(
Pros: None
Cons: None
Sweet Blade but...
This knife's blade and handle are excellently designed and decently well executed. It's nice to see Condor improving their skills with the contoured titanium frame lock, what is apparently an engineering improvement to make the frame lock stronger, and the great blade geometry. The blade really is especially interesting and unique. 1095 is already uncommon enough in modern style pocket knives, but even better, this is also a nice actual scandi grind that is quite well done. It cuts really well. It feels nice in my hand, it is easy to manipulate, and the action is pretty smooth. It looks classy too. Okay, you can tell I like the knife, but I'm being optimistic in the face of some serious issues. The quality control on mine was nonexistent. It came out of the box missing a screw for the pocket clip, with substantial up/down blade play (No side to side), and the blade edge slightly hitting the support standoffs when closed. The lockup was at 100%. I think these issues all have a common origin in the hardware. The play is a result of the Stop Pin being too small and with poor tolerances. This is also why the pin does not stop the blade before the edge hits the standoffs. The Hardware itself is poor quality and all the same. The Stop Pin and standoffs are the same and none of them seat properly despite being stepped because there are burs and uneven edges on the threaded barrels. The knife's steel liners also have some burs, but that is a more minor issue. I have been adjusting the knife and can tell its possible to get it working properly with a better set of pins. I suspect that Condor had some trouble in production with acquiring hardware as it is actually something clearly mentioned in a video interview conducted by Knifecenter with the designer Joe Flowers. While I understand times are difficult, it is still a bit disappointing. It's especially disappointing because this is a great knife otherwise. The only other thing I want to mention, and what i think is the only flaw of the design itself, is that the thumbstuds project equally on both sides of the blade. This is an issue because the right stud sticks out too far and slightly interferes with pocketing the knife (the frame lock side is thinner, so the stud sticks out more). Honestly, the right stud (for left handed users) might as well be entirely absent because the knife has right hand biased lock and only right side clip too. I suppose I'd also prefer Phosphor Bronze over Teflon washers as well. I'd like to know whether my knife is simply bad example or if these issues are ubiquitous. Regardless, hope the designer can notice these issues and have the manufacturer address them as I think this effort by Condor out of El Salvador deserves a better final outcome. If you're going to aim for improvement and innovation, don't let a pandemic beat you and settle for poor fasteners/pins.