Well what a tumultus week I've had, I finally have my first Hinderer XM-18. And what an absolute nightmare I've had to reach this point.
Sorry for the long post but I had to let some steam off.
It started with the order tracking on DLT not updating, after a few days I messaged them to find out what was going on.
They told me it was dispatched on the day I ordered it and supplied a tracking number...Happy Days!
On to the FedEx website to track, "your parcel is being held at customs awaiting further information from importer".
Ring FedEx to find out what is going on. "We need more information as to the contents of the package, it says its a knife?"
Yes its a knife..."ok you will need to email us with more details, What the item is, end use, market value etc etc"
email sent, few hours later, phone call from FedEx..."Your parcel has cleared customs however we cannot deliver it to you. We don't deliver "weapons" door to door. you need to come and collect it in the next 5 days or it will be confiscated, destroyed or returned to sender" They advised that they are open till 12 midnight and to email to arrange a collection time. Along with my photo ID and vehicle registration, so i could get through security.
Emailed, no reply, phone call, no one knew what was going on, after numerous phone calls over 2 days I finally get through to someone who was actually helpful and gave me a pick up address and time frame.
You need to go this this address between 9am-11pm.
It was a 2 hour drive away and I eventually arrived about 9pm friday night to find that the office Stanstead Airport was closed.
Spoke to security and explained the situation, who begrudgingly said ok i can try and find someone but their office is empty and if i cant find anyone i cant help you.
fortunately found someone who said they gave me the wrong address on the phone and I needed to drive to another location.
got to this new location and spoke to security there, they then found someone else and eventually after waiting around for another half an hour they located my parcel.
I signed for it and had a quick look in my car.
And I mostly don't blame anyone but myself for probably having unrealistic expectations after all the reviews and youtube videos, but after all that effort I was mildly disappointed.
For a knife of that price range, I rightly or wrongly had certain expectations.
Firstly, the blade wasn't centered, which doesnt really bother me too much, but for the price it should be.
Flicked open just fine with a strong finger blistering detent.
The action was "ok" I thought, maybe it needs breaking in. The action on my WE Knife Slipstream and Boker Damascus Kwaiken is about the same if not a tad faster/smoother.
No blade play at all when open or closed, lock up is solid, so that was good.
Next test, it wasnt even shaving sharp, it couldn't take any hairs off my arm. Most worryingly it struggle slicing paper without snagging.
Not to worry, I can sharpen it myself. But disappointing that I've had knives far cheaper with hair popping factory edges on.
Another gripe is that there is a gap at the bottom tip near the tip of the knife when closed, where the G10 doesn't sit flush with the titanium scale underneath. Makes it look a bit cheap.
Visually and the feel of it in hand, to me, is about on par with other knives in my collection which cost significantly less.
Again it's just probably me with unrealistic expectations.
Unless by pure chance, I received stellar examples from other companies, it feels much the same if not worse than my Manix 2 in Blurple for example in fit and finish, at almost 1/3 of the cost.
I took the knife apart and tried the different washers and ended up putting the bearings back in. Oiled the detent and track where it runs and the action was a little better.
adjusted the pivot and played about a bit and the blade is much more central now.
Then I spent the next 2-3 hours re profiling and sharpening the blade. I read somewhere that the factory edge is 22dps and I took it down to 20dps and put a mirror polish on it finishing with Pikal metal polish, the same stuff Rockstead recommend using on their knives. The edge is now hair whittling sharp.
What disappointed me the most out of everything though, is the card you get along with it that says who assembled and finished it etc. wasn't even hand signed. The signature on it was printed on and pixelated.
That just makes the whole thing very unauthentic. It makes it feel like I bought a Chinese clone rather than a real one from DLT.
So far I've been in the woods on a dog walk and whittled some sticks, been to work and cut up a load of cardboard and my impressions of M390 is very good.
Still hair whittling sharp. Ergos are good and I will continue to use this knife.
My wife asked me after all that if I'd do it again, damn straight I would, I wouldn't be a knife nut otherwise.
The mediocre fit and finish hasn't put me off Hinderer either maybe I just got a bad one. Anyway I'd like more from them. A wharnie and an XM-24 if i get a chance.
and of course just to add to all this I had additional import tax and handling fee due to it being a weapon, plus petrol to actually collect it, so it cost me another £90-100 on top of the sale price on DLT.
Rant over.