Well, I may have fixed the AR up, but I also broke it. Sorry guys. I had written a full review, but at 2 pages long it seemed redundant, so I'm going to "highlight" my thoughts below and I'll post some pics:
Initial Impressions (right out of the box, pre-using the knife, and my impressions changed considerably as I used it):
- Ridiculously huge and heavy
- Lots of wasted space
- A huge handle with a small knife attached to it (edge is only 3.25" on the AR)
After using it quite a bit on various chores, I found that it performed quite well and my hand/brain seemed to like it more as I used it more. My likes and dislikes are listed below:
Likes:
- Well made, smooth, nicely functioning knife. I was impressed by the fit and function of the knife. Everything held together nicely, everything was put together right. After I fixed the washers up and lubed the knife it was very smooth to open and close, the lockup was solid, and there was very little play. After hundreds of openings and closing my thumb was a little raw from the texturing on the spine, lockbar and the little lip on the thumbstud, but in reality I wouldn't open and close a knife that much!
- Kitchen duty- I sliced up some melons, and did some other kitchen chores with it and it did great. Much better than expected! In a survival/outdoors situation you would expect a knife to do mundane stuff like this, so it's good to know it can serve as a food prep tool just as well as in other functions. It also performed one of the most important tasks I know of, which is slicing limes for gin & tonic on a 95° day in Michigan!
- The added weight made the knife a good chopper. I tested it out chopping on pine and some sort of maple branches and it did pretty good for a folder. Chopping is about momentum, and since most folders are lightweight, they tend not to do too well. The added weight of the AR gave it pretty good chopping ability. It wouldn't be my first choice, but it did better than most I have tried.
- It cut cardboard well, when it didn't hang the material up on the choil/stop pin cutout. I felt like it was second best to my Spyderco Military in this regard, which is impressive. I was pleasantly surprised by this, but the way the material hung up annoyed me in the end. The same happened cutting vines in my yard.
Dislikes:
- Weight. This thing weighs a ton, and for me the added benefits of a super strong lock and thick blade are unnecessary, so it wasn't my thing.
- Short blade- I know there are some design features built into the big choil, but I'd rather have as much edge that can fit onto the blade as possible. A 9.25" long knife with a 3.25" blade is a waste, in my book.
- Stop pin notch- the stop pin notch for stopping blade motion when you close the blade was annoying. It hung up on cardboard and vines. It prevented the AR from doing an excellent job for the chores I use knives for, and instead made me keep saying "Gee this knife would do great at this job if it wasn't for this $%^&!* stop pin notch!!!!"
- Detent- the ball detent that keeps the blade closed was more or less non-existant. A weak, weak detent on a tip up carry knife is a bad pairing, but Strider acknowledged this problem on some AR's and will warranty it.
- Thumbstud- the little lip on the thumbstud was brutal for my thumb. I'd personally prefer something rounded off, but then again in a natural setting I wouldn't open and close a knife that many times for no reason. It was very, very smooth so I couldn't help myself!
There goes the neighborhood...
- On the Badlands forum, which is Strider's own forum, I posted my thoughts on this knife and I was told that I would not experience the full benefits of the AR unless I do things that I would never expect a folder to do, like break up palettes, cut myself out of a car, etc. So, I upped my level of testing a little and did more aggressive chopping, batoned the AR through a relatively lightweight, dry 3" diameter "log" and did some prying. I think the chopping woul dbe even better if the handle was shaped differently.Without a "butt" on the knife, you sort of feel like it may fly out of your hand, so I had to have too tight of a grip for heavy chopping.
The prying was the death knell for this knife. I had a pine board that was behind the house for at least a few years, probably. I stabbed the knife in as far as it would go a few times, withoutout prying, just to get a feel for things. The added weight makes stabbing nice! Anyway, I stabbed lightly into the wood and started to pry and it popped right through the wood, no problem. Did it again and it just felt like the wood was going to win, so I stopped and checked the tip and it was fine. Did two more likght stabs and pries and again it did fine. I had also pried some really dried out, rotting wood and it did great, too. Anyway, tried one more stab/pry and about 1/8" of the tip snapped right off, no warning this time.
Now, before anyone rants and raves that I abused the knife, let me qualify things first! I think that prying anything with a knife is abusing what a knife is supposed to do, so I agree that prying is a poor choice for a knife, folder or not. Also, the only reason I did any prying was because I was challenged to do things that other knives can't survive.
I also wouldn't pass any sort of judgement on the knife because of this "failed" test. Knives aren't prybars. Show me a prybar that is 3/16" thick, made of BG42 that is hardened to high 50's/low 60's RC! It doesn't exist and there is a reason why! Also, keep in mind this is one knife with an unknown history (did other people pry with it, etc?) and it isn't even the current production model, which uses a different steel.
All in all, I liked the AR. It did, in fact, do some things, mainly chopping, that other knives are extremely poor at. It also cut cardboard very well, especially when you factor in it's size. I have other folders with Teflon coated, 1/8" blades that don't cut cardboard half as well. The AR was comfortable to use, for the most part, in a variety of chores, even for my medium-sized hands. For me, personally, I found the cons outweighed the benefits, so it wouldn't be my first choice in a Strider folder (I'm probably more of a PT or SnG guy), but the knife surpassed my expectations, especially in the fit and finish department, and once I got it back to working properly I was pleased with it. It stand up to my abuse, but then again I wouldn't expect any knife to pry in wood like that very well, honestly.
