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Pros: Weight, Ease of Opening, Handle Material, Blade Material, Overall Quality, Blade Sharpness
Cons: Pocket Clip, Lock Type
Kiwi Friction Folder with awesome steel.
Wow! 5 stars because it's so unique and affordable. You don't expect that a rugged and unique knife made in New Zealand would be so inexpensive. There are plenty of Chinese-made junk knives that cost double what the Peasant folder does. Anyhow, this is a clipless folder (a pouch sheath is sold separately). Considering the overall size, it's not too heavy. It feels roughly half as light as my Benchmade Osborne Rift, which weighs 4.80 oz. So, I'm guessing this weighs about 2.4 oz, a rough estimate. Anyhow it carries well in a pocket, pants or a jacket, and stays closed unless you want it open. Friction keeps it closed, and friction secures it "locked" in the open position with your hand as a reinforcement. While it's truly not a locking knife, it does stay solidly open, and I don't have any doubts that it is safe to use. Handles feel pretty good, the blue is much lighter than the "royal"-ish blue in KC's picture. It's not quite a baby blue, but it's close to what Wikipedia calls; "Bleu de France" on their page detailing various shades of blue. A cool color nonetheless. The blade is insanely rough, parts of it (away from the edge) are unpolished and sort of blackened by the manufacturing process. The edge bevel is pretty rough, but very sharp, not polished, but almost a "micro-serrated" rough edge that tears through any material you give to it. It looks as if they use a grinder to set the bevel, then give it a few strokes on a steel or whetstone. With a medium grit Lansky dogbone ceramic stick, I was able to get the edge even sharper, wickedly sharp. This steel takes a mean edge! I'm loving this Svord so much, I'm pretty certain I'll be getting a yellow one, a black one, and the wood version as well. These are a lot of cutting tool for your money, and the price makes it reasonable to modify your Peasant knife. You could use a Dremel tool and make a grip pattern on the handles, you could add a lanyard hole with a drill, as the handle butt is longer than the knife blade. In the closed position, the extended tang bar could be used as an impact tool in a pinch, pretty cool. If you're looking for a hi-tech CNC machined black bladed covert ops ninja folder, this is not it...The Peasant is a rugged, well made Tonka Truck of a knife, crafted with care in NZ, that will serve your cutting needs and which is easy to maintain. Awesome. I'm impressed, thanks Knifecenter!!
