Welcome Home...THANK YOU FOR BEING A PART OF OUR COMMUNITY

iKnife Collector

The online community of knife collectors, A Knife Family Forged in Steel

SharpKidz First Production Run Scout Knife (Review)

Sharpkidz Camp knife.

( Despite being new out of the box, blade rub has already marred the SharpKidz Logo. The Green chip bone appears to be Field Gray to me. It actually looks greener in this photo than in real life.)

For those where this is important, the knife is a global and it is made in China. It is actually a Black Hills Knife Brand (Jim Frost). It even comes in the Black Hills Box.

I bought the Green Chipped Rock Camp knife. It has the SharpKidz logo on the reverse side of the main blade and “First Production Run” on the front side of the main blade. Both are lightly etched. At first I thought it was a PAD stamping.. The knife has all the other markings of Frost’s “Black Hills Knife” brand. Plain nickel silver bolsters, brass liners and pins. 440A stainless blades. It was razor sharp out of the box. The green chipped rock bone looks gray to me but is still quite pretty. The fit and finish is pretty nice and the overall build is very good for the price ($13.00). The frame is about 3 5/8 inches over all. This is slightly shorter and slimmer than the Rough Rider and most of the older Scout knives I own. (Scouts are normally built on a 3 5/8 or 3 3/4 inch cigar frame)

The biggest disappointment is the blades. They are not nearly as thick as those you’ll find on the Rough Rider Camp knives. This means they will be more prone to breaking and probably will wear more quickly. I’m also not crazy about the bail. It is a bent piece of stainless steel instead of the more preferred heavy gauge wire. (I knew this when I bought it) Of course all of this makes the knife lighter and less bulky than many of my other scout knives, so it would be a more convenient pocket carry.

Despite the negatives, it’s a pretty decent knife and looks quite nice. If you collect the pattern, you might as well toss $13 to SMKW for the first production run. Not to mention it would make an fairly
nice “first knife” for a youngster just starting to learn about knives and knife safety.

(Knife with Black Hills Box Note the stamped metal bail. The key ring was added by me for display purposes)

(Obverse Side with "First Production Run" etch)

(Reverse side, not the marring of the etch due to factory blade rub. All blades have the Black hills tang stamp.)

For Comparison:

Top Left: Camillus 4 line (USA)

Top Right Camillus Made Case Scout knife

Bottom Left: SharpKidz

Bottom Right: Rough Rider.

3 members like this

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Clint Thompson on November 28, 2012 at 13:38

Tobias nice review. Thanks for taking the time.

Clint

Permalink Reply by ken benson on November 28, 2012 at 14:21

Nice review. You comments help me to remember every knife is a Great Eastern heavyweight and even most Case have some blade rub. The lighter and more economical knives are all about for more Scouts to in their pockets and using them.

FeaturedPermalink Reply by Craig Henry on November 28, 2012 at 16:25

Good review! Sounds, and looks, like it's not near as nice as the RR.

Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on December 2, 2012 at 16:38

I do like that they have placed first production run on this knife. For those that do not get used it will be a good marking. I know that a great many are made and at this price point a very good number of them will be users. 30 years from now, will we see many of them unused?

FeaturedPermalink Reply by Craig Henry on December 2, 2012 at 17:08

Good point of buying user knives vs "limited editions" Jan. As I've said for many years, it's the user knives that will, more than likely, be hard to get after many years, while the "limited editions" that are put up, will be here forever. Some of the most collectible knives ever were users! Old Case, Remington, etc, etc.

Permalink Reply by Chuck Parham on July 15, 2013 at 12:02