipping off the butt of the handle when draw-cutting or chopping with force. Rotate the blade 180 degrees and/or reverse the grip - and handle security is still good! Even when wet, handle security and control is good.
Four 'dimples' are molded into each side of the handle, intended to aid 'indexing' when gripping the handle. With fingers and thumb wrapped around the handle, the dimples actually did register well with my finger-tips - even with blade and/or grip reversed. A pebbled texture is molded into the handle - it looks nice but does little to enhance gripping.
Lanyard-hole in the butt of the handle is a generous 1/4" diameter.
I used the Temperance for some moderate baton-assisted splitting, and the handle comfortably absorbed the transmitted shock from hammering on the blade with the baton.
I used the Temperance for aggressive wood-removal slices in stake-pointings, and found the handle comfortable in use.
Don't write this handle off as just another 'plastic handle'. This is a great handle designed for a working knife!
The Sheath:
Knife-retension was good. I tried simulating loss of the knife from the sheath by gripping the sheath and swinging the knife in an arc, combining mass and centrifugal force to eject the knife. It took considerable force to eject the knife in this manner. My conclusion is that you'd have to take a VERY nasty fall to lose the knife! Normal drawing of the knife was fine.
The Tek-Lok is a nice inclusion in the Temperance package. Tek-Loks are great for multi-position carry flexibility, conveninece and secure carry - but they also space the knife about 1/4" farther from the body than a conventional sheath. Some will prefer the firmer hip-hugging carry of a conventional belt-loop sheath or the use of a belt-hook adaptor.
A hole is drilled at the tip of the sheath to allow water drainage from the sheath.
Baton-Assisted Splitting Test:
I batoned the blade-edge to a depth of 3" into two pieces of 2" X 4" X 12" pine stock and twisted - six times - resulting in eight pieces with approximately 1" X 2" X 12" dimensions. A photo would be nice, so I batoned the blade into pine stock a seventh time for the photo. Baton used was a length of 2" X 3" pine.
There was no damage to either blade or handle. No scratches, marks or polishing evident on either blade-sides or spine.
Stake-Pointing Edge-Retension Test:
Really simple testing method:
- Cut something. Can I 'feel' any increased resistance to cutting due to edge-dulling?
- Finer test of dulling by newsprint-draw-cut report (harsher sound, or ripping will reveal edge-dulling).
- Repeat the above steps until the test is over.
Spyderco ceramic stones and a strop were used to sharpen and polish the edge. Slow newsprint-draw-cut along the full blade edge produced a quiet 'hiss' before testing began.
I 'misunderestimated' this blade - the test didn't work out as planned. I thought stake-pointing of the eight 1" X 2" X 12" pine pieces produced by the splitting-test above would be enough to produce some edge-dulling. If the edge still felt sharp after eight pointings, I'd just point the other ends too, for a total of 16 pointings (8 Polish tent-stakes?). But the blade still felt fresh and was still newsprint-draw-cut sharp after 16 pointings. So I began re-pointing stakes (the shorter ones in the photo), eventually just giving up after 32 total stake-pointings - I got bored before the blade got dull!
Summary of testing results:
- After 32 stake-pointings, I couldn't 'feel' any increased resistance to pine-slicing due to edge-dulling.
- The only evidence of dulling was the slightly louder sound of the newsprint-draw-cuts as cutting continued.
- The sound produced by newsprint-draw-cuts never became really 'harsh' - and the newsprint never did rip.
I've never used a knife that just keeps cutting like this one does. I thought my Military 440V and 806D2 folder blades held an edge very well - but this blade is simply in another class. Edge-retention of this blade is outstanding!
Attached photo shows the splitting and pointing work accomplished during testing of the Temperance.
Summary:
The Temperance provides an excellent combination of:
- Piercing efficiency.
- Slicing efficiency.
- Sturdy blade.
- Excellent handle.
- Light carry-weight.
- Flexible sheath system.
- Affordable price.
- Outstanding edge-retention!
Temperance performance exceeded my expectations.
The Temperance provides outstanding quality, performance and value, affordably priced in the $75 to $80 price range on-line.
First Impressions:
- Hand-filling grip with good comfort, control and secure-grip properties.
- Piercing and slicing properties look good - excellent utility grind and blade-shape.
- Light carry-weight for a knife/sheath combo with a sturdy 4-1/2" blade.
- Sheath provides good blade-retention, Tek-Lok attachment system included.
- This is a pass-around knife, so no judgement is possible on factory-supplied Temperance edge quality.
Balance:
Neutral - right on the forefinger.
The VG-10 Blade:
The combined blade-grind, point-shape and blade thickness provide an excellent combination of a sturdy blade with excellent slicing and piercing efficiency.
Tip-strength seems adequate for moderately heavy use - just don't you be pryin' lids off paint cans and such!
The high straight-grind blade is an excellent slicer, with moderate belly suitable for good draw-cutting.
A serrated thumb-ramp on the spine provides enhanced control for fine-cutting tasks.
Neither blade-mass nor balance-point favor chopping, but the blade easily handled baton-assisted splitting (details below).
Edge-retention is outstanding (details below).
The Handle:
The FRN handle comfortably accomodates a full-hand grip. Molded 'finger guards' fore and aft protect the forefinger from slipping forward onto the blade-edge in hard thrusts - and also resist the fingers slipping off the butt of the handle when draw-cutting or chopping with force. Rotate the blade 180 degrees and/or reverse the grip - and handle security is still good! Even when wet, handle security and control is good.
Four 'dimples' are molded into each side of the handle, intended to aid 'indexing' when gripping the handle. With fingers and thumb wrapped around the handle, the dimples actually did register well with my finger-tips - even with blade and/or grip reversed. A pebbled texture is molded into the handle - it looks nice but does little to enhance gripping.
Lanyard-hole in the butt of the handle is a generous 1/4" diameter.
I used the Temperance for some moderate baton-assisted splitting, and the handle comfortably absorbed the transmitted shock from hammering on the blade with the baton.
I used the Temperance for aggressive wood-removal slices in stake-pointings, and found the handle comfortable in use.
Don't write this handle off as just another 'plastic handle'. This is a great handle designed for a working knife!
The Sheath:
Knife-retension was good. I tried simulating loss of the knife from the sheath by gripping the sheath and swinging the knife in an arc, combining mass and centrifugal force to eject the knife. It took considerable force to eject the knife in this manner. My conclusion is that you'd have to take a VERY nasty fall to lose the knife! Normal drawing of the knife was fine.
The Tek-Lok is a nice inclusion in the Temperance package. Tek-Loks are great for multi-position carry flexibility, conveninece and secure carry - but they also space the knife about 1/4" farther from the body than a conventional sheath. Some will prefer the firmer hip-hugging carry of a conventional belt-loop sheath or the use of a belt-hook adaptor.
A hole is drilled at the tip of the sheath to allow water drainage from the sheath.
Baton-Assisted Splitting Test:
I batoned the blade-edge to a depth of 3" into two pieces of 2" X 4" X 12" pine stock and twisted - six times - resulting in eight pieces with approximately 1" X 2" X 12" dimensions. A photo would be nice, so I batoned the blade into pine stock a seventh time for the photo. Baton used was a length of 2" X 3" pine.
There was no damage to either blade or handle. No scratches, marks or polishing evident on either blade-sides or spine.
Stake-Pointing Edge-Retension Test:
Really simple testing method:
- Cut something. Can I 'feel' any increased resistance to cutting due to edge-dulling?
- Finer test of dulling by newsprint-draw-cut report (harsher sound, or ripping will reveal edge-dulling).
- Repeat the above steps until the test is over.
Spyderco ceramic stones and a strop were used to sharpen and polish the edge. Slow newsprint-draw-cut along the full blade edge produced a quiet 'hiss' before testing began.
I 'misunderestimated' this blade - the test didn't work out as planned. I thought stake-pointing of the eight 1" X 2" X 12" pine pieces produced by the splitting-test above would be enough to produce some edge-dulling. If the edge still felt sharp after eight pointings, I'd just point the other ends too, for a total of 16 pointings (8 Polish tent-stakes?). But the blade still felt fresh and was still newsprint-draw-cut sharp after 16 pointings. So I began re-pointing stakes (the shorter ones in the photo), eventually just giving up after 32 total stake-pointings - I got bored before the blade got dull!
Summary of testing results:
- After 32 stake-pointings, I couldn't 'feel' any increased resistance to pine-slicing due to edge-dulling.
- The only evidence of dulling was the slightly louder sound of the newsprint-draw-cuts as cutting continued.
- The sound produced by newsprint-draw-cuts never became really 'harsh' - and the newsprint never did rip.
I've never used a knife that just keeps cutting like this one does. I thought my Military 440V and 806D2 folder blades held an edge very well - but this blade is simply in another class. Edge-retention of this blade is outstanding!
Attached photo shows the splitting and pointing work accomplished during testing of the Temperance.
Summary:
The Temperance provides an excellent combination of:
- Piercing efficiency.
- Slicing efficiency.
- Sturdy blade.
- Excellent handle.
- Light carry-weight.
- Flexible sheath system.
- Affordable price.
- Outstanding edge-retention!
Temperance performance exceeded my expectations.
The Temperance provides outstanding quality, performance and value, affordably priced in the $75 to $80 price range on-line.
