I received the Seal 2000 yesterday, and it was quite a knife. I wasn't expecting it to be so heavy, it was really a massive blade. The grind lines are perfectly done, so there is no bend or wobble effect down the spine of the blade. No one ever talks much about the different types of zytel out there, so when I ordered the knife I expected some cheap plastic injected onto the handle to make a grip. But this is not the same cheap zytel I am used to. This stuff is very hard-- actually super hard. When I tap the handle with a butter knife it rings like ceramic. I was worried about rust on the tang, but I examined it closely and the handle seems to be well bonded at the junction. There is no crack like on cold steel knives. I am pretty sure after taking appart my mini pentagon that the handle of the seal is secured in the same fashion.
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=138168&a=1012456&p=19486718&Sequence=0
One or two holes are drilled through the tang and then the zytel is injected to form a handle and thus fills the hole forming a one-piece handle/pin assembly. The bond between the handle and tang seems tight enough so that little water, if any, should seep into the crack. There are a few down sides to this knife which I have not heard mentioned before. The knife is very solid, in fact is its a bit too solid, for the handle offeres absolutely no shock absorbance. I cut down a few branches, and my hand was numbed from the high frequency vibrations passing staight from the blade through the handle. The grip is quite abrasive because of the checkering pattern, but overall I like this handle much more than any kraton or rubber-like handle I have ever touched. This handle will not get cut by sharp rocks, and and it doesn't squish around or flex when twisted. I don't think removing the handle to look at the tang or replace the material is even possible without high speed power tools. A knife would only cut mm into this material.
Other things I did not like were the sheath and the thickness of the grind. I think the sheath sucked. It was made from very thin kydex which wasn't even fitted to the knife; it was formed to a mold. The retention was extreamly loose, and the strap had the button riveted too far over so that there was lots of room between the handle and the closed strap. In fact I placed the knife in the inverted sheath and closed the retention strap and let the knife drop two feet before stopping it at the end of a taut lanyard. The knife came flying out onto the carpet, and the blade didn't even cut the cordura on the closed retention strap despite all 12 inches of knife passing completely through handle first--the strap was that loose! It is the equivalant of the Ka-bar flying out of it's sheath when held upside down and not even grazing the secured leather retention strap--something I didn't expect from a water jumping, diving, air commando type knife. I heated the sheath with a hair dryer and squeezed it too hard, and now I need King Arthur to relinquish the knife from the sheath's death grip. Anyway I needed to do that because when I took the knife for an hour and a half dog paddle in the pacific, it never came out despite the somersaults the waves through me into. The two kydex sheets composing the sheath also have cracks (spaces) between the rivets where sunlight can get through. There seems to be kydex saw dust sandwiched between the two halves producing the spaces. Jumping back and forth, I will now point out another good thing. Cougar and the post above were right about the steel not rusting fast. I didn't treat it with anything and nothing orange appeared on the edge or the coated sides. It took my broken mini pentagon more than 9 days in a cup of fresh water to show any sign of darkening on the exposed blade, so I wasn't suprised to see the seal perform well in the salt water today. Something bad about the sheath again--the rivet holding the messed up retention strap begain to rust away. Soon that strap will fall off and then I will not be bothered by it's useless addition to my sheath. Sand also got into the sheath and scratched lines of coating off the blade when I pulled it out to clean it off in the end. I don't care; it will be scratched eventually, but it would have been nice if it was done naturally by a rock perhapse, or even a coffee can--just not that beasty evil sheath that has continued to disapoint me so. Edge retention is quite good, and I know of no better steel that could do the branch cutting and salt water exposure while not loosing any shaving ability. In general the knife is very well made, it has good fit and finish on the blade and handle. The steel is perfect for the job, and my sheath sucked. Would I have been better of with the intrepid or the kabar next gen? Maybe, but probably not. The Seal offeres a lot of blade -- 12.something oz. Nice grind lines and a handle that will never move or need maintanance or replacement. It is a nice pointy knife too, and maybe a little too pointy for the prying ablity that the .25in thick spine suggests. But I like it's look and I plan to keep this and use it as my only large fixed blade until it dies sometime in the far distant future. By then my favorite named knife will be out and I will have to buy it: THE RECONDOOOOOOO! Look for that review and better grammer/spelling in twenty years time.
