After using my Smith & Wesson HRT Boot Knife and writing the review (here... http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=684639) I was curious as to another "cheap" boot knife / dagger. One that United Cutlery has offered for over ten years. It comes with a shoulder harness, much like a shoulder rig for your pistol. It costs about $12, and is called the Boot Knife, model 26S. Made in China. Boy, was I let down. Let's start from the beginning...
The box, on the left-hand side, says "We have the edge you need!" and I'm about to cry.
The Handle: The Boot Knife has a rubbery handle, 4-1/4" long and just over 1/2" thick. I know that this is a full tang knife because I got two on trade and hammered the butt of the first one so as to drive the tip into wood, and butt just smooshed apart, revealing the tang. This isn't a complaint; just how I know it's a full tang knife. The handle has a nice checker texture, and has the standard jimped thumb ramp. There is a brass guard, and a brass-lined lanyard hole large enough for some non-gutted 550 cord. Fit and finish, if you can call it that, is horrible. First, the molding around the lanyard hole (where the rubbery grip was molded on) is, well, just see for yourself...
That's not just cosmetic; it is actually coming off, just from me holding it and no actual use. None. Not even sharpening or cutting paper. Furthermore, the brass guard is uneven (off center) with the handle. In the photo, the guard leans to the right, as it is in real life...
I know it's not worth complaining about with a $12 knife, but come on. All of the Moras I've had; all of the Cold Steel 4116 Krupp knives; all of the cheapo Smith & Wessons; all of the Rough Riders; even the lowly Frost Cutlery knives that I've owned were better than this. Yes, the handle is comfortable, even when thrusting, but the handle was falling apart (peeling at the lanyard hole) right out of the package.
The Blade: The blade on the Boot Knife is 4-7/8" long with a 4-1/4" cutting edge. Edges, that is; it's a dagger. This one is a mystery steel, but I can tell you that it came out of the box very dull and would not sharpen up. I tried going down to the coarsest stone I have, even getting the diamonds out, and it just wouldn't sharpen. The edge would get close to where I wanted it (sharp enough to slice paper, nothing more) then burr up and roll.
The blade itself is hollow ground, and each side has a fuller (blood groove). The markings are shown below, and they're lasered on.
Front...
Back...
Look again at that first photograph showing the blade markings, look right where the tang meets the edge. Those are small dents or chips, and they came like that right out of the box. They're even more prominent in real life than they are in the photo, and there are more of them! Now look at both photos of the markings; right where the lasering is, that's rub marks from the tight-fitting sheath. Again, this knife has never been used.
The Sheath: The big deal here is that this knife comes with a sheath that can be clipped to your belt or worn in the included shoulder harness (see the second photo). Well, it isn't good at all. The sheath is black nylon, and it has a plastic insert to keep the knife from cutting through. This is fine, but the liner (insert) sticks out...
The sheath is also a bad fit. By that, I mean that I had to take the knife to my local knife store and buy a second one just to get a sheath that would fit my knife. Same exact model, but I needed to sort through four sheaths before I got one that fitted. Even then, the button snap would barely fit; it was way too tight.
The sheath can be worn as a shoulder rig as shown in the second photo of this post. That second photo also shows the poor quality of the sheath, as the knife is sticking out and showing the protruding liner.
Here's the back of the sheath...
The shoulder portion is made of elastic and nylon, and is adjustable for fit. It's detachable via Velcro, so you can convert it to a regular belt-clip carry...
The bottom of the sheath (if you're carrying it as a shoulder rig) has an elastic band and nylon, also adjustable for fit. This is attached to a suspender-like clip so you can anchor the sheath to your belt or pants. Take this off by simply unclipping it from the belt clip (which is metal and built into the sheath).
Shown attached to a pocket with the Smith & Wesson HRT...
I guess there's nothig else I can say about this knife. I've given you the details and my impressions, and while I wish it were a good deal for me, it simply wasn't. I could review this knife ten more times and it would still be worthless (to me). If you really want a decent boot knife or dagger without sopending over $20, please buy the Smith & Wesson HRT over this. Buy an MTech dagger, buy a Valor cruciform dagger, buy a Rough Rider Smoky Mountain Toothpick, buy a Boker Magnum Underdog. Any of those will serve you better than this piece of... United Cutlery.
The box, on the left-hand side, says "We have the edge you need!" and I'm about to cry.
The Handle: The Boot Knife has a rubbery handle, 4-1/4" long and just over 1/2" thick. I know that this is a full tang knife because I got two on trade and hammered the butt of the first one so as to drive the tip into wood, and butt just smooshed apart, revealing the tang. This isn't a complaint; just how I know it's a full tang knife. The handle has a nice checker texture, and has the standard jimped thumb ramp. There is a brass guard, and a brass-lined lanyard hole large enough for some non-gutted 550 cord. Fit and finish, if you can call it that, is horrible. First, the molding around the lanyard hole (where the rubbery grip was molded on) is, well, just see for yourself...
That's not just cosmetic; it is actually coming off, just from me holding it and no actual use. None. Not even sharpening or cutting paper. Furthermore, the brass guard is uneven (off center) with the handle. In the photo, the guard leans to the right, as it is in real life...
I know it's not worth complaining about with a $12 knife, but come on. All of the Moras I've had; all of the Cold Steel 4116 Krupp knives; all of the cheapo Smith & Wessons; all of the Rough Riders; even the lowly Frost Cutlery knives that I've owned were better than this. Yes, the handle is comfortable, even when thrusting, but the handle was falling apart (peeling at the lanyard hole) right out of the package.
The Blade: The blade on the Boot Knife is 4-7/8" long with a 4-1/4" cutting edge. Edges, that is; it's a dagger. This one is a mystery steel, but I can tell you that it came out of the box very dull and would not sharpen up. I tried going down to the coarsest stone I have, even getting the diamonds out, and it just wouldn't sharpen. The edge would get close to where I wanted it (sharp enough to slice paper, nothing more) then burr up and roll.
The blade itself is hollow ground, and each side has a fuller (blood groove). The markings are shown below, and they're lasered on.
Front...
Back...
Look again at that first photograph showing the blade markings, look right where the tang meets the edge. Those are small dents or chips, and they came like that right out of the box. They're even more prominent in real life than they are in the photo, and there are more of them! Now look at both photos of the markings; right where the lasering is, that's rub marks from the tight-fitting sheath. Again, this knife has never been used.
The Sheath: The big deal here is that this knife comes with a sheath that can be clipped to your belt or worn in the included shoulder harness (see the second photo). Well, it isn't good at all. The sheath is black nylon, and it has a plastic insert to keep the knife from cutting through. This is fine, but the liner (insert) sticks out...
The sheath is also a bad fit. By that, I mean that I had to take the knife to my local knife store and buy a second one just to get a sheath that would fit my knife. Same exact model, but I needed to sort through four sheaths before I got one that fitted. Even then, the button snap would barely fit; it was way too tight.
The sheath can be worn as a shoulder rig as shown in the second photo of this post. That second photo also shows the poor quality of the sheath, as the knife is sticking out and showing the protruding liner.
Here's the back of the sheath...
The shoulder portion is made of elastic and nylon, and is adjustable for fit. It's detachable via Velcro, so you can convert it to a regular belt-clip carry...
The bottom of the sheath (if you're carrying it as a shoulder rig) has an elastic band and nylon, also adjustable for fit. This is attached to a suspender-like clip so you can anchor the sheath to your belt or pants. Take this off by simply unclipping it from the belt clip (which is metal and built into the sheath).
Shown attached to a pocket with the Smith & Wesson HRT...
I guess there's nothig else I can say about this knife. I've given you the details and my impressions, and while I wish it were a good deal for me, it simply wasn't. I could review this knife ten more times and it would still be worthless (to me). If you really want a decent boot knife or dagger without sopending over $20, please buy the Smith & Wesson HRT over this. Buy an MTech dagger, buy a Valor cruciform dagger, buy a Rough Rider Smoky Mountain Toothpick, buy a Boker Magnum Underdog. Any of those will serve you better than this piece of... United Cutlery.
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