Pros: Weight, Blade Material, Overall Quality, Blade Sharpness
Cons: Weight, Handle Feel, Handle Material, Pocket Clip
Not bad
This is a cool knife, but it may or may not be for you. The star of the show is the blade, a big honking thick and wide piece of D2 fit for a Klingon warrior. It holds an edge well and for a recurve it's not as hard to sharpen as you might think as long as you have a ceramic rod. It's surprisingly useful for edc tasks despite its size and shape, and I have no doubt it would be devastating in a tactical/self-defense scenario. The flipping action is effortless and the lockup is solid with no blade play. The flipper is sized to be effective as a handguard and helps keep you from closing the blade on your fingers, which would really suck because the recurve blade cuts instantly. The handle is a little disappointing. It is well sculpted and aesthetically pleasing, but the feel of the zytel is very "plasticy." It also feels a little small for the blade, and I don't have DCA-sized hands. Combined with the skeletonized liners it is very lightweight, which is surprising for such a large knife but in a way that is not confidence inspiring. The steel used for the lock and liners seems thinner and less rigid than competitive products from Civivi, Kershaw, CRKT, etc. I'm sure it's strong enough from an engineering perspective, but if you're used to the overbuilt locks from Spyderco or Cold Steel you might not like this one. The steel pocket clip is also very thin, it feel like a bent paper clip and combined with the slick handle material I'm not confident that it has the retention to keep the knife in your pants. It is a good looking clip and it does conceal the knife deeply in your pocket, but it would be better if the material was more sturdy. Clearly the handle materials on this Import Line are where Brous compromised in order to reach this price point. On the whole I like it. The blade feels like it belongs on a $100 knife, but the handle and pocket clip feel like a sub-$20 knife. If there were micarta or aluminum handle scales and titanium pocket clips available I would splurge for them (the blade itself is that good) but I haven't found them on the internet. Basically you're buying the knife for the great blade and just living with the handle, and for $50 it's a fair tradeoff.
(
