This is my Lanny's Clip made by Doc Hagen that I received yesterday. In the box with the knife was a COA and business card for Doc Hagen. The knife was safely stowed in a padded leather zippered pouch. When I opened the pouch and pulled out the knife the first thing that I noticed was the weight of this knife. It is quite a bit heavier than I had expected. My scale has it weighing in at 4 oz. even, which is nearly as much as my Queen-Ruple trapper even though the trapper is 3/8" longer and has two blades. I really like the weight of this knife. It feels very substantial in-hand. The next thing I noticed was the thickness of the blade. It quickly became obvious to me where that weight was coming from. The blade is 1/8" thick at the spine, which is a full 25% thicker than the blades on my Tidioute 23. There's no two ways about it, this knife is made for serious use. All of my folders get put into one of three categories in my mind. There are my small, elegant knives such as pen knives and peanuts, mid-sized knives like the 77 barlow and S&M 69, and large heavy duty knives like my 23, 21, and Queen-Ruple trapper. This Lanny's Clip is definitely in the heavy duty category, which is my favorite type of knife to collect, carry, and use.

The stag on this knife is perfect. I know that really gnarly popcorn stag makes a great picture, but for carrying I prefer stag that doesn't vary widely in thickness or depth of the valleys. Doc Hagen selected and hafted this stag perfectly so that it's very comfortable in the hand, yet still has a lot of character. It's the kind of stag that looks great brand new and will still look great 100 years down the line. In-hand the stag almost feels like jigged bone, it's that consistent. The stag is also positioned so that the valleys run up towards the upswept end of the knife, especially on the pile side. The stag is fitted flawlessly to the frame of the knife. There are no visible or tactile gaps or unevenness between the stag and the liners or bolsters. The pins are all beautifully peened and raised just enough that you can feel them. The inlaying of the shield is flawless. I don't think you can find more perfectly planned or executed stag.

The frame of the knife is put together very well. The blade is a little off center when closed, favoring the mark side. The backspring is perfectly flush in all three positions. There is a hairline gap between the backspring and the pile side liner, not nearly big enough for me to worry about at all. When opened the spine of the blade meets up with the backspring almost perfectly. You can see the line where the two meet, and you can barely feel it when running your finger over this joint. Other than this the entire back of the knife feels like one piece whether open, closed, or at the half-stop. It's really put together nicely.

The blade itself is a thing of beauty. The grinds are consistent, even, and well defined. The curve of the clipped portion of the blade is especially nice. From what I can tell, an inside curve is a hard thing to pull off. If I run my finger along the spine of a blade with an upward curve I can almost always feel little irregularities where the grinds make little turns, even on high end production and some custom knives. The curve of the spine on this clip is impeccable. There are no detectable flaws on the spine or swedge. The swedge itself is cut very evenly from one side to the other. The pull is a nice crisp 6, with very solid lockup in the open and half-stop positions. The mill relieved liners provide all of the benefits to the action that you would expect in a knife of this caliber. It's simply a joy to work, and easily pinchable. Doc Hagen's maker's mark is very elegant. It is beautifully etched into the tang. I prefer blades that will patina over stainless, but I have had great experiences with 154CM and am eager to give this CPM-154 a try. I fully anticipate falling in love with the way this knife performs.

On first impressions