Leatherman Crunch

01/30/2011 by Your Name

-Price Paid: N/A
-Used for Light Duty/General
-Owned for Greater than 1 year

Comments:

I have had it for 12 years now.

The pliers work fine, the steel is very good, they show some rust, (i have always lived in the mountains away from the sea air).

The philips driver is made of cheap steel, wore out the first time i used it. flat drivers and file are fine. the knife is ok, have never sharpened it but it works ok.

has a serious design flaw with the small tools, when you open them the bolt interferes with them, making knife almost useless.

The locking pliers work ok. after all these years, the only value of use the tool has is the locking pliers. wich are ok.

Cold Steel Mini AK-47

01/29/2011 by ALR

-Price Paid: $46.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for Less than 1 Month

Comments:

I am extremely impressed by this blade. (I have the mini) and it is a great EDC knife; small and light enough for your pocket, but strong enough for any use. The G-10 handle offers great purchase and the ergonomics are outstanding. The only reason it didn't get a 10 out of 10 in the overall score is that it does not have liners, just the G-10...great for weight, but I do question longterm durability.

As with any Cold Steel knife, it has great quality of materials and it is shaving sharp out of the box.

SOG Seal Pup Elite

01/21/2011 by Jason

-Price Paid: $75.00
-Used for Outdoor/Survival
-Owned for 1 year

Comments:

This is attached to my BOB and gets used very little but you can tell it's a solid build. Handle provides good grip and blade is extremely sharp. I haven't had to sharpen it but one time and it was rather easy to get a good edge on it. Great feeling knife in the hand good balance, it will take just about anything you can dish out. If you shop around you can get a great deal out there. The elite comes with AUS8 and the Seal Pup comes with AUS6 i beleive that's the only difference in the 2. I would recommend this knife for just about any situation, shouldn't rust so it would be ideal for boat use.

SOG Vulcan Mini

01/21/2011 by Jason

-Price Paid: $69.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for 3 months

Comments:

Great little knife, as others have mentioned in the reviews if you shop around a bit you can find really good deals out there on this knife. I have the tanto blade and can't say enough about it. Very smooth operation, tight not much play at all. This is my EDC knife so it goes every where with me. I would recomend buying this if your in the market for a good little knife. The VG10 holds an edge very well, the only minor issue I've had with it is I cut some plastic as it was laying on the ground and the sand scratched the finish a bit. Other than that it's a great knife.

Buck 119 Special

01/16/2011 by Your Name

-Price Paid: $100.00
-Used for Outdoor/Survival
-Owned for Greater than 1 year

Comments:

this knife is a good knife except for the softness of the blade. i was cutting a stick to get it out of my face but i hit a wire hidden in the stick and it left very small burs in the blade. as far as i could tell that the only flaw i could find. it feels like power in your hand. exceptional comfort great for exploring in the woods. just watch whats in what you cut. great knife for the price of about $100

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SOG Meridian Topo

01/13/2011 by Maximo92f

-Price Paid: N/A
-Used for Light Duty/General
-Owned for 1 year

Comments:

I originally purchased this knife to be weak side carry knife/church pants knife. It is very light weight and near flawless in its construction. The open assisted blade is a breeze to deploy with the dorsal fin but not so much with the thumb studs. The pocket clip is where it is, right hand tip up only, you cannot change its position. The up swept blade is quite sharp and good for light every day use but I would not want to be in a survival situation with it, though it would be much better than nothing. The knife is what it is, which is a well made light duty knife for a business man to EDC. I do have two complaints though, first the handle is very edgy and will shred your hand if you have to make a heavy cut or use it for a log period of time. Second the safety switch, which I have no use for on any knife, is much too easy to engage preventing you form opening the blade if you needed to do so in a hurry. I simply J.B welded it open, problem solved. The knife is not really the best value on the market so I would only purchase this knife if you just really like the looks.

Kershaw Cyclone

01/13/2011 by Maximo92f

-Price Paid: $40.00
-Used for Light Duty/General
-Owned for 6 months

Comments:

I actually have two of these knives both lack the assist open on/off switch. The Cyclone is a large folder with a 3 3/4 inch blade. I believe the wide blade makes the knife look larger than it really is which could really be the only complaint about this knife. The knife is thin and light weight with a nice lanyard hole. Clip can be positioned tip up or tip down but in a RH only configuration. The blade can be deployed with either the thumb studs or the dorsal fin making it easy to open with either hand. This knife is an exceptional example of how smooth Kershaws speed safe assisted open system really is. In my opinion Kershaw makes the finest open assisted knives, and I have had plenty from several different manufacturers to compare them to. The handle has excellent ergonomics especially for those with large hands. Heavy cutting is made easier and more comfortable by the large smooth handle. It is really too bad this knife was discontinued, everyone I show this knife to wants one, so if you want one pick one up while they are still available.

Spyderco Paramilitary 2

01/13/2011 by Matt

-Price Paid: $110.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for Less than 1 Month

Comments:

The Spyderco Paramilitary 2 is an absolutely exceptional knife. It is my most recent EDC knife, which arrived after 5 months of waiting. I wanted to do a review asap but had to wait at least a month so I could carry it and use it to provide accurate feedback.

That said, out of the box the knife was dialed. Blade was dead center with no play, everything was tight, everything lined up and matched up well. The grind was good, and obvious attention to detail was paid. The knife would be perfect on build quality, except I had to ding it a point because the clip is slightly loose. If you apply pressure side to side at the bottom, the clip will rock back and forth every so slightly. I don't clip my knives, so it's not a major bother, just a nitpick.

For ergonomics, it fits my hand very well. I have a large palm and average length fingers and I wear the knife like a glove. The hole on the blade is large and makes for fast deployment. I find it very easy for my thumb to find the hole without looking, which is to say I'm very precise with blade deployment. I still had to ding the knife a point on ergos for the reason that the lock require a serious change in grip to disengage, as well as either a leg or second hand to close the blade. I knew this going in, but it's really one handed open, two handed close.

The blade is solid so far. I notice no degradation of the edge thusfar. The knife has held an edge with no visible chips and still feels very sharp.

A few other features I like are the liberal use of jimping, the nice large lanyard hole, and the fact that Spyderco finally got a clue and allowed for both tip down and tip up carry, unlike the past Paramilitary. I also like the fact that Spyderco is experimenting with high volume low margin sales on this one, because I got it for roughly 110 shipped, which is a steal, particularly considering the old, lesser refined Paramilitary 1 costs upwards of 140.

Overall I'm extremely please with the knife, particularly with price in mind. If you can get used to the compression lock, I highly recommend the Paramilitary 2.

Cold Steel AK47

01/12/2011 by jacob

-Price Paid: $50.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for 6 months

Comments:

(new model)Awesome knife for the monney, razor sharp ,nice grip, good pocket clip, relatively light weight, this knife will not let you down!! highly recomended!!

Cold Steel Trail Master

01/09/2011 by Dragonram7

-Price Paid: $220.00
-Used for Outdoor/Survival
-Owned for Greater than 1 year

Comments:

I guess this would be considered a very long term review. The price paid is a guess because I received it for a gift. I have seen many custom pieces on the market that can't hold up to this knife. I have had this knife for 15-18 years. I have used it for camp outs, wilderness survival merit badge (I'm scoutmaster and counselor), etc. This knife is tough and can adapt to any chore.

This is one of my knives I'd want if the chips are down and I'll have to survive long term. I have prepared food, chopped wood, built shelters, built fires, traps, snares, firewalls, and never had a problem. This knife holds an edge forever and sharpens easily.

The Kraton handle is easy to grip even when wet. The carbon V steel doesn't chip. If you whip down the blade with a tuff cloth, rust isn't an issue. My sheath is a thick high quality leather. Due to the bowie style blade, it can chop as well as a hatchet without destroying your hands. It's a knife that will be passed to your grand children.

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SOG Aegis

01/09/2011 by maximo92f

-Price Paid: $55.00
-Used for Light Duty/General
-Owned for 6 months

Comments:

First off anyone who reviews a knife or reads a knife review must keep in mind what the product they are reviewing or reading about has an intended purpose and so that purpose is what should be reviewed. Way too many people buy a light weight knife and try to chop down a tree with it and when it breaks they give it a bad review.

With that in mind the SOG Aegis was designed to be a light weight EDC normal task use knife not a survival knife. I EDC two knives one for the majority of my tasks which is my right hand carry knife. The SOG Aegis is my Left hand carry knife. My particular criteria for weak side carry is as follows. It must be light weight, have an open assisted blade, have an excellent piercing blade of at least 3 inches with a plain blade and can be carried right or left handed and hide well in the pocket. This knife fits all that criteria to a T. I deliver and repair medical equipment for a living going from home to home. Like any delivery person dogs, especially in bad neighborhoods are an issue so I carry two knives instead of a multi blade knife so I have access to a defensive blade with either hand. Weight was an issue for me for LH carry since I already carry enough in my pockets and on my belt to rival Batman. Normally I would look to Spyderco for a light weight EDC knife but I needed the open assist for LH carry due to a permanent injury to my left hand. This knife grabbed my attention simply on looks then as I researched it I found it is extremely light. With a 3.5 inch blade in weighs in at only 3.1oz. The bayonet clip allows for deep carry yet I have no trouble pulling the knife in or out of my pocket.

This knife has some of the best ergonomics I have ever felt in a folding knife. The rubber inserts along with the digital texture allow for a good firm grip wet or dry, gloved or not. In my opinion the gimping on the back of the handle is way too smooth and does not give a good enough grip for your thumb during heavy cutting but is not a deal breaker.

The lock up on the blade is quite nice for a knife that does not have liners in the handle. Upon receiving the knife I had to adjust the pivot to get the lock to work at full strength and remove some side to side wiggle in the blade but once the adjustments were made the knife felt much more solid.

The blade is made of AUS-8 steel which is light, holds and edge well enough and is quite corrosion resistant. I see a lot of complaints in reviews about AUS-8 steel being sub-par and that is simply nonsense. Everyone wants S30V but few are willing to pay for it. Every knife is a compromise and in sub $200 knives you are going to get a small downgrade in steel that does not make lighter steels like AUS-8 unworthy of knife use. It wasn't that long ago everyone wanted 440c and the day will come S30V in no longer king of the hill.

Overall this makes a great EDC knife for the common, works in the city type of guy, but is not a heavy use knife for such as a ranch hand or construction worker and this knife should not be treated as such. The Aegis has an excellently shaped spear point flat ground blade (big fan of flat ground blades) that is capable of an extremely sharp edge and the blade retains that edge quite well. This would not be my first choice of folder to be dropped of in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness with but would work in a pinch, but for common every day cutting even in the kitchen there are few better. The only change I would make is to drop the useless blade locking mechanism. Just my opinion but there is no place for such a device on a knife.

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Zero Tolerance 0350

01/09/2011 by Maximo92f

-Price Paid: $110.00
-Used for Outdoor/Survival
-Owned for 6 months

Comments:

I have had this knife for several months and even EDC it for some time. First impressions of this knife are simply, wow. The one I purchased was completely flawless in fit and finish and needed no pivot adjustment as all too many knives do out of the box. This knife is built for hard use that is for sure, right down to the shape of the blade. The blade lakes a little in small hole piercing ability due to its large belly but with that great belly on that blade comes exceptional strength so there is little worry of snapping off the tip. The blade, made of S30V steel holds an exceptional edge for a long period of time even under tough use. I have cut several different objects running the blade across large staples and other hard objects and have yet to scratch the black coating on the blade. The open assisted blade can be opened with either the dual thumb studs or the dorsal fin on the back of the blade. There is slightly more room between the handle and the thumb stud for right hand opening than there is for the left making left hand opening a little more difficult via the thumb stud5 but it is rendered mute by the dorsal fin which can be used equally right or left handed, bare handed or gloved.

The clip can be positioned right, left, tip up or tip down adding great versatility to this knife and is of excellent quality.

The gimping on the butt of the handle and along the back of the handle are the most useful I have ever encountered on any knife allowing for excellent traction without gouging your hand. The gimping works very well with our without gloves.

The G10 scales, much like the gimping allow for great traction, wet or dry without gouging your hand, and again work very well with or without gloves. The handle has, in my opinion, excellent ergonomics. I have very large hands and this knife fits my hand very well and does not gouge me even while cutting heavy material.

In my opinion this would make a great EDC knife for just about anyone. I EDC a Spyderco but that knife just fits my particular needs a little better but if the ZT was all I had it is more than capable of performing the tasks I do daily I simply prefer a non open assisted blade at work since I work around a lot of kids and open assist spooks or gives them the wow factor.

All in all I can find no weakness in this knife other than some may find it a little heavy especially while wearing slacks or other pants with thin material. This knife is truly a great challenger to all top quality folders.