Gary W. Graley
“Imagination is more important than knowledge"
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Mar 2, 1999
- Messages
- 27,236
I took noticed of this a while back, but held off getting one, well..., after all, it is called Swindle 
it does give one pause before handing over your hard earned cash for something that they tell you right up front is a Swindle 
But, being the steadfast knifeknut that I am, and not one for taking things at face value, I decided to give it a go.
And anyway, who doesn't like Mr Onion? he's so personable, it's gotta be something that I was bound to like, plus being a died in the wool wharncliff fan, it was calling me.
There are two versions of this folder, one with smooth steel sides and one with a groove pattern. I chose the groove pattern for it's texture, grip and appearance. And that for what ever reason, the grooved one has Sandvik 12c27 steel where the other one does not and I happen to like how Sandvik sharpens up.
The smooth handled and also take note that it is available at a lesser price, comes with 8Cr14MoV for it's blade steel.
Open it has the look of a swayback wharncliff folder but highly stylized.
The knife spec's
Weight: aprox. 3.4 oz
Closed length: 4 1/4" long
Blade length: 3 1/4" long
Blade steel: Sandvik 12c27
Blade thickness: aprox .123"
Thickness at the top of the edge bevel: aprox .021"
Blade width near the front of the handle: aprox 3/4"
It is a narrow blade, as you can see from the photos, and is totally enclosed by the handle, so it seems strange to grab the knife and try to pull the blade out...but ya can't, as it's down into the handle. Only by using the flipper can you get the blade to come out. And speaking of the flipper, this feels like the flipper is loaded or has some tension applied, possibly the detent ball is deep in the hole in the blade, but that aids in the opening, once you overcome this load the blade comes out quickly due to the IKBS bearings inside, now, it has the IKBS logo but doesn't say IKBS, although most sites will credit it as being from them. In any case, it is SMOOTH, very very smooth. Lockup is solid once open with the integral lock bar. There isn't any blade play whatsoever. Unlocking works well and closing the blade is also just as smooth. I tried making the blade to pop open using inertia of my knife hand's wrist against my other arm, holding the knife and swinging my arm down against my other arm to stop it and see if the blade would come free of the detent, it didn't, that's a good thing.
Now this is noted as a gentleman's folder and I would say that would be about it, not a survival knife or wilderness knife or a heavy hard use knife. My concern for that is, when open the only thing keeping the blade in it's place is the steel lockbar against the tang of the blade. There isn't any stop pin on the back side of the blade, so when you apply pressure with the edge against material, you are pushing on that lockbar, a strong forceful cutting action might cause some deformation of that, but that is pure speculation on my part as I've not tried to press the blade or my luck that far. Suffice to say that this WILL cut material and she was quite sharp on arrival, but of course she's a bit sharper now and cuts quite well through cardboard, leather, and the few remaining scraggly hairs on my left arm.
Here are some photos taken tonight, pardon the dust, winter is a very static time and dust just attracts itself too easily, but you'll get the idea.
Interestingly the knife is held together at the pivot point and at the clip mount, no other mounting hardware on this folder.
here you can see how neatly they cut the lock bar on the scale, it is important to remember NOT to be gripping the lock bar when you are trying to open the knife, as you are compressing the detent stronger so it makes it very difficult to open the knife, if you drop your fingers below the line of the lock bar, you'll find it will open much easier.
Lockup is very good
The pocket clip, it is spring loaded from the spine of the handle, unusual but works ok, in the pocket it appears almost like a pen, the retention in the pocket isn't very strong but the weight helps to keep it in place
Spine of the blade has thumb grooves and the spine is nicely rounded in much the same as a Chris Reeve blade is done, the thumb grooves are not too deep, but you can feel them and may help. At the end of the handle where the pocket clip pivots from, that piece of steel is also grooved too, in an ice pick grip your thumb fits on there well.
Nice blade shape, very pointy, not one you would pry with but not too delicate either, about right
So for an under $50 knife, for the grooved version, I think this was a good purchase, certainly very sleek and attractive knife in my view, which was what drew me to it in the first place. I sent a short video to a friend from work, he replied back 'if you sell it, let me know, as I like the looks of that one' they know me so well...
Edited to add the short video from CRKT;
[video=youtube;VL32Vny9ouE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL32Vny9ouE[/video]
G2
it does give one pause before handing over your hard earned cash for something that they tell you right up front is a Swindle But, being the steadfast knifeknut that I am, and not one for taking things at face value, I decided to give it a go.
And anyway, who doesn't like Mr Onion? he's so personable, it's gotta be something that I was bound to like, plus being a died in the wool wharncliff fan, it was calling me.
There are two versions of this folder, one with smooth steel sides and one with a groove pattern. I chose the groove pattern for it's texture, grip and appearance. And that for what ever reason, the grooved one has Sandvik 12c27 steel where the other one does not and I happen to like how Sandvik sharpens up.
The smooth handled and also take note that it is available at a lesser price, comes with 8Cr14MoV for it's blade steel.
Open it has the look of a swayback wharncliff folder but highly stylized.
The knife spec's
Weight: aprox. 3.4 oz
Closed length: 4 1/4" long
Blade length: 3 1/4" long
Blade steel: Sandvik 12c27
Blade thickness: aprox .123"
Thickness at the top of the edge bevel: aprox .021"
Blade width near the front of the handle: aprox 3/4"
It is a narrow blade, as you can see from the photos, and is totally enclosed by the handle, so it seems strange to grab the knife and try to pull the blade out...but ya can't, as it's down into the handle. Only by using the flipper can you get the blade to come out. And speaking of the flipper, this feels like the flipper is loaded or has some tension applied, possibly the detent ball is deep in the hole in the blade, but that aids in the opening, once you overcome this load the blade comes out quickly due to the IKBS bearings inside, now, it has the IKBS logo but doesn't say IKBS, although most sites will credit it as being from them. In any case, it is SMOOTH, very very smooth. Lockup is solid once open with the integral lock bar. There isn't any blade play whatsoever. Unlocking works well and closing the blade is also just as smooth. I tried making the blade to pop open using inertia of my knife hand's wrist against my other arm, holding the knife and swinging my arm down against my other arm to stop it and see if the blade would come free of the detent, it didn't, that's a good thing.
Now this is noted as a gentleman's folder and I would say that would be about it, not a survival knife or wilderness knife or a heavy hard use knife. My concern for that is, when open the only thing keeping the blade in it's place is the steel lockbar against the tang of the blade. There isn't any stop pin on the back side of the blade, so when you apply pressure with the edge against material, you are pushing on that lockbar, a strong forceful cutting action might cause some deformation of that, but that is pure speculation on my part as I've not tried to press the blade or my luck that far. Suffice to say that this WILL cut material and she was quite sharp on arrival, but of course she's a bit sharper now and cuts quite well through cardboard, leather, and the few remaining scraggly hairs on my left arm.
Here are some photos taken tonight, pardon the dust, winter is a very static time and dust just attracts itself too easily, but you'll get the idea.
Interestingly the knife is held together at the pivot point and at the clip mount, no other mounting hardware on this folder.
here you can see how neatly they cut the lock bar on the scale, it is important to remember NOT to be gripping the lock bar when you are trying to open the knife, as you are compressing the detent stronger so it makes it very difficult to open the knife, if you drop your fingers below the line of the lock bar, you'll find it will open much easier.
Lockup is very good
The pocket clip, it is spring loaded from the spine of the handle, unusual but works ok, in the pocket it appears almost like a pen, the retention in the pocket isn't very strong but the weight helps to keep it in place
Spine of the blade has thumb grooves and the spine is nicely rounded in much the same as a Chris Reeve blade is done, the thumb grooves are not too deep, but you can feel them and may help. At the end of the handle where the pocket clip pivots from, that piece of steel is also grooved too, in an ice pick grip your thumb fits on there well.
Nice blade shape, very pointy, not one you would pry with but not too delicate either, about right
So for an under $50 knife, for the grooved version, I think this was a good purchase, certainly very sleek and attractive knife in my view, which was what drew me to it in the first place. I sent a short video to a friend from work, he replied back 'if you sell it, let me know, as I like the looks of that one' they know me so well...
Edited to add the short video from CRKT;
[video=youtube;VL32Vny9ouE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL32Vny9ouE[/video]
G2
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) but with MUCH work put into the ripple it is a pain-literally-to open :grumpy:. From what I have read online, this is fairly common. So you made a great choice IMO, ENJOY :thumbup:.
. I googled reviews and found that, although some were fine, this was not an uncommon problem. After disassembly I had to cut part of the center out of one of the rubbery? rings which covered some of the bearings on that side (thanks to my nice, VERY sharp PM2 :thumbup