Hey everyone, David C. Andersen
here coming at you from the KnifeCenter. And welcome to
KniFAQ. This is episode 135 of the knife series where I answer
all your sharp and dull questions of like, this week
talking about a few things, of course, as always, but we're
also looking at some fancy knives that are also fun to
operate. Let's check them out all right, everybody, welcome.
If you're new to this series, here's the spiel that I give it
the beginning of each episode. The questions we answer here are
left in our comments section below these videos. So that's
how you can submit your questions. If you have something
you think might make a good topic to talk about. Just leave
it in that comment section below. First question today
comes from bessere 12 V. 66. A serious slash very serious
question. Welcome back. Find me the perfect fidget knife, one
with front and back flipper tabs. It cut out for thumb and
middle finger flicks and a finger safe lock. So it can also
wrist flick, preferably a gents knife. And with all these
demands, it will be nice if it also has an edge. Thanks, you
asked too much. You ask a lot. There are so few things jensi Or
not that that you meet your criteria. That one comes to mind
immediately. And beyond that, I literally went through our
website through every single finger safe lock, we have to see
what else I could find. And truthfully, there is only the
one that really doesn't. I'll have some backup answers here
for you. But none that really hit that formal knife
requirement that gentleman's knife requirement that you're
talking about. But the one that does is this it is the Kizer
cormorants in the frag pattern titanium handle version of it
coming in at about 179 bucks with a 20 CV blade three and a
quarter inches long titanium handles as you could see, no
liners just solid slabs of titanium milled a little bit on
the inside to take a little weight out. Really cool pocket
clip actually also titanium also milled and deep carry not a kind
of unusual combination of milled and deep carry together. I
always like when we see it. And that is also reversible because
we have the button lock here which is finger safe. So you can
do this flicky things, which works well on the left or the
right hand side. So it's pretty cool to see. But I love the
texture on the outside of that that clip too. It's just really
cool. This has all the opening methods you want a not really
tabs but like flipper corners here on both the rear. And the
front and even myself who's not still somehow is not terribly
proficient at front flippers. Still front flip that one no
problem. Risk flicking as you can see, no problem. Reverse
flicking with the thumb, the blade cut out and standard thumb
operation. Super, super nice. Is this gentlemanly? Is this a
formal style knife? Beauty is of course in the eye of the
beholder. For me, this might be a little too. What's the word
out there? i But that's personal preference. Quite honestly, I
tend to prefer things that are very, like kind of sleek and,
and refined and almost simple in a way sometimes. But again,
personal preference. This is certainly the the nicest knife
that meets your criteria, the fanciest aversion out there. I
will say however, in those formal situations, don't go
fidgeting with your knives. That makes people nervous and that's
not a very gentlemanly thing to do. In a formal situation.
Exceptions I can think of are the KnifeCenter Christmas party
there I wouldn't call that. Yeah, well, we know we usually
wear suits most of us do anyway. Well, Thomas a suit is is rather
a sad looking affair, but that's only so that's the one. That's
the one gentlemanly thing that hits those those requirements.
It's a nice knife too. I own one of the the KnifeCenter exclusive
versions of this with four v steel and linen micarta handle
sadly discontinued but it's very cool knife I enjoy it. There's
honestly only two other knives that aren't gentlemanly but
still hit those requirements two and they're both Vosteeds one is
the Thunderbird which we don't have any here at the moment. But
the other is the Valkyrie. Standard versions about 72 bucks
for a nitro V blade, again, three and a quarter inches,
almost the same as cormorant right? They're also a button
lock. And there you go, you've got reverse flicking. You've got
front flipping, which is a little less a little a little
less doable from me then on the cormorant, no blade cut out but
reverse flicking on the thumb studs, there is no problem
whatsoever. It's funny that I mess up the forward flexor in
that case. deep carry pocket clip inset with flush head
screws. Very nice it is reversible. I picked the gray G
10 version because it's the most like in color to the titanium
versions. Not that it's a particularly gentlemanly look.
But there you go, you can get it in that sheepsfoot style blade
or this wharncliffe modified wharncliffe which they call the
seax blade. So that's a pretty cool knife, the Thunderbird is
as well. Couple of things to look at that are slightly
outside your scope. If you can deal without the front flipper.
The Civivi conspirator strikes me as a fun option $83 for this
cuibourtia would version right here nitro V blade three and a
half inches. It is finger safe. So you can flick it with the
button lock. It flips really nicely, and you've got dual
Fuller's in the blade, which actually reverse flick. Very,
very satisfyingly it's really cool blade shape too. Once you
do deploy it, you have a lot of slicey goodness in that blade
overall thumb thumb opening to equally no problem. The other
ones are the one that comes to mind as a non front flipping,
but multiple opening option. Slightly more formal design is
the SOG Terminus XR This is the LTE version with the gold S35VN
blade, but you can get less expensive you can get the steel
liner version with an uncoated S35VN blade. This one right here
is like 145. The other s 35 version with the uncoated weighs
about 100 bucks, but the LTE version has carbon fiber liners
instead of your standard carbon fiber deep carry pocket clip.
The reason I picked the gold one here over the the uncoated
version is this color pocket clip might blend in better with
a pair of khakis if that's what you're wearing. The other
version is a shiny clip that's kind of gonna stand out no
matter what you're wearing. But you've got a flipper tab hard to
pull off with a crossbar lock but SOG does it pretty well.
You've got wrist flick Enos, you've got thumb flicking his
and reverse flicking this little bit trickier for me on that one,
but also works well. Maybe a little more tactical feeling.
But you can check that one out as well. Hope that helps. Now
you did it the beginning of your statement there say this might
be a very serious question, which of course longtime viewers
will know is our cue to take things snarkily at one other
thing for you that might do it. The we sorry, Civivi incisor 2
its satin gray aluminum kind of gentleman little bit, we have a
button lock so you can do that thing quite nicely. You've got a
flipper tab, you've got a thumb and finger cut out, you've got a
pocket deployer which none of these guys have so far. That's
another option. And that thing also works as a front flipper.
Check that out gentlemanly enough for you. Next question
comes from Neil Valley. Do you see I need a judgment call here.
I cannot freehand sharpen I've tried for years and accept my
limitations. Right now I'm using a landscape Deluxe system and
wondering what I should pick as an upgrade option needs to be
proficient at EDC folders, kitchen knives and medium fixed
blades. may I direct your attention to this unit right
here. This is the professional precision adjust from work
sharp. It's honestly something that's gotten a lot of hype this
year, ourselves included. We've we've shown it off here. But
it's certainly a situation where I think the hype is deserved
because it is a nice upgrade to to you know the less expensive
clamped systems. It is sitting on a base, it is highly
adjustable. And the price on it is about 250 bucks, not cheap,
but definitely definitely less expensive than the more premium
guided systems out here. And it does a lot of good stuff. It has
its own dedicated table for sharpening very small blades.
We've Thomas actually demonstrated how this would look
on case peanut, tiny little bladed knife was a peanut,
wasn't it? I think it was, well, it works on big knives, I mean
check out the throw on the arm right there. And it works really
well. It has an digital angle guide which I really like
because you can set your angle here. But if your knife blade is
longer, it's actually going to change the actual angle so you
can find the exact angle with that, which is really cool. But
I'm gonna let Thomas say yes Some of what you think about
this because what we did we actually did a shootout between
this unit and my electric knife grinding sharpening apparatus
and Seth's manual freehand Waterstone's out there, and I
won't spoil the results of that shoot out, we'll leave a link to
it here. Right right there. And before we actually do the
shootout, Thomas goes through all of the nice features of this
so you can get a more in depth look at it, but what do you say it is the best sharpener that I
have used. But if our questioners upgrading from a
Lansky, I would consider the basic version that should handle
most knives. And, you know, maybe a large chef's knife might
struggle a little bit. I'd say go for that. And it's a lot
easier to learn how to strop. True, I'm going to disagree with
you actually on the base model, because that's probably going to
sit around the same kind of capabilities and price range of
some of the Lansky stuff, quite honestly. But valid point, even
even if I disagree. Well, there is the the standard precision
adjust, which I think what's the price on those nowadays about
$60 comes with three grits, you don't get as many grits as as
you get with this, you don't get the strapping attachment here,
you don't get the same kind of stability or adjustability of
that. I think I think if you're looking for like an actual
upgrade, a significant upgrade, maybe consider this but the base
unit is pretty good too. It just it can't do quite stuff quite as
well as this can do even as big the base unit. And when you
upgrade you just gift that as there's always that option too.
All right, Thomas and I are gonna agree to disagree here,
but check out the workshop based units like this for sure. Next
question comes from Gu Ghana, I'm almost ready to pull the
trigger on the wharncliffe MKM macro, very cool knife. However,
I would actually like to see a comparison with the Boker AK
worked mainly in the grip comfort and blade geometry
departments keeping in mind that money is a factor, which would
you recommend, here are the two knives right here they live in a
genre of knife I happen to be particularly fond of and that is
the pocketable everyday carry fixed blade, the pocket fixed
blade, I can see why these are catching your eye for a
potential comparison because they are you know they have some
certain similarities. But the prices are wildly different on
it. Let me start with the MKM. This one right here is the
KnifeCenter exclusive version with the red lava fat carbon
scales coming in about 175 bucks, but base price on this
with handle scales on it for micarta. We're dealing like
$155, which as we'll find out is a lot cheaper than the Volker
for that you've got a roughly three inch blade of em 390 steel
stonewashed finish a little bit on the thicker side, Jesper
Voxnaes design, very cool angular shape to it, that still
feels good in the hand. On the other side of the coin, we have
the Boker AK1 made in Solingen, Germany, this is the least
expensive version of it right now, which is $326. So quite a
big jump, what are you getting, you've got a three inch blade
just over three inches, in this case of RWL 34. And the handles
here are grenadilla wood, a couple of different handle
scales are available. And you have a lanyard attachment kind
of bail almost at the back, which can actually be reversed.
Take the scales off, you can flip this around. So this sits
flush instead, which is kind of interesting. How do the two
compare? Well, the Boker will give you just a little bit more
in blade length and handle length. As for feeling the hand
for me, they're both fine. Kind of like the Boker honestly a
little bit better, it's maybe a little bit more neutral than the
MKM. But taking an isolationist MKM is perfectly fine, it feels
good in the hand, it can manipulate quite well or you can
manipulate the blade quite well with it. Here though blade
geometry, it depends on what you want going for it if you want
something that you can use, and like, you know, indiscriminately
hammer on it, pry with it may be in a pinch, the MKM will give
you a little bit more there even though I'll get to that in a
minute. Whereas if you want just more efficient, more precise
slicing efficiency, the Boker they're a little bit thinner.
Grind is grind is pretty much the same height on both of them.
But of course we're dealing with different thicknesses there that
Volker is just going to give you a more pleasant, more efficient
slicing experience. So prior wherever you're priorities lie,
I would go in that direction. I was gonna throw in a little bit
of a weedy comment there, we might as well our WL 34 is
essentially CPM 154 the edge will not last as long
theoretically as the M 390. On the MKM. But the Boker will be a
little bit tougher with its RWL34. So less prone to, you
know, deformation, bending, cracking under shock, that sort
of thing. But to counteract that a little bit, you do have the
extra thickness of the MKM giving the this design a little
more strength than if it were thinner even though the steel
itself, the alloy-wise is not as tough between the two. Last but
not least, let's talk about the shields. If you want to hold the
knife in your left hand pocket, it's gotta be the MKM because
we've got a in here I go putting it in right side style, magnetic
pocket sheath really cool design, you slip the sheath in
your pocket, the magnetic flap holds it on the outside, kind of
like a pocket clip. And this sheath is completely
ambidextrous so works either way. Whereas on the ochre, it is
a right handed pocket sheath, the ulti clip is fixed in place
there. And I should also say the ulti clip will definitely hold
the knife in your pocket more securely than a magnet will. But
it will tear up your pockets more if you don't need that kind
of ultimate retention. So a lot of things to consider between
the two. Price wise between the two. I like the slicing is of
the Bokor but it is near as dang it twice as expensive. So you'll
have to decide how much that's worth it to you. I'd still be
perfectly happy carrying this, this macro right here.
Especially the exclusive but hey, you know, that's biased.
Alright, now we come to our lightning round for today. First
question is from Jamie paradise. Who was it that said a dull
knife is more dangerous than a sharp knife lost to the Sands of
Time. It's just one of those adages at this point, when I
fidget with or do something foolish with a dull knife, it
just bounces off me but a sharp knife takes a bite. I didn't cut
myself until I got into good sharp knives. What are your
thoughts on this old adage foolish things with knives, you
shouldn't be doing anything with a knife that's, you know, dull
or sharp that is making a bounce off of you. I would argue that,
you know, if we if we were in my Boy Scout days back in the day,
we'd get corners cut off our totin chip and get our knife
taken away with us from us at that point. But I think where
this this adage comes from is it is less work to cut something
with a sharp knife than it is with a dull or dollar or even
completely dull knife. But the dollar thing is the more you
have to work, the more you exert yourself, the more clumsy things
become. And that's going to cause more instances of
potentially cutting yourself with that dollar edge. And then
when you do cut yourself that dollar edge will leave a more
ragged cut, whereas a more clean cut from the sharper knife will
heal more quickly and with less scarring. So that's why the dull
knives when they when you do really mess up with a dull knife
as long as provided it still has some cutting ability is going to
be a messier situation. Overall. They don't do any bullets with
the Stop hitting yourself with your knife edge like next
question psycho kaiju. I would like to get an OTF but the
offset blades make the knife nerd in me cringe. I understand
it's because of the hardware required. But are there any OTFs
that have a centered blade? Also, I noticed you never really
showed the blade slot in your views. Any reason? Really did
your show man keep up the great work. Thank you. We will I know
what you're talking about. Here we got Microtech Ultra tech kind
of the unofficial mascot of the lightning round slot for the OTF
blade out the front blade is off center. And the reason I don't
talk about this, in reviews or in presentations, when we're
talking about these is they're all like that, so it's almost
not worth even mentioning. It's just the nature of the beast
until the Benchmade shootout was foisted upon us. Here is one of
the new limited editions that dropped a couple days ago from
when this video is posting. And there you go check it out.
Centered blade. Very cool. That's the only one I know of
quite honestly. Works well. works just the same as anything
else. I also really liked the handles on the shoot outs but if
that doesn't do it for you, everything else, like I said
kind of does it. All right. Maybe I will start talking about
it when I present knives but maybe not. Today at least one candidate trace Livengood I have developed
some patina on my cruwear blade and I'm wanting to put an acid
etch and a stone wash on it. With the small rust patina spots
causing the problems will acid etching and stone washing my
blade. Can they turn it into rust underneath a stonewashed
finish? Here we go have a crew warblade here just by way of an
example, paramilitary to I don't think so, caveat, I've never
tried it. But I think when you're doing an acid etch,
you're essentially forcing a patina. So I don't see how it
would really be any different than the patina you're putting
on it versus the patina that's already there. Perhaps if anyone
else out there has tried this, you could let us know in the
comments. But be careful when you go to stonewashed the thing
because you're going to lose some fine details like the tip
right here which then you're gonna have to go in and repair
that when it's over. Because you know, when knife most knife
companies when they stone wash their blades, they actually have
a little bit of an extra tab right here so that you don't
lose the tip and then they grind that off after hits stonewashed
so they can put the final edge on it. You also might run into
some problems with the the tang area of the blade could get you
know, polished or rough or something. I don't know. I've
never tried that specifically. But I do know that the tip just
be prepared for that. Godspeed though, have fun modding it.
Curious to see how it how it does for you. If you go ahead
and do this, make sure to leave us a comment. Now we come to our
final question today. Which is of course our Most Serious
question of the day, which comes today from Ian's Clune Hey Casey
crew in this KniFAQ installment DCA stated that the carcass
splitter I forget which video he posted this on, but he's talking
about our carcass splitter stated that the carcass splitter
is the unofficial mascot of the KnifeCenter I appreciate that
but in my humble opinion a knife retailers mascot should carry a
knife. What knife would the carcass splitter carry? What's
asked him? Haven't haven't seen the old boy in a little while.
Oh and look at this he happens to be carrying something today.
What is it? Oh carcass splitter, it is the Carlitos dangerous
neck hatchet from Condor. As you can see it works really well in
that neck configuration right there. And it channels the
spirit of the carcass splitter writ small I would say about 42
and a half books 1075 carbon steel, ready for your everyday
carry neck hatchet needs, should they arise. Good choice their
caucus splitter. Well, that's all we have for today. Thanks
for your questions and keep them coming. If you want to get your
hands on any of these products, check out the links in the
description to take you to KnifeCenter.com where we've been
proud to be offering for years our knife rewards program where
when you buy one of these knives you can earn up to 5% back
towards a future one. I'm David C. Andersen from the KnifeCenter
That's Thomas behind the camera. We're signing off. See you next
time.
