Who's gotten their 5.1 Starter?

The spines are sharper but not as sharp as a ferro notch. I use a scraper or the awl on my multi tool anyway. Finish is nice and even. I like stonewash so I would have been OK with the old finish. The new one is nice though!
 
Im cool with it. I make my own kydex holsters and sheathes and frequently use .06. The thinner stuff molds better, which you will see when you get one of the new sheathes. Ive never had an issue with .06. I think .08 is the perfect tradeoff of stiffness vs moldability.
 
you say the spines are sharp but not as sharp as the notch, do you think the spine is a capable striker? I don't have any experience with fire steel yet so I am trying to figure out if I need to order a striker with the ferro rod in case I don't happen to have my leatherman handy or not.
 
I think Chiral's Video demonstrated the difference between the two. I can saybfor sure that the sharper the better whne it comes to striking a ferro rod.
 
That's a rare photo comparing both old and new Riz. Thanks for sharing. Does the handle feel substantially different in ergonomics?

Truly agree about the sharper the better. I also realized a more flexible steel works better. I always have the Leatherman Wave with my fire kit. Nothing strikes a fire steel better than the back of the saw on the Wave. The saw seems to dig in well and the flex seems to throw the sparks further.
 
The ergos onthe handle are huge. They make the old 5.1 feel boxy and straight (and I always loved the old 5.1 handle). The new one blends with your hand way better and feels less angular and more smooth, but it doesnt feel like it would twist in the hand.
 
rxavage said:
you say the spines are sharp but not as sharp as the notch, do you think the spine is a capable striker? I don't have any experience with fire steel yet so I am trying to figure out if I need to order a striker with the ferro rod in case I don't happen to have my leatherman handy or not.
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The spine can strike a ferro-rod, but it is no where near as good for striking as the ferro-notch or a dedicated tool, imho. The spine-sparks were many but puny and took a lot of effort to get a good dig into the rod, the notch-sparks were globs of molten metal with relative ease :thumbup: I too tend to use the back of my leatherman saw or the can-opener for such a purpose. IF you have good, delicate, dry tinder, the spine will be fine for sparking your fire... but I'd personally rather have a slightly rounder spine near the handle for thumb-placement, and then a dedicated notch or striking tool.

BTW, this is my opinion regarding a LOT of knives with "sharp" spines - they work, but aren't ideal for striking. *shrug*
 
Riz2530 said:
The ergos onthe handle are huge. They make the old 5.1 feel boxy and straight (and I always loved the old 5.1 handle). The new one blends with your hand way better and feels less angular and more smooth, but it doesnt feel like it would twist in the hand.
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Glad there is a drastic improvement in the feel. Handle ergo didn't bother me much at first but as I got more and more involved with using all the knives I currently have, I am starting to realize that an ergonomical handle could mean letting you use the knife for hours on end compared to minutes before it actually zaps your will to carry on with the tasks at hand.
 
chiral.grolim said:
The spine can strike a ferro-rod, but it is no where near as good for striking as the ferro-notch or a dedicated tool, imho. The spine-sparks were many but puny and took a lot of effort to get a good dig into the rod, the notch-sparks were globs of molten metal with relative ease :thumbup: I too tend to use the back of my leatherman saw or the can-opener for such a purpose. IF you have good, delicate, dry tinder, the spine will be fine for sparking your fire... but I'd personally rather have a slightly rounder spine near the handle for thumb-placement, and then a dedicated notch or striking tool.

BTW, this is my opinion regarding a LOT of knives with "sharp" spines - they work, but aren't ideal for striking. *shrug*
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Do you find the jimping on the new version too aggressive? I remember the old version was perfect because the edges on those jimping was rounded out during the tumbling process. The new version feels sharper. Does it hurt your thumb when really going down hard on materials?
 
no the jumping doesn't hurt your thumb, if it does maybe try and toughen the thumb up a bit buy just using the knife more.
 
rxavage said:
no the jumping doesn't hurt your thumb, if it does maybe try and toughen the thumb up a bit buy just using the knife more.
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That's good to know. Some of my knives has got pretty nice jimping but some just cuts into the thumb and I get sore thumb lasting a couple of days.
 
Nice pics Riz!! Yeah they are crazy sharp, Guy is really a master sharpener. I bet no one else in the semi-custom knife industry spends as much time sharpening knives as he does.
 
Just received my GSO 5.1 in CPM20CV today. This is my first S!K and I am damn impressed by the quality. I can assure everyone who is still patiently waiting for it that it is worth it. I will put this in the same league as CRK in term of quality and attention to details.

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The handle faster has a very nice cut out that looks like Star Tortoise shell

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For those interested to know how it looks like against some Busse knives. From the top to bottom:

1) Busse STJAC
2) GSO 5.1
3) Busse BATAC
4) Busse Swatmandu

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The GSO 5.1 fills the gap nicely among my collection.
 
I came to the realization that the packaging box from S!K is almost as good as a display case for photo shoots. Everyone does the same angle with the box and the knife just looks darn great and sexy in the box. Congrats Don!
 
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