Sep 7, 2010

Pocket knife

I've mentioned many times that I nearly always have a knife with me. Often it's two knives - a standard folder and a multitool.

Up until I lost it, I had a SOG Twitch II and felt it to be just about perfect. Slim, assisted-opening, took and kept an edge, and felt good in the hand. After I lost it, I tried a CRKT Point Guard for a while, but that was chunkier than I cared for. I dug into my drawer o' knives and pulled out a CRKT Bandera.

The Bandera is a decent knife. Slender, nice blade profile, kept an edge... but. BIG negative: the back edge of the blade has a very sharp corner that sits forward if you use the pocket clip of the knife. I scraped my hand many many times reaching into the pocket for other stuff, and more than once actually cut myself enough to bleed.

I finally got tired of it.

I went to the local Dick's for a few other things and gritted my teeth to buy another Twitch II... but they were out of stock. Since I had an expiring coupon, I looked over the other options, and ended up getting a Kershaw/Ken Onion "Chive".

So far, I like it, with the minor complaint that it's a tad small for my hands. The blade is a great size, but the scales are shorter than I'd like. My opinion may change somewhat when I try to sharpen it - recurve blades are a pain in the ass to sharpen on anything but Croc sticks, and I'm a diamond-whetstone kinda guy.

1 comment:

elmo iscariot said...

The Chive's a fine little knife, but I know what you mean. That's one tiny, slender handle.

Personally, I think Spyderco dropped the ball when they released the Caly 3. It's so perfect, it's put me off buying pocket knives. :)

Any given day, I'm carrying it or my Queen lockback. Fine knives for either a modern or an old-fashioned state of mind.