Pros: Weight, Handle Material, Overall Quality, Blade Material, Sheath/Scabbard, Materials
Cons: Finish, Blade Sharpness
Deceptively good basic knife
This is the second Condor knife I've purchased. Both are solid, no nonsense, functional working blades. The other knife being the Sapien. The fit and finish is OK on both; neither are show pieces. There are grind marks on both blades and the burnishing on the handles is functional but again, just OK. The Kephart is a larger blade and both were grossly sharpened on a grinder. I put a better edge on both knives which was not difficult and with moderate use both knives are maintaining their edges well. The staining on the wood handles was evenly applied and the wood was without cracks, checks, knots, or blemishes. The grip is comfortable on both handles. The blades were ( mostly ) evenly ground. Careful exam shows asymmetry on the Sapien but the kephart was fairly even. The 1075 high carbon steel is easy to work with and takes a nice edge. Both came with nice ,heavy, dark brown stained sheaths. The knives are held in the sheaths by fiction and work well so far. Sheath quality is surprisingly good. I use these knives kayaking and hiking. The Sapien mostly for small camp chores/cooking and the Kephart for woodcraft/fire making/hunting/fishing. After using both knives, I believe they are interchangeable. Either knife will serve well for most tasks. If you have smaller hands, the Sapien will fit better. The Kephart is comfortable in my medium size hand. These are working knives for me. I have other brand name knives but find myself packing these two most of the time. They aren't fancy or trendy, just good solid performers that get the job done. For the price and considering the quality of the blade/sheath materials used, these have been a good purchase. The detractor is the overall finish but this doesn't hurt functionality. I would have preferred the blade to be plain without the black coating Condor applied. The coating is wearing off unevenly and looks "dirty".
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