The 0560 is not "just as tough as knives like the 0300 " , I would go as far as saying they are not even close , the 0300 is much beefier and sturdier all around
Your $500 "high speed low drag operator" Striders are a toy comparing to the 0300 or the 0200 in terms of toughness and durability.
That's some seriously funny stuff right there , I would say borderline trolling
Your Gayle Bradley sure have a better fit and finish , is lighter and have a better steel , but in the strength department the Gayle Bradley is a gas station toy knife comparing to Adamas
And no , as much as I love the ZT 0560 and 0550 , and I love them a lot , they are not even close to the Adamas strength , and value ? you gotta be kidding me , the Adamas is exactly half the price of the 0560 , there isn't even a question what knife have the better value
There is probably nothing short of some Demko tri-ad custom that can beat the Adamas strength.
That's fine, man. That's your opinion. I feel like you haven't handled a 560, a Strider, or a GB, but maybe you have and you feel like the heavier knife equals the tougher knife. That's not always the case. If you're literally trying to destroy the knives by trying to chop through the handles with an axe or run them over until one fails to perform, the 0300 would probably last longer than the 560. They are extremely similar in construction, though, and in ways that matter in real-world use of the knife and how they will hold up to hard use, they will probably function about the same. They are both 3D machined titanium frame locks with steel liners and G10 scales. I believe the blade thickness is the same on both. Who knows if the Elmax of the 560 would be less likely to break at the tip, or something, but probably not. They're probably about the same in that aspect with strong tips on both (BTW, I just compared my SNG and it definitely has a thicker blade and even the full flat ground one has about the same tip thickness. The 3/4 ground and tanto SNG/SMF's will easily have stronger blades overall than both, IMO). The frame and liner on the 560 is milled out but I don't think there's anything you'd really ever use the knife for, even abusing it, that would make the skeletonizing and milling matter. It's strong where it needs to be and you're not going to break the frame of that knife. That's why they milled it out even on a knife that is intended to be a lower priced version of quite possibly the toughest of all, the Hinderer XM's. Because the rest is extra weight. BTW, if we include the 550, that one has thicker Ti than both which is not radiused or milled out at all. Time will tell if the KVT bearing system of the 560 is as strong as phosphor bronze washers, but my money is on the hardened steel ball-bearings, which are much harder and could very well stand up to prying and other forms of hard use that would bring on blade-play better than the 0300. I don't really feel the need to keep going on to each part of the knives, but these are just my impressions and opinions. I just feel like you could put the 560 through any actual knife duties (including actually abusing the knife, using it for things that Servicemen might actually have to put it through) that you could put the 300 through and the fact that it's milled out to save weight wouldn't really matter AND there are some things about the 560 that could even stand up better. I will say the pivot is definitely stronger on the 0300, but I've never heard of breaking a pivot on any knife as tough as these and while a bigger pivot might be useful for keeping the blade from getting play, I still think the 560 would hold up better to blade play. Just my speculation.
Saying Striders are a toy compared to the 0300 in terms of durability is just ridiculous, IMO. You do realize the 0300 is a Strider collaboration, right? While the design was probably mostly from Ken Onion, it definitely at least borrows a lot of the same features and ideas for making a hard use knife. I'm not a huge Strider fanboy at all. I like mine, but they're really not my favorite knives. I also probably wouldn't own any if they hadn't stepped up their fit and finish and fixed their lock geometry lately. However, I have to admit that they're probably the closest to feeling as sturdy as a fixed blade than any other knife I've owned. Almost none of my knives have blade play, but the Striders honestly just feel like you could repeatedly put lots of pressure on the blade, trying to detect a hint of blade play and get nothing. I honestly don't know what would stand up to more abuse, an SNG or a 0300, but I'd probably bet on the Strider. Hard to say, they're both very tough. The Strider is definitely better to be in the sense that it has a thicker blade, a bigger pivot, feels like a tank, and yet is a LOT lighter. That's just laughable to say it's a toy compared to the 0300, though. Wow. What about an SNG or SMF makes it a toy compared to the 0300??
Maybe you've never held a Gayle Bradley, but it's is an extremely tough knife. It has a blade that's made to cut a lot better the 0300, so it's not extremely thick and I will certainly admit it's blade isn't nearly as tough, but it's an extremely robust and durable knife. The thick steel and G10 (I know it's carbon fiber, but that's just a veneer. It's actually a G10 handle) frame would definitely hold up to a lot more abuse and destruction than any of these knives, and as much as I love Titanium frame locks, more-so than liner locks, the super thick steel liner lock of the GB (which ha almost no relief cut at all, by the way) is also tougher than any of these knives. I don't have any fear of any of these Ti frame locks failing on me because I don't use the blade that way, but I would trust the Gayle Bradley's lock not to fail more than any of these knives as well. Easily.
I don't care to get into the Adamas and I didn't own one for long because I didn't care for it too much, so I don't have a ton of experience with it. But just because the frame is extremely heavy doesn't make it the hardest use knife on the market. The Axis lock might be very strong but it's just not the lock I'd choose for a hard use knife that I wanted to resist wear, blade play, failing, etc. I'm not saying it's bad, I just don't trust it as much for hard use (if I really used folding knives that hard anyway...). The Adamas just didn't seem all that robust or well built to me. I still consider the Gayle a better value. It's just quality all the way around. It's a hard use knife that is still very classy and has a blade that will perform very well for any cutting with better steel than any of the knives we're talking about and may even have the best fit and finish of all of them. Definitely better than the Adamas and even the 0300 if you ask me, and it's half the price of the 0300.
I'm not saying the 0300 isn't a very tough knife but it's very, very heavy and I do believe these knives that are much lighter can still be just as tough and durable over time.
