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Pros: Blade Material, Blade Sharpness, Handle Feel, Handle Material, Lock Type, Overall Quality
Cons: Pocket Clip
Critical Flaw
I tried to swap the pocket clip to left hand tip up but the screws are too short! They have to pass through the FRN to get to the threaded steel liner, and I tried and tried but all three screws just wouldn't bite. That would've rendered the knife useless to me, but fortunately I had some spare screws that were included with a Kizer knife which happened to fit. So big up to Kizer for including spare hardware with their knives, big L to Esee for not testing that aspect of the product before it went to market. This would be normally be a one-star review but since I can now use the knife, and everything else about it is so good, it gets three. There's a big, wide contact patch for the lockbar, it feels super solid, blade centering, action, factory edge, fit and finish are all well above par for a $36 knife. I will say there's a very slight recurve in the straight portion of the blade, which is annoying but totally forgivable at this price point. I'm interested to see how the SK5 performs - can't comment on that yet and it usually takes a couple of sharpenings to get to the good stuff anyway. It does seem very willing to rust, given the spots appearing just from my finger juice being on it; that's not a knock on the knife at all, just the way this steel is. Should make a good, hard-use camp beater I think