Originally posted by RL
please explain each and every element of how it was designed to work despite being clogged with dirt or debris? I am very curious about this engineering marvel.
Gladly.
First and foremost, there is a significant difference between the diameter of the pivot hole of the blade and the pivt pin which is screwed through the handles; far more than in any factory folder of which I am aware. The same applies to the pivot washers. Because of this when the knife is exposed to sand or similar substances the pivot assembly does not bind up as it would on factory folders which feature minimal clearances between the parts. If you're really that interested I can take some measurements to further clarify this difference.
I observed this first when working on a concrete project about two months ago. After being used to slice open bags of cement the knife was caked with grit particles but contiued to open and close reliably and with a surprising degree of smoothness. Upon disassembly for cleaning it was evident that the extra space allowed the foreign material which did find its way into the pivot to collect in the empty area and not interfere with the operation of the tool.
Two other features contribute to this resistance to clogging. The open frame lock design is naturally self cleaning and because the knife is designed for near 100% lock engagement when new it will still lock reliably even if the mating surfaces are themselves dirty. I really like my BM Axis locks, but they are far more likely to be rough and/or unreliable if dirty. The same applies to lockbacks, and there are numerous reports of lockbacks failing to lock securely due to simple accumulation of pocket lint in the notch on the blade tang. The open spine encourages the knife to shed debris better than one with a full back spacer, as well.
The second feature is that the knife is designed for user disassembly and cleaning, and it is not considered "abuse" or some such nonsense if you take it apart. The construction is similar to the Sebenza; remove three bolts and the thing opens right up. This renders it more suitable for usage around small particles than knives which are either a)pinned together and therefore not able to be disassembled, b)assembled with specialty fasteners that make disassembly unduly difficult c)manufactured by a company that considers disassembly to be a violation of their warranty. As car as I know only production companies that allow disassembly are Chris Reeve and Emerson.
Originally posted by RL
..also could you please how explain how you determined how a folder is classified as comparable...
This should be fairly simple, perhaps one handed opening locking folders with blades that are roughly 3-4 inches in length which can be purchased for under $150. I would also recommend excluding knives which feature extremely unconventional functional designs, such as Balisongs, as the inclusion of these products would make a direct comparison rather difficult. Of course, this may vary with an individual's needs and preferences.
Originally posted by RL
fishbulb, could you please explain how it is superior and what tests you undertook to determine that it has more raw strength and cutting ability than comparable folders..
Perhaps this could have been phrased better. The blade design of the Falcon is neither a thin slicing blade which cannot handle much in the way of lateral loads (Spyderco Military or BM 710, for example) nor a "slightly sharpened prybar" style which is an inefficient cutter (Buck/Strider, for example).
While there are certainly other knives which this can be said about (Al Mar SERE 2K comes to mind) I am not aware of any which drops from a full fifth of an inch near the pivot to less than half of that thicnkess halfway out along the blade and ends up less 1/20 of an inch thick at the tip before encountering the edge grind. This gives you the best of both worlds, as there is an area which can be used for simple cutting and a much heavier area which can be used for more demanding prying or similar tasks.
The all steel handle offers some interesting benefits as well. Simply going by the materials' properties it will be stronger than a handle of similar dimensions made of thinly lined or unlined G-10 or FRN, in the absence of a gross manufacturing or materials defect.
I hope this has been of assistance to you. Please let me know if you have any additional questions.
