Pros: Blade Material, Blade Sharpness, Finish, Handle Material, Materials, Overall Quality, Weight
Cons: Sheath/Scabbard
A nearly perfect dagger, held back by an average sheath
Let's get this info out of the way, for those who don't already know: this knife doesn't come to you as a true dagger. One side has been sharpened, and the other is a false edge. Is the false edge easily sharpened, though? Yes. I recommend a 200-220 grit to start (I used 400). On that topic, 14C28N is always a joy to sharpen. Even straight off a 400 grit stone, I was cutting through newsprint with minimal resistance. I think it was a great move to use the steel for this model. Now, onto actual philosophy of use: self-defense. I suppose you could use it another way, but that seems the most relevant. In many ways, this makes a perfect self-defense tool. The blade is fairly thin, the steel is fairly tough, holds a great edge, can be sharpened into a true dagger, and so on. The handle feels excellent in just about any grip, and even has room to choke back to use the asymmetrically applied jimping. The jimping takes place in two places, each on one side of the handle, only. It's very clear that the knife was intended to be single-edged, but at the same time, it feels natural to me, in any orientation. The handle sculpting feels very nice and the shape alone provides plenty of grip, while the G10's texturing helps to provide even more traction. One of two things could have been altered to make this knife a better defensive carry, though. The handle could have ditched the lanyard hole and been shortened by about half an inch, maybe an inch. The easier and more practical thing would have been to make the sheath and its mounting... better. Now, at this point, tune out and buy it if you're good with everything else, because I'm basing this opinion on carrying inside the waistband. Anyway, the included belt carry system isn't overly versatile and locks you into carrying on the belt, outside the waistband. If you remove it, you have a number of clip options... but the rivets aren't oriented or spaced in a way that you can make meaninful use of them. In my case, I have a Mummert Knives clip attached, and it cannot go "level" with the top of the sheath, due to spacing and direction. To solve this, Civivi could made the sheaths wider, and use more rivets. Or, they could take a cue from RMJ and use a riser plate, to provide a way to mount clips further from the sheath itself, and therefore, also "level" with the "top" of the sheath. It's worth noting that the retention area is about a quarter inch taller than necessary, while near the tip, it's half an inch longer than necessary. TL;DR - The knife is eeexcellent, but the sheath drags it down into "I probably won't carry this" territory. PS, the red with striped blade is an awesome look. Love it.
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