The 12 Days of Medford

[stabman]

On January 10th, I received a knife in the mail.
It is from a brand I was intrigued by due to the haterz of it on this very forum.
I am talking about Medford Knife and Tool, and the knife I selected to try out is the Medford Deployment 187 DPT (drop point tanto).

Here's a pic of it with a few other knives for scale:

The first thing I noticed was that the opening hole was a tad sharp, much like many Spydercos. So I ran some 600 grit sandpaper through it, and got it how I wanted. :thumbup:

I checked the bus schedule, as I needed to get out for a hike in the snow with it; later that same day, all the snow was gone.
As I waited for the bus, I checked the sharpness; not the sharpest blade, but it cut paper okay. The measurement behind the edge is 0.032" thick, which is not bad. I left the original edge to see how it performed on my hike.

As I got to the area, I stopped at the Nature Center to take a piss, and got a picture of the knife with the rattlesnakes as a backdrop:

The snakes were active as it was a day or two till feeding time. As I put the camera away, one of them struck at the glass! Pretty cool.

Anyway, I headed off to the land of snow:

Decided to check it out on regular hiking types of cutting, clearing tall grasses and annoying branches:

It did all right, but I knew it would do better once sharpened more. Still, did way better than the Buck CSAR and some "bushcraft" fixed blades I've tried out.

Then it was time for some silly knife pictures for the heck of it:

Some pics of the blade, lock-engagement, lock-bar cut-out, and the polished edge it came with:

The lock cut-out thins down to about 0.039" thick. A bit thin, but it is rather wide. Will it be sturdy enough to hold up to "hard use"? You'll have to wait till later in this thread to find out.

Anyway, I decided to check out how well Medford knives look with art:

Looks pretty good.

But as Forged in Fire tells us, "Looks are secondary to performance."
So how does it perform for...food prep?
Let's see:

It performs deliciously. :thumbup:

I was wondering about the choil, if it was a sharpening notch, or a finger choil.
Some sites list it as a finger choil, but it seems too small for that to me:

So I called up Greg Medford on the cell-phone number provided on the business card that ships with the knife.
He answered on about the third ring, and was pleasant to talk to.
I asked him about the choil, and he said it's for sharpening. His exact words as to whether it was a spot for your index finger was, "Not unless you're a spider-monkey."
I agree.

But back to performance.
What if you're at a coffee shop and need to apply peanut butter and jam to your bagel?
Cana Medford knife help you with this?
You be the judge.

Seems to work just fine, and no one freaked out despite being surround on both sides and with people behind too.

 

[stabman]

On the 14th, my new recliner was delivered.
However, this provided a dilemma, as the apartment charges $25 if I put the old one in the dumpster.
Unless I cut it apart and stuff it in garbage bags; then it counts as garbage...yes! :thumbup:
Lightly sharpened it on some 600 grit silicon carbide paper, and got to work.

My 3 pound sledge bashed the rest of it apart, and it all fit into 4 extra large garbage bags; success!
Hit a few staples along the way, but so what.

But this made me hungry...time for more food:

After I cut up the onions, I told my wife that people on the internet said this knife didn't cut things very well.
She said, "What, you mean that knife you cut the chair apart with?"
I said yes, and she just shook her head at how silly those internet people are.

Another day, another meal:

But enough kitchen fun; how does it do out in the woods?
Well, to find out, we must go out there into the world and find out!

Someone had used our site in the meantime, and left a couple of coffee cups. They hadn't screwed with anything else though, and the fire pit would get rid of those pesky cups soon enough.

I selected a tree to chop down with the Medford. The Swisschamp measurement says it's about 2.5 inches diameter:

But first, look at the creek! It is back; had been dried up for some time:

Can you spot the "ghost knife" in the panoramic shot?

Another forest pic:

 

[stabman]

Let the chopping fun commence!

Took a couple of minutes, but it is definitely a pocket-knife you can chop down a small tree with.

One of the Y-shaped sticks for cooking over the pit had burned away last time out, so I had to make a new one. The Medford 187 said "No problem!"

But then, as I looked around the woods for firewood, I ran across Hitler!!!

So I stabbed him in the chest and face.

So, after my run-in with Hitler, I knew I required an edge in case I ran into any other evil dictators out here. I had to build an ultimate weapon; luckily, I possessed the edged technology required to unlock the destructive power of the woods.

The requisite supplies are gathered:

Other things happened before I could start on my ultimate weapon.
For one thing, the woman we had met on a previous outing was out there again with her dog.
Luckily, it is a very friendly dog:

Also, I would need to fuel my body for the extreme exertion to come. I needed energy, the kind that only steak can provide. :thumbup:
So I got to working on a steak stick, with the knife I built, as well as the Medford:

While the steak began to cook over the coals, I began work on the super-weapon:

Switched to the knife I built to split the larger wood, and it was stupidly tough:

 

[stabman]

Meat stick!

My friend Dave met us out there, and he brought my Christmas present with him.
I had not expected this, but I had brought "woods presents" for him and my brother.
I gave the Zippo to Dave, and the Boker ferro rod to my brother:

Mmmmm, steak...

Cooking the steak a little more to char the edges:

I used the awl on the Swisschamp to drill the holes, then the ZT 0392PURBLKWC to enlarge them:

I used the Phillips screwdriver on the Swisschamp to drive the 4 screws I had saved from the chair demolition. Along with 4 weird oval brass washers I found in a basement 8 years ago, I was able to complete my fearsome doomsday device:

It may look familiar to some people:

[video=youtube;bOmoCQypVZU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOmoCQypVZU[/video]

Boiling water for tea:

Thick fog rolled in during the night, and was still present to an extent in the morning:

Boiling water for oatmeal:

Foggy morning in the woods:

Stormbreaker, still going strong after all these years:

Morning shot of the creek and the woods:

Little Wooden Boy stood guard all night long!

About twice a year I allow myself a few cigars. Here's one of them:

Some of the cutting implements we had with us:

My brother goes to get water from the creek to extinguish the fire fully:

Here's a small creek on the way out. It is usually dry, and only flows when the woods are at their wettest:

And here is the lock-up after all the use:

So there you have it.
The knife weighs 7.4 ounces.
The blade measures at 0.189" thick.
Blade length is right about 4.225" long.

I was able to thumb flick it open right out of the box.

I would like a thicker lock cut-out, but the tension is pretty good as it is.
And if Medford wants to sell knives, they can't really make it much thicker...look at the Spyderco Tuff and K2. Both are discontinued because of people's complaints about being hard to unlock.
Plus, as it is, it held up to repeated batonning with no issues.

In the end, if you like the design and want to get it, I say go for it. :thumbup:
Is it worth it? Depends on what you're comparing it to.
It's cheaper than the Strider SmF.
Is it worth 30 or so Opinels? Well hell, I don't even want one Opinel, let alone 30.

As for those who say Medfords can't cut stuff very well, let's review, shall we?
It cut up carrots, cardboard, paracord, onions, mushrooms, paper, raw and cooked meat, green beans, a chair, trees, broccoli, wood, and fingernails...plus it killed Hitler.
Other than going through thick cardboard, it was no less efficient really than other knives, at least not to the point where I noticed or cared. Thin cardboard was no issue, and didn't bind at all.

So yeah, it's a knife, and it cuts like a knife.
That's pretty much the main conclusion I came to after all this.

 

[armytxn]

So far so good I would say. Interesting knife, it looks pretty good.

 

[Gizler00]

Love it man. Glad to see you are using the heck out of it! I created a similar thread doing similar things with my old praetorian. They do cut and cut very well despite what all the people say.

Great knives. This model has always intrigued me.

 

[Misanthropia]

The first thing I noticed was that the opening hole was a tad sharp, much like many Spydercos. So I ran some 600 grit sandpaper through it, and got it how I wanted. :thumbup:

 

[stabman]

Love it man. Glad to see you are using the heck out of it! I created a similar thread doing similar things with my old praetorian. They do cut and cut very well despite what all the people say.

Great knives. This model has always intrigued me.

If you feel like getting it, I say go for it.

 

[Gizler00]

If you feel like getting it, I say go for it.

I need to leave this thread immediately. I cannot get sucked in to another purchase!!! Hahaha.

This is definitely one Medford that I need to try eventually.

 

[stabman]

I need to leave this thread immediately. I cannot get sucked in to another purchase!!! Hahaha.

This is definitely one Medford that I need to try eventually.

I am now interested in trying out the Praetorian.
It would be interesting to see how it performs, with the blade being a half inch wider.
That will have to wait for more money, however.

In the meantime, I will continue to enjoy using the Deployment 187.
And to put extra fuel on your knife desires, the DPT version is discontinued.
The ramp nose and regular drop point versions are still in production, but the tanto tip version is no longer being made.
There are still some out there though (no pressure at all ).

 

[brandoak]

Great write up as always stabman. Thank you!
While some of Medfords offerings are just way out in left field, the 187 DPT and colonial's seem to have filled a special void in my collection. I actually find myself "edc"ing my Colonial more than my Strider's these days.
I love overbuilt folders but the square blocky handle design of the Medfords turned me away at first just as the lego handles did on the Strider's. Its not Until you actually hold and use one do you appreciate the benefit of so much added control and lack of hand fatigue after prolonged use. I don't know what Medford has done with there heat treatment, but I'm able to sharpen and keep a razor edge on my Colonial better than any other D2 blade Ive ever owned.

 

[BD_01]

Best. Review. Ever.

You almost made me a Medford guy!

 

[Gizler00]

Great write up as always stabman. Thank you!
While some of Medfords offerings are just way out in left field, the 187 DPT and colonial's seem to have filled a special void in my collection. I actually find myself "edc"ing my Colonial more than my Strider's these days.
I love overbuilt folders but the square blocky handle design of the Medfords turned me away at first just as the lego handles did on the Strider's. Its not Until you actually hold and use one do you appreciate the benefit of so much added control and lack of hand fatigue after prolonged use. I don't know what Medford has done with there heat treatment, but I'm able to sharpen and keep a razor edge on my Colonial better than any other D2 blade Ive ever owned.

Could not agree more with this right here. I had the same experience with the Praetorians I owned.

 

[HappyDaddy]

How are we supposed to come to any rational conclusions without pics?

 

[kniferbro]

There are like 30 pics

At least on my end

 

[Officer's Match]

That was a fun read, very nice write up. And refreshing too to see a sensible take on a MKT knife.

 

[CornSyrup]

Cute write up and photos. However, I don't doubt that there exist slimmer, lighter, cheaper, more ergonomic knives with a better warranty policy that could perform as well or better. This is coming from someone who has previously owned a total of three Medfords, all of which I eventually ended up selling. I see them more as pocket jewelry and/or Instagram eye candy that happens to have decent cutting performance than as knives optimized for tasks such as those you demonstrate in your writeup.

I do have to agree that Medford's heat treat of D2 is pretty much optimized, however.

 

[T.K.C.]

That was great fun! Thank you for doing that.

 

[Officer's Match]

Cute write up and photos. However, I don't doubt that there exist slimmer, lighter, cheaper, more ergonomic knives with a better warranty policy that could perform as well or better. This is coming from someone who has previously owned a total of three Medfords, all of which I eventually ended up selling. I see them more as pocket jewelry and/or Instagram eye candy that happens to have decent cutting performance than as knives optimized for tasks such as those you demonstrate in your writeup.

I do have to agree that Medford's heat treat of D2 is pretty much optimized, however.

Welcome to Blade Forum CornSyrup.

 

[brandoak]

Cute write up and photos. However, I don't doubt that there exist slimmer, lighter, cheaper, more ergonomic knives with a better warranty policy that could perform as well or better. This is coming from someone who has previously owned a total of three Medfords, all of which I eventually ended up selling. I see them more as pocket jewelry and/or Instagram eye candy that happens to have decent cutting performance than as knives optimized for tasks such as those you demonstrate in your writeup.

I do have to agree that Medford's heat treat of D2 is pretty much optimized, however.

Yes, welcome......