Folding Utility Knives/BoxCutters - Part 1

U

UnknownVT

Joined
Feb 15, 2003
Messages
2,575
I posted these in a series posts in the SuperKnife and pricing..... thread in the Blade Discussion Forum section - but thought it might be worthwhile rationalizing them and posting them here in the Knife Reviews & Testing section -

I ordered and received 2 SuperKnives from AG Russell -

Overall I'm pretty pleased with them... especially for the price I paid - $9.95 each plus $5.95 shipping.
SuperK3.jpg


The liner-lock is pretty good - the lock up is fine:
SuperKBlueLck2.jpg


The entire liner is engaged with a bit to spare - albeit only toward the beginning of the equivalent of the "blade tang".

There is variation between the two I got - the blue one has a bit of "up-down" play in-line with the blade - it's not enough to bother me. I wriggled the blade and tried to make the liner-lock fail, and did a spine-whack test - but it doesn't fail.

The red one has quite definite "click" for its ball-bearing dedent. The blue one start with hardly any feel - and can be shaken open - but by tightening the pivot bolt with the provided tool - the ball-bearing still can't be felt on closing but definitely can be felt on opening. The blue one now cannot be shaken open easily - requiring a substantial snap for the blade to open - about the same as the red one. The blue one is perhaps just on the side of being a little stiff - but I prefer this trade-off against being able to shake it open too easily.

If I were more fussy I might return the blue one - but as of now, adjusted, it seems OK to me for the usage I would put it through. The red is/was definitely better in this aspect.

Like any liner-lock with a large easy to access cutout there is obviously the possibility of danger of accidental disengagement of the lock. While photographing the knife I touched and moved the lock on more than one occassion - obviously without any detrimental effect as I was only picking it up and moving it around. But I will have to always be conscious of this aspect.

The knife is a bit more hefty - thicker than I expected - seems pretty heavy duty - which appears confidence inspiring -
SuperKthick3.jpg


There are no spare blades (which would have been nice, and not very costly to include) and requiring a tool to change the blades albeit an ordinary allen hex key can still be a pain if I did a lot of blade changing. There is a spare allen screw for holding the blade - I can see that item being easily lost in a field change.

So the tool-less change version (SK2) or those Husky, Craftsman lockback knives may well be superior in this aspect.


Overall I am pleased -
yes, I wish the blue one was as good as the red one -
but hey, such slight variation for a $10 knife seems just about acceptable to me........

--
Vincent

http://UnknownVincent.cjb.net/
http://UnknownVT.cjb.net/
 
Now that I've had more time with the two samples - I have found distinct material differences between the two.

It seems (from feedback) the Red one may be the older version -
see these two (for direct) comparison photos:
SupKRedLck.jpg
SupKRedThick.jpg


Note the liner-lock is different - on the blue the liner is a full piece on one side of the scale - whereas the red has a liner that's more embedded in the handles so it does not show on the photo of the back/spine.

As far as action is concerned I have already noted the difference. The Red is mechanically a lot better than the Blue - overall the red's feel is more solid and positive.

As already described the Red had a very positive ball-bearing dedent - definite click close. So the Red is held closed by both friction as well as the ball-bearing dedent.

In fact I would go as far as to say that the Red rivals some of my better liner-locks. Whereas the Blue does NOT.

In fact I have found a problem with the Blue and had to return it:
SupKLckFault2.jpg

It does not do it all the time - but very occassionally it will not lock-up.

Because I have figured out why it was doing this (very occassionally) so I can make it repeat - but in real-life it is less likely to occur.

I don't think this is a common or inherent fault -
I've put it down to simple sample variation.

--
Vincent

http://UnknownVincent.cjb.net/
http://UnknownVT.cjb.net/
 
Sears have the Craftsman version (of the Husky) Folding lock-back Utility Knife on sale for $6.99 (until July/21)
00994848000-dlv.jpg


I phoned ahead to check stock at my local Sears (Atlanta, GA) - they had 4 - in red, blue and black....
and it is on sale for $6.99

The red was similar to the pale almost tending to pink red anodization of my "good" SuperKnife - the checkering makes it looks a bit darker. The anodized black was sort of translucent with a shade of blue-green when the light is held right.

Compared to the red SuperKnife -
CraftsMSupK.jpg


Craftsman is a tool-less blade change - quite a clever method -
CraftsMBldChg.jpg


BUT the problem with this is the blade can be jiggled in the holder - since there has to be some tolerance for fitting - the movement is mostly up-down in line with the blade, but there is some side-to-side - I think the blade supplied is thinner than the one on the SuperKnife (which may be "contractor" grade) so the Craftsman might (I'm not sure) be able to take the thicker blades, in which case this may minimize any blade movement in the holder - but this is just my guess - if the thicker blades will fit at all.

The Superknife blade holder is solid with absolutely no play what-so-ever.

Closed - the knives are about the same length -
CraftsMSupKCls2.jpg

BUT - the Craftsman's blade protudes a lot more than the SuperKnife, making the Craftsman much wider closed.

Although the knives are comparable in thickness -
with the Superknife seeming a bit thicker -
CraftsMSupKBck2.jpg


A complaint I have heard about the Craftsman (and Husky) is the thumb-stud -
it protrudes quite a bit beyond the scales - so the likelihood of it catching on something is quite high - not only that the tab for the blade change release also sticks out. If one tries to open the knife two-handed - (especially since one-handed opening may well be difficult for some see below) - one may well accidentally pull against the blade release tab - which opens the blade holder.....

The Craftsman feels quite bit heavier - due to its substantial - oversized backspring -
I don't think this is over-engineering - it's just to accomodate the thick blade holder.

As a consequence of this - the thumb-stud needs quite a hefty push to open the Craftsman one-handed.
It is NOT easy on my sample - this is not only due to the hefty backspring - but also a fairly sharp corner/transition from the rounded tang - in fact there appears to actually be a lip/discontinuity that makes overcoming the initial force difficult.
CraftsMSupLcks.jpg


Look carefully at the tang end of the Craftsman one can see this "lip" - why is it there? Because it really makes opening the knife quite difficult.

Overall I much prefer the SuperKnife - at least this one (red) sample - its action and lock have a lot better feel than the Craftsman. Even though the SuperKnife requires a tool (simple hex key) to change blades this is a much more preferable trade-off for the solid no play blade-holder, in comparison to the the looser blade in the Craftsman.

--
Vincent

http://UnknownVincent.cjb.net/
http://UnknownVT.cjb.net/
 
Just as a follow up -

I phoned SuperKnife and confirmed that the full side liner style as in the blue one I received is the newer and current version.

They do still have some of the older style as described for my red version, and can supply those if requested, as long as they have remaining stock.

The newer SK2 Roundel (tool-less change) follows the newer style of a full side-liner.

As my older style red sample of one was just so much better than the newer style blue sample I received -
I just hope the blue I returned was simply due to sample variation, and the newer style (including the SK2) behaves more like the red one I have.......

--
Vincent

http://UnknownVincent.cjb.net/
http://UnknownVT.cjb.net/
 
I saw this knife in a magazine awhile back and said "Great Idea!" So, I promptly ordered one. When I received it, I said, "Great Idea, now if someone would only make it RIGHT!" If Benchmade, or maybe Spyderco would put some real effort into this concept, it would be a great knife. Mine sits in a dish next to the sink, waiting for someone to "Make It Right." My second thought was, "great idea, horrible implementation." Win some, lose some.

MPotter
 
I like the idea too. It seems like it'd make a great EDC for those times when I don't want to use a "good" knife, like upping a room full of carpet or something. I would like to see a BM/Spydie version, that'd be sweet. .
 
Vincent,
I have experience with only one, and I believe it is fairly early vintage.
The first issue was the liner lock. NIB, it didn't travel far enough over to engage the tang of the blade, so the blade has significant up-down blade play. Maybe one of these days, I'll take it apart and see if I can get the lock to spring over further.
Second was the location of the thumb stud. It was just too close to the pivot for me. This is probably just personal preference. I moved the location to about the same distance as the thumbstud on a Benchmade 710 (center of pivot to thumbstud). I don't remember what the original thumbstud looked like. I put an agressively knurled stud on it for good grip, which is needed, because...
The clip is mounted too low on the knife, causing it to ride too high in the pocket, and it also blocks access to the thumbstud (new or old location).
The metal slabs make it pretty solid, but I would prefer scales of G10 or Micarta for a better grip. Lower cost zytel could be another option.
The blade replacement mechanism is a little cumbersom. Having to remove that little screw is un-handy. The Craftsman mechanism looks like it COULD be a quicker change (and toolless), but not having handled that one, I can't comment on the implementation.
One final point: some strategically placed grooves would be a great addition to add some grip/slip resistance. Especially on the back of the handle over the pivot and continuing out onto the blade. Also some on the edge side of the blade for index finger security.

Thanks for listening!
MPotter
 
A well made one of these would be wonderful. Too bad... :(
 
potterma said:
I have experience with only one, and I believe it is fairly early vintage.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for the insightful input.

As you see I have had two different experiences - one eventually bad enough to return, and the other I'm actually quite pleased with.

The good (red) one is actually the older version, according to SuperKnife, and the blue one I returned is the current newer version.

I definitely had a problem with the liner lock of the Blue one - it was just way too senitive to being moved - to the point I remarked that it probably could be accidentally disengaged - I eventually thought this might even be quite easy to do - from my experience of just picking the thing up to move around to take photos of it. However in mitigation it did not actually disengage in use - although to be fair I only had the knife for a short time before returning it.

The blue also had some up-down play in the lock-up. The reason I found I could get the knife to not lock-up everytime - was because there was some pull-push play in the blade (holder) when holding the liner-lock disengaged and knife fully open.

If I had only experienced this blue one then I would have also said it was a good idea with poor implementation.

However the red one is just good enough that I reserve any judgements until I have handled more samples.

But the negative is that red one is a discontinued version.......and I'm probably lucky with that one sample.

The Craftsman (and the similar Husky) have major problems for me. The knife is really hard to open one-handed both for me and from reports from more than one. I literally bruised my thumb from doing it. Others report being "impossible", and at least two people have gone as far as removing the thumb-stud to open the knife two-handed.

Another bad point for me is that there is play in the blade held in the holder - even thicker blades will have play. I returned the Craftsman I bought despite the very competitive sale price of $6.99.

Whereas the admittedly cumbersome screw for the blade change on the SuperKnife is (for me) a worthwhile trade-off for the solid no-play blade holder.

I wonder how the blade is held in the newer design SK2 Roundel (tool-less change) SuperKnife - anyone with one who can please let us know if there is any blade play in the SK2 holder?

SK2.jpg


Lastly for more grip someone posted a Schrade version (that looks remarkably like the SuperKnife) with with "stylish" diamond-plate textured handles
superknifeSSK5Small.jpg


also Superknife themselves offer a "rubber" handled version.
rubber_knives_superknife_do.jpg


--
Vincent

http://UnknownVincent.cjb.net/
http://UnknownVT.cjb.net/
 
I just received a blue Husky from a friend as a gift.
Prett cool little innovation.
Mine has absolutely no looseness or blade play in the actual blade or in the holder. The blade is super tight.
The only drawback I see is that I agree with you on the "lip". This makes one handed opening rather difficult. I may take it apart and try to file that lip down a tad...

Peace-
Cam
 
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