- Joined
- May 19, 2024
- Messages
- 412
Full Disclosure! Vosteed sent me this knife for testing and review.
Vosteed reached out to me a couple weeks ago asking if I'd be interested in trying out their recently released fixed blade, the “Mink”. As someone who EDC’s a fixed blade, this offering from Vosteed was right up my alley. One can never have enough fixed blades, right? I had a family camping trip coming up and told Vosteed if they didn't mind me “finding the knife's limits and writing my honest opinion” they were free to send the knife.
Vosteed is marketing this knife as an edc offering. With a total length just over 7 inches, a blade length of 3.3 inches coupled with the frag pattern grip; this thing feels really good in your hands. The handles edges are smooth and beveled . I've had frag patterns in the past wear on your hands with prolonged use, I didn't experience any of this with the Mink. Balance was on point, coupled with the double set of jimping (one set being closer to the tip of the blade) gave you confidence that the knife would never slip positions in your hand. After I was done with testing, my 7 year old daughter wanted to whittle sticks with it. After an hour she had whittled every stick in reach of our camping sight and was looking for more. This knife is wieldable and steady even in the smallest of hands.
Out of the box the edge was fairly sharp but had some burrs on the edge. A light stropping session got it razor sharp in no time. I carried the Mink for a full week at work (I am an automotive technician and business owner) and this knife didn't skip a beat. Cutting through hoses, solder wire, zip ties, cardboard boxes and oil bottles with ease. I never needed to sharpen this knife once after a week of heavy edc use in a shop environment. Additionally the blade came into contact with everything from brake fluid to coolant and the coating is no worse for the wear.
Since the knife held up at the shop I decided it was worthy of taking on our upcoming camping trip. I wanted to find out just how durable the blade and the edge are. The thin grind on the blade made easy work of whittling sticks, slicing through 550 paracord and food prep with ease. I decided to use the Mink to prep the fire kindling. We were camping in Oklahoma so our firewood was Bur Oak; the Mink had its work cut out for it. I first used another piece of oak as my baton but the oak was too hard. I switched to the hammer end of one of my hatches as a baton. I split about 8 small oak logs into our kindling, many of the logs being wider than the blade was long. After the batoning session the mink was definitely more dull than when I began. At this point the blade would still slice paper but would no long shave hair. A few moments with a ceramic rod and leather strop had the Mink shaving hair again. I am super impressed on how well this knife holds an edge and how easy it is to maintain that edge. I've had multiple Nitro V blades over the years with varying degrees of success in regards to the heat treat it came with. The Mink exceeded my expectations by a country mile.
For $70 usd, i don't believe i've handled a more capable knife. This knife punches above its weight class; to the point I never touched my Winkler during the camping trip unless my daughter commandeered the Mink. If Vosteed keeps up with knife releases like this, their future is bright. They hit their target dead center: A cost effective, durable, EDC knife that doesn't break the bank.
Vosteed reached out to me a couple weeks ago asking if I'd be interested in trying out their recently released fixed blade, the “Mink”. As someone who EDC’s a fixed blade, this offering from Vosteed was right up my alley. One can never have enough fixed blades, right? I had a family camping trip coming up and told Vosteed if they didn't mind me “finding the knife's limits and writing my honest opinion” they were free to send the knife.
Vosteed is marketing this knife as an edc offering. With a total length just over 7 inches, a blade length of 3.3 inches coupled with the frag pattern grip; this thing feels really good in your hands. The handles edges are smooth and beveled . I've had frag patterns in the past wear on your hands with prolonged use, I didn't experience any of this with the Mink. Balance was on point, coupled with the double set of jimping (one set being closer to the tip of the blade) gave you confidence that the knife would never slip positions in your hand. After I was done with testing, my 7 year old daughter wanted to whittle sticks with it. After an hour she had whittled every stick in reach of our camping sight and was looking for more. This knife is wieldable and steady even in the smallest of hands.
Out of the box the edge was fairly sharp but had some burrs on the edge. A light stropping session got it razor sharp in no time. I carried the Mink for a full week at work (I am an automotive technician and business owner) and this knife didn't skip a beat. Cutting through hoses, solder wire, zip ties, cardboard boxes and oil bottles with ease. I never needed to sharpen this knife once after a week of heavy edc use in a shop environment. Additionally the blade came into contact with everything from brake fluid to coolant and the coating is no worse for the wear.
Since the knife held up at the shop I decided it was worthy of taking on our upcoming camping trip. I wanted to find out just how durable the blade and the edge are. The thin grind on the blade made easy work of whittling sticks, slicing through 550 paracord and food prep with ease. I decided to use the Mink to prep the fire kindling. We were camping in Oklahoma so our firewood was Bur Oak; the Mink had its work cut out for it. I first used another piece of oak as my baton but the oak was too hard. I switched to the hammer end of one of my hatches as a baton. I split about 8 small oak logs into our kindling, many of the logs being wider than the blade was long. After the batoning session the mink was definitely more dull than when I began. At this point the blade would still slice paper but would no long shave hair. A few moments with a ceramic rod and leather strop had the Mink shaving hair again. I am super impressed on how well this knife holds an edge and how easy it is to maintain that edge. I've had multiple Nitro V blades over the years with varying degrees of success in regards to the heat treat it came with. The Mink exceeded my expectations by a country mile.
For $70 usd, i don't believe i've handled a more capable knife. This knife punches above its weight class; to the point I never touched my Winkler during the camping trip unless my daughter commandeered the Mink. If Vosteed keeps up with knife releases like this, their future is bright. They hit their target dead center: A cost effective, durable, EDC knife that doesn't break the bank.
