hdiller
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2002
- Messages
- 199
This is a stream of consciousness so I apologize for the length. In the last couple of years, I have adopted Dozier's design philosophy, keep it simple and functional. However, unlike Dozier I am guilty of using a knife as a prying device sometimes. So to me, a pragmatic knife is one that cuts first and foremost but that won't break if I have to pry out an industrial staple, for example. With this said, I have purchased a couple of Dozier's and Rinaldi's. I am still a fan of Busse, but until this year most of his line has been too thick for utility purposes for me. In his defense, he has changed over most of the utility sized line to 3/16 for better cutting and I still own 4 of his knives and they are great for outdoor duties, but I digress. I got a chance to meet Trace at the Blade show last week and discussed his design philosophy. He, like Dozier, keeps his design simple yet elegant. I have found that his knives are the most comfortable knives I have ever picked up. The blade geometry makes his knives cut like crazy and the ergonomics make for excellent hand purchase. I bought 2 of his knives and have field tested one of them extensively. He doesn't have a name for this one but it most closely resembles a Chimera, I think, except it has only one finger groove. It has a boron carbide coated S30V blade w/ carbon fiber scales. He scavenges the carbon fiber from F18 wings. The carbon fiber has a more intricate lament pattern than commercial grades. Back to the performance, in a nutshell I dont know of a better utility/all purpose knife made. It has worked extraordinarily well for me outdoors, on boxes, rope, leather, plastic, and in the kitchen for food prep. This one knife does everything very well. Oh, yeah almost forgot about the sheath. It has a Kydex sheath that is covered with shark skin. This is the first one he has made like this. I wear it horizontally and despite the fact that the knife is a around 9 long it is very comfortable to wear. The shark skin makes the sheath nice and quiet. Well, thats my 2 cents worth. I will be posting some images in the gallery section if any of you are curious to see his new stuff. 
