- Joined
- Mar 10, 2011
- Messages
- 936
So some of you may remember the locked thread in the General section about this knife. Dicoria is a Chinese brand that mostly makes high-end unbranded (most of them, anyway) knockoffs of other popular knives, but the Killer Whale is an original design, their first and hopefully not their last. I'm not one to support knockoffs or knockoff makers (I still hesitate to buy Microtech), but I do support a Chinese brand trying to break away from the stereotype of just making knockoffs. That said, the only place to get a Killer Whale right now is from a well known Chinese knockoff site which I won't be posting links to, needless to say a little research can find you what you need should you want to acquire one of these.
I liked the design but I was hesitant to order from China given the long lead times quoted and high price for reasonable shipping, plus the fact that I've had stuff never show up out of China before and I didn't want to sink $200+ in to something that I might not ever get. Recently I was in San Francisco and went to a local knife shop there that I like to frequent whenever I'm in the area, and lo and behold what they had sitting in the shop there. None of the clerks knew much about the knife, thankfully I knew exactly what it was. Playing with it in person just made me want it more. The price they had on it was a little high and they weren't willing to budge, but I don't mind spending a little more so that they take all the shipping risks. So, it came home with me.
Really, the knife is gorgeous. It is definitely a unique design, there are hints of other designs clearly visible (a lot of CRK Sebenza and Umnumzaan) without being a direct copy of anything.
The blade shape is unique, something of a drop point with a large thumb rest area at the spine for choked up work. The handle is large but comfortable, made of huge slabs of bead blasted titanium.
The action is smooth and the lockup is slightly early but rock solid. No blade play what-so-ever. The lock is smooth with no stickiness at all. Interestingly, it uses a PB washer on one side and a cheap looking black Teflon washer on the other side, I plan to source a PB washer for the other side to see if it will stay smooth, because the Teflon washer doesn't look all that great. Blade is centered perfectly, and when I did a tear down it recentered perfectly without any work from me, something that not even higher end brands have done for me.
The blade is surprisingly thick stock and claims to be S35VN. I have no way of proving it, but they do post steel certificates on their shop site and we know that Crucible has shipped S35VN to China, and of course Kizer has been using it (with maybe an imperfect heat treat). So I have no reason to not believe that it is S35VN.
(Don't mind the pocket lint or the bluing around the pocket clip, I had been carrying it for a few days straight by this time and hadn't taken it apart yet, and when I bought it they lubed it like crazy for me so it picked up everything)
The fit and finish is surprising, but the detailing and finish work isn't quite as high as I've gotten from Kizer. Still, for an unknown brand trying to make their own way for the first time, it's really pretty good. My only real complaint is the pocket clip is very tight and not very well designed at the point, it grabs my jeans and doesn't want to let go.
I need to get some comparison shots, as it is not a small knife by any means. The blade is about 4", for instance. It's close in size to an Olamic Wayfarer. But it carries very nicely.
I plan to send this to Maprik to get pimped a bit and see if he can massage the pocket clip a little, I just don't know what all pimping I want to do yet.
I liked the design but I was hesitant to order from China given the long lead times quoted and high price for reasonable shipping, plus the fact that I've had stuff never show up out of China before and I didn't want to sink $200+ in to something that I might not ever get. Recently I was in San Francisco and went to a local knife shop there that I like to frequent whenever I'm in the area, and lo and behold what they had sitting in the shop there. None of the clerks knew much about the knife, thankfully I knew exactly what it was. Playing with it in person just made me want it more. The price they had on it was a little high and they weren't willing to budge, but I don't mind spending a little more so that they take all the shipping risks. So, it came home with me.
Really, the knife is gorgeous. It is definitely a unique design, there are hints of other designs clearly visible (a lot of CRK Sebenza and Umnumzaan) without being a direct copy of anything.
The blade shape is unique, something of a drop point with a large thumb rest area at the spine for choked up work. The handle is large but comfortable, made of huge slabs of bead blasted titanium.
The action is smooth and the lockup is slightly early but rock solid. No blade play what-so-ever. The lock is smooth with no stickiness at all. Interestingly, it uses a PB washer on one side and a cheap looking black Teflon washer on the other side, I plan to source a PB washer for the other side to see if it will stay smooth, because the Teflon washer doesn't look all that great. Blade is centered perfectly, and when I did a tear down it recentered perfectly without any work from me, something that not even higher end brands have done for me.
The blade is surprisingly thick stock and claims to be S35VN. I have no way of proving it, but they do post steel certificates on their shop site and we know that Crucible has shipped S35VN to China, and of course Kizer has been using it (with maybe an imperfect heat treat). So I have no reason to not believe that it is S35VN.
(Don't mind the pocket lint or the bluing around the pocket clip, I had been carrying it for a few days straight by this time and hadn't taken it apart yet, and when I bought it they lubed it like crazy for me so it picked up everything)
The fit and finish is surprising, but the detailing and finish work isn't quite as high as I've gotten from Kizer. Still, for an unknown brand trying to make their own way for the first time, it's really pretty good. My only real complaint is the pocket clip is very tight and not very well designed at the point, it grabs my jeans and doesn't want to let go.
I need to get some comparison shots, as it is not a small knife by any means. The blade is about 4", for instance. It's close in size to an Olamic Wayfarer. But it carries very nicely.
I plan to send this to Maprik to get pimped a bit and see if he can massage the pocket clip a little, I just don't know what all pimping I want to do yet.
Last edited:
This is the best thing I know of right now..
