- Joined
- Apr 15, 2014
- Messages
- 483
I have wanted one of these for a really long time and finally pulled the trigger. We're working with the blue ano, carbon fiber insert, S35VN configuration.
Honestly, I have nothing against D2. I love D2, but I just figured hey, if I'm goin' to town on a $300 knife, I'm gonna get that CPM steel. Plus I have a crapload of D2... Actually I have a crapload of S35VN too, now that I think about it...
Anyway, due to size, I separated the sharpening portion of this review, but to summarize, the Naniwa Sharpening Series up to 12k put a hell of an edge on this thing!
First up is to continue carving my two-handed sword. The edge just chewed through that wood. Christ, was it satisfying. I was effortlessly carving thick feathers of wood...
All of those curls are backing up against a huge knot which was intent on leaving a massive chunk in the middle of my otherwise masterfully carved handle. What was I gonna do? Well, this thick-ass blade has so much heft I chopped that little bastard right off!
This thing chops like a pissed off chef.
(for a folder, you understand)
Aaaand voila! A classic wooden dildo for the missus!
Just kidding. Yeah, the sheer amount of knots in the board coupled with my terrible carving skills made the dream of a wooden two-handed sword sliiiiiightly impractical. I need to choose different wood and work with something smaller next time...
So now I need a new project. How about a friction fire kit!
First thing I needed was a bow, and check this thing out! It's... it's perfect!
Chopped it free of the trunk with ease...
Next up is the receiver (?) Sorry, my hardcore bushcraft friends; I have no idea what you call the parts of this thing. Anyway, I put the 451's tip to the test twisting out a dish in this wood:
At this point, I was wondering how the edge was holding up. After doing similar work, my Tenacious was pretty dinged up. On top of doing what I did with my Tenacious, I also relentlessly chopped with the 451. I chopped several knots away, chopped my bow free of the trunk, I also chopped the dildo and turned it into a spindle for my kit. I was pretty sure I had bought myself an express ticket to chip city.
NOPE. The edge was flawless. Nice! I literally gave this poor SOB all the abuse I would actually put on a folder and it took it without even breaking a sweat. I'm pretty sure it even smirked at me when I checked it over all worried. So that's a win. And look at that bevel. I mean, I laid that thing back, man! Again, we're looking at somewhere near 24-25 degrees inclusive, something inside the range of 10-15dps. And not a chip in sight! Mm!
And after about 10 minutes of fiddling around, I found I did not actually care to start a friction fire. The spindle kept slipping and the damn string wouldn't stay put. Listen man, I got other things to do today sooo...
Now let's see how slicy she is. Admittedly, I suspect not very...
It came as no surprise that the thick blade with the low saber grind (and thick behind the edge too) resulted in noticeably higher drag than thinner grinds. Ergos provided high comfort despite needing to grip and push harder. The unique milling lines on the blade also posed no issue. I could not feel any kind of bumpiness while cutting. The overall thickness did give me a little binding though:
But to be fair, that was at a 90 degree perpendicular hold. Most of the time when we slice cardboard, we'll be holding our blade somewhere in the range of 30 to 45 degrees to the medium.
This knife is a unique, high quality, heavy duty, fun-as-hell folder. The button lock coupled with the bearings makes this thing one of the smoothest blades out there. It is nearly impossible to fail deployment, and it drops shut like nothing I've ever seen (keep those fingers clear!). The 451 BLF is one of the fidgety-est blades I've ever used, with its myriad deployment options. The flipper, the thumb notch, you can even spydie-flick this thing, or you can depress the button lock and gravity/centrifuge deploy. Whether you have it in hand for some brutal, ass-kicking work, or to fidget while watching TV, this blade leaves nothing to be desired.
Last edited:
Damn fine looking blade. I inquired if I drilled and tapped it for carry on the other side if it would void the warranty and of course it would. Bummer.