- Joined
- Sep 7, 2015
- Messages
- 965
I was at the pawnshop this weekend and just so happen they were having a 50% off knife sale! All they had was junk, but at the bottom of the case was this guy. Reg price was $140 cad so half off was $70 cad. But I still hesitated because it's the kind of knife I only get to use a few times a year. So I got cheeky and offered $50 that way I can save my cash for the next pawn shop. Well the Manager grudgingly accepted the $50!!
I didn't entirely know what it was but I have a good eye for quality. And the handle and the sheath are quite nice. I later found a "RCF Combat" stamped into the back of the sheath.
I couldn't find any info at first but I did eventually find one on a certain custom knife site (Not sure if they support the site here) Which stated that RCF is hand made in the UK, and the last one they had sold on sale for $150 usd (Not too shabby). I also finally found the RCF Combat website, but they really should work on it a little.
As you can see the "finish" was coming off. Even though I hated the wannabe snake paint job, I wasn't sure with it being a custom knife if it was better to remove it or leave it alone? Asked for opinions in the maintenance section where it was a unanimous "Remove it!!"
I was gonna use paint stripper but I kinda wondered what if there was a logo underneath? So I instead used a cool product called Goof Off Graffiti Remover which removes spray or latex paint but won't ruin original paint. And sure enough there was a logo underneath which means the past owner was an "artist"
A little elbow grease and polishing later and it looks new again!!!
This is a pretty large knife. From the scales the blade is 9 5/8ths inches and the cutting edge is 8 1/4". The thickest part of the blade is .250 inches at the heel.
RCF seems to use either 1095 or D2 and I'm 90% sure mine is D2 judging on how hard it was to polish etc.
The handle is micarta.
The handle is very comfortable and the choil gives a great position to choke up. But for myself using it like a machete. I did find the end of the handle to be a hot spot that dug unto my pinky with each blow. I'm sure with gloves that wouldn't bother me as much.
The grind seems to be perfect and the handle scale are great. The only flaw in this knife is that for some reason the jimping/sword breaker notches are not uniform or even cut to the same depths.
Overall I'm really enjoying this knife. It's a huge chunk of steel for the money, and I wouldn't hesitate picking up another RCF. But IMHO it is a fighting knife more so then a bush/camping knife but it will do both.