OilMan
Gold Member
- Joined
- May 6, 2004
- Messages
- 4,283
Just got my Rick Hinderer XM-18 last night and have some immediate thoughts and then after I use it for a while I'll come up with some more. The one I picked up is a beadblasted flipper with black handles and Spanto tip. It wasn't exactly new but Shane Sibert had re-beadblasted it so it looked new. It still had it's factory edge. Which would barely cut paper.
Right out of the bag I noticed the grinds towards the tip were off. If you look at the blade from the top down you can see that the points of the 'diamond' are off. I didn't think that was a huge deal til I noticed that the actual edge had two distinct grinds on it. Like someone messed up sharpening it the first time and did it again. At a slightly different angle. So... I reprofiled it last night. That's where the uneven grinds really came into play because I had to take quite a bit more steel off the one side than the other. From the sharpening standpoint I'm not big on the Spanto tip but it has nothing to do with use so maybe it will still grow on me.
The Lockup. Again, I got this second hand kinda so I don't know if this arose from taking it apart for the beadblast but it's got the slightest wiggle to it when locked open. If I push the lockbar a little farther in it locks up tight. I'm not worried so much about it closing but I don't like any wiggle in my knives so I'll let it bug me until I can't take it anymore and then I'll see if Rick can adjust it for me. (Although after the way we were to each other when I cancelled my order he might not want to.
I'm not the most patient person in the world. Or even close. )
The flipper. I had bought a Hinderer designed Gerber Firestorm or somesuch model to play with the flipper on it and found it to be stiff and the actual trigger to be set too far back to make it a good flipper. The XM is the same. Mine requires quite a bit of wrist action to get it to open all the way and lock up tight. The speed may have something to do with the fresh bead blast but the trigger is still back too far to give it good action. It seems like the position of the trigger also hampers the preload flipper technique that I use successfully on most flippers. (Push forward and then pull back sharply.)
The handle. My hand automagically goes to the choil grip which I find comfortable but if I hold it by just the handle I don't find it as comfy. I find the same thing with Strider framelocks. This is just probably personal taste so I don't count it as much towards the overall knife. I immediately changed it to tip down which is my favored carry method without any issues.
Overall. It's a beefy knife that I'll carry for a while to see if I can overcome my dislike for the flipper action. It isn't the best slicer on the planet because of the thickness of the blade but it does cut well after the reprofile. The F/F wasn't quite up to snuff but for the pricepoint it isn't too bad. Like I said, I'll carry it for a while and see if it grows on me. After carrying it for a while I'll add any other thoughts.
Pictures. I'll get some when I get home tonight but all last night was spent reprofiling it or getting my craptacular passaround cd together.
Here's the before I reprofiled it pic taken by Shane.
IMHO,
Greg
Right out of the bag I noticed the grinds towards the tip were off. If you look at the blade from the top down you can see that the points of the 'diamond' are off. I didn't think that was a huge deal til I noticed that the actual edge had two distinct grinds on it. Like someone messed up sharpening it the first time and did it again. At a slightly different angle. So... I reprofiled it last night. That's where the uneven grinds really came into play because I had to take quite a bit more steel off the one side than the other. From the sharpening standpoint I'm not big on the Spanto tip but it has nothing to do with use so maybe it will still grow on me.
The Lockup. Again, I got this second hand kinda so I don't know if this arose from taking it apart for the beadblast but it's got the slightest wiggle to it when locked open. If I push the lockbar a little farther in it locks up tight. I'm not worried so much about it closing but I don't like any wiggle in my knives so I'll let it bug me until I can't take it anymore and then I'll see if Rick can adjust it for me. (Although after the way we were to each other when I cancelled my order he might not want to.
I'm not the most patient person in the world. Or even close. )The flipper. I had bought a Hinderer designed Gerber Firestorm or somesuch model to play with the flipper on it and found it to be stiff and the actual trigger to be set too far back to make it a good flipper. The XM is the same. Mine requires quite a bit of wrist action to get it to open all the way and lock up tight. The speed may have something to do with the fresh bead blast but the trigger is still back too far to give it good action. It seems like the position of the trigger also hampers the preload flipper technique that I use successfully on most flippers. (Push forward and then pull back sharply.)
The handle. My hand automagically goes to the choil grip which I find comfortable but if I hold it by just the handle I don't find it as comfy. I find the same thing with Strider framelocks. This is just probably personal taste so I don't count it as much towards the overall knife. I immediately changed it to tip down which is my favored carry method without any issues.
Overall. It's a beefy knife that I'll carry for a while to see if I can overcome my dislike for the flipper action. It isn't the best slicer on the planet because of the thickness of the blade but it does cut well after the reprofile. The F/F wasn't quite up to snuff but for the pricepoint it isn't too bad. Like I said, I'll carry it for a while and see if it grows on me. After carrying it for a while I'll add any other thoughts.
Pictures. I'll get some when I get home tonight but all last night was spent reprofiling it or getting my craptacular passaround cd together.
Here's the before I reprofiled it pic taken by Shane.
IMHO,
Greg