This is another k4 for Reate, simply a showoff collector piece that says hey look what we can do. And damn if they can't for one hell of a value usually! Yes the integral and split blade would seem like they cancel each other out, but then again do they? Think about it, what points of a knife take the most stress, when used correctly as a knife and not a pry bar, hatchet, or pump handle for a bottle jack? Yeah the blade, specifically the edge and spine, therefore do we actually need a folding knife handle that is one solid piece of anything? No probably not. It may be a slight improvement if you happen to be batonning with your folding knife , yeah emergency situations do happen, and happen to strike the handle of the knife while swinging. Integrals probably do prevent more debris from building up as quickly as say an open construction design with standoffs or a knife with a super short floating backspacer but then once it does it's usually more difficult to maintain even when there are less parts. It's just more difficult to attempt to assemble an integral bc of the fact that most require the user to attempt to align the blade hole, handle hole on both sides, and slide the pivot in while also trying to either hold the set of bearings or washers in place on each side or sliding them in one at a time while slowly sliding the pivot through from that side, all while trying to do all of that other alignment lol...It can be a struggle especially for those that aren't somewhat mechanically inclined, yes I'm aware the WE Tyche integral was a solution to most if not all those problems, ingenious design, but we've only seen that one model have that type of pivot construction to my knowledge. So back to my original point, since there's probably no practical reason to have an integral handle, yes they're freaking awesome, but since that's the case then just imagine the jack 2 doesn't even have an integral handle, let's focus on the split blade. Once again, while using a knife as a knife, what are the pros and cons to this particular part of the design.
The biggest pro is the option to have multiple blades (replacements) and multiple blade shapes (that fit the same knife handle). This gives us fanatics the option to customize! Yeah I know we hate that, just like none of us own ar-15s that match our knives and vice versa bc we hate them as well since they're so customizable...
Options who the hell wants that??? What, do we live in a day and age where there's options presented to us multiple times a day and instantly? Man how lucky would we be if that were the case?!! Alright, sarcasm aside, blade shape options guys. Imagine having a perfectly ergonomic knife, that fits your hand as perfectly as it can (not saying the jack 2 fits all but this is possible down the road) and then having the option to make that knife into almost any cutting utensil you could ever want?!
Would be amazing right, you users out there can see where I'm coming from? You have the part of the knife that interacts with you, the handle, and it's already perfect. All you have to do is simply change 3/4 of the other half, the blade, and you can have a knife for food prep, for utility style cuts, for slicing, for stabbing, for skinning, for camping, etc... Nearly endless possibilities and you're keeping the heart of it the same, the most important part from an end use standpoint, that handle that interacts with you.
Yes it's the most important thing and I believe we miss that alot of the times, just how important that part is. Yes the blade is what does the work, but who among us wants to use a super slicey knife blade that's attached to a 4 inch piece of 2x4 wood with rusty nails sticking out?
Sure it may work, but it's gonna hurt like hell! Yes, an extreme example, but a non-ergonomic knife can be so uncomfortable to use that it's almost always the fastest reason a knife user sells a knife. No I don't have statistics to back that up, would love to see some if they even existed but ask yourself or ask a knife friend and see what they say.
The cons are somewhat more obvious, loss of bolts, blades, broken blade inserts, etc... But all replaceable parts guys. It may not be seen now, may not be taken advantage of now, and we may be using laser knifes to cut with 30 years from now and it not even matter, but this could be a huge innovation for the production knife world.
