MOD Dieter CQD II review and pix

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Dec 25, 2000
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Although I received my Masters of Defense Dieter CQD II over a week ago, I wanted to delay reviewing it until I spent some time with it.
Here you'll see a picture of my CQD II along with a MT LCC/DA that I high polished (above the CQD II) and my trusty 2000 Commander BTS (below the CQD II). Hopefully these 3 knives together will give everyone a decent size comparison.
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Upon receiving the CQD II, my first thought was "I hope the knife is as cool as the box!" Packaging of this knife is very well done. Get one and you'll see what I mean.
There is a nylon sheath included with the CQD II, but in all honesty it looks somewhat gaudy and cheap. Oh well, I don't use nylon sheaths anyhow. I much prefer the pocket clip.
First inspection of the CQDII reveals excellent overall finish. There's no evidence of machining marks whatsoever, and the black anodizing is simply perfect.
Upon opening the knife via well positioned thumbstud, I noticed that the action was overly stiff. I tried loosening the pivot screw several times but couldn't seem to achieve desired results. Finally, I removed the pivot screw with a T6 bit and simply reversed the entire apparatus. So instead of the screw being on the front side of the knife, it's now on the backside with the clip. This leaves the smooth side of the pivot at the front of the knife, giving everything a much cleaner look, and best of all it gave me the desired blade opening smoothness instantly. I'm not sure why reversing the pivot pin smoothed things up, but I'm certainly happy that it did! The action is now buttery smooth and a pleasure to manipulate.
I chose the black/partially serrated blade. This blade is absolutely S3 (Scary Scalpel Sharp) right out of the box. I popped a patch of hair off of my forearm with absolute ease, and I could actually see the hairs jumping away!
This knife feels perfectly wonderful in the hand. It's obvious from handling it that a tremendous effort went into the ergonomics; it just feels really RIGHT.
I've been carrying this CQDII as my offhand knife, and it resides inside the left rear waistband where it rides very comfortably and secure. The pocket clip is ambidextrous amd the positioning of the clip allows the CQD II to ride very low profile.
For the past week I have used this knife many times each day. It has assisted me with cutting heavy twine from countless bales of hay, slashing open 30 or so feedsacks per day, opening heavy cardboard boxes, and all of your usual cutting chores. So far the blade shows NO signs of wear nor dulling, and the action is still smooth as silk. This knife is built to incredibly tight tolerances and and displays ZERO blade wobble. It feels as solid as a good fixed blade.
I'm very happy with this little CQD II and I'm quite eager to recommend it to anyone who may be contemplating getting one. If you're having problems locating one for sale since they're so new to the market, try contacting Larry@bladeart.com , and you'll find his 1-800 number at www.bladeart.com . Larry was able to get this Dieter CQD II to me FAST, but that's not surprising; I've always found Larry's service to be second to none. Thanks for this great blade, Larry!
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Here's a picture from the top of the little Dieter showing the secondary safety (the square shaped latch located within the thumb grooves) and also the carbide glass breaker at the tail end.
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The cool thing about this little Dieter is how smooth it is becoming with daily use. It opens as silky as a well oiled LCC, if not more smoothly. This is a great little knife. Treat yourself to one; it's truly a keeper.
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Eric
"The best toys are the ones that you can put an eye out with."



[This message has been edited by Eric Blair (edited 05-28-2001).]
 
If I remember correctly, I paid $180 and some change for my CQDII, Blilious. It was worth every penny.
 
Just got my Mark II today in the mail. Oddly, I wasn't really looking at buying this knife till I found an eBay auction about to end. I jumped on it and got my first MOD for $140. I have the black blade, combo edge. So far, I'm really happy with it. The action is a little stiff, but it's already starting to loosen up. Amazing construction though - this thing is built like a tank. I was worried about the blade to handle ratio, but in comparing it to my CRKT Gray Ghost and BM Ascent (medium size), it actually has a better ratio that either of those knives. It feels substantial in the hand, but it's not too heavy in the pocket. It'll be awhile before I can determine some aspects of blade performance, etc. but so far I'm really pleased with it, especially for what it cost me.
 
Hey Eric, or any other CQD MK II owners, have you tried actually switching the clip to the other side? I was going to today, to experiment using my CQD as my weak side carry, but upon removing the the clip, I realized that it exposes the spring that holds the ball against the tang! It *might* have been held in by the screw heads, but it would have been iffy, so I just screwed the clip back down on that side. Oh well.
 
mgeoffriau,
Hmmmm,...that's a good question. I carry my Dieter CQDII inside the waistband on my leftside and I've been intending to reverse the clip for proper positioning, but I don't have a torx bit on hand that will fit the tiny clip screws. Do you happen to know what size torx they are?



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Eric - Usual Suspect
"The best toys are the ones that you can put an eye out with."
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Hey Eric,
Double check your knife. Unless it's different from mine, those tiny clip scews are regular allen, not torx. Mine are 1/20 (0.050) standard allen screws, they have a tendency to fill up with gunk, I used a needle to clean them up before I could stick the allen wrench in there. Give it a try.
Mark
BTW Thanks for the great review, it was a big part of why I decided to grab the CQD auction. I'm quite pleased with it.
 
For those of you who want to switch your clip; I was goofing off and planning on doing the same when I saw the spring and BB.

I called MOD to ask if they had a plate or something they could send me to cover the hole if I ever decided to switch my clip.

I got Jim Ray on the phone and he told me that the plate is shipped with each knife and is taped to the underside of the box insert. I looked and sure enough there was a little black triangular piece of metal to cover the spring. That's why the include clip screws on both sides rather than just one set.

If you don't have your box any more give MOD a call and explain, I'm sure they'd send you one right out.

BTW, I like my MKII so well I'm ordering the full size today, man is this a well engineered knife. I've never been thrilled with any of the other manual MOD's I've owned but these take the cake.

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Wow. There I had gone and found the one thing I really didn't like about this knife, and gosh if MOD didn't already take care of it. I never thought to look under there. Great! I'll try it out. Thanks, cpirtle.
 
If you can't find it in the box call MOD.

I called them yesterday for a part and it was here today
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USPS after a holiday weekend no less, they must have bribed the postman.

A++ on customer service.

[This message has been edited by cpirtle (edited 06-01-2001).]
 
No need - it was there. It would have been nice to have something to alert you to its presence, because you wouldn't know it's there till somebody told you. Anyway, it works perfect. Of course, I decided I don't really like carrying my big folder weakside, I'd rather carry my CQD on my right side and carry my utility folder (M-SOCOM) weakside, but of course it wouldn't have a reversible clip, would it?
 
Eric,

Would you recommend, for a person new to knives, the dieter II or the LCC? Noth look very attractive and I'm sure they both have advantages over each other, I was just wondering if you could share the differences that you found.
 
mgeoffriau, you're absolutely right, they are allen screws. At first I hadn't studied them because I knew that no matter what they were I didn't have a bit that small, but after you said that they were allens I made a point to go buy a decent allen wrench set in case I ever want to take this Dieter II apart. Thanks for the wake up call!
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cpirtle, thanks for the info about the plate being taped beneath the box insert. How the hell did MOD ever expect anyone to look there for it?!?!

sbdave, that's a tough question. I would hate to have to choose between my Dieter II and my LCC. These are two of my very favorite production knives of all time. Flip a coin and heads or tails I'm sure that you'd be VERY happy with either. If pressed for a decision,.....I'd probably prefer the LCC to the Dieter II by a very slight margin. Nearly too close to call.

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Eric - Usual Suspect
"The best toys are the ones that you can put an eye out with."
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Well, today I got my full sized CQD, after I picked myself up off of the floor, I packed it back up and sent it back.

Yes, this is a fantastic knife.
Yes, fit and finish was perfect.

But unless you are planning on killing a Yak with it I think it would sit in the drawer all of the time.
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It is very well suited for what it was designed -- CQD.

I would have loved to keep it just to pull out and scare the sh** out of people but I like my knives to be users.

Placed side by side it is about 30-40% bigger than the MKII.

I'll stick to the MKII and hope MOD comes out with more products in this line that are a similar size.

Oops, posted in the wrong string, but I'll leave it here for reference
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[This message has been edited by cpirtle (edited 06-05-2001).]
 
What are the dimensions of the full-sized model? Link to site selling it/link to pic?
 
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