The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Knives & Blades => Topic started by: Big Frank on June 12, 2024, 03:03:56 AM
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Monday I got 2 of the The MILSPIN Magnus Utility Knife 2.0 (Aluminum) knives. I already had 2 of the original MILSPIN Magnus Utility Knives in Brass, but they just came out with the new Version 2.0 in Brass and Aluminum, so I bought 2 more. I'm giving the 2 old ones to my friends, one of whom carries a folding knife that uses utility knife blades. They made the original in aluminum, then one of the guys in the shop knocked one out in brass, and everyone liked it so much they quit making the aluminum version. But I love the new one in aluminum. It's practically weightless when you stick in your pocket, and the brass one was a touch heavy when I wore it on a lanyard around my neck. Plus I kept getting poked until I put a heavier spring in it. Here are the old, and new TOOL-LESS DISASSEMBLY/REASSEMBLY versions. After taking it apart and putting it back together a couple of times it's second nature. It's so easy a grunt could do it. <-- patent pending ;D And it seems to lock into all 3 positions more solidly. I forgot to mention it carries a spare blade, included, in the handle!
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WUCAvFZqtQQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48FRKmMpVWs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG2c0Ei5WMk
https://milspin.com/products/milspin-utility-blade
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I also got 3 knives from Olight Monday, an OD Green Spurdog Everyday Carry Folding Tool, a Rubato 2 Folding Tool with OD Green Micarta Handles, and a Rubato 2 Folding Tool with Carbon Fiber Overlay. The weight of the Carbon Fiber over aluminum is halfway between the Micarta and solid aluminum versions. The Rubato 2 has a 2.93" blade length, and the Spurdog is 2.99". The Spurdog is also available in Gunmetal Grey, which looks almost black in the pictures. The D2 steel drop point blade boasts a HRC58 hardness and is coated with black titanium nitride for a matte finish. The 6061-T6 Aluminum Alloy Handle has a "grenade pattern" grip that feels really good in the hand and should be secure. It has assisted-opening and flicks right open with the flipper. The 2-postion lock that's only on one side was stiff to operate at first, but okay after I worked it back and forth for a minute. I'm not using the lock anyway. It's my new EDC knife for now. The Rubato 2 is so slick, all you have to do to open them is point them up or down and pull back on the double-sided rail lock. The blade will just flip open and closed by gravity. The blade is made of 154CM stainless steel. For anyone unfamiliar with Micarta, it was the wonder material of choice for knife scales and gun grips before G10 came along. It's made of linen or paper, etc. and thermosetting polymer resin. The carbon fiber Rubato 2 looks really nice but polished carbon fiber is too slick. It's better to look at than carry.
I got the OD Green Spurdog and OD Green Micarta Rubato 2, along with a Warrior Mini 2 Compact EDC Tactical Flashlight - Black, all for 40% off as members only special offers. And got the carbon fiber Rubato 2 as a tier gift for buying so much merchandise. I didn't know if I would get the carbon fiber model or the Micarta version that sells for the same price, $5 more than the aluminum one. I'm glad they didn't give me a Micarta knife like the one I bought, instead of the carbon fiber. I would have made a stink about it if they did. All 3 knives came with a cleaning cloth and a nylon case with a small pocket inside it. The Spurdog came with a Velcro patch, and the Rubato 2s came with a challnge coin in the pocket inside the case, each one in a different color metal. Photos to be posted later. I folded the cleaning cloths into thirds, then in half, and tucked them into the little pocket of all 3 cases.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micarta
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-10_(material)
https://www.olightstore.com/spurdog-everyday-carry-folding-tool
https://www.olightstore.com/rubato-2-small-folding-knife
https://www.olightstore.com/warrior-mn2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHoJPy5sF3s
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And I got 2 Otacle EDC Utility Tools - Doughnut color. I got one for a dollar extra when I bought the Warrior 3S High Beam Tactical Flashlight- Stars & Stripes Edition on sale, and got one in a package deal with a Warrior Nano 1200 Lumens Tactical EDC Flashlight - Black that was on sale. it works out to getting it free and the flashlight for over 37% off, or something like that. The Otacle EDC Utility Tool is shaped like a lion with its mouth serving as a bottle opener, and the utility knife blade coming out of its mouth too. And it has a mini pry bar/slotted screwdriver, and 1/4" hex wrench you can use as a lanyard hole when you're not driving bits with it. I have 2 pouches for them on order, which left Washington, D.C. a few hours ago. The Otacles and their pouches and spare blades will be gifts for my friends. That's not what they expect for a baby shower gift but it's what they're getting, along with a couple packages I already have wrapped up, and a bunch of diapers.
https://www.olightstore.com/otacle-utility-edc-knife
https://www.olightstore.com/otacle-pouch
https://www.olightstore.com/warrior-nano-small-tactical-flashlight
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I bought a Rubato 3 EDC Pocket Tool to go with my pair of Rubato 2s. This one has a 30Cr13 stainless steel handle. It weighs 3.60 oz (102 g) and the aluminum handle ones I don't have are 3.17 oz (90 g). That's only a .43 oz difference between steel and aluminum, and it's $40 cheaper. The blade is 2.96 in (75.1 mm) long, compared to the 2.93 in (74.4 mm) length of the other two. I also got a Otacle Pro Titanium Pocket Utility Tool and a Otacle U1 Carbon Fiber Small Folding Tool, and a bunch of other stuff. To change the blade you have to loosen the locking screw and open the blade holder cover. Changing blades on the Otacle Pro Titanium Pocket Utility Tool is completely tool-less and only takes a matter of seconds. You just push the button to get the blade beyond the fully open position and it comes out. It has a losk button to keep it from opening by accident and came with a leather case.
https://www.olightstore.com/rubato-3-edc-pocket-knife
https://www.olightstore.com/otacle-pro-pocket-utility-tool
https://www.olightstore.com/otacle-u1-small-folding-tool
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Now I have all my car keys and other stuff on an Otacle R2 Utility Multi Tool Keychain instead of a key ring with a small carabiner. It's made of titanium alloy and has a 3 position locking lever to control the locking and unlocking of the hooks. You can lock or unlock both hooks, or put the lock in the center position to lock the small hook while the big one is unlocked to put on a belt loop. And SURPRISE, it has a No.10 Carbon Steel scalpel blade that can be replaced with any other scalpel blade. Too bad the 100-pack of X-Acto knife blades I bought won't work. You can put a scalpel blade in an X-Acto knife, but the blades they normally have in them doesn't have the big slot to fit scalpel handles. They just have a small slot in them.
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I got a Rubato 3 with an orange 6061-T6 Aluminum handle, to go with my Rubato 3 30Cr13 Stainless Steel Handle and 10Cr15CoMoV Steel blade. The one I got today has a 154CM Stainless Steel with black titanium PVD coating. That's the same steel used in my pair of Rutato 2 knives. Those have Micarta and Carbon Fiber Overlay handles. I don't have one with an Aluminum handle, but if you compare the specs of the aluminum handle Rubato 2 with a Rubato 3, there isn't much difference other than the blade shape. Thee R 2 weighs 3.87 oz. and the R 3 weighs 3.60 oz. The blade lengths are 2.93" and 2.96", and the blade thickness is 0.11" on both. Handle length is 4.22" with a lanyard hole, and 3.81" without a hole. That .41" difference is the only big difference besides the blade shape.
Both knives in all materials and finishes come with a challenge coin, except for the cheap steel handle knife. It came with a morale patch instead. The microfiber cleaning cloth is like a lens cleaning cloth you should all be familiar with. I folded it up and put it in the coin pouch of all 4 knives. I did the same with my Spurdog. It's an Assisted Opening Flipper with a 2.99" D2 steel blade with a black titanium nitride finish. Too bad it's no longer listed on their site. I like mine better than most of my knives of any brand. The protruding squares I refer to as a grenade texture is really good and it flips open so easily.
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Speaking of challenge coins, and the Spurdog, here they are. I didn't know if Spurdog had any real meaning and why the patch has a shark on it. I looked it up and Spurdog is a genus of dogfish sharks.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spurdog
Rubato is also a real word. It has nothing to do with rubbing one out. ;D And if you're singing to yourself Domo Arigato Mr. Rubato, you may be as screwed up as I am :D. Tempo rubato (Italian for stolen time) is a musical term referring to expressive and rhythmic freedom by a slight speeding up and then slowing down of the tempo of a piece at the discretion of the soloist or the conductor. You end up with the same tune, but different.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempo_rubato
Other words that Olight uses for their flashlights are mostly Norse gods and heroes. A notable exception is Arkfeld, which is an old family name meaning someone who lives near arable land. In other words a farmer, from way back when a lot of people's family names came from their occupations: Smith, Miller, Cooper, etc.
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Last month I got a Parrot Folding Knife from Olight. It has Grey G10 handles and a 2.6 inch 154CM modified sheepsfoot blade. It feels like a bigger knife, with a blade longer than 2.6". The blade has a front flipper on it. I tried using my index finger to flip it open but it didn't budge. I have to use my thumb to flip it open instead. I have to hold it in an awkward position to do it. If my hands weren't always stiff and aching it might be a different story.
https://www.olightstore.com/parrot-folding-knife-grey
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The Parrot knife came with a pouch, cleaning cloth, and challenge coin. Here's the coin with the one from the Arrkfeld Pro and Oclip Pro Christmas Gift package, and the coin that came with my blue Arkfeld Pro.
Now I'm waiting for my Military Armament Corporation MAC MK II Knife, a copy of the Gerber Mark II. It's the one in the middle. The one on the left is a Tisas Raider KB Knife, a copy of the Ka-Bar combat knife adopted by the Marine Corps during WWII, but with G10 instead of a stacked leather handle. On the right is the Inglis Fairbairn Sykes Knife. John Inglis and Company was a Canadian manufacturing firm which made weapons, like copies of the Browning Hi-Power, for the United Kingdom and British Commonwealth military forces during the World War II era. All 3 knives are sold by SDS arms. Besides Tisas USA pistols, Inglis Hi-Powers, and Tokarev USA shotguns, they have Spandau Arms sporting shotguns, and MAC 1911s, like this JSOC .45 ACP for $749.99. That's a good looking pistol IMO, and set up quite nicely.
https://sdsarms.com/mac-mk-ii-knife/
https://sdsarms.com/tisas-raider-kb-knife/
https://sdsarms.com/inglis-fairbairn-sykes-knife/
https://sdsarms.com/mac-1911-jsoc-45/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerber_Mark_II
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka-Bar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairbairn%E2%80%93Sykes_fighting_knife
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I got a Ledge Slipjoint Knife from Stat Gear today. It's the red one. They call the blade a modified sheepsfoot, but I've seen other blades of similar style called reverse tantos. It's cute little thing. When it's closed, the tip of the blade is just barely inside of the handle. That gives to plenty to grab onto. Good thing because the spring is really stiff. The 2.5" blade is D2 steel and the handle is G10 composite. When you open it, it has a soft stop at about 140 degrees until you pull it the rest of the way open. When you close it, it wants to stop there like in the 3rd pic. I don't know if that's to keep it from snapping shut your fingers or what. So far I like the Pocket Samurai Full Size Edition better than the Ledge. I'll have to oil it and play with it a lot to get it working smoother.
https://www.statgeartools.com/ledge-slipjoint-knife/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvYCvN2IzeY
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I got another knife Saturday, the Sentry R1 Folding Outdoor Kitchen Tool from Olight. It's Oknife's first folding outdoor kitchen knife. It has a 4.61 inch Sandvik 14C28N steel blade 0.09 inch thick, rated at 60±2 HRC with a cutting edge of a max. 17-degree angle per side. The Overall Length is 10.20 inch, and Weight is 5.27 oz. The Handle Material is G10 and it has a Rail Lock. It came with a Storage Bag and Cleaning Cloth like all the other knives, and a morale patch. All of their knives so far have come with either a patch of a challenge coin, mostly coins. I'm putting it n the box with my camping stoves, fuel tabs, and fire starters. The box is about 12"x12"x7" and holds a lot of stuff in a fairly small space. It's sold out and the Sentry L1 Cleaver-Style Folding Pocket Tool is out of stock. It had a shorter, thicker blade and a liner lock. The Sentry L2 Tactical Folding Tool with Partially Serrated Blade has a D2 steel Tanto blade. It's a tactical flipper with dual finger guards and is still in stock. It's similar to a CRKT M16 knife and has a blade length of 3.37 inch.
https://www.olightstore.com/sentry-r1-folding-outdoor-kitchen-tool-1
https://www.olightstore.com/sentry-l1-cleaver-style-folding-pocket-tool
https://www.olightstore.com/sentry-l2-tactical-folding-tool
https://www.crkt.com/knives/m-16
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I got my MK II. The wasp waist on the Gerber was never that small. At least on any I've seen. It's sharp enough to... spread peanut butter. The only way you're going to cut yourself on this one is if you try really hard. I need to find a professional knife sharpening service to fix it up. Then I want to get it Cerakoted black, probably Armor Black. It's the flattest black they offer. I might have enough black leather dye to dye the sheath. If not I'll have to but more. I have some wool daubers I'll use to apply it. If there's anything better for dying leather I haven't heard about it. These things are disposable and cheap.
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This is my Gerber MK11, made in 1978 according to Ser. Number, I'm trying to find an original sheath for it.
(https://i.imgur.com/RoGlZaX.jpg)
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NICE!!! That was from the original production run from 1966 to 2000 when they were still good. They made a limited run of 1500 in 2002, and full production started in 2008, but stopped again. I read somewhere online the later ones were crap compared to before. Schrade makes a cheap imitation, the Delta Class Needle Serrated Fixed Blade. There's also a Delta Class Needle Fixed Blade that looks like a Mark I. You can get one of each for 40 bucks, total. In Germany there was one guy in my company who carried a Gerber Guardian boot knife, designed by Bob Loveless. He was in a bar when some biker started giving him a hard time. I don't know where he was carrying the knife, but he whipped it out and stabbed it into the guys motorcycle helmet that was setting on the table. That guy quit messing with him. Sometimes "bad-ass" bikers need to be put in their place. The knife was slightly damaged. IIRC the tip still had its point, but had a small chip out of both edges right behind it. It was a nice little knife with 3 3/8" long blade. Gerber quit making all 3 of those knives. There was also a longer Guardian I and even longer Guardian II.
I let SDS know I wasn't happy with my $100 butter knife. This is their email response in its entirety, "Thank you for reaching out to us. We did not design the knife to be used for everyday knife functions. It is more of a decorative/historical piece but customers can sharpen it for more functional use." My reply started with, "Most people do design knives to be used as knives. Too bad you didn't." and I let them know I want a refund for it and the MAC T-shirt I ordered. I don't want to wear it around giving them free advertising, when the only other thing I bought from them was a knife that can't be used as a knife.
https://www.schrade.com/shop/knives/delta/needle-serrated-fixed-blade/1182515.html#srule=price-high-to-low&start=1&sz=12
https://www.schrade.com/shop/knives/delta/needle-fixed-blade/1182510.html#srule=most-popular&start=1&sz=12
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95244hRymh0
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I have Mark 1 also...
(https://i.imgur.com/rJ0Finf.jpg)
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8) I would have bought a Mark I and a Mark II a long time ago if it wasn't illegal for me to carry them in Michigan.
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Yesterday I used one of my Rubato 3 knives to scrape some dead skin off my feet after I took a shower. I normally use a letter opener for that but neither one was on my desk, so I used a knife. I slashed open my foot on the side opposite the arch. The side that has all the weight on it. Normally when I got cut in the past, it bled for a couple of minutes, stopped bleeding, started building a fibrin scaffold and began the healing process. I'm taking blood thinners now and it bled so long I started wondering if it was ever going to stop. I made a bandage from surgical sponges and tape, and haven't taken it off yet. I had socks on most of the time to help hold the bandage in place. I'll take a look at it later. I might need to apply some super glue to make an artificial scab to hold it together.
So, now I know a couple of things I didn't before. That knife is sharp. And my brother was right when he said that I should carry a tourniquet since I'm taking blood thinners.
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I have another Olight Parrot Folding Tool on the way. It should be here Tuesday. This one has a black blade and Micarta handle which should have a better grip. And it's 1/4 ounce lighter than the G10 version I got. It was 45% off through the loyalty program and I couldn't resist. It must be the deep blade makes it feel like a bigger knife than it is.
https://www.olightstore.com/parrot
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Younger son got me another Kershaw pocket clip knife with the rapid-open function. It also has the thumb buttons through the blade as another means of opening.
The Kershaws really hold an edge well and when they do need a tune up, it only takes a couple of strokes on a ceramic stick and a stropping.
(https://kershaw.kaiusa.com/media/catalog/product/cache/94ced95c895cec7472be678f240a35d1/1/5/1555ti_back-open_web_need_to_update_web_picture_.png)
(https://kershaw.kaiusa.com/media/catalog/product/cache/94ced95c895cec7472be678f240a35d1/1/5/1555ti_clipside-closed.png)
(https://kershaw.kaiusa.com/media/catalog/product/cache/94ced95c895cec7472be678f240a35d1/1/5/1555ti_profile_web.png)
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I like a good flipper. I have some that aren't assisted opening that open easier than others that are.