Benjamin Schwartz

About Benjamin Schwartz

Ben Schwartz is a writer and gear geek. When not contributing to BladeReviews, he is the editor of KnifeNews.com. Here are his barely-maintained Twitter and blog.

Great Eastern Cutlery #71 Bullnose Review

by Benjamin Schwartz 2 Comments

Traditional knives are like genre fiction: they’re expected to follow certain tropes. These conventions are more restrictive than those we impose when we say things like ‘tactical knife’ or ‘EDC knife,’ maybe because they’ve been cultivated over a longer period of time. However, as with a fantasy or horror novel, it’s possible for a traditional knife to transcend its label and achieve greatness, whether it’s working outside of its associated tropes or within them. When a traditional becomes great outside its tropes you get things like the Spyderco Roadie. When it achieves greatness within them, you get Great Eastern Cutlery.

Buy the GEC Bullnose at BHQ Buy the Bullnose at KniveShipFree

GEC makes traditional knives, not as they actually were back in the day, but as we fondly remember them to be (or are told to remember them). Operating out of historic Titusville, PA, GEC turns out batches of knives ritualistically grabbed up by collectors and enthusiasts eager to own these tangible remembrances of a perceived better time.

But GEC doesn’t just peddle nostalgia porn. They make truly great knives, with fantastic fit and finish, in a variety of materials both man-made and (sadly) natural. And among patterns both original and obscure, GEC also puts out classic styles, often with some slight tweaks to them. Such is the #71 Bullnose, which is GEC’s gentle revision of the Sodbuster pattern.

I picked up a Bullnose in 2017. GEC produces their knives in batches, and the latest run of Bullnoses has hit the market. Should you buy one?

General Dimensions and Blade Details

GEC’s Bullnose has a blade length of 3.1 inches, a handle length of 3.8 inches, and a weight of 2.4 oz. It is made in the United States.

This take on Sodbuster doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel, but you get a few little perks not seen on most Sodbusters: a wider butt end, and a big lanyard hole. The Bullnose hovers pleasantly in that arena of decent-sized knives that still maintain high pocketability. It can tackle most any cutting chore and yet drops into a pocket without a second thought.

Superlative fit and finish is a hallmark of a GEC knife. These are lovingly crafted knives, pleasures simply to hold. I’ve had some very nice GECs including two different Tom’s Choice Barlows, and they’ve all been beautifully finished, but my Bullnose is the nicest of the lot. The layers are airtight, the corners chamfered, the blade centered. The swedges are somewhat uneven, but I haven’t seen any outfit get something like that consistently perfect. Basically it’s all good, no matter which way you turn it or where you look.

Presumably we get the name ‘Bullnose’ from the blade shape: a drop point, but with a squat front end, squashed in like the face of a pug. I suppose the idea is to add some meat to the tip without compromising piercing power, and it mostly succeeds in that. The Bullnose isn’t exactly a needle point but it punches through material easy enough. Another effect of the blade shape is to reduce the belly to a compressed section just below the tip, meaning that most of the working edge is a straight line. Not a bad thing, and when I needed the extra cutting muscle of a belly I angled the knife so that portion was pushing down into the material and went to town.

1095 steel is one of the traditional knife tropes. It’s a carbon steel, so you have rust to worry about – but you know that going in so I’m not going to fault it for that. Once you get a patina forming, the blade turns a smoky, cloudy gray and receives a noticeable boost in corrosion resistance. It holds an edge well if you’re cutting softish things like thread or food, but on rougher media like cardboard, edge retention isn’t going to be phenomenal.

Simply put, 1095 is mediocre. Not bad, but not great – not even merely good. GEC used to implement 440C on some of their blades and I would like to see that on the Bullnose, at least as an option for those who want it. If the Bullnose is sincerely meant as a working knife, I think the rust resistance and boosted edge retention would be worthwhile.

On a side note: I think I’m alone in this, but this is my fourth GEC and I’ve always found their 1095 exceptionally difficult to sharpen. Like, harder to get sharp than VG-10. From what I understand they run the steel a little harder than normal, and maybe this, combined with the thin edge geometry on these traditional blades, stymies my sharpening skills. But it’s definitely another black mark against the steel choice.

A Brief Digression into Warranty Stuff

You may be able to tell from my pictures, but there’s a nick in the blade of my Bullnose. Turns out that the blade was smacking against a portion of the backspring in the channel, where it rises to accommodate the pin that keeps it in place. Basically, it folded over a bit of the cutting edge.

Once I figured this out, I sent the Bullnose to GEC, and they called me when they received it with a diagnosis. They said they could fix it, but because they don’t have a dedicated warranty department the turnaround wasn’t going to be lightning quick. A few weeks later, I got it back, and it seems like they fixed it, seemingly by sharpening the blade itself down a bit – not an elegant solution. The fold wasn’t completely sharpened out, just enough to stop it from happening anymore.

All of this isn’t to hate on GEC’s warranty work. Given the nature of how they operate, the full fat warranty departments of the big production companies isn’t feasible. But just be warned that if you have an issue, the resolution of that issue is going to be a little more homespun than what you’d get with LifeSharp, for example.

Handle, Ergonomics, and Carry

The Bullnose’s handle starts with a sizable butt end that tapers into a narrow, square neck. The finger side of the handle describes a gentle arc from tail to tip, with a flattened region just below the pivot where your index finger goes in a natural grip.

That’s a lot of words to describe what, in practice, is about as simple a handle as you can get – and the simplicity works. I was worried the beak would bite into my largish hands, but there’s enough room so that it keeps my hand in place without digging into it.

GEC releases its models in a gaggle of different handle materials, so the ‘grippiness’ of your particular choice may vary from my own. I chose the natural canvas Micarta which, despite its burlapy appearance, is pretty smooth – there’s just a hint of traction, more than enough for my uses, but you can probably find grippier options in the lineup. Something that may not be clear in pictures is that the Bullnose is a thick knife: the handle is half an inch wide. Wideness doesn’t always equate to comfort, but in this case it does. All work knives should be comfortable and the Bullnose handily makes the grade.

I lavished many words on the Bullnose’s simple handle, so I’ll be more concise in describing how it carries: perfectly well. Drop it in your pocket of choice and forget about it.

Deployment and Lockup

We’re back into trope land here – nail mark, two-hand deployment; you know the drill. I don’t really get nail marks. And I don’t mean that I find them outdated. For me, they just don’t work well. Is there any knife where sliding your stubby, frangible nail into a shallow divot is easier than just pinching the blade and pulling?

Well, I guess you can deploy the Bullnose either way without undue fuss. Pull is a stiffish 7, about perfect for a knife of this size and intent. I also appreciate the half stop. We’ve all had regular folding knives come down on our fingers when we close them negligently – but imagine the blade coming down with the force of a backspring behind it. Half stops are a safety feature that makes sense to me.

The strong backspring keeps the Bullnose’s blade open with surety, too. We associate the term ‘hard use’ irrevocably with locking knives, but the Bullnose feels like it could do rigorous chores without any danger of failure, as long as it’s used sensibly.

GEC #71 Bullnose Review – Final Thoughts

The Bullnose is without a doubt my favorite GEC knife. I don’t truck with multibladed traditionals, and while GEC makes quite a few single blade patterns, the Bullnose in particular enjoys a harmonious alchemy between size, utility, and (most importantly) affordability.

It checks all the GEC boxes – old school materials, delectable fit and finish, refined traditional patterns – without any specialized characteristics and extras, and it comes out in a large enough quantity that you can get one without having to queue up in a raffle or face a hardy gouging on the secondary market. You may end up getting more GECs after the Bullnose, but I don’t think you’ll ever find a better one.

GEC #71 Bullnose
From: KnivesShipFree

Editor: I recommend purchasing the GEC 71 Bullnose at BHQ or KnivesShipFree. Please consider that buying anything through any of the links on this website helps support BladeReviews.com, and keeps the site going. As always, any and all support is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

Spyderco Polestar Review

by Benjamin Schwartz 2 Comments

When you have a thing as simple and relatively unchanging as a folding knife, the most meaningful innovation we customers can see is quality brought to affordability. A few years ago my sincerest wish for the knife market was that manufacturers would turn their attention away from the high-end and back to the sub-$100 arena.

Buy the Spyderco Polestar at BladeHQ

In a way that wish has been granted, albeit in a mild monkey’s paw scenario. The value scale has not so much been reset as it has been smashed to pieces, shattered by products and practices we wouldn’t have even thought of in 2010, blinded by our Tenaciouses. Companies like Real Steel are pumping out affordable knives with great materials and low price tags. Steel Will, Ontario Knife Company, and even knife world-adjacent companies like Statgear have laser-focused on delivering major bang for buck. And on top of all this, Kickstarter and Massdrop allow for small runs of finely made knives with premium materials at two-figure prices.

The problem is no longer a lack of value knives, but rather a surplus of such richness that it’s difficult to identify the real winners amid the churning ocean of contenders. Going knife-by-knife would be a full-time project, so we have to pick and choose – and so I started with Spyderco.

I’ve already talked about the Chaparral FRN, but after that I wanted to go lower on the price scale. This naturally lead to the Polestar, a sub-$100 Sal Glesser design. Where does this Sal Glesser design fall in terms of quality and worth? Let’s take a closer look.

General Dimensions and Blade Details

The Polestar has a 3.3-inch blade, a 4.5-inch handle, and an overall length of 7.81 inches. It weighs just under 4 oz. and is made in China.

There’s something distinctly old school about the Polestar. With its homely lines and wide profile, it looks like one of those lumpy, charming Spyderco designs from the 90s. At the same time it comes across as a more refined Tenacious: skinnier, with a streamlined handle and narrower blade. Given its price, however, the more relevant comparison lies with the Delica and Endura. It falls between the two of them in edge length but is wider than either.

Spyderco Polestar

Do we call this a leaf shape blade? Whatever it is, it works wonders. I’m by no means a full flat grind zealot, but Spyderco has a particular mastery of the form. Here the full flat grind enables this medium-sized knife to slice aggressively and cleanly, while still imparting a feeling of durability and sturdiness. The closest analog I can draw is the Paramilitary 2. If you like the way that knife cuts, you’ll find a lot to love on the Polestar too.

The Polestar’s BD1 steel places ahead of the 8Crs and AUS-8, and keeps a significantly cleaner edge than either, even as it dulls. This makes it a viable cutter even at greater levels of wear than its competitors, which often get toothy and uneven as they work. BD1 also shrugs off both rust and staining/smudging.

Spyderco Polestar

We’ve seen S35VN and D2 at shockingly low price points recently, but if I had to forecast what will be the next de facto budget steel, CTS-BD1 (and its successor CTS-BD1N) get my vote. CTS-BD1 is a hassle-free steel anyone can manage.

Handle, Ergonomics, and Carry

Before I held the Polestar myself, I wondered if it would be all that comfortable. I shouldn’t have worried: the Polestar feels 100% like a Spyderco. Like all of their best handles, it feels like it’s rushing to meet your hand as you close it around the knife. Despite the plain appearance there are some super thoughtful touches. A dip just behind the thumb ramp accommodates the lower part of the digit more comfortably than a straight line would. An area around the pivot curves inward, creating a pinch point between your thumb and forefinger for detailed, high-control cuts. The Polestar is an unmitigated success in the ergos department.

Spyderco Polestar

Carry… well, not so much. This is a wide knife. At its widest point it’s about 1.5 inches across, and unlike other wide Spydercos it maintains most of the width for its entire length. I wouldn’t classify it as an unforgivable pocket hog, but you’re going to notice this one anytime you reach into your pocket, and it probably isn’t a great carry for shorts or slacks. There’s also an inch or so of knife that sticks out during carry; in the tip-up configuration, you get a massive lanyard hole and the Polestar’s little tail out for all to see.

Spyderco Polestar

These issues combine to be, for me, a nearly fatal flaw. During the testing period I often just didn’t feel like carrying the Polestar because I had so many other knives, some with equivalent (or greater) blade lengths, that took up significantly less pocket space. On the bright side it’s a thin knife across the spine, thinner than a Tenacious.

Spyderco Polestar

The pocket clip is that stalwart standby, the Spyderco spoon. It’s the right choice for this knife, keeping the Polestar in place as you walk. It’s also four-way positionable, so both righties and lefties have a second configuration if the default one irks them too much.

Deployment and Lockup

The Spyderco Round Hole plus phosphor bronze washers is rarely a bad combination, but it isn’t always a fast one. Depending on the lock and structure of the knife, you might have to slow-open whether you want to or not. My Polestar, however, does not present that problem. Its medium-strength detent allows for thoughtless flicking, but it isn’t so jumpy that you can’t roll it out if you want to.

Spyderco Polestar

One note: the overall fit and finish on the Polestar were great, but the detent ball did rub harshly against the tang as the knife opened. If I was slow rolling, it made a hoarse, scraping noise. A dab of Nano-Oil on the detent ball fixed this problem, making for a smooth, silky deployment.

I don’t think a lot of people associate Spyderco with liner locks, even though the Military, one of their classics, is a liner lock knife. In fact, according to Sal Glesser, the Polestar idea originated as a concept for a smaller Military designed for the Boy Scouts to use. With this in mind, you can see that influence in the larger-than-normal cutout to access the locking leaf. I thought I wouldn’t like this but over time I got used to it, and I never accidentally disengaged the lock even when gripping the knife hard. And regarding strength, I never lost confidence. The entire locking face contacts the tang, and there is not a smidge of play in any direction. You won’t ever have an issue with this knife during regular use.

Spyderco Polestar Review – Final Thoughts

The Polestar is a good knife. I like it, but I like it more than I’ll carry it, and much more than I can recommend it.

It comes down to that teeming body of sub-$100 offerings right now, and where this knife falls into that ocean. The Polestar goes for about $64 as of April 2018. That’s only $10 cheaper than a Delica or Endura, two knives that it doesn’t beat out in any category, and loses to in several. And it’s only $15 dollars cheaper than the FRN Chaparral, the best knife money can buy for under $100.

Part of what made the Tenacious such a success was its original $35ish dollar price point. Few people would’ve picked it over a Delica or Endura if they cost the same, but access to that Spyderco smartness in a cheap package was an unbeatable combo.

The Polestar is a better knife than the Tenacious, but it doesn’t enjoy the added edge of a good price. Compared to Real Steel’s myriad offerings, or Steel Will’s Cutjack line, it has an unimpeachable Spyderco design pedigree, but it’s also pricier. You’ll have to decide how much more you’re willing to pay for that pedigree – and again, if you are willing to pay for it, you may as well drop another $10 and grab a Delica, Endura, or Chaparral FRN.

A truth is that we, the consumers, don’t really get to know what goes on to get a knife made. We can guess, but until companies become more transparent that guessing will remain a fantasy, not particularly helpful. But I will say that it’s a shame the Polestar isn’t cheaper. Alongside its little brother the Alycone it could have been a real highlight, a great design and value. But with that awkward price I can only unreservedly recommend it if you aren’t interested in the Chaparral FRN, Endura, Delica, Cutjack, the RAT 1 or 2, the Skyline, or virtually anything in Real Steel’s lineup.

Spyderco Polestar G-10 CTS BD1 PlainEdge Folding Knife, Gray C220GGY

List Price: $64.97

Current Price: $64.97

Price Disclaimer

I recommend purchasing the Spyderco Polestar at Amazon or BladeHQ. Please consider that buying anything through any of the links on this website helps support BladeReviews.com, and keeps the site going. As always, any and all support is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

Spyderco Chaparral FRN Lightweight Review

by Benjamin Schwartz 3 Comments

The word ‘refinement’ is one of those bits of critical shorthand that gets people nodding their heads without, most of the time, meaning anything. But in the case of the Chaparral FRN, the latest, least expensive entry in a series that began in 2011, we know it’s been worked over, thought about, maybe even agonized over. Sal himself has alluded to the Chapparral FRN project’s particular specialness to him and the company’s drive to get it done and get it right.

Buy the Spyderco Chaparral Lightweight at BladeHQ

And the Chaparral series itself is part of a longer lineage. There’s a kind of “Ur-Spyderco” design at which many of the company’s most successful releases originate. Utility-oriented blade, friendly size, ergonomic handle with a half-and-half finger choil…this is the starting point for many seminal Spyderco knives. The Caly, Sage, Cat, Native, Dragonfly, and Stretch series all originate here, and so does the Chaparral – and it may, possibly, be the best of all those knives in terms of pure EDC.

Yeah, I don’t like to bury the lead like this, but it’s no use withholding the obvious truth here: the Chaparral FRN is a great knife. It’s probably perfect, and I knew that before I even got one. This is the rare case where there was little difference between imagining what a knife was like before I owned it and discovering what it was actually like after carrying and using it. There’s not a thing I would change about this knife and I think it would please anyone in the market for a knife of this size and use category.

But then again, knives aren’t like books or games, where each one offers a different experience you can’t find elsewhere. All knives fundamentally do the same thing. Is the Chaparral FRN’s Platonic perfection worth your attention and your dollars? Let’s take a look.

General Dimensions and Blade Details

The Chaparral has a blade length of 2.8”, with a cutting edge of 2.2”. Handle length is 3.5” without the finger choil, and with it is right at 4”. Overall length is 6.3” and weight is 2.5 oz. The Chaparral is made in Taichung, Taiwan.

In terms of size, the Chaparral falls between the Dragonfly 2 and the Delica 4. It has about .4” more cutting edge than a DF2 – enough to boost it into wider cutting capabilities – and compared to the Delica it’s more compact, albeit with .3” less cutting edge (not as crucial a size increase).

This will be a recurring motif with the Chaparral FRN, but the leaf shape blade does most things well and nothing poorly. And when it comes to detail work and surgeon-like snipping in particular, the blade really sings due to a thin, precise grind. Edge geometry and blade thickness rarely make or break a knife for me, but the Chaparral FRN’s configuration was noticeably optimized.

The Chaparral FRN marks my first long-term encounter with CTS-XHP. I’ve been so long acclimated to the solid performance of modern steels that it had virtually no chance to wow me, but that doesn’t mean it was bad. Edge retention and sharpening seemed about on par with S35VN, and maybe due to the generous edge bevel and thin blade it responded eagerly to stropping.

Now of course, seeing this kind of steel on an $80 knife plays into the value proposition with the FRN Chaparral, but I’ll discuss that further down.

Handle, Ergonomics, and Pocket Clip

The gentle central handle swell, the narrow butt-end, the forward half-and-half choil – any knife enthusiast knows these elements like the words to his or her favorite song. And as with a favorite song, familiarity has failed to breed contempt. I’m not tired of this handle design at all. Each time I returned to the Chaparral FRN after a day with something else, I was pleasantly surprised. It just feels right.

This is a very thin-handled knife, and thin handles don’t always make for good ergonomics. Narrow knives can twist and turn in hand or dig into your palm during hard cutting tasks. Thankfully the Chaparral FRN avoids these problems, with chamfered edges all along the perimeter, adding dimensionality and softening the places pressed against your palm and fingers. A subtle and smart detail that makes a world of difference.

Yes, the bi-directional texturing pattern here is new, but not really different. Spyderco opted for a hexagonal motif, but otherwise the new texturing provides the same sure grip (and fires off the same trypophobia if you look at it too long) as previous FRN-handled Spyderco knives.

The deep carry wire clip is here, and yes, I admit, it is good. I’ve overcome my distaste for this clip. It hides the Chaparral completely in the pocket, which is a nice, people-friendly flourish for a knife as urbane as this. Still, I think the method of securing the clip, a screw that goes over two little prongs laid into cutouts in the handle, is weak, susceptible to knocks and scrapes in a way the standard clip screws aren’t – but not everyone is as klutzy as I am and a little care will go a long way here.

Deployment and Lockup

The opening hole is, as always, great. Accessible, ambidextrous, able to be opened one- or two-handed. It’s a winner.

But take a moment to pity the poor lock back. Wrongly neglected, it does so much right and very little wrong. It’s strong, self-adjusting, innately ambidextrous, and keeps your fingers out of the blade channel when you close the knife. Why does it have this reputation as a stodgy, cumbersome contrivance of yore, in the days before the twin lights of Michael Walker and Chris Reeve brought us out of the dark ages?

Well if you’re looking for a good argument in 2018 for the lock back, the Chaparral FRN is it. Glassy smooth, it snaps into place with authority and holds the blade dead still, with nary a millimeter of play in any direction. The overall narrowness of the knife makes repeated disengagements slightly uncomfortable, but that’s only if you’re sitting there opening and closing it for extended amounts of time.

Spyderco Chaparral FRN Review – Final Thoughts

The Chaparral FRN is a great knife. But yeah , there are tons of great knives out there right now. What, if anything, makes the Chaparral stand out?

It comes down to price. Delivering real value in the crucial sub-$100 bracket takes doing. Real value comes from innovations, not sacrifices. A knife with bad steel and cheap materials is not a good value, it’s simply cheap (whether or not it’s a good knife). The Wharncliffe Delica 4, the Polestar and Alcyone, even the Byrd line upgrades all reflect attempts at real value, and so does the Chaparral FRN.

It may be more expensive than those others, but it goes further than they do, too, bringing excellent steel, perfect size, and as much pure Spyderco design excellence as you could wish for, all while hitting a price point within spitting range of the Delica – and that’s a pretty big deal. It won’t ever dislodge the Delica/Endura lines in terms of popularity, and there’re many knives from many manufacturers to consider, but there’s a distinct chance that for anybody in the market for a pure EDC knife, the Chaparral FRN is now the sub-$100 entry to beat.

The particular Chaparral FRN under review is a special one, a Christmas gift from my girlfriend Leslie that came engraved on the show side (hence why you only get pictures of the back throughout this review). It’s part of my permanent collection on that ground alone. But in addition to sentimental value it also happens to be a perfect knife that I unreservedly recommend. I think it’s the best version of the Chaparral to get, unless you crave the pizzazz some of the pricier versions offer.

Yeah, but is it better than the Delica? Only time – and a possible Showdown – will tell.

Spyderco C152PGY Chapparral Folder 2.8 in PlainEdge FRN Handle, Gray, 2.8"

List Price: $87.72

Current Price: $87.72

Price Disclaimer

Editor: I recommend purchasing the Spyderco Chaparral FRN Lightweight at Amazon or BladeHQ. Please consider that buying anything through any of the links on this website helps support BladeReviews.com, and keeps the site going. As always, any and all support is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

CRKT Pilar Review

by Benjamin Schwartz 12 Comments

For a long time, I didn’t really ‘get’ CRKT. When I first got interested in knives, the company was well behind the curve. It seemed stodgy, outdated. Companies like Spyderco and Benchmade opened my eyes to what a modern pocket knife could be; CRKT just confirmed the pedestrian image I had of knives before I became a nerd about them. My only CRKT purchases were the requisite Drifter and a secondhand Tribute that I paid too much for.

Buy the CRKT Pilar at BladeHQ

This was back in 2012ish, and I don’t think my dismissive attitude then was totally unwarranted. But when CRKT had its renaissance a year or two later, turning to collaborations with trendy designers to give their lineup a shot in the arm, I continued – wrongly – to ignore them. Probably this renaissance coincided with the height of my own knife snobbery. I was laboriously ascending the ladder of production knives, one incrementally more expensive purchase at a time, and didn’t think I’d ever want to come back down.

But this year, my and CRKT’s wavelengths aligned – I finally understood the appeal of what it does. There is huge merit in putting out really good designs in universally affordable trim. It doesn’t move out of this zone – like, at all – but I would argue it owns it. Even other makers that trade in the affordable knife market lack either CRKT’s sheer range, commitment to price point, or both.

The Pilar, undisputed star of CRKT’s 2017 lineup, seems to embody all of the company’s strengths. It seemed like the perfect knife to reacquaint myself with CRKT, so I picked one up. It’s an intriguing, fun knife, but does it measure up as a tool? Let’s take a look.

General Dimensions and Blade Details

The Pilar has a blade length of 2.4” counting the choil, and an actual cutting edge of 2”. The handle is 3.5” long, and its overall length is 6”. It weighs 4.2 oz. and is made in China.

I’m going to spend some time discussing the appearance and style of the Pilar. While normally (and rightly) secondary to a knife, they’re a central part of the Pilar. Its very best qualities are intangible, non-performance things and it would be a disservice to the designer not to talk about them.

So, yeah: this is a great looking design from Jesper Voxnaes. His tamer designs don’t move me, but when he cuts loose and gets a little weird I’m interested. One thing I wonder about is whether designers save their “best” designs for high-end collaborations. In this case, though, there’s no question Voxnaes gave CRKT A+ material to work with. Swap out the low-end materials for ritzier ones and the Pilar could be a GiantMouse or Viper release without missing a beat. It’s fun to look at, fun to hold, and fun to use. There’s a reason the Pilar is all over social media. It’s a gear geek’s knife, a knife nerd-seeking missile. Quirk is our catnip and this one has character for days.

The Pilar’s blade shape is a combination between a cleaver and a wharncliffe. As an all-purpose EDC tasker I find it adequate, never inspiring. There’s an ergonomic issue that plays into this (see below), but the blade presents two issues of its own. The first is length – there are common chores that the Pilar’s blade won’t be big enough to accomplish. This wouldn’t be a huge sticking point, but at 4.2 oz. I really think we need more utility. A lack of an acute tip also hurts. Opening bags or clamshell packaging, you’re going to have to fiddle with the Pilar to align its snubby tip where you want it.

I think we need to start considering 8Cr13MoV an unacceptable choice for EDC steel. Yes, it is easy to sharpen, but so are all bad steels. Edge retention is poor, and it discolors and smudges with any contact with skin. My prediction is that we’re about a year or two away from either CTS-BD1 or 14C28N becoming the default budget knife steel – and that day can’t come soon enough, because I’m done with 8Cr13MoV.

Handle, Ergonomics, and Pocket Clip

If you count the half-and-half choil, the Pilar is fully 2/3 handle – and I’m not complaining. The thick scales are made from a lightly textured stainless steel, held together with an aluminum backspacer. The entire handle has been given a generous chamfer, addressing virtually all potential hotspots

At the risk of splitting hairs, there are two major ways in which a knife can be ergonomic: 1) is it comfortable to hold? and 2) do the ergonomics facilitate actual use of the knife? The Pilar excels at the former and somewhat flubs the latter. When you look at a picture of its handle, you think “Yes.” When you buy one and hold it you think “YES.” But then you use it and think, “Oh. Hm.”

The problem is, the choil puts your forefinger right up against whatever you’re cutting. There’s no ‘dead zone’ between the end of the choil and the start of the cutting edge. Your knuckle drags across cardboard as you slice it. Cut up an apple and you’re going to have to wash your hands afterwards. With only 2 inches of cutting edge, you really need to be able to leverage every last centimeter, and the interplay of the finger choil and the cutting edge makes this hard to do.

Although configured solely for righties, the tip-up/tip-down pocket clip is straightforward, unobtrusive, and durable. One nice detail is that it is set into a cutout, eliminating side-to-side wiggle. But yes, 4.2 oz. is way too heavy. Weight distribution can make heavy knives seem reasonable, but when you have a blade this compact, those four full ounces have nowhere to go. In lighter clothing like shorts it felt like I had a hockey puck clipped to my pants. Often it was easier to carry it loose in my pocket. This knife should have had a G-10 front scale.

Deployment and Lockup

CRKT and Voxnaes buried the Pilar’s thumb oval as far down as they could while still making it accessible for both right- and left-handed people. It works well, flicking out with ease and not so detent-heavy as to make slow-rolling impossible.

The no-fuss deployment works alongside a well-executed stainless steel frame lock. Engagement is comprehensive, with nearly the entire lock face meeting the tang and no play in any direction. Bonus points for the stylish little cutouts on the lock bar for disengagement – they look cool and work well.

One issue of note here is the slickness of the scales. The Pilar is a small knife, and when closing it there really isn’t anywhere for your fingers to go. The barely-there texturing on the scales makes finding reliable purchase difficult. Glaringly unsafe? No, but annoying – and again, a G-10 scale would have fixed this.

CRKT Pilar Review – Final Thoughts

I have to applaud CRKT for this knife. With a design this good, many other companies would succumb to the temptation to bedizen it with all sorts of trendy features and materials, and price it in the $150-$250 range. This is clearly their best design of 2017 and it isn’t even the most expensive.

And yes, this knife cries – sobs, even – for a material upgrade. Me, I’d like to see a minor upgrade to G-10 scales, a liner lock, and CTS-BD1 steel. But the tradeoff with the current materials is that CRKT priced the Pilar at a stunningly low $25.

So check it out. It’s a deeply cool knife that I enjoyed reviewing, even when it wasn’t performing as well as I hoped. At $25 I can give it an unreserved recommendation.

CRKT Pilar EDC Folding Pocket Knife: Compact Everyday Carry, Satin Blade with Finger Choil, Thumb Slot Open, Frame Lock Stainless Handle, Reversible Pocket Clip 5311

List Price: $25.39

Current Price: $22.05

Price Disclaimer

I recommend purchasing the CRKT Pilar at Amazon or BladeHQ. Please consider that purchasing anything through any of the links on this website helps support BladeReviews.com, and keeps the site going. As always, any and all support is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

Spyderco Roadie Review

by Benjamin Schwartz 12 Comments

Enthusiast culture is the weirdest thing. At the far end of five years of talking, thinking, and fretting about knives, knowing more now than I ever have about steels, grinds, locks, etc., in a way I’ve never been further away from what first drew me to pocket knives in the first place. Originally, I just liked the idea of carrying something useful with me every day, for the small, unexciting cutting chores I might run into. But now, as a collector with more knives than I can possibly use in a lifetime, the question is usually “What’s next?” instead of “What’s enough?”

Buy the Spyderco Roadie at BladeHQ

Looking at it honestly, every blade I’ve ever owned, loved, even hated, is overqualified for the job of being my EDC. Which makes reviewing knives like the Spyderco Roadie a bracing experience. You expect a knife this small to have limits. And it certainly does. But for me – domesticated, deskbound, and suburban – it did everything I asked of it for a whole month without issue, and made me question the wisdom and value of owning so damn many knives.

But side-by-side with this access of regret, there was a familiar surge of knife nerd pleasure at experiencing an interesting new design from one of my favorite companies. The Roadie can do all that I need it to, but is it good enough to merit a spot in the permanent collection? Let’s take a look.

General Dimensions and Blade Details

The Roadie has a 2-1/8” blade counting the finger choil and a cutting edge of 1-3/4”. Handle length with the choil is 3-5/16”, and 2-7/8” without. Overall length is about 5” and it weighs just under an ounce. It is made in Maniago, Italy.

Some knives have different ‘regions’ along their cutting edge, but Roadie’s consists of a single continues run of gentle belly. It functions nearly like a straight edge, but the slight curve imparts muscle in certain chores like cutting zip ties. The small blade excels at small tasks: opening letters, cutting tape on boxes, nipping stray threads. It’s airy and nimble, but thanks to the thick stock it still feels substantial enough to use with confidence.

I would like a more acute tip, personally. And notably, the Roadie can’t do food prep, so if that’s a central cutting chore for you, be warned that this knife will not cope. But outside of these complaints the Roadie gets a lot done with very little.

Being a Maniago-born Spyderco the Roadie has N690Co steel. This is superb stuff. It can be sharpened to a fine, clean edge, and stays sharp for a long while – significantly longer than VG-10, and a smidge longer 154CM. Moreover as it dulls it doesn’t fall through the pronounced ‘steps’ of baser steels like 8Cr13MoV or 420HC. That is, it doesn’t go from ‘screaming sharp’ to ‘semi-dull’ with no apparent transitional phases in between. Its wear pattern is much more gradual. In this regard it reminds me of S35VN, albeit not quite so long-lived. It does, however, have top-tier stain and corrosion resistance.

Handle, Ergonomics, and Carry

The Roadie’s handle consist of two pieces of FRN, lightly textured and slightly contoured. A standout feature is the half and half finger choil. The choil itself and the base of the blade spine are both covered in jimping.

The ergonomics are good. Despite having a handle not much longer than a toothpick, the Roadie is quite accommodating. I don’t hear angels singing when I hold it but I never felt cramped, even with my large hands – which is quite a feat. The choil seems like a great idea and works fine, but it is (obviously) undersized compared to a standard Spyderco finger choil. It also isn’t really necessary on a knife this small. You’re going to have plenty of control over the blade just by virtue of the Roadie’s overall size.

Instead of the choil, I’d like to see the handle thickened up a bit because the Roadie almost feels too thin. Most traditional knives in this size class are a little more ample, and better in the hand for it. More pronounced texturing on the scales would be great too. As it is I have cut myself a couple of times while closing the knife because my fingers slid around.

No pocket clip here – but obviously you don’t need one. Loose in a full-size pocket, the Roadie is invisible. The only downside is that it can get tangled up in your keys, or slip out and slide down between the couch cushions without you knowing it. One time I pulled out my keys and the Roadie went flying out of my pocket, taking a pretty nasty ding as it landed. All of this is a function of its Lilliputian dimensions and a not a mark against the knife, but worth knowing if you plan on carrying the Roadie in your main pocket.

But here’s my pro-up: carry it in your watch pocket. I’ve never been an advocate of the watch pocket carry; I always thought it was one of those weird Knife Nerd affectations, like pocket sheaths or whipping out your folding knife to cut steak in a restaurant. But the Roadie is perfect carried that way. It’s readily accessible, stays in place, and doesn’t peek out of the top like most folding knives would. Non-believers, give it a try.

Lockup and Deployment

Although it’s a slipjoint, the Roadie is not a traditional knife in any real sense; it wasn’t made with considerations of walk and talk or pull weight in mind. It isn’t meant to ‘feel nice’ in the way a GEC or a Case might. There’s nothing poetic or soulful about this knife’s lockup or deployment – but it undoubtedly works.

There’s a watery half stop before the blade snaps fully into the open position. The spring tension when open is about where I like it: easy to intentionally overcome, but stout enough to preclude accidental closure in all but the most extraordinary circumstances. Combined with the half-and-half choil, there isn’t much need to worry here.

We get a Spyderco original for deployment, the Double Dent: a shallow concave ‘dent’ on either side of the blade that you pinch to open the knife. These dents have been left with a little rougher finish than the satin on the rest of the blade to aid in grip. They work great, definitely better than the average nail mark. Like the Round Hole, they do dictate the knife’s profile to a greater degree than other two-hand knife opening methods, but the extra width on a knife so small is not a problem.

A secondary, although welcome, advantage of the Double Dent is that it is easier to clean out than a nail mark. I find nail marks to be a common problem area when it comes to rust and that’s largely because they are so hard to properly clean out. You won’t have any issues like that here.

Spyderco Roadie Review – Final Thoughts

The Roadie did everything I asked of it with aplomb. If you live a relatively undemanding life it’s a fun way to cover all your bases in as small a format as possible. Even if you ask for more out of your EDC it’s a great backup knife or a people-friendly option for delicate situations. It may not be able to with you on an airplane right now, but it can go anywhere else without scaring anybody and without making you feel unprepared.

A note on price: at $50, the Roadie is expensive for what you’re getting. But it’s so friendly and fun, I can’t really crack down too hard on it for this. My particular Roadie originally came to me on loan from Gear Geeks Live After Dark co-host Mike Rixman. Within ten minutes of opening the package I made an attempt to buy it off him. I got mine for a little less than $50, but even at full price I would have already gotten my money’s worth in terms of carry and use. I think you’ll be surprised how often you reach for the Roadie, and I recommend it highly.

Spyderco C189PBL Roadie Folding Knife, Blue, 2.09-Inch

List Price: $79.95

Current Price: $51.12

Price Disclaimer

I recommend purchasing the Spyderco Roadie at Amazon or BladeHQ. Please consider that buying anything through any of the links on this website helps support BladeReviews.com, and keeps the site going. As always, any and all support is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

KA-BAR Dozier Folding Hunter Review

by Benjamin Schwartz 6 Comments

The KA-BAR website tends to be pretty laconic with its product descriptions in general, but the terse, colorless description they provide for the KA-BAR Dozier Folding Hunter would make the editor of technical manuals nod off mid-sentence:

“Award-winning lock back designed by Bob Dozier is an affordable, practical all-purpose knife appropriate for daily tasks. Features a reversible pocket clip and thumb stud.”

Buy the Ka-Bar Dozier Folding Hunter at BladeHQ

I can certainly sympathize with the KA-BAR copy editor. On a superficial level, what is there to say about the simple Dozier Folding Hunter? It was originally released in 2003, and as far as I can tell it has hardly changed at all since then, submerged in the nearly-empty waters of the sub-$20 big brand knife bracket like one of those ancient fish that have kept their prehistoric forms for millions of years.

On the other hand, such longevity without change is virtually unheard of, especially in the budget realm, where we’ve already forgotten that the Spyderco Tenacious used to be the absolute cutting edge under $40 just a few years ago. Like the Tenacious, the Dozier won Best Buy at Blade Show the year it released. Unlike the Tenacious, the Dozier remains relatively unchallenged at its price point. It’s still one of the original freaks of the knife world, a sui generis offering that nothing much really directly compares with.

It was a knife I have been meaning to try out for a long time. So I picked up a trio of Dozier Folding Hunters to see what there was to see. Is it still a watermark in the budget realm, or a fossil from a different age? Let’s take a closer look.

General Dimensions and Blade Details

The Dozier has a blade length of 3”, a handle of 4-3/16”, and an overall length of 7-1/4”. It weighs 2.4 oz and is made in Taiwan. There is a smaller Dozier but I think the full-size model is the one you should go with. It still weighs nothing and you get a jump up in utility with the increased blade size.

A fit and finish note: while general fit and finish was good across all three Doziers I purchased, there was some variance between the blades grinds. The blue one fared the worst, with a noticeable recurve. The olive green sample was better, albeit with an uneven edge grind – the sharpened edge goes down farther on side than the other. Leslie’s Zombie Green model was far and away the winner, with a truer edge and clean, consistent grind.

I don’t like playing the “What do you expect for $20” card because, even when I shell out $20, I expect a good knife made to consistent quality standards. So it’s definitely a mark against this knife that there is so much variance here. However, I would be fibbing if I said it made the slightest bit of difference in cutting or sharpening.

Depending on where you go this model’s blade is called a “spear” in some places, a “hunter” elsewhere, and a “drop point” in still others. Hairsplitting aside, it’s a great blade shape; there’s not much you can’t do with it, and the 3” length is just right. It’s also another exhibit in the case for hollow grinds in mid-size blades: I think they perform better overall, especially outside of food prep tasks. Even with a fairly narrow blade profile, the Dozier zips through material effortlessly.

It’s easy to get repetitive in describing steels, but to be brief: AUS-8 is just great. Highly corrosion resistant, easy to sharpen, and offering good edge retention, I think it is demonstrably better than 8Cr13MoV. It’s the perfect steel for a first-time knife user or for someone who doesn’t really care about knives and just needs something that will work for a long time. One of these Doziers went to work with my girlfriend every day and she appreciated that it held up well to regular use. Even for us enthusiasts it holds plenty of appeal.

Handle, Ergonomics, and Pocket Clip

The Dozier’s handle is stripped of all embellishment. A simple bow shape, designed to accommodate the curvature of the human hand. Construction is equally simple, a two-piece Zytel build, with the partial backspacer integral to the off-side scale. Diamond texturing molded into the Zytel imparts a decent amount of grippiness here.

The handle’s simplicity works in its favor. One issue with ergonomic details like finger choils is that they always mean the knife favors a certain grip. Even a wonderfully comfortable knife like the Strider PT CC works better in the forward grip than in reverse or pinch grips because of its famous double finger grooves. The Dozier’s simplicity may not be as immediately gratifying, but it is never problematic, never less than accommodating. Try and find an uncomfortable grip on this knife: if you manage to do so, you’re probably holding it by the blade.

The reversible pocket clip is long and slender, and recessed into the handle like a Sebenza clip – a nice detail because it prevents side-to-side wiggle. Although thin, it is made from a fairly thick piece of steel – mostly a good thing as it is extra durable, but it does mean that retention is pretty tight. Things should loosen up over time (and thankfully the clip’s retention point is on a non-textured surface in the center of the handle), but even out of the box, it’s far from unusable. The knife itself is nice and thin in addition to being lightweight – an easy carry in almost all circumstances.

Deployment and Lockup

For deployment the Dozier utilizes a single, reversible thumb stud. I’ve always like the single thumb stud idea – just seems like a more efficient use of material, which of course is in keeping with the generally efficient, streamlined design of this knife.

As with any lockback there’s friction during deployment, but the blade can be flicked out or slow rolled with relative ease after a little break-in. One interesting element of the Dozier is the complete absence of washers or bearings: instead, the blade pivots on raised, washer-shaped areas of Zytel. Even with this rudimentary construction, the primary sensation during opening is one of smoothness. This was consistent across all three review samples.

The Dozier’s lockback has some definite spring to it. It snaps into an open position and disengages with an audible pop. Lockup is sound: there’s no side-to-side play, although a slight up and down movement can be detected. Almost all lockbacks I’ve owned exhibit this to greater or lesser degrees so I’m not worried about it. I’m confident in saying that the Dozier could withstand a fair bit of hard cutting before you’d notice any issues with the lock. And along with the clip and thumb stud, it means the Dozier is 100% ambidextrous.

KA-BAR Dozier Folding Hunter Review – Final Thoughts

The Dozier is a knife from a different age. It predates our modern obsessions with lock types, flipping action, celebrity designers (Bob Dozier may be a legend but his name doesn’t have the current cachet of a Jesse Jarosz or Rick Hinderer) and all other knife nerd fallalery. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying these things, but there’s something bracing about carrying a knife that ignores so much of them and still functions so well. It’s a real tonic for today’s overexposed, oversaturated, overanalyzed knife world.

After fourteen years on the market, the Dozier is still one of the best deals around. It makes no real compromises and has no real weaknesses other than a lack of visual appeal. An enthusiast would never want this to be his only blade, but realistically it does all that you should ask of a folding knife. It won’t be my last knife – and it won’t be yours – but it could be if we ever shake the knife collecting bug.

Ka-Bar KA4062-BRK Dozier Precision Hunter

List Price: $19.77

Current Price: $17.99

Price Disclaimer

I recommend purchasing the Ka-Bar Dozier Folding Hunter at Amazon or BladeHQ. Please consider that purchasing anything through any of the links on this website helps support BladeReviews.com, and keeps the site going. As always, any and all support is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.