Gerber Paraframe I

04/01/2013 by goat

-Price Paid: N/A
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for Less than 1 Month

Comments:

Cheap knife worse to date I have owned. Did not hold up to regular use at all. Used it to cut packing tape daily at work blade needed touch up within a week. Tried to sharpen the knife--what a joke steel so poor it would not hold a edge--at this point I hit the 10 ring of the trash can picked up a new knife the following day at lunch. I have owned Gerber in the past that where quality blades, but this knife was a waste of money. Openings in the handle where also to large as loose change got stuck within the blade slot on occasion. Just a all around bad design.

Mora of Sweden Mora 2000

04/01/2013 by goat

-Price Paid: $20.00
-Used for Other
-Owned for Greater than 1 year

Comments:

Blade quality is great for such a cheap knife picked one up at a gun show over a year ago. Like the grind on this blade easy to sharpen in the field. This is a very good camping blade light and easy to care for. They offer some Mora knives in carbon steel which I love---wicked sharp edge if you take the time to sharpen them correctly and know how to care for the carbon steel blade as not to allow rust to start. All in all this is a very good knife at a great price. I wish the handle was more robust, but they are easy to replace the handle on should you have a issue. You cannot go wrong with this knife for the cost.

Spyderco Manix 2 XL

04/01/2013 by Goat

-Price Paid: $100.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for Less than 1 Month

Comments:

I wanted a larger folding knife for edc. I looked all over the net read tons of reviews and watched countless videos of all the top name brands. I picked the Spyderco due to weight to size ratio and let me tell you this knife is a tank. It is so well made that I feel it is a great value for what you get at such a low price point. It is large enough to do it all from cut rope to open boxes to fighting off the random bear attack. Blade lock up is great no wiggle at all left to right and sharp out of the box. If you have small hands I would not suggest this knife but for someone with large hands this knife will serve you well. Keep in mind that this is not a Sunday go meeting blade---but a working tool---as long as you keep that in mind I would suggest this blade to anyone. Matter of fact I plan to buy another just to have a spare should something happen to this one.

Benchmade 710 McHenry and Williams

04/01/2013 by

-Price Paid: $120.00
-Used for Outdoor/Survival
-Owned for Greater than 1 year

Comments:

This is simple one of the best pocket knives you can get. I did have one 710 D2, but I lost it. Now I have the 710 with M390 steel, it's even better.

Benchmade 300SN Axis Flipper

03/31/2013 by Matt

-Price Paid: $107.00
-Used for Light Duty/General
-Owned for Less than 1 Month

Comments:

I'm a guy who is used to carrying Spyderco knives, but have always had a longstanding interest in Benchmade knives. I had just never found a Benchmade that quite suited my taste, until the 300SN.

When the 300SN came out, I had to have it. The look was perfect and they finally corrected the "issues" that were not to my taste. Specifically, I was never a fan of Zytel and I find the thumb stud on the average Benchmade to be unusable(I also don't like flicking it open by pulling back on the lock, although I know you can do this).

So, let's start with the aforementioned items. The 300SN uses G10 scales, and nicely textured ones at that. The grip is phenominal, in wet or dry. The knife also comes in an attractive coyote brown, which makes it a bit unique in the sea of black g10 scaled knives out there. G10 on a knife always has a higher quality feel to me than FRN or Zytel. The knife feels more compact and robust.

Next up is the deployment mechanism. THe 300SN still retains the standard Benchmade thumb stud, and of course you can actuate the lock and flick the knife open, although I find this to be a bit clumsy and require too drastic of a grip change when opening the knife and tends to beat up the lock if you get overzealous with your flicks. However, Benchmade included a flipper on this knife,which provides a nice balance of usability, minimal grip change when deploying the knife, and control so you don't massacre the lock over time. The jimping on the flipper, as well as the spine of the blade for that matter, is aggressive but not sharp so as to still remain comfortable.

The next feature that stands out is the size of this knife. A lot of people make the mistake of springing for the biggest knife they can find, only to realize later that it's cumberson to carry, bulky, uncomfortable, and way more knife than they need. The blade on the 300SN is a few ticks over three inches, fits nicely in the pocket, provides ample cutting edge without exceeding sensible limits, and provides enough handle length to comfortable grip. From a thickness standpoint, this knife is thick. The spine of the blade is north of 1/8" and when combined with dual steel liners and G10 scales the overall knife is close to a half inch thick. I personally like the thickness, as it nicely fills my hand when I hold it and makes it more comfortable for me. The downside is that it fills the pocket a little bit more. This knife is great for me, but I reckon it may be a touch too thick for some people, particularly people who are conscious about weight or people who wear tight pants with small pockets.

The lockup is great, as it standard for a Benchmade. The lock is easy to disengage, has a nice detent when closing the blade, and snaps open with a satisfying click when deploying the knife. The clip is a solid two screw design that is held on by torx bits. While it is robust, I would have liked to see a tip down option. This is probably my only complaint about the knife.

Actuation on the knife is silky smooth, and I haven't even oiled the pivot yet. The grind on the blade is pretty good, and the edge is razor sharp out of the box. 154CM steel is always a good choice as it rivals the Spyderco standard S30V, so unless you wanted to get exotic with your blade steel you couldn't ask for much better there.

Overall Benchmade has presented quite a package here. I have been carrying a Spyderco Paramilitary 2 for the last two years, and while I won't say this knife dethrones the PM2 as my primary knife, it certainly does compete for EDC time fairly often. The quality, comfort, and smart features will leave even the pickiest of knife guys satisfied. The 300SN is a knife that gets my highest recommendation.

Gerber Legend Multi Plier 800

03/31/2013 by Miika

-Price Paid: N/A
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for Greater than 1 year

Comments:

This was my second multitool I ever purchased and it has been with me ever since it hit the market. Legend is on par with Leatherman Surge; heavy and very sturdy.
It has rubbery grips on handle, smooth edges so you can get a very good grip of the tool without worrying it slipping. Legend doesn't have a plethora of tools but the tools you have are very good indeed. The saw tool cuts through various materials with ease unlike other saws you find in multitools. Also the saw blade is easily replaceable.
Gerber has put heavy duty pliers, which will take anything you throw at it. The downside is the size. You can't fit these into tight places like with most Leatherman pliers.
This is still the best Gerber multitool I've owned/tired.

Glock M81 Field Knife

03/29/2013 by Richard

-Price Paid: $31.00
-Used for Outdoor/Survival
-Owned for 6 months

Comments:

Quality is good, blade was shaving-sharp on mine. I polished off the black coating. Handle is hard but comfortable. Mine has no saw-back and the spine is too smooth to strike sparks on a firesteel. Hollow handle good for matches etc but would be better with a screw-cap. The plastic plug is hard to remove (without another knife!) It makes a great throwing knife too. Easy to sharpen, tough, and you won't worry if it gets scratched. The plastic sheath is very good too; has a drain-hole, ambidextrous, and holds knife very securely. Glock know about plastics so it won't break.

Microtech Socom Elite

03/27/2013 by Jimmy Bridges

-Price Paid: $250.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for Greater than 1 year

Comments:

I own the automatic version of this knife which was purchased in 2005. I understand that it is no longer in production which is unfortunate. I really like this knife. It has an exceptional structural quality

SOG Seal Pup

03/24/2013 by david

-Price Paid: N/A
-Used for Outdoor/Survival
-Owned for 1 year

Comments:

PERTAINING TO OLD VERSION. I've used this knife for light survival, cleaning a deer, and feathersticks, light batoning, cutting meat etc. came out of the box pretty sharp. It wasn't sharp enough to fully clean the deer but thats because i hade used it for a while and only lightly sharpened it. It was kind of difficult for me to get a razor edge of it after it dulled with a diamond sharpener. Edge rentention is decent, it being aus6 and not aus8 made it have less edge rentention. I've cut through coke cans and it cuts like butter. some of you might think that aus8 stinks, but that is not the case. according to the rockwell hardness it had the same stats as 1095 . aus8 56-58 1095 57-58. It is full tang has a lanyard hole, and is designed for penetration with its modified clip point style blade.

Case Yellow Trapper

03/21/2013 by Rich

-Price Paid: $36.00
-Used for Light Duty/General
-Owned for Greater than 1 year

Comments:

This CV steel is extremely sharp. It is easy to sharpen, cuts through anything. It will turn gray fast if not oiled and taken care of. The handle doesn't seen to wear and looks new. All Case XX knives are made in the USA and that makes me want to reward the company by buying more Case XX.

Gerber Octane

03/20/2013 by Miika

-Price Paid: $25.00
-Used for Other
-Owned for Greater than 1 year

Comments:

Don't. That pretty much sums it up. I bought this multitool because I liked how it looked (the red version) and because it was said to be one hand tool.
From the very begining Octane felt very flimsy in hand. When opening the tools it sounded like the joints were full of fine sand. The handle is made of rather thin steel so applying full force on the pliers made the whole thing bend a bit. Spacing between the handle and pliers is very loose, so there's some sideway movement (not on the pliers itself tho).
The locking mechanism... well. Insert a small metallic bit in a bigger plastic bit and use a flimsy spring to work the locking part. This is the worst locking mechanism I have ever witnessed. The tools are locked firmly but the plier using the same locking mechanism is a joke. Firstly: there's no locking when the pliers are inside the handle and because of the loose spacing, the pliers tend to slip half way out when in pocket/backpack. And if you have used the pliers, one of the locks tends to stuck so you need to apply force to unlock them and slide in.
This is the first multitool that has shown rust. After one damp day in the woods there were significant amount of rust inside the handle bars.
And about that one hand part. Only thing that you can operate one handed is the half serrated blade. To get to the tools you have to slide the pliers out and then you can open the handles (not fully) to access the tools.
I have avoided Gerber brand after this fiasko, even the Legend 800 is one excellent multitool.

Glock M81 Field Knife

03/20/2013 by Miika

-Price Paid: $40.00
-Used for Outdoor/Survival
-Owned for 3 months

Comments:

One word: Don't.
This knife in on par with the cheap Mora knifes. Hard, smooth plastic handle you can barely hold with your bare hands. The saw on the spine of the edge is pretty much useless for anything more than notching. The blade itself is rather dull and it doesn't hold the edge very well.
And to make things even worse: blade is painted and after first day in use the paint started to bubble (there was rust forming under the paint layer). This knife is made of spring steel which explains the easy rusting. I ended up removing the paint, sanding the rust off and left it as is.
Theres a cap at the end of the handle and by removing it there's this cylindar space (about 3-4cm deep). I don't know if this knife is ment to use as a bayonet, but I ended up placing few shortened strike-anywhere matches insde (tho I don't know how well the cap holds the water).
All in all, avoid this knife. Even it's cheap, there are a whole lot of better knifes in that price range. Unless you are into collecting knifes, leave this be.

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