Who has a CS El Hombre plainedge?

[James Y]

I'm curious about this knife. Is the Nogales clip point as efficient for its size in 4" as it is in the Vaquero 5 and 6" models?
As for the recurve, I guess to resharpen the plain blade on Spydie sticks would be to keep the part in contact w/sticks horizontal to the ground.
How does it perform in your experience, and hold and edge, resharpen, carry (metal clip), hold up under heavy use, etc.?
Jim

 

[ToTKnives]

James, I have carried one of the serr. for about a yr. and I really liked it, but I sold it and I bough a plain edged knive. For some reason I don't carry it ( I have so many knives to carry ). I think the serr. version would be a better defence knife, but the plain edged would work pretty good in a pinch also. The El Hombre is a nice size carry knife, it is not to big, but has plenty of blade to get the job done. I like the clip on the knife too. I know I have not been much help as far as the plain bladed El Hombre goes. If you deside you might want to try one, e-mail me off line and we might talk trade.
Chris, Top of Texas Knives
www.toptexknives.com

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[Bob Irons]

Jim,

Mine's serrated, but it makes a great car knife - one of several close at hand. It's not a good daily carry for me because it doesn't sit well in my pocket (front or back).

Hope you get a response from someone with a plain edge one.

 

[Joe Talmadge]

I have a plain edge El Hombre. I wrote an article on it a while ago, you can check the Knife Reviews or Knife DF&T Forums on knifeforums, it's there somewhere.

But here's the main summary. I like the El Hombre plain edge, after making one modification. I mean, I really like it. However, this is one knife that if someone tells me they don't like it, I have a hard time arguing as to why it's so good. I think I like it so much because it's so unique, rather than because it's an especially elegant solution.

The main thing you'll need to do to get your El Hombre up to snuff is to re-profile the edge, it is *way* too thick. You can read the article I wrote "How to Make the Benchmade Axis Perform" for how I recommend reprofiling the edge. I used the exact same method on my El Hombre, and its performance is frightening now!

I love the Nogales clip-point. The recurve cuts like crazy, and the point is nice and sharp. It excels at shallow penetration, but for deep penetration the blade width will get in the way a bit. For the first 1/4", it penetrates about as well as my AFCK, and that's very very good. The steel is AUS-8, nothing to write home about, but performance is reasonably solid.

This is a very unique-looking knife that also happens to perform nicely. The handles are too thick and clip mounted a *touch* too low to make this my perfect 4"-bladed lightweight folder. But it's still a great package, it gets noticed, and it's just nice to carry it.

Joe
jat@cup.hp.com