Considering the amount of leverage a blade and handle that long can exert it's no surprise that the relatively thin stock blade and fragile tip would break easily with lateral force. It did excell and hold very strong during stabbing and chopping into a metal car hood. I always wondered if the G10 would hold up well to the impact of hard chopping. It did so without a problem in this video. The triad lock is well known so it did not surprise me that it held strong during most of the abuse and was the last thing to break. I looks like the G10 did not break throughout the ordeal.
I am wondering if a more flexible stainless steel could have been used even at the expense of edge retention, It still took all the abuse until lateral forces were applied as well as battering the blade edge full force into concrete.
It looks like a pretty tough folder provided you don't introduce too much lateral stress.
The G10 version in AUS-10 is certainly more grippy than the more expensive version with S35VN blade and polished aluminum handle/bolsters with polished G10 gip scales. I would feel much more comfortable with a more grippy handle on a knife that large. Swinging around the polished slippery version may give one an uneasy feeling, maybe rightfully so. I also wonder if the use of AUS-10 or S35VN is necessary or even the best choice for this kind of knife. Unfortunately too many people have not yet learned that so called super steel is not for every blade design
ESEE tries to explain that and despite that their super steel version of the ESEE 3 (made solely to comply with market demand) continues to be in demand. A knife the size and configuration of the ESEE 3 would make a good long edge retention slicer that is less durable in most super steels but with a huge long relatively thin stock blade such as the espada xl ,I don't know.
