(
Pros: Blade Material, Ease of Opening, Handle Feel, Handle Material, Lock Ease of Use, Overall Quality, Pocket Clip
Cons: None
Excellent Knife, Beautiful Workmanship
I bought this as an EDC, and it's in rotation with a few other knives. Great: The Sage 1 is an excellent design, ergonomic, very comfortable with most grips positions. It's the right size for me: 3-inch blade, 4+ inch handle. The action, a liner lock, lacks the truly fidget-worthy aspects of a Para 3, but it works very smoothly and easily. Access to the liner lock is enhanced by the cutout on the thumb-side scale (right handed use), which makes it almost as easy to close one-handed as the Spydey-hole makes it easy to open one-handed. The steel. I haven't had it long enough to comment on the steel. The wire pocket clip is in the right place, allowing fairly deep pocket carry. The workmanship is beautiful. I've complained about liner-to-scale fit on some other knives. On this one, the Taichung factory did a superb job of fitting the G-10 scales to the liners. The blade grind looks about perfect, and the blade is well-centered (if this last is important to you). Of note: I've read other reviews where people complained about uncomfortably sharp edges on the thumb holes of Taichung-manufactured knives. Not this one. The chamfering on the hole edges and on the blade spine was perfect--that is, it looks sharp but doesn't feel sharp. Less than Great: The only thing that did not meet or exceed expectation was the blade sharpness. Sure, it was sharpened, but it wasn't anywhere near as sharp as the blade on my Para 3 Crucarta, which could effortlessly shave hair. Interestingly, in reflected light, the Para 3 showed a flat-ground edge right up to the apex. But the edge grind on this Sage 1 was somewhat convex. It was uniform on both sides, so it appears to be deliberate. Whether deliberate or not, it was not as sharp as expected. But it was plenty sharp enough to be useful. Would I buy it again? In a heartbeat.