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Esav Benyamin

Esav Benyamin

MidniteSuperMod
Joined
Apr 6, 2000
Messages
90,915
I got a NEMESIS !!!

Well, it's not like getting married, but it costs a few bucks less ... how's that for rationalizing the price on one of these cute little knives? :)

Actually, I got a good deal from one of the guys, not that the knife had been used. Not that I would have noticed. This is a sturdy piece of equipment.

To begin with, as some of you may have noticed, the handle is larger than most folders. Not outrageously so. I took it for a walk, and it fit fine in what are essentially chinos. Did not sag the right front pocket. Cold out! but the gloves I was wearing fit perfectly around the handle, and I had no trouble with the big thumbstuds, either hand.

The first use it got was within a few minutes of opening the box: I sliced a crisp, fresh nectarine for breakfast. Looking at the edge under light magnification, I can see why it feels so toothy. Very sharp, but grips its way through the cut.

Very comfortable and secure in a firm hammer grip, and reverse blade out. Specially reassuring, in hammer grip with the blade closed, it is an excellent striker with an inch and a half of butt sticking out past my little finger. I hope I can borrow some window glass to try it out on. :) (Our First Aid squad and fire house usually have wrecked cars to practice on, breaking glass, and Jaws of Life.)

I looked seriously at the Fulcrum II and the MPC, as the opposite ends of the ER folder universe. The MPC is the same blade length as the Nemesis, and I prefer to lose the serrations for now.

The Fulcrum has a beautiful thumb ramp and I like the size being a bit more "civilian" for daily carry. Now that I have a Nemesis, I think the Fulcrum is next on my list, just as I'd gotten a MOD CQD II to alternate with my CQD I.


Anybody want to buy my Buck/Strider, MOD CQD and CQD II ?? :D How about a couple of Greco folders ?? :cool:
 
Thanks!

Midwinter is a great time to pick up a knife like this, just when I need all the reliable back-up I can get! :D
 
Congratulations Esav! The ER folders(the entire line too) are really awesome edged tools. The strongest folders I have encountered.:)
 
esav - put your digicam & posting skills to work, brother man. let's see some scale comparisons with your hand, your keys, other knives, etc, plus multiple angles.

okay, a simple pic would be fine ;)
 
I have a camera with no instructions that I don't know how to use and a scanner that I've never hooked up!

If we get my hand in the picture, you won't see much knife ... :D
 
Originally posted by Esav Benyamin
I have a camera with no instructions that I don't know how to use and a scanner that I've never hooked up!
Click to expand...
perhaps you & me need to start a technologically challenged club with strict admittance requirements?!

lol
 
I think we'd be overwhelmed with applicants! :)

I remember my boss telling me he was going to get me a beeper and told him I'd quit if he did. I knew this guy -- he'd be beeping me at 11:00 at night with one more great idea or project or whatever.

It was years before I bothered to get a cellphone.

I like the idea of cameras and scanners, but it seems like a lot of trouble and I never get around to it. Laziness! I'm retired, being lazy is my job now. :p
 
When Esav speaks I listen.
However, in this case he really got my attention when he asked if anyone would buy his Greco folders.
John Greco makes a stout knife.

I also found it interesting to read Esav's description of N690, ER's steel of choice, as "toothy."
I believe some steels cut better than others because of this toothiness; VG-10 comes to mind as a steel designed for the horticulture industry for its micro-toothiness.
Micro-toothiness.
I love that kinda talk. :)
Anyway, I wonder if Esav could expand on his description, perhaps with a subjective comparison to some other steels.
 
Chemically speaking, N690 looks very close to VG-10. That, or the belts that sharpen these puppies might the micro-teeth.

If anyone is interested in seeing N690 in a low-end folder, Benchmade is selling the Steier/Eisen Monochrome, Pika, and Mini-Pika. For the intermediate step between those folders and Extrema Ratio, a lot of European custom makers use N690 and an array of exotic scale materials (a coworker has an N690 drop point with giraffe bone scales that's an absolute beaut.). And, for the top of the heap, there's Extrema Ratio.

Esav,

I'd place Burch's engagement as being a higher priority on the list of "Why life is good", but Extrema Ratio folders, especially the Nemesis, is definitely on that same list.
 
As short a time as I've had the knife, the only work it's done has been in the kitchen -- a lot of vegetables and a few rolls. This is not the geometry for that sort of cutting, being too narrow for such a thick blade, but it did fine.

It will be a while before I sharpen it, I think, so what I said about the edge was a joke: the short secondary bevel is heavily striated. Running a fingernail along it, I can feel the tiny sawtooth effect. I will be happy to find this is also inherent in the steel. But a lot of it is always in the sharpening. How fine a stone do you have to use to finish an edge? Too fine and you lose "bite".

I have been thinking about reducing the sheer weight of knives I own, the mass of metal lying around here. There is a lot of overlap, and many of the older knives don't get the use that the newer ones handle better. I like heavy-duty blades, but not battle-axes. My knives are for cutting, not smashing. So some of the super-beaters will be going. I really should keep one Greco. The drop point or the hawksbill? :)

Anyone reading this forum should have some idea by now of what the ER folders are like, but there's nothing like actually holding one. With small hands, the Nemesis (or MPC) handle is practically a two-handed grip -- even with my fairly wide hands, I can get thumb and two fingers of my other hand on it.

I don't remember where, but I recall someone writing about the crossbolt being loose enough to shift a bit inadvertently. On mine so far, I have to give it a real push to move it to or from lock position, whether the blade is open or closed.
 
Keep the hawksbill!

The Extrema Ratio folders are built to be in the same condition no matter what you do to them. They won't outcut a Calypso, Jr. on most cutting materials, but you can do things with a Nemesis that will cripple most folders and a lot of fixed blades.

And it will still look pretty!
 
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