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This is a small knife with a wharncliff/chisel type blade.  It has a liner lock.  The blade steel is 8Cr13MoV.  I believe it is advertised as being heat treated to Rc hardness of 58-59.  I've used this steel before and it is a very good steel with adequate edge holding capability.  If you are away from the house this steel is easily touched up on the go if you have a small stone.

The blade is a hollow grind.  It remains thicker than most blades all the way to the edge bevel.  The edge is sharpened on both sides.  It is not a chisel bevel on one side and flat on the other side.  The edge angle is very high at about 23-24° per side (46° inclusive).  The knife came very sharp needing only a slight touch up if that.  It is a VERY sturdy little knife with very thick liners and tight pivot.  The blade opens very smoothly and locks up tight with no blade play in any diredtion

The tip of the knife is shaped like a chisel.  However, since there is an edge bevel on both sides of the blade it doesn't perform as good as a chisel.  So I re-profiled one side of the chisel edge with an almost flat bevel with a very slight convex shape.  This allows holding the handle MUCH closer to the surface of what I am trying to shave a thin layer off.  It is closer to the FLAT side of an actual chisel.  With the 23° edge bevel on it the knife performed poorly for slicing thin layers of wood (or whatever) from the surface of what you are working on.  Picture cutting out a hinge notch for a door.  Here is how I re-prifiled the chisel portion of the blade.

This is the edge as it came out of the box and I consider this equal to the beveled side of a chisel blade.  Notice the edge bevel then the hollow grind to the portion of the blade where the CRKT is etched.

This is the other side of the blade where I removed the edge bevel by flattening the hollow grind from tip edge to the top of the hollow grind.  With this side of the blade/edge on the wood I can lay the handle almost flat and push "along" the surface.  With the other side of the blade on the surface the handle is much higher making it more dificult to perform chisel like cuts.  I like the edge better like this but it doesn't seem like the knife was supposed to be used "as a chisel".  Just a different blade shape. 

This knife cuts great as a wharncliff blade.  The blade being thick makes it much more durable for tougher jobs but not much of a slicer like most of the wharncliff blades I've seen with thinner blades.

When the blade is open and locked the liner where access is granted to the lock bar is almost as high as the top of the lock bar.  This can help prevent accidental blade closure by pushing the lock bar unintentionally.  Still, it's very easy to release the lock.

The handle liners are 1/8" thick making this a very  sturdy small work knife.  The pivot seems very strong with no blade play.  Using this knife like a chisel will put side pressure on the pivot so how it holds up over time is a question.  But if a lot of chisel work needs to be done a "real" chisel is the preferred tool.  If you notice there is no jimping on the left liner.  It doesn't matter when using the knife and was probably a manufacturing decision.  Or maybe they just forgot. lol

The thumb studs hit the front of the handle when the knive is open and act as a "stop pin".  This works very well on this knife and the studs are still positioned where it's easy to open the blade one-handed.  Closing the blade one-handed is also very easy.

The knife came with a one position pocket clip for a right-hand, tip up position.  I hated the way the clip felt when using this knife so I removed it.

It's a very thick handle making it obvious it's in your pocket when carrying it.  It would be nice in a small belt pouch I believe.

SUMMARY

I don't know if I would like carrying this knife as my only EDC knife.  I use the tip of my knives enough to miss that with this knife.  But, if it were the only knife I had I believe it would not prevent me from doing any of the normal EDC cutting jobs I normally come across.  If I were to want to carry only this knife I would have to thin the blade at the edge.  An edge angle or 46+° is much too high IMO and the blade is much too thick "behind the edged" for my taste.  This is easily corrected though. Since I do consider this a hard work knife I'm glad the blade and edge does come this thick.  It can be left alone for one user's desire or the blade can be thinned and edge angle lowered for another user's needs.  Adding steel to an already thin blade is not possible so this way both needs can be satisfied for different user needs.  Since I always carry two or more knives anyway though this is a great knife to have easy access to in addition to my more standard EDC pocket knife.  If you like to have one knife for normal EDC tasks or maybe one that won't get attention and also one for harder cutting tasks this knife is a good one for the second knife IMO.  The blade and handle are thick and the pivot is strong enabling some light prying which you are not "supposed" to do with any folding knife.  I think most of use have been guilty of prying with our pocket knives a little bit.  I believe this is also a great knife for the tool box.  So, I'm glad I bought this knife.

Jack

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Good review.

You hit all the pertinent points of the knife. You also included information of a personal nature concerning the practical uses of the knife. 

Well done.

Good review Jack!

nice review!...

i own a custom razel ... the one with the ring ... and i love the pry feature!...the custom was made with a really strong pry feature...

 

REALLY GREAT REVIEW!!! --- i have been thinking for awhile now about this folder and this cinched it!

can i sk ...i love natural handle materials...the rams horn they use..DECENT?... it looks nice and jigged on the one side and a little more flat on the other... does it need a little more jigging?

also agree with carying another knife other then a razzle ...i wouldnt ant it as my only EDC for the day. BUT TOUGH KNIFE!

Hi Peter.  I don't think there has been any jigging done on the handle scales.  I see a sandpaper scratch pattern on one side and on the other side I believe the deeper places are natural.  They do seem to provide a good grip as is plus the thickness of the scales make a huge difference in the handle thickness at the front of the handle.    I don't get the feeling I coule accidentally let my hand slide forward when doing chisel cuts.  My scales are lighter in color than the ones advertised which is fine.  I have already been thinking of making new scales for this knife.  The original ones are fine, I just like to play.  I'm thinking some BLACK BLACK BLACK micarta would REALLY look good.  I may make several different scales for it.  It doesn't look like I'll even need to disassemble the knife to do this.  I don't mind disassembling a knife, especially liner locks but this knife is so perfectly assembled now I hate to mess with it.  I'm of the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mindset.  lol  I have been guilty of breaking that rule though. lol

 One thing about the blade shape I might not like (for chiselling) is the spine is not at a 90 degree angle with the edge.  This makes getting into a corner impossible unless I flip the blade.  That's ok really because this knife is not a true chisel.  I consider this knife to be a "multi-tool".  I have a SOG PowerLock and it's my favorite MT that I have used.  But I wouldn't use the screwdrivers in it if my work required lots of screws.  I'd use a real screwdriver.  Likewise, his knife is not a real chisel.  It is good for those chisel cuts that can be completed in the time it would take me to go get my real chisels.  I have considered grinding the spine down back to the spot where the spine drops down.  I've thought about it but doubt if I end up doing it.

I have decided to grind one side of the main blade down like I did the chisel edge.  It won't be  like a true chisel grind (which I hate on a pocket knife) but I believe it will fit my inteneded use of this knife.  Due to the hollow grind of the blade the side I grind down won't be flat like a chisel, just flatter than a pocket knife.  Like a slightly convexed saber grind with no edge bevel on one side.



peter force said:

nice review!...

i own a custom razel ... the one with the ring ... and i love the pry feature!...the custom was made with a really strong pry feature...

 

REALLY GREAT REVIEW!!! --- i have been thinking for awhile now about this folder and this cinched it!

can i sk ...i love natural handle materials...the rams horn they use..DECENT?... it looks nice and jigged on the one side and a little more flat on the other... does it need a little more jigging?

also agree with carying another knife other then a razzle ...i wouldnt ant it as my only EDC for the day. BUT TOUGH KNIFE!

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