MOVING!

Today my website officially went up you can find it at:
www.blades411.com
From now on, I will be posting all information and reviews on that site and the blog on that site. I will be uploading all of my old reviews, but they are all being updated and new content is being added.

Tanto and Sheepsfoot Points

                There are many different types of points on knives. One of the points is a tanto point. The tanto point is an angled straight edge that is designed to be strong. These were originally from Japan and designed to pierce armor. A tanto is actually a style of Japanese dagger where the point comes from. Over the years, it has evolved into the Americanized tanto which has more bevels, and a steeper angle on the point. Tanto points are good for utility because of their strength.

                The sheepsfoot point is rounded. When I got my first sheepsfoot knife, I wondered why anyone would want a knife with no point. I learned, however, that the sheepsfoot point is designed for rescue teams. This way, the knife can cut through rope or a seatbelt without the risk of stabbing the person being rescued with the point. 

Review: Gerber Bear Grylls Scout

     This review will sort of be a follow up to my rant on Swiss Army Knives. So an alternative that I like is the Gerber Bear Grylls Scout. The blade is excellent. It has stayed sharp and has great jimping on the spine of the blade. It has serrations on it which are surprisingly effective. The one thing that I really don’t like about the Scout is the handle. It feels really cheap. I think they tried to make it more lightweight with a plastic. The handle is very ergonomic, but it’s thin. I should point out that the knife is not balanced at all. The overall knife is very good. It has a basic locking mechanism. This is the standard rear lock. I guess the designers were trying to reduce weight by not adding liner locks. This knife is about $20 which I think is pretty extravagant for what you are getting. Still, it is better than a Swiss Army Knife and half the price. I think this knife is good as an EDC, but it is not a necessary piece to add to a collection.

Terminology

   I apologize for not posting in a while, but here is a short post for the week. I will try to do a review by Thursday. When you read some of my knife reviews, other reviews, or anything else pertaining to knives, there may be some terminology that you might not be familiar with. Here are some terms that are not super common, but they are useful.

Choil- indent on the blade in front of the guard or if there is not guard, it will be on the handle

Swedge- a small sharpened area on the spine of the blade

Ricasso- unsharpened area of the blade between the hilt and sharpened edge

Jimping- notches on parts of the blade to provide a better grip

Buying Guide 4: Stainless or Carbon?

     Knife steels are very important because they determine durability, sharpness, and rust-resistance. So, which category of steel should you choose, stainless, or carbon. Both have their own advantages and disadvantages. I have several stainless steel knives, and also carbon steel knives. Let’s start with some advantages and disadvantages of stainless steel. The lowest grade stainless steel that should be put in a knife is 420 stainless steel. The Buck Tempest is made of 420HC steel. This is a different steel than ordinary 420 because it contains a higher carbon content. The most common stainless steel in a knife is 440. I am going to skip all of the technical stuff about that steel and go straight to practical application. Overall, stainless steel is very rust resistant, holds an edge okay, and is easy to sharpen. However, I know that 440 stainless is not good for water (diving) and that carbon steels are better for that. In my experience, AUS 8 is great for water applications and you can leave a blade in water for over a week, with no problems. Carbon steel holds a really good edge, but is harder to sharpen. It takes longer and you need a better sharpening stone. Personally for a pocket knife, I like stainless, but for a tactical knife, I usually go with high carbon steel.

Review: UTG Tactical Law Enforcement SWAT Vest

     This week I am going to change it up and do a gear review. A while ago, I bought the UTG Tactical Law Enforcement SWAT Vest. This vest is great for home defense or airsoft (airsoft being the more practical choice). Personally, I use it to store all kinds of things and for the occasional airsoft game. Not to mention, you can store plenty of knives. One of the most important features of the vest is the holster. I know for sure that it holds a standard 1911 and also a Glock 17. It probably can hold most other guns too. The downside of the holster is that it is too high up for a left hand draw (it is on the left side) and too far to do a cross-body draw. If it was angled, it would be better. Another downside of the holster is that the thumb release is impossible to release with your thumb. The vest also has many pockets for rifle magazines, pistol magazines, and high caliber sniper ammo. There is also a removal patch for shotgun shells, or ID. All of the loops for these are different sizes. In addition to all of the ammunition pouches, there is a walkie-talkie pocket on the left shoulder and a rear pouch on the back to the vest. The rear pocket interferes with having a pack or any type of bag. Another feature of the vest is that is adjustable and can fit even the smallest person. I say smallest person because this vest will definitely not fit a big guy. It is a bit short too. Unfortunately, there is about a mile of cord for adjusting, which you can cut, but it will fray. Something else that needs to be fixed are the zippers because they make noise when you walk and a racket when you run. This vest was about $35 on Amazon (cheapest price I found) and is worth it for just messing around. There are lots of good things about this vest, but I really only covered basic ones and flaws. Overall, this vest is great for fun tactical adventures and airsoft. I give this vest a rating of 7.4/10 stars because it isn’t very practical for real tactical use.  

Knife Wish List!

This is a short list of knives that I really want to get for personal use, a gift, or just from a recommendation. Please note that I do not own any of these knives. 

My “To Buy” List:

1.        Short Black KA-BAR- Surprisingly, I do not have any KA-BARs in my collection, but I would like to add this one.
2.       Benchmade 470 Emissary- Pricey, but I have heard great things about this knife and love Benchmade products.
3.     SOG Vulcan- This knife is truly beautiful, but will it work well?
4.     Spyderco Delica- I know, I know people are always saying, “You don’t have a Delica?!?” I apologize to all of you Spyderco fans, but I just never got why the Delica is so popular. I guess I should get one and see.
5.        Kershaw Clash- I don’t know whether I would actually like this knife. I am kind of picky about knives and the Kershaw Leek didn’t work for me.

Anyways, these knives are all interesting and I would love to try them out. I will definitely keep an eye out for a good deal on these knives!

Review: SOG Seal Pup Elite (Satin, Straight)

     If you are looking for a great fixed blade knife, look no further. I have had this knife for about a year and I love it. I have taken it camping, batoned through wood, dropped it on stone, and it still works amazingly well. There are so many good things about this knife that I can’t possibly list them all in this review. First of all, the blade is amazing. It is made out of AUS8 steel and has stayed pretty sharp. When it came, it was razor sharp and now it is still relatively sharp. It has gotten duller than it was because I was using it as an axe for batoning (when you set a knife on wood and hammer on the blade to chop through). Not to mention, the blade looks really cool too (an added bonus). The one really small problem I have with the blade is the satin finish. I know that I chose it, but wow that blade is shiny! If you were stranded, you could use it as a signal mirror, that’s how shiny it is. I find it a little distracting and it shows dirt and fingerprints more easily. Again, that was my choice to get the satin finish and it doesn’t really affect the quality of the knife therefore I will not be counting that little issue in the total score. Another thing with the blade is the ricasso. I say “thing” because in my opinion, it is neither a flaw nor an advantage, simply a fact. The ricasso is a little over half an inch. This bothers some people because that means the blade doesn’t start for half an inch, but I really don’t care. In my experience, the ricasso has in no way affected the performance of the knife. Another fact about this knife is the spine. There is heavy jimping all along the spine which I like; it allows you to choke up to get more leverage. There is a small hilt on the knife which is nice so that your hand doesn’t slide up and get cut. The handle is made of zytel and is extremely sturdy! I have dropped this knife a few times and it hasn’t even scratched. There is checkering on the handle so it provides a nice grip. Finger grooves also help with the grip on the handle. In the pommel, there is a lanyard hole if you want to add that, which I haven’t). The handle is extremely sturdy and high quality which would explain why it is heavier than the blade. The SOG Seal Pup Elite is slightly off balance due to the handle. However, when you are using it, you can hardly tell that it is off balance. I chose the nylon sheath because the kydex wasn’t available. I am pretty pleased with my choice and the nylon has held up very nicely. As I stated in a previous post on sheaths, nylon straps can get cut. The strap that holds the handle in place has gotten cut a little; the cut is barely noticeable. My only problem with the sheath is that it is kind of bulky. The kydex sheath may or may not be like this. By the way, whether you strap the knife into the sheath or not, it is not going anywhere. I should also add that the sheath is ambidextrous. The best place and price I found to buy the SOG Seal Pup Elite Straight Edge Satin Finish was on Amazon for about $60. Now, it is closer to $50. This knife, in my opinion, has a $150 value and in some places, that is what it retails for. Overall, this knife is an amazing purchase and great fixed blade. It looks cool and is extremely durable too. Definitely add the SOG Seal Pup Elite to your To Buy List!

Buying Guide 3: Knife Tangs

     When buying a knife, lots of people get hung up on the tang of the knife. The tang is the part of the blade that extends into the handle. There are a few common types of tangs: full tang, and stick tang. Full tang extends completely into the handle. Stick tang extends partway into the handle. My personal advice is to buy a full tang knife because it will absorb impact more evenly, and it will have a smaller tendency to break under pressure or extreme force. By “break” I mean snapping off at the handle. Many cheaper knifes will have brittle tangs and blades that will snap easily and hurt your hand. However as long as the knife is good quality, don’t really worry about the tang.

      In case I haven’t mentioned it before, I collect swords as well as knives. In a sword, you really need full tang because the impact a sword absorbs on impact with an object is too much for the blade to take alone (this doesn’t apply to high quality hand forged swords). The tang of the blade helps the force travel down into the handle so that it doesn’t concentrate in one area and snap the blade in half (this can happen). In short, full tang is important in a knife or sword that is going to take a beating.

Buying Guide 2: Sheaths

     Sheaths are very important to fixed blade knives. A good sheath will keep your knife dry, secure, and easy to access. There are a few types of sheath materials, leather, nylon, wood, metal, or synthetic materials. I personally like to avoid leather for a couple of reasons. First of all, moisture can easily soak through leather and rust the knife (if the knife is high carbon). Secondly, I just don’t like the way that leather looks. I prefer nylon sheaths to leather sheaths. Just like any other type of sheath nylon has its advantages and disadvantages. In my experience, nylon sheaths come with a synthetic insert. Any type of synthetic material can scratch the finish on the blade unless you take special care to avoid that happening. In addition, nylon can be easily cut. If there is a strap around the handle of the knife to hold it in place, there is a possibility that if you draw the blade out too quickly, you can cut the nylon strap. Another downside to nylon sheaths is that they usually are excessively bulky. You can modify them though. Wood and metal sheaths are rare in most modern knives, but they do exist.  I have a few daggers with wooden sheaths, and an antique bayonet with a metal sheath. Notice that I said daggers and bayonets, not every day knives. My wooden sheaths don’t seem like they will last and the metal inserts scratch the blade. The metal sheath is annoying and must be oiled. The last category of sheath I listed are synthetic sheaths. Many people prefer these sheaths because they are waterproof, durable, and they usually have a slim profile. I think that most synthetic sheaths are pretty good for their knives. They are well constructed, waterproof (used in diving), and made of a good material (such as kydex). However, synthetic materials, especially hard plastics, will damage the blade and scratch the finish so be sure to choose a sheath with a good material. All sheaths are different and have different pros and cons, but it really comes down to what you like best. 

Knife Tool: Kobalt Hex Driver

If you look at most folding knives, you will notice that there are hex screws holding the knife together. To modify your knife, for example: adjusting pivot wiggle, removing or exchanging the clip, tightening screws, removing a safety (I don't recommend this), or just seeing how it works you need a hex screwdriver. I know that Benchmade sells a knife tool for about $30, but for those of you who don't want to pay $30 for a little screwdriver, I have found a good solution. On my last trip to Lowes, I found a Kobalt six-lobe screwdriver with several different heads for $5.98. It is a really cool and useful 8 in 1 tool and it is great for adjusting knives.

Review: CRKT M16-01kz

I own many knives from Swiss Army, to SOG, to Gerber, to Benchmade, so why do I insist on using a CRKT? I really don’t know why I like this knife so much because it is just an average knife. Just to be clear, this is the black spear point and it is the cheaper version ($17 from Big 5). The blade steel is 8Cr15MoV. This steel is about the same as AUS4, except it is Chinese. For those of you who don’t memorize steel names, this is softer steel. It has gotten dull, however I use this knife everyday so it is understandable.  I have read some reviews on this knife that say that the black coating on the blade is Ti-Ni. Due to the way that it is scratching off at the tip, I highly doubt that this coating is titanium nitride. I do like the width, size, and shape of the blade even though some people don’t like the spear point for an E.D.C, but it don’t mind it. There is also jimping on the back of the blade which is nice because I like to choke up on the blade to get more leverage. Moving on to the handle, it’s great. The handle is lightweight and durable (glass filled nylon or zytel, almost same thing) and is extremely comfortable. The overall knife is pretty good for the price. The Carson Flipper method of deploy is amazing. It opens smoothly and almost as fast as an assisted knife. Sometimes you have to flick your wrist to open the blade. The m16-01kz has two locking systems. It has a liner lock and the Auto Lawks system. I personally could do without the Auto Lawks, but it does make the blade very sturdy. On an unrelated topic, there is no pivot wiggle on the blade at all which is great! The knife is great except for one HUGE FLAW. The flaw with the CRKT m16-01kz is that the liner lock will sometimes slide past the blade. This makes it impossible to close the blade without prying the blade back with a lot of force and a flat head screwdriver. This flaw must be fixed! I sent several messages to CRKT and got a new knife which has never had this problem. I don’t know whether the first knife was defective, but as far as I know, this flaw could occur with any m16-01kz. My advice if this happens to you is that you should return this knife and get a better one. As I said, my new knife hasn’t had this problem so far and I use it as my E.D.C. (every day carry). Even though this knife has some flaws, I still love it. What more can you expect for $17? If it didn’t have that huge flaw with the blade sliding past the liner, I would give it 8.5/10. However, I still must consider that flaw and rate it 6.3/10. 

Buying Guide 1: Brands, places, knives

               Places to buy knives: Over the years, it has become harder and harder to find reliable places with good prices (and return policies) to buy knives. The better the reputation of the company, for example Benchmade, the more money dealers will mark up their prices. I have found that it is best not to buy knives directly from the manufacturer. At the same time, you don’t want to buy knives from retailer stores because the prices will be extravagant. I have found that it is best to try knives out in stores or through friends who have those knives, and then buy them online. It is important to shop around though.

                A word on brands: In my opinion, brand names aren’t everything but they can be helpful. For example, if you are looking for a fixed blade combat knife, don’t look at Swiss Army Knives. If you are looking for a throw-away knife that you may potentially drop in the ocean, don’t look for a Benchmade; look for Gerber (not meant as an insult to Gerber). For more information on the reputation, pricing, and basic quality of knife brands, see the Knife Brands page. If you are looking for a certain kind of knife, the brand will help you find it, but don’t use the brand name as a determining factor for quality.
                What to look for in a knife: First of all, figure out what you will be using the knife for. This will help you determine whether you need a fixed blade, assisted folding, folding with flipper, traditional folding, etc. For example, if you want your seven-year old kid to graduate from a Swiss Army knife, it would be best to get them a traditional, plain folding knife. Then when they are older, you can graduate them to an assisted, then a fixed blade, then a gun. I’m kidding, but still. You need to know what you are looking for. It’s always essential to check your local laws with knife carrying. I know that in California, you can’t carry anything bigger than a four inch folding knife in your pocket. Please note that in that sentence I was referring to any knife that closes, not the action of a knife. Another thing to look for is the steel. Again, this depends on what you are using it for. You might want to use 154CM if you aren’t going to have a sharpening stone, but if you are wading through creeks, you will want AUS8 or another type of water safe steel.  The handle of your knife is also essential, you should decide whether you want something small and lightweight, or if you like a heavier feel to your knife handle. Overall for handles, I suggest zytel (glass filled nylon) because it is pretty lightweight and extremely sturdy. On most zytel handles, you could try and smash the handle with a sledgehammer and it wouldn’t crack. The next thing to figure out for your knife is price. I have to say, you really don’t want to economize a survival knife or combat knife, but on an EDC, I guess you could go cheaper quality. I will have a post next week on some reasonably priced every day carry knives. Of course, the best thing that you can do when you are trying to find a knife is to go to a store and try a few out to see what you like. 

Review: Buck Tempest

Buck has come a long way since its first standard folding knife. I recently got this beautiful assisted knife at R.E.I. and so far, I am quite impressed. This is a lightweight, but sturdy folding knife. In my opinion, it is a little wide for an E.D.C, which is what I will be using it for however I am comparing it to my small CRKT m16-01kz (which I will be doing a review on next week). Okay, back to the knife. The blade is partially serrated, but you can get a straight edge. The knife came razor sharp out of the box and cuts through paper almost with the smoothness of a Benchmade knife. I have yet to find out what the the steel is, I know that it is either 420HC or 154CM. Either way, these are both really high quality stainless steels. I don’t really like the serrations, but that is my personal opinion and good serrations are hard to find. So far, after a week of testing the blade has held up quite nicely and is still sharp. I have to admit, I was surprised at the quality of the blade. Unfortunately, there is no jimping on the back of the blade which would have been a nice feature. The handle of the knife I have looks exactly the same as the one in the picture. Unfortunately, the knife did come very dirty and it is very hard to clean off the grime. There are other colors of the knife, but this is the only one that the store had available. One of the issues that I am concerned about is the blue color because I am afraid that it might scratch. So far, it hasn’t but I will have to test it more. To hold, the Tempest’s handle is light (due to the frame). Another issue I have with the handle is the lock on the back to keep the blade from opening in your pocket. This is a good safety feature but it interferes with the grip, especially if you want to use a reverse grip. As I said previously, I like the safety features on this knife. It has a lock to prevent it from opening, and a liner lock. The action on this knife is very smooth and quick. It has thumb studs and a flipper to open, but I pinched myself when using the thumb studs because the blade opens so quickly. I bought this knife for about $64 and it was worth every dollar so far. The blade is sharp, the handle comfortable, and the action smooth. I only have a few small issues with this knife. My opinion is that the Tempest is a very good knife however, it is not meant to be an E.D.C. (too big and the blade is too wide) or a combat knife. I think this knife is a good folder to carry in the open, or on a trip but it would be hard to carry it every day. It is because of this reason that I have deducted most of the points from the score. Overall, I give this knife a rating of 7.8/10 stars and recommend it for your collection.

Knife Grading Scale

I grade knives on many different categories. All of the knives that I review have been with me for at least 3 weeks and have been tested to make sure that I know what I am talking about when I review them. The categories that I grade knives on are as follows:

•         Blade: The most crucial part of the knife which I grade on the steel, geometry, and overall sharpness of the blade.
•            Handle: Ergonomics, balance, durability, and weight of the handle help to determine the quality of the knife just as well as the blade.
•     Overall Knife: This category is based the whole knife which means the weight and performance of everything. This includes the action, the locking mechanism, and if included, the sheath.  
•       Value: The knife must be worth what you pay for it. I deduct “points” for any defects or if I think the knife is not worth what I paid for it.
•       Opinion: My opinion of the knife (which may include the looks and practicality). Your opinion may be different.

These five categories are what I base my reviews on for knives. I try to make well informed decisions as to whether these knives are worth purchasing or not. I would love to hear your opinion on these knives if you want to email me.