Enigma Knives Bronze No.3

Joined
Aug 18, 2016
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634
Today I received my first knife from Enigma Knives, an upcoming Polish knifemaker.
First a little bit about the company as they're not really that prominent:
From what I could gather(their page isn't exactly in perfect English :D ) they're split off of a company(RONIN) that was founded in 2007. They're target is to produce high-quality knives at affordable prices.
The knives are semi custom(as they say) with all parts(well all but scales, pins etc. obviously) CNC machined and hand finished/-ground.

The steels they use range from US2000 MC/Z-Wear(pretty similar to CruWear; no silicon, higher Carbon and Chromium), K590, M390. Liners generally are titanium and scales pretty much all the non-metallic stuff.

Now to this knife:
first off: Price was 120USD
Steel: US2000MC @62HRC
Stock thickness: 2mm
Liners: Titanium
Scales: Stabilized Wood
Pins: Brass/Mosaic
Blade Length: 70mm
Weight: around 52g

The presentation was stellar; it came in a wooden box with cloth lining, a felt sheath(they also offer leather), key-ring pendant, and a cleaning cloth and the box was well packaged.
Pictures of presentation:
(01)
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(02)
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(03)
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The knife itself:
The finish is good, though the blade is a bit shy of liners and spring, and there are slight gaps between spring and liners. So compared to GEC, better in some parts, worse in others.

(04)
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The centering is close to being perfect, but slightly off to one side, no rub though.

(05)
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The blade itself is ground pretty thin(like, really thin) and actually came sharp(GEC isn't even close here, way nicer on the Enigma) with perfectly symmetrical sweeping plunges. The blade finish is a belt satin(guessing 600-800ish?). The secondary bevel is even, about 800-1000grit.
The blade runs on 0.1mm pb washers.

(06)
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(07)
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The wood is some kind of stabilized Burl, one tiny imperfection(can be seen in pictures 03 and 06, nothing major, can't feel it) with a really nice deep grain. Really beautiful.

The pull is a solid 7-8/10; really stiff though doable without breaking your nails(blade can be pinched easily). While the talk is really nice, the walk leaves a bit to be desired which is a result of the blasted flats, I'd guess. It's a bit gritty, but I think that it will smoothen out over time.

Overall I'd say, for the money, there are few options that are better. Biggest positive being the really thin blade from PM steel and biggest negative the not-flush-ness.
 
Good review. That is a pretty high HRC. Give us an update after you have used it.
Reprofiled it(to 15 dps); was comparable to Spyderco's M4 in ease of sharpening I'd say. Took a nice polish. May be one of the best slicers I have.
I'll get back once I had some actual cutting to do
 
I've got one in K490, which was listed as "about 64 HRC" - nice little knife.
 
I’ve got two now, one in the US2000 and one in M390. I’d say your review is pretty spot on. I can say the US2000 behaves just like Cruwear for me. The M390 is harder to sharpen but seems to be holding a great edge. I have used both a lot, and on a variety of materials. The pull does ease up a bit but I like a strong pull and it’s nice to have a strong spring when using it pretty hard. I did a bunch of pruning and while cutting some stuff that was too thick I felt comfortable rocking it out without it closing. The scratchy or grittiness, (you only notice it if you are looking for it) is gone on my first, US2000 and slowly working itself out on the M390. They typically use maple burl for their offerings with wood. Both of mine are wood and have a few minor imperfections as can be expected with natural materials. I like the character it gives. You forgot to mention how light those titanium liners make the knives! Feels like a feather compared to other knives similar in size. Gotta love the mosaic pivots too!
 
I’ve got two now, one in the US2000 and one in M390. I’d say your review is pretty spot on. I can say the US2000 behaves just like Cruwear for me. The M390 is harder to sharpen but seems to be holding a great edge. I have used both a lot, and on a variety of materials. The pull does ease up a bit but I like a strong pull and it’s nice to have a strong spring when using it pretty hard. I did a bunch of pruning and while cutting some stuff that was too thick I felt comfortable rocking it out without it closing. The scratchy or grittiness, (you only notice it if you are looking for it) is gone on my first, US2000 and slowly working itself out on the M390. They typically use maple burl for their offerings with wood. Both of mine are wood and have a few minor imperfections as can be expected with natural materials. I like the character it gives. You forgot to mention how light those titanium liners make the knives! Feels like a feather compared to other knives similar in size. Gotta love the mosaic pivots too!
Oops yes, forgot to mention the light weight, that was something that really suprised ne when taking it out of the box.
Thanks for the info on the Wood :D
 
Oops yes, forgot to mention the light weight, that was something that really suprised ne when taking it out of the box.
Thanks for the info on the Wood :D

I was curious about what type of wood it was, I suspected maple but wasn’t positive so I asked them. They respond to emails, FB and IG very quickly by the way.
I knew it would be lighter ‘cause of the titanium but was surprised how much lighter it was! If it wasn’t such a solid feeling knife other than the weight I would have been scared to use it. Rest assured however, you can use these blades hard. I’ve put both of mine through the paces and other than scratches on the blades, (a bit of patina forming on the US2000) neither is any worse for the wear. I’ll be passing these on to my boys one day so they use the crap out of them too...
 
I’ve got two now, one in the US2000 and one in M390. I’d say your review is pretty spot on. I can say the US2000 behaves just like Cruwear for me. The M390 is harder to sharpen but seems to be holding a great edge. I have used both a lot, and on a variety of materials. The pull does ease up a bit but I like a strong pull and it’s nice to have a strong spring when using it pretty hard. I did a bunch of pruning and while cutting some stuff that was too thick I felt comfortable rocking it out without it closing. The scratchy or grittiness, (you only notice it if you are looking for it) is gone on my first, US2000 and slowly working itself out on the M390. They typically use maple burl for their offerings with wood. Both of mine are wood and have a few minor imperfections as can be expected with natural materials. I like the character it gives. You forgot to mention how light those titanium liners make the knives! Feels like a feather compared to other knives similar in size. Gotta love the mosaic pivots too!
Does one of yours have a mosaic pivot? I never had one and def. would be interested in their sturdiness(though I don't believe it will pose a problem)
 
Does one of yours have a mosaic pivot? I never had one and def. would be interested in their sturdiness(though I don't believe it will pose a problem)
Both of mine have mosaic pivot. One kind of looks like a face, the other looks like a paw print. Made the same as yours but with more rods,the “face” one has some green. not just one in the middle of the resin filled outer cylinder. So far no issues with either. Lots of use, some heavy use too.
I gave up trying to link to pics but if you google Enigma Knives, a number of images pop up with some of their different pivots.
I really love the blade shape, probably the most useful of any I own. Clips are nice though.
The handle is great, comfortable, versatile but I would love to see a dogleg or maybe a swayback...
 
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Both of mine have mosaic pivot. One kind of looks like a face, the other looks like a paw print. Made the same as yours but with more rods,the “face” one has some green. not just one in the middle of the resin filled outer cylinder. So far no issues with either. Lots of use, some heavy use too.
I gave up trying to link to pics but if you google Enigma Knives, a number of images pop up with some of their different pivots.
I really love the blade shape, probably the most useful of any I own. Clips are nice though.
The handle is great, comfortable, versatile but I would love to see a dogleg or maybe a swayback...
Glad to hear that there are no problems; Mine actually seems to have multiple G10(or some other black stuff that blends in really well) Pins around the center brass pin.
I personally really don't like the bladeshape, it's too SAK-ie for my taste; would prefer a sheepsfoot/wharnie or even a clip Blade way over the drop-point.
Regarding patterns: the dogleg is imo one of the best EDC patterns; a swayback sure would be great too.
I'm quite into CAD, maybe I'll shoot them a message, maybe they're interested in bringing a design of mine to life :D
 
I'm not the slightest bit into traditionals, but man I almost want to get one of these. How everybody hasn't heard of this brand I have no idea. This is a hell of a knife for the incredibly reasonable price.
 
I'm not the slightest bit into traditionals, but man I almost want to get one of these. How everybody hasn't heard of this brand I have no idea. This is a hell of a knife for the incredibly reasonable price.
I'm guessing they're not bigger because shipping to US is expensive. Also they're very limited in availability.
 
I like that they are using modern materials but keeping it a traditional knife. This should appeal to modern knife users peeking at traditionals. It is a great value too considering the materials used and the build quality. I thought shipping was quite reasonable considering they’re coming from Poland. $20. Heck shipping from the U.S. to Canada costs me at least $12, (even places that ship free in U.S. still charge to Canada) and possibility of duties at the border and it usually takes longer than either of my Enigmas did! (USPS sends them on a cross country tour, sometimes back and forth a few times before sending north!?!)
 
So, for those interested, I've had some time to test the knife: The steel is very nice; though different than expected.
I expected some problems with corrosion, but even after days of cutting kiwis and just wiping the blade dry afterwards the ever-so-slight blue teint the blade got would come right off with a bit of water. Edge retention is really good; there's no noticeable loss in sharpness, it was still able to shave part of my face with it today. It also seems to be reasonably tough as there's no edge damage even though I used it to cut on ceramic plates a few times. So all in all a really nice steel :D
For the people that get an Enigma Knives knife: beware of the spring; I one hand closed the knife last week and hit my pinky, split the nail in half and cut into the finger pretty good :D
I also got my second knife from them in today:
HjOLmM1.jpg

The problems are consistent with my first one, but so are the nice things. Oh and they sent me a pen, which is nice I guess? :D
 
Thanks for all the info guys. Between you and Enigma's social media presence I've been hoping to pick one up. They released a group this morning and I was lucky enough to grab a real "purdy" one. This photo is from their website.
View attachment 901434
Been eyeing a few of the new ones as well :D congrats on the knife and much fun with it ;)
 
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