- Joined
- Jun 29, 2020
- Messages
- 33
The tl;dr: The Civivi McKenna in D2 is an awesome fidget toy that doesn't have much utility beyond very light duty tasks that don't expose it to much moisture.
I purchased a McKenna in D2 just over 6 months ago, and I have been alternating between using it and one other knife as my daily driver. I also let a friend borrow it who used it for vegetable harvesting and other light gardening tasks.
The strengths of the knife are that the D2 blade holds a great edge, has an amazing edge length to size ratio, that it takes up *very* little room in the pocket, it has reasonable ergonomics for a knife its size, it has a great pocket clip, and it is fast and easy to deploy.
As you can see in the video at the top it snaps open and has a fairly easy "drop-shutty" action with a little shake. The pivot has been tuned so it has no play, and it is lubricated with Knife Pivot Lube. It's no Norseman, but it also costs a small fraction of the price.
Here are some comparison pics to my other main EDC, a Manix 2 LW:
As you can see, it takes up a small fraction of the room in the pocket as the Manix 2, but has a cutting edge quite similar in length. The handle is just long enough that I can get a 4 finger grip with my small-for-my-height hands, but I could see how bigger hands would grip it less securely. If I really bear down with it the handle does have some hot spots, but honestly you shouldn't be doing cutting that requires force with the McKenna for reasons I will go into shortly.
The weaknesses of the knife are in some ways inherent to the strengths of the knife. The D2 blade holds a good edge for the price, but it also is prone to rust. The bearing action is very smooth, but more easily allows ingress of moisture. After my friend returned my McKenna there was some rust in the pivot and on the liners. This is a simple maintenance issue, but because of that I would not recommend this knife for anyone who does not like to do routine maintenance on their pocket tools, and these factors also make the knife less suitable for cutting foods like apples or tomato, or anything that requires cleaning the blade after cutting. Additionally, the pivot bearing surface on the blade has some galling. I tried to capture it in a photo, but it is hard to see.
I would guess that part of why it has such a nice action is that the pivot bearing and the pivot have a very loose fit around each other. A more expensive knife could achieve a similar action by having extremely precise machining, or by using a pivot bushing, but when you're trying to make a knife with a high-end action at a budget, some corners need to be cut. In this case, I believe that the action just doesn't hold up well to relatively minor torquing forces, as can be seen when cutting materials that require some force. I think this is a knife that's good for office workers who don't need to do anything more rigorous than opening packages, but I would hesitate with anything tougher than a zip tie.
Summary:
Strengths
- Great blade-to-size ratio
- Tiny in the pocket
- D2 steel provides decent edge retention for price
- Fun and fidgety
- Good ergonomics for such a tiny knife
Weaknesses
- Unsuitable for tasks that may introduce moisture into the pivot, such as food prep
- Requires more maintenance than casual users will perform
- Great action comes from loose fit of pivot components rather than precise machining, leading to potential long-term durability issues unless you relegate the knife to extremely light duty tasks
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