Pros: Blade Material, Blade Sharpness, Finish, Handle Material, Materials, Overall Quality, Weight
Cons: Sheath/Scabbard
It takes time to like this knife.... imperfect but growing on me.
The one I received was made in China, not Japan. Still marked as AUS8. Its a great little knife, minimalist style, with the ring and jimping gave the pencil thin handle good grip with great control. Arrived decently sharp. Plan to use it to gut fish, put on a 17 degrees edge for filet. The steel felt authentic, it took a bit more effort than kitchen knives to sharpen like other AUS8. BUT the issue starts, the edge does not stay sharp, sitting in the sheath and it gets dull! I suspect this is largely due to the sheath design and position, plus the index/pinky finger release that secures the blade. (Deploy using index/pinky release is awkward and require practice). The sheath audibly rattles if you shake it, but wearing it as a neck knife makes no sound. With a bit more force, you can draw the blade without pressing the release. However, not sure if it was resulted with these testing, the edge had not burred, but micro rolled. Took significant stropping effort to remove the roll.For small blade like this, missing the crucial cooling time during heat treat can lead to this and its quite common among affordable knives. Re-profiled it again to remove potential soft edge material. Within two cuts of cardboard and practicing the draw (best two handed, if you use a neck lanyard the sheath tend to bounce back and hit you in the face if you yank it, and fish juice mist your shirt.) It rolled again!!Although I can not confirm nor visually ID the sheath wear, but I suspect the sheath contacted the edge and rapid deployment dulls the edge quickly. Still, a great blade for its price. Could use a custom kydex sheath.Most reviews on Amazon with low stars tends to be the batch that were made in China. Can't speak for those that were made in Japan, but they seem happier than I do.Lastly, pocket/belt carry with Ulticlip's UltiTuck does fit, but it makes the pencil handle ring sticks out like a sore thumb. It require a bit more effort to conceal. Unless you make a custom sheath, it takes practice to draw the blade without drawing covering garment stuck with the ring.Still, a good knife to have, turning it into a project knife. Going to re-profile it to 20 degrees and hope this was my human error and not Cold Steel's heat treat issue with their new contractor. Wear it as a neck knife and pull out ~ gently!.PS. After a few weeks of using this knife, the sheath finally wore in, enough cuts were made within and created a channel. The sheath is still contacting the cutting edge, but not as bad as before!