WESN Allman First Impressions/Review

Joined
Feb 14, 2019
Messages
204
I just received my Kickstarter knife, the WESN Allman. Anticipated delivery was end of July, so they're a little over a month late. Supposedly the hold up was the lanyard bead, which...whatever.

That aside, the knife itself is, at first glance, pretty solid. The fit and finish is nice, I opted for the gunmetal framelock version. The finish is consistent. All of the edges that should be chamfered are chamfered. The flipper tab is sufficiently jimped. The jimping on the spine is perhaps a little aggressive, but I haven't really cut anything other than paper with it, so haven't had to really bear down on them yet to see if that will be an issue. Lockbar access is...ok. Wouldn't mind perhaps a deeper access to it, but I do have fat fingers and haven't slipped off yet so maybe it's not an issue.

The action is ok. I'm pretty sure it's on washers, doesn't seem as smooth as bearings. I haven't had a chance to disassemble it yet, but will update when I do. It's nowhere near fall shut, but I doubt that's possible with a blade this short and thin. It's an all titanium frame with a stainless lockbar insert. Weight wise, the website says it weighs 3.65oz, but I don't have a scale to confirm. The Kizer Gemini lists the same weight and I'd say it's close. There doesn't seem to be any internal milling in the titanium.

I love the form factor, especially when closed. It seems to be a very pocketable knife. The clip concerns me, there's not a lot of ramp to it. I haven't tried pocketing it yet but if there is a weak point, it's definitely the clip.

The knife feels great in hand. I've got small'ish but fat hands but can get a solid four finger grip, and can even hammer grip comfortably. It feels good in a pinch grip too, although with this tip style, not sure you would be doing any precision cutting with it.

Speaking of the blade... It's supposed to be S35VN, but it's not stamped anywhere. There's a small brand mark under the jimping on the show side of the blade. Really minor complaint, but I wish they'd made the letters line up with the jimping better. The blade design is a love it or hate it type, apparently. I remember when I first posted about it, it was described as a potato. Personally, I like it. Not as much as I did when I first saw it, but it's still different enough that it's appealing. It was very sharp out of the box, push cut harbor freight pages with no problem. The grind appears to be even. Sharpening it on my KME will be interesting with the dramatic belly on the tip.

That's my first impressions. Just opened it tonight, going to try to carry it for a few days and then will report back with more info as I have it and develop a more informed opinion.

Pictures if you're interested: https://imgur.com/a/rC2du7W
 
I just received my Kickstarter knife, the WESN Allman. Anticipated delivery was end of July, so they're a little over a month late. Supposedly the hold up was the lanyard bead, which...whatever.

That aside, the knife itself is, at first glance, pretty solid. The fit and finish is nice, I opted for the gunmetal framelock version. The finish is consistent. All of the edges that should be chamfered are chamfered. The flipper tab is sufficiently jimped. The jimping on the spine is perhaps a little aggressive, but I haven't really cut anything other than paper with it, so haven't had to really bear down on them yet to see if that will be an issue. Lockbar access is...ok. Wouldn't mind perhaps a deeper access to it, but I do have fat fingers and haven't slipped off yet so maybe it's not an issue.

The action is ok. I'm pretty sure it's on washers, doesn't seem as smooth as bearings. I haven't had a chance to disassemble it yet, but will update when I do. It's nowhere near fall shut, but I doubt that's possible with a blade this short and thin. It's an all titanium frame with a stainless lockbar insert. Weight wise, the website says it weighs 3.65oz, but I don't have a scale to confirm. The Kizer Gemini lists the same weight and I'd say it's close. There doesn't seem to be any internal milling in the titanium.

I love the form factor, especially when closed. It seems to be a very pocketable knife. The clip concerns me, there's not a lot of ramp to it. I haven't tried pocketing it yet but if there is a weak point, it's definitely the clip.

The knife feels great in hand. I've got small'ish but fat hands but can get a solid four finger grip, and can even hammer grip comfortably. It feels good in a pinch grip too, although with this tip style, not sure you would be doing any precision cutting with it.

Speaking of the blade... It's supposed to be S35VN, but it's not stamped anywhere. There's a small brand mark under the jimping on the show side of the blade. Really minor complaint, but I wish they'd made the letters line up with the jimping better. The blade design is a love it or hate it type, apparently. I remember when I first posted about it, it was described as a potato. Personally, I like it. Not as much as I did when I first saw it, but it's still different enough that it's appealing. It was very sharp out of the box, push cut harbor freight pages with no problem. The grind appears to be even. Sharpening it on my KME will be interesting with the dramatic belly on the tip.

That's my first impressions. Just opened it tonight, going to try to carry it for a few days and then will report back with more info as I have it and develop a more informed opinion.

Pictures if you're interested: https://imgur.com/a/rC2du7W
So How is the knife after spending time with it. Do you got answers to your initial questions?
 
So How is the knife after spending time with it. Do you got answers to your initial questions?

Woops, meant to come back and update this quite awhile back and completely forgot. I've actually already moved the knife on, more on that later, but let me address some of the things I mentioned in the original post.

I was totally wrong about the clip. It worked really well. As mentioned in the original, I had a Kizer Gemini at the same time, and the clip on the Allman was actually better than that on the Gemini. It definitely was great in the pocket. Despite the clip not being very deep, it carried pretty subtly and not once did I think about it in my pocket until I went to grab it to do something.

I never did do any heavy cutting with it, but I did use it to slice a few french bread pizzas for lunch at work, and it did fine with those. Most of my daily knife tasks are cutting food or opening letters/packages. The weird tip on the Allman made letters a little difficult, but it handled packages with no problem.

At the time, the Kizer Gemini was my closest comparison, and the Allman was definitely better in my opinion. Carried smaller, action felt better, better ergos. I actually just got an MBK EZC today, and sort of wish I had the Allman back to compare with it. They seem really similar, and I *think* the Allman might win out for me in a side by side comparison as well, for many of the same reasons it beats the Gemini.

All in all, it was a great little knife. Had I not gotten a TRM Atom and a CRK shortly afterwards, I probably would have been way more impressed with it, and would still have it. If you're looking for a slim, non-threatening carry with some premium materials, I would definitely recommend it as maybe a distant third behind the TRM Atom/Neutron, or if for some reason someone didn't want one of those, it would be a solid recommendation.

If you're on the fence about picking one up, I think they're worth a shot. The price might be a wee bit high, so maybe try to find a used one. I've seen a few on the secondary market, so they're out there.
 
Woops, meant to come back and update this quite awhile back and completely forgot. I've actually already moved the knife on, more on that later, but let me address some of the things I mentioned in the original post.

I was totally wrong about the clip. It worked really well. As mentioned in the original, I had a Kizer Gemini at the same time, and the clip on the Allman was actually better than that on the Gemini. It definitely was great in the pocket. Despite the clip not being very deep, it carried pretty subtly and not once did I think about it in my pocket until I went to grab it to do something.

I never did do any heavy cutting with it, but I did use it to slice a few french bread pizzas for lunch at work, and it did fine with those. Most of my daily knife tasks are cutting food or opening letters/packages. The weird tip on the Allman made letters a little difficult, but it handled packages with no problem.

At the time, the Kizer Gemini was my closest comparison, and the Allman was definitely better in my opinion. Carried smaller, action felt better, better ergos. I actually just got an MBK EZC today, and sort of wish I had the Allman back to compare with it. They seem really similar, and I *think* the Allman might win out for me in a side by side comparison as well, for many of the same reasons it beats the Gemini.

All in all, it was a great little knife. Had I not gotten a TRM Atom and a CRK shortly afterwards, I probably would have been way more impressed with it, and would still have it. If you're looking for a slim, non-threatening carry with some premium materials, I would definitely recommend it as maybe a distant third behind the TRM Atom/Neutron, or if for some reason someone didn't want one of those, it would be a solid recommendation.

If you're on the fence about picking one up, I think they're worth a shot. The price might be a wee bit high, so maybe try to find a used one. I've seen a few on the secondary market, so they're out there.

Nice! I was not sure to get one after your first review but with your new tough it convinced me to get one. I got one on sale at 70% the price on their website. I’m sure it worth the price with the s35vn blade and titanium handle. For the look I love it at first sight. It seems a good flipper too. For me it qualify as a gentleman's knife.
 
Back
Top