How is the Fit & Finish on these Italian Knives?

Joined
Nov 9, 1998
Messages
171
They do look nice in the pictures, but are they easy to open and close, or are there rough spots, or areas not made well. And what are they simalar to, company-wise elsewhere in the world?

Thanks, MC
 
Being a knife collector myself (mainly custom jobs), I can speak with some authority that these knives are as close to custom made as you can find. But my opinion comes from a biased source, the president of the company, so I would ask some folks who examined our goods at the Atlanta Blade show for an "unbiased" opinion of their quality.

You might want to ask Darrel Ralph, James Mattis of Chai Cutlery, Moteng (who desided to carry our entire line after checking it out), Dexter Ewing, Mike Turber, James Nowka, and others - though I don't expect our competitors to put us up on some pedestal for obvious reasons.

The closest I can think of in terms of a production quality would be William Henry (who just squeeked us out of the best import award by a vote or two..).

On our liner locks, we're more along the lines of a Microtech (in my opinion) or Benchmade's newer product, say their Axis line of 705/710's, etc. But that's a mechanical comparison, not a cosmetic one! Cosmetically, our knives are in a league of their own, literally. You will read more about us and our offerings in upcoming issues of all the major magazines.

Stay tuned for more hot news soon to be released.....

Thanks for visiting our site.

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These knives won't be confused with William Henry or Chris Reeve, but they're a long way from chopped liver.

And they're a long way from your grandfather's Italian stiletto too. Factory knives are made by companies, of course, and not countries, and there's a wide range of quality in "Made in USA" among other places. Comparing imports, they're better finished that a lot of what I've seen from Scandinavia, at least as good as what I've seen lately from Solingen, maybe in the same league (though completely different design philosophies) as what I've seen from CRKT's and OE's Taiwan sources, and not quite up to Moki of Seki City. Priced lower than Moki too, feature for feature.

The steel is 440A, which is at least as good as anybody's Mitteleuropa Mystery Stainless.

The liner locks I've met have good ball bearing detents and work smoothly. They're for light to medium duty utility, and not for combat conditions or martial bladecraft. If you find one where the liner is right on the near edge of the blade you'll be tempting fate with a spine whack, but it will, in my tiny sample, hold against steady bare-handed back-pressure. I mentioned one other issue in my liner lock post which doesn't affect performance, IMHO, but is in line to be taken up with the manufacturer. I've met more expensive and uglier liner locks that didn't work as well.
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The lockbacks seem plenty solid, and the overall fit and finish are first-class-factory, but not quite "custom," and again neither are the prices. The Damascus passes my eyeball tests nicely, and I haven't tried anything more scientific.

I can't find any nits to pick on the one fixed blade I've had my hands on.


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- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001


[This message has been edited by James Mattis (edited 06-22-2000).]
 
Thanks Barnaby, and thanks James!

I have a much better idea of what's up with these pieces.

I, like maybe others, have a need for some knives with different handle materials, rather then just the Zytel, G10, etc. I think they sure look nice and I know the Italians are very capable, and do some very great work.

They seem like a breath of fresh air to me. I look foward to finding out for myself, firsthand.

Thanks, Mark
 
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