- Joined
- Jul 9, 1999
- Messages
- 3,316
Like most of you, I was offended at what I perceive as Taylor Cutlery's blatant theft of popular knife designs that makers you and I know worked so hard to develop and bring to fruition. But, I am a forgive and let live kind of guy, so, when our own Darrell Ralph got together with Taylor on the new Hostage Rescue Team series of knives, I decided that I'll give them a try.
For those of you unfamiliar with the S&W HRT Combat Survival knife, here is a link of a pic I borrowed from 1SKS:
http://www.1sks.com/images/smithandwesson/sw-hrtdr.jpg
The knife has a bead blasted re-curved blade of 440C that is 6 3/4" long and 3/16" thick. The edge is about as thick as the average Cold Steel SRK. The handle has Zytel-like scales that are textured and contoured for decent comfort and retention during rigorous chopping, which this knife seems geared toward.
My sample came OOB extremely sharp. Hair popping sharp actually.
I was impressed.
The re-curve blade is well executed and ends in a needle sharp point. The grinding of the blade was also well done, plunges are all even and symmetric. Good job!
I had ample oppurtunity to use this knife as the recent tropical storm that came thru our area kicked ass on the trees in my yard and in my neighborhood. Several of my neighbors now have a skylight in their roofs care of fallen Oaks. One family 4 houses down us had an Oak take out their garage and their three year old Lincoln Town car.
Using it primarily as a chopper, I proceeded to start limbing out damaged trees in my yard which included Camphor, Oak, Dogwood and Mulberry. I had to take the chain saw to the Mulberry and a Dogwood because they were too damaged and dangerous to remain standing. The knife cleanly chopped limbs up to 1 1/2" wide in one wrist snapping whack. I am now on my third day and second downed tree of cleanup and the knife is still shaving sharp. Not hair popping sharp, mind you, but it still shaves hair. For the sheer volume of whacking and chopping I've done with this baby, it has held up much better than I was expecting. I should also mention that the Dogwood was already dead, dried and well seasoned. I'm shocked that the storm didn't bring it down. The wood on that baby is quite hard now.
Anyway, the sweet spot on this blade seems to be right behind the belly. Hitting a limb on that sweet spot really caused this knife to sail thru it rather handily. After today, I've not yet experienced any blistering from the handle.
The blade's bead blasting is suffering however. It has many scrapes and scratches on it now, but, the edge still has it's factory polished shine on it.
Overall, I feel that the under $60.00 price I paid for it was money well spent. I'm impressed with the overall package. BTW, the sheath is a well fitted Concealex(?) affair that rides pretty good on the belt and stays out of the way as you move around.
For those of you unfamiliar with the S&W HRT Combat Survival knife, here is a link of a pic I borrowed from 1SKS:
http://www.1sks.com/images/smithandwesson/sw-hrtdr.jpg
The knife has a bead blasted re-curved blade of 440C that is 6 3/4" long and 3/16" thick. The edge is about as thick as the average Cold Steel SRK. The handle has Zytel-like scales that are textured and contoured for decent comfort and retention during rigorous chopping, which this knife seems geared toward.
My sample came OOB extremely sharp. Hair popping sharp actually.
I was impressed.The re-curve blade is well executed and ends in a needle sharp point. The grinding of the blade was also well done, plunges are all even and symmetric. Good job!
I had ample oppurtunity to use this knife as the recent tropical storm that came thru our area kicked ass on the trees in my yard and in my neighborhood. Several of my neighbors now have a skylight in their roofs care of fallen Oaks. One family 4 houses down us had an Oak take out their garage and their three year old Lincoln Town car.
Using it primarily as a chopper, I proceeded to start limbing out damaged trees in my yard which included Camphor, Oak, Dogwood and Mulberry. I had to take the chain saw to the Mulberry and a Dogwood because they were too damaged and dangerous to remain standing. The knife cleanly chopped limbs up to 1 1/2" wide in one wrist snapping whack. I am now on my third day and second downed tree of cleanup and the knife is still shaving sharp. Not hair popping sharp, mind you, but it still shaves hair. For the sheer volume of whacking and chopping I've done with this baby, it has held up much better than I was expecting. I should also mention that the Dogwood was already dead, dried and well seasoned. I'm shocked that the storm didn't bring it down. The wood on that baby is quite hard now.
Anyway, the sweet spot on this blade seems to be right behind the belly. Hitting a limb on that sweet spot really caused this knife to sail thru it rather handily. After today, I've not yet experienced any blistering from the handle.
The blade's bead blasting is suffering however. It has many scrapes and scratches on it now, but, the edge still has it's factory polished shine on it.
Overall, I feel that the under $60.00 price I paid for it was money well spent. I'm impressed with the overall package. BTW, the sheath is a well fitted Concealex(?) affair that rides pretty good on the belt and stays out of the way as you move around.
I am a bit concerned with the big bead blasted handle screws. Seems that they will develop rust on them when you use it with a sweaty hand. I haven't used mine enough to encounter this, but maybe a quick wipe down of the screw heads with Tuf-Cloth probably will take care of this.
