The Center Gnome: Spartan Blades

Showing posts with label Spartan Blades. Show all posts

Friday, August 19, 2016

Knife Review: Spartan Harsey Folder (SHF)

The Spartan Harsey Folder. This particular one that I reviewed is a custom version that I bought from Spartan Blades. The standard versions are either all stonewashed or all black.

Introduction:

It's finally here! My Spartan Harsey Folder, the aptly acronymed SHF. This is the knife whose future existence I teased in my review of the Lone Wolf T2. At the time of that review the SHF was still in development. Now that I finally have mine in hand and have had a month to test it out, I have to say it was worth the wait. Given the fact that the SHF won 2016 American Made Knife of the Year at Blade Show, I'd say that other people feel the same way.

The SHF is a knife with a lineage. Renowned knife designer Bill Harsey has designed a number of iterations of knives similar to the SHF over the years, but he really hit a home run with the Lone Wolf T series. Unfortunately Lone Wolf went out of business, and so the T2 design went defunct. Bill really wanted to make sure that when he brought the design back that it was an improvement, and the best knife it could be. After some successful collaborations with Spartan Blades they developed the SHF, which is an all metal, framelock version of the knife.

My little collection of Harsey designed knives. You could say I am a fan. From left to right: The Spartan Harsey Difensa, the Gerber Applegate-Fairbairn Combat Folder, the Gerber Applegate-Fairbairn Covert Folder, the Spartan Harsey SHF, the Lone Wolf T2, The Tacops Falcon (designed by Bill Harsey and Chris Reeve), and the Fantoni HB-02

The T2 and the SHF side by side

The result is something more than a remake. It is a new knife. Stouter and more, well, spartan, but also refined. The T2 was an amazing value at the time (the pricing on the resale market for the Lone Wolf T2's is comparable to the SHF these days), it was a great quality knife for the price. The SHF on the other hand is simply an outstanding knife. It's price is comparable to other high quality American made knives in its bracket, but there are no compromises made to keep the price down. So it costs more, but the SHF doesn't have fiberglass reinforced nylon (FRN) handle scales like the base model T2 either. The SHF shares the fantastic ergonomics of the T2, but there are a lot of little differences. And this review is about the details.

The TL;DR review summary:
This knife is a special knife. It is pretty big, it is not super light. It is solid and impressive. It is exquisitely balanced, and a very good slicer, especially for a modern tactical style knife. The thumbstud deployment takes some getting used to, and the lockup seems a little too early for my tastes. But on balance, I think this is an outstanding knife.

The Version Reviewed is a Custom:

The SHF usually comes in one of two versions, the all stonewashed version, or the all black physical vapor deposition (PVD) diamond-like carbon (DLC) coated version. I have a personal distaste for handles that look like the blades (and honestly, a prejudice against metal handles in general), so I didn't really want the all stonewashed version. On the other hand, I don't like black coated blades either. I just personally don't like them, and I don't like my knives to be too intimidating to people, and black coated blades seem a little too "tactical" to me. So I decided to be a little picky. This knife costs between $450 (stonewashed) and $500 (DLC Coated), so for that kind of money I want to make sure that I get exactly what I want.

Spartan Blades' first production run of the SHF went out as pre-orders to retailers, so there wasn't a chance for me to get a customized one in that first run. The second production run was when Spartan Blades was able to get their system ready for more rapid production, and since I had been in touch with Spartan on an ongoing basis they let me know when they had more knives coming up for sale. I asked if it would be possible to get a knife made with the black handle and the stonewashed blade. Kimberly at customer service told me that they were getting ready to do some customs, and that she would let me know when they were ready to start making them. I was very surprised that it was just a week later when she let me know that my custom knife was ready. My patience paid off in the opportunity to have a knife made for me to my specifications, and I am quite happy with it.

This is the most expensive knife I have ever bought, and it is the first custom knife I have had made for me, so it is a first for me in those ways.

Let's Start With the Specs:

Blade Length: 4"
Overall Length: 8 13/16"
Finish: Black PVD (Handle), Stonewash (Blade)
Blade Thickness: 0.154"
Thickness: 0.5"
Blade Steel: CPM S35VN
Blade Hardness: 58-60 RHC
Frame: 6AL-4V Titanium
Weight: 5.888 Oz

The SHF is a substantial folding knife. Coming in with a four inch blade and an overall length of almost nine inches when open. That said, this knife does not seem overly large. It is a good sized knife for general use in my opinion. Some people might prefer a smaller knife (or live in a jurisdiction that bans knives of this size), but for my money this size knife is just right. Plus the handle size is a great fit for my hand.

The SHF in my hand. Note, I have pretty big hands which is why I usually avoid having my hands in the picture, but it shows the handle fit for me.

The blade on this knife was given a stonewashed finish, which is one of my favorite finish types. A stonewash finish is created by... tumbling the knife with pebbles. It is what it sounds like. In my experience stonewash finishes feel pretty low friction, and they are more resistant to corrosion than bead blasted finishes. Additionally the stonewash hides scratches pretty well, which helps keep the blade looking nice. The stonewash finish also keeps the blade from being too reflective if that is a concern.

I feel like this image captures the stonewash finish nicely. The bright high-desert sun also captures the subtle prismatic effect of the DLC coating in bright lights. While no one would call DLC sparkly, it is subtly prismatic for a very subdued iridescent shimmer. It is really only noticeable in full bright sunlight, but it is one of my favorite minor details.

The steel of the blade itself is the very fancy supersteel CPM S35VN. This is a very tough, hard wearing, corrosion resistant, stainless steel that is able to take and hold a very keen edge. It is a particle steel, which as I have written before is made with science magic. The fantastic performance has something to do with carbides... I think. I'm no metallurgist.

The blade stock of the SHF seems to be a little thicker than the T2. I didn't break out my calipers, but I'm pretty sure.

The handle is titanium, which translates to an extremely solid feeling knife. I was initially surprised that the knife still felt surprisingly (to me) heavy in the hand. I expected the titanium handle to allow for a very light knife, like with the Fantoni HB 02. However, the thick slabs of Titanium (while strong) are not milled out at all, and leave the knife with a substantial weight. I wondered about that heft initially, until I checked the balance:

That balance is right at the index finger groove.

The knife balances right at the index finger groove. This is the same point of balance one finds on Harsey's knives like the Difensa. Having the balance a little back of the blade, right at the fulcrum of the index finger provides a lively feel in the hand. Bill Harsey has made his reputation designing tactical and fighting knives, and this knife reflects that, and manages to capture the same balance point in a folding knife.

A Note on the Clip:

The T2 on top, with it's tip-down clip, and the SHF below with its titanium tip-up clip.

One of the big changes between the T2 and the SHF was changing the pocket clip from an obligatory right-handed tip-down clip to a left/right reversible tip-up pocket clip. I personally prefer a tip-down clip since I usually carry my knife in my back pocket. Plus the T2 clip was one of my favorite things about the old design, and it fit my hand more unobtrusively than any other pocket clip I've used, despite the beefiness if the clip. That said, I actually wanted the SHF for use in the field, and I typically wear pants with back pocket flaps in the field, which makes the front pocket carry of the SHF actually a bonus. Also, the titanium clip is strong and fairly unobtrusive in the hand. Plus, the arrow cutout is pretty cool in my opinion.

Review:

Steel:

I feel that CPM S35VN is an excellent steel, and a good fit for a knife in this price range. I'd say that the steel is an unequivocal positive. I know that some steel snobs might prefer a more esoteric steel (like S90V or M390), but for balance of metal characteristics I think S35VN is hard to beat in a tactical/EDC knife. Additionally, Spartan Blades has a proven track record with their heat treatment of S35VN. They know how to get the most out of the steel, and the performance has been excellent.

Blade Finish:

As I stated earlier, the stonewash finish is one of my favorite finishes for a knife. It's attractive, hides scratches, and it provides a lower friction coefficient than a DLC/ZRN coated blade, especially when wet. I like the easier slicing a lot, especially in a blade that has some thickness.

Blade:

I really think the blade on this knife is excellent. I was initially a little sad that Spartan was not offering a full-flat-grind option on the blade (like my T2 Ranger), but I was willing to accept the modified spear-point sabre-grind blade for an all purpose knife. It has been my experience that sabre-grind blades tend to not slice as well due to the more obtuse angles and increased thickness. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the slicing performance of the SHF has been quite impressive. Even though the SHF is thicker at the terminal bevel than the T2 Ranger was, the terminal bevel grinds and blade geometry work to create a blade that is the equal of the Ranger for the cutting tasks I have put it to.

(The SHF actually is even better at apple slicing than the Ranger, which is handy since my two-year-old demands that I slice up her apples one slice at a time daily)

A final nice feature of the blade is the jimping. The jimping strikes a neat balance between echoing the jimping of the T2, and also recalling the jimping on Spartan Blades' fighting knives. The jimping is effective, but not obnoxious, and manages to strike a good balance both in performance and aesthetics. It is the little things that really make a knife for me.

A look at the jimping

Handle:

The handle, while nice, is one place where I really missed the T2. The wood handles and radiused edges of the T2 made for a handle that really melted into the hand. The all-metal handle and chamfered edges of the SHF make for a knife that has a much more positively grippy feel in the hand. You feel the SHF much more than the T2. The chamfered metal looks and feels more modern and agressive. I liked the old fashioned feel and look of the wooden handle.

In actual use I found that the SHF performed nicely, and the handle did not result in hot-spots on my hands. The handle jimping is attractive and effective. And the knife is very comfortable to use, and the same excellent ergonomics are there. But I miss the soft rounded comfort of the T2. Of course you can't buy a new Lone Wolf T2 anymore, because the company is gone, so the comparison is unfair. Even more unfair since the wooden handled version was uncommon even when they were getting made. The SHF handle compares just fine with other production Harsey designs currently on the market, like Fantoni's HB series.

It is worth noting as well that all of the screws and standoffs on the SHF are also made out of titanium. That detail is a part of the reason for the cost of the knife, but it is a neat detail.

Locking Mechanism:

The locking mechanism on the SHF is an integral frame lock with an internally mounted Hinderer Lockbar Stabilizer (a patented feature licensed for this knife). Since the handle is also the frame of the knife, a part of the handle functions as a spring and moves in to lock the blade in place. The mechanism is similar to a liner lock, but with a liner lock there are handle scales over the metal frame. The advantage of the integral frame lock is that when you hold the knife handle it actually holds the lock in place, which provides additional reliability. The frame lock is very popular, particularly on high end knives. I personally prefer liner locks, but that is because I am biased against metal handles, and I dislike having different materials on different sides of the handle. But this is a detail where my tastes run counter to most folks who buy higher end knives, so I am pretty much out of luck.

(Note on lock terminology: with frame and liner locks, early or late refer to how far the lock travels over the blade tang when the lock engages. Over time, like years, the metal wears down where the lock engages, and this means that over time the lockup gets later. An early lockup means that even as the metal wears down there will be plenty of additional surface to ensure secure lockup. However, if the lockup is too early then the lock can fail to fully engage, which can be dangerous. Three Sisters Forge has a patented adjustable cam [stop pin] that allows for lockup timing to be adjusted, but they are the only ones I know of with this feature, so in my experience you are mostly stuck with the lockup you get from the factory.)

The locking mechanism on the SHF is probably my biggest issue overall with the knife. The lockup is very early. There is no issue if the blade is flipped open using the thumbstud, or simply opened with a little authority, but when the knife is opened gently with two hands the lock fails to engage. Over time I am sure this will change, and it is not an issue for me in normal use, but when I let people borrow the knife they tend not to be "knife people" and try to be too gentle with the knife, which creates an unsafe situation.

Deployment:

The deployment of the SHF required some learning on my part. The strong detent and shape of the thumbstuds meant that the knife actually did not work with quite the same hand movements I was used to. Additionally, the extremely smooth opening (comparable, in my experience, only to a Sebenza) meant that when I did get the knife opening, the blade flew out way faster than I was used to/expecting. I expected the knife to open exactly the same as my T2:

However, the SHF is not the T2, and nowhere was this more evident than with the deployment:

As you can see, when the thumbstuds are used right, the blade pops right out. With practice this became easy to do, and quite satisfying, but it did involve a learning curve. I was used to a controlled opening arc, and the SHF essentially just needs to get launched. At the end of the SHF video I demonstrate the pinch method that I have found works easiest for me if I want to do a controlled arc.

Note the grooves leading to the thumbstuds.

The best tip that I can offer for opening the SHF is to use the thumbstud access grooves as a guide. The grooves guide your thumb-tip to the correct angle and position to open the knife with ease, but the mechanics are a little different than I was used to.

Fit and Finish:

The fit and finish of this knife is absolutely outstanding. My only complaint is the too-early lockup, but otherwise I detected no irregularities, misalignments, assymetries, or flaws. The knife was literally flawless as far as I can tell. This is the first knife I have owned that I felt exceeded the build quality of the Fantoni HB 02 (of course the HB 02 costs about half the price, but Fantoni makes fabulous knives).

A comparison photo with the Fantoni HB 02

The factory edge on the knife was very sharp, and is still the only edge put on the knife thus far. I have had no need to resharpen the knife. I have been very pleased with the edge on this knife. The edge seems a great balance of stable geometry and... sliciness (for lack of a better word). It cuts like a dream.

One last touch that I really liked was having Bill Harsey's signature on the blade. It is a little touch that makes me very happy.

The William W. Harsey signature.

Use Review:

In use this knife has performed excellently. It works very well for most every task I have used it for. As a modern style folder, it simply can't compete with a little old-fashioned slipjoint knife for apple slicing, but even in the apple slicing department it outperforms other similarly sized knives. The excellent ergonomics make the SHF a very handy all-purpose knife. It handles most kitchen tasks very well. Most any cooking task that calls for a petty knife can be handled ably. And it also slices up cardboard cleanly and chops through blackberry vines nicely.

One particular use where the SHF really outperformed my expectations was in whittling. I have not really found modern folders to be very handy for whittling for the most part, but the SHF actually makes a pretty decent whittler. I whittle when bored, and so I am happy that the SHF actually tackles that task ably.

Summary:

The SHF really is a different knife from the old T2. The shared lineage, similar appearance, and design of the SHF invites comparison, but the two knives feel quite different in use. The T2 is still my absolute favorite knife of all time, but I really feel like the SHF is actually a nicer knife in almost every way. The quality of the SHF is certainly top-notch.

The SHF is a spendy knife. The price is comparable to other high-end mid-tech production knives (Hinderer, Strider, Chris Reeve, etc.), but that price is still awfully high for your average knife buyer. That said, for myself, I am very happy with this purchase. I fully expect to get decades of use out of this knife, and I find it a pleasure to carry and use.

The SHF in nature

I just love the green of that high desert lichen

A nice view of the blade with the signature

Knife in nature

And one last knife in nature

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Knife News: Spartan Blades SHF (Spartan Harsey Folder)

Updated 08-21-2016: I actually wrote a review of the SHF, so if you would actually like to read what I think about the knife now that I own one, you can read it here.

Updated 07-07-2016: I didn't really think many people were going to read this preview, but since hundreds of people have read it I thought maybe I should update so things.

If you read my knife reviews you may recall a section at the tail end of my review of the Lone Wolf Harsey T2:

When I posted my original First Impressions Review, Bill Harsey left a comment on my Facebook page informing me that he had finished up prototyping work on a new similar knife. He said that the new one would have a titanium frame and handle (I'm not personally a big fan of metal handles, but I am willing to reserve judgement). So this is very exciting news to me.

Unfortunately, I have no idea when this new version might come out, or who would be producing it, or what price it might be sold at. And there is not even really a guarantee that the knife ever will enter production. And hopefully Bill won't be mad at me for writing about his Facebook comment here.

But, if a new version of the T2 comes to fruition, I will do everything I can to review it in a timely fashion. I'm not a particularly well known reviewer, and I don't have much of a following, so it's not like the makers would have a strong motivation to send me a tester. And the knife will not be cheap, and heading into grad school, money is not something I am swimming in. So even if the knife came out tomorrow, it might be a while before I could review it. But if a new one comes out, I will let you all know.

So to sum up, the Lone Wolf T2 is my favorite knife. I think it is just about perfect, but it is hard to buy, and the prices that they sell for these days can make it hard to justify actually using. But stay tuned, there may be a resurrection of this knife, and that could truly be an amazing knife.

Well the resurrection of the T2 is here in the form of the Spartan Blades SHF (Spartan Harsey Folder).

The new SHF, coming out in a stonewashed finish and black DLC (DiamondLike Coating) finish.

The exciting news is that the knife is finally being released. The bad news is that it will be some time before I can actually get my grubby mitts on one.

Update: I have just ordered my SHF, so I will be reviewing it soon.

The SHF is being sold for the prices of $460 for the stonewashed version and $495 for the DLC version. Those prices, while well within the normal range for US made knives of comparable materials, mean that it is going to take me quite a while to save up the funds to spend on a knife that is essentially a new version of a knife I already have. But I am going to buy it, it's just going to take a while. I'm guessing probably at least six months (I don't make big bucks as a grad student, I have some non-discretionary spending coming up, and there are several conferences I need to attend in the next couple months, so six months may be overly optimistic), but I look forward to reviewing the knife when I get it.

Of course having to wait a while is not entirely bad news, but let's talk a bit about the knife first...

Materials:

Like most of the Spartan Blades catalog, the blade of the SHF is made of CPM S35VN. I have written about this steel a few times, my summary is that it is a science-magic steel. It's neat stuff, and Spartan Blades knows how to work with it.

The biggest change between the SHF and the T2 is that the SHF is a frame lock. That means that part of the handle frame actually springs inward to lock the blade in place. And then the frame is further held in place by your hand as long as you are holding the handle.

The the handle and all the non-blade hardware of the SHF is titanium, which is probably the most exciting part of this new design for me. The screws, standoffs, blade pivot, and clip are all made out of titanium. This should be one extraordinarily strong and solidly constructed folding knife. I am particularly excited about the titanium pivot. All of the points where failure might occur are going to be made of extremely strong and lightweight material (not that using a folding knife as a knife would lead to failure in a less strongly built knife, but some people like to to silly things with their knives).

Makers:

Spartan Blades is a US company based out of North Carolina. The company was founded (and is owned) by two retired special forces soldiers, Curtis Iovito and Mark Carey. In addition to being veteran owned, and employing other veterans, Spartan Blades uses US origin materials for their products. Not only are the knives made in the US, the materials that make the knives are made in the US. The sheaths for the knives are made by vendors that are also veteran owned companies that us US origin materials. And Spartan Blades works with other US veteran owned companies.

The message here is that Spartan Blades is a company that takes "Made in America" seriously at all levels, and has a commitment to service and others who have served. Being so resolutely US sourced does tend to mean that costs for materials and labor will be higher than if the knives were made and sourced overseas, but I would argue that the additional cost can be well worth paying.

In a country (and world) dominated by the forces of market economics, the dollars we spend are our most concrete forms of real power. When you spend money on goods you vote with your wallet. I am not speaking metaphorically, you really are shaping the world you live in with your spending habits. This is not to say that it is always wrong to buy foreign made goods by any means, but it is to say that price should not always be the only consideration. Spartan Blades is a company I like to support.

It helps, of course, that Spartan Blades makes excellent quality goods. I have been quite thrilled with my Spartan Harsey Difensa since I purchased it. It has actually seen a lot more use than I had initially expected. It is just a well designed and built piece of equipment. (And the soldier that I bought Model II for has also been quite happy with it.)

But Back To The SHF:

While I wish I could just buy a SHF right now, it might actually work out better for me to have to wait. I am excited for the SHF, but there are things that I am not crazy about with these initial models.

The stonewashed finish

I am not crazy about metal handles. One of my favorite things about my T2 is the wooden handles. I like the way they feel, and to my mind they feel warmer in the hand than metal handles. However, I know that Bill Harsey has carried a titanium handled knife for many years, and he seems to like it. While it is a logical fallacy to simply rely on an appeal to authority, some people really are experts. I'd count Bill as an expert. I am willing to give a metal handled knife a chance, particularly since one of the reasons I want the SHF is for when I am working in the field. I tend to end up working in the high desert fairly frequently, and the gritty sand can do a number on even artificial handles like derlin. The titanium should be able to stand up to that well, plus if I do need the knife repaired I can send it in to Spartan (unlike the T2, Lone Wolf Knives doesn't exist anymore so if I mess up my knife there is no where to send it).

I like the DLC on the handle, but I really don't like black Blades on my knives. I know a lot of people really like that look, but I am hoping for the option for a stone washed blade in a black handle later this year. Another option that I hope becomes an option this year is the Flat Dark Earth color ZRN finish. It has a nice golden tone I prefer to black.

Update: Spartan was finally able to make space for some custom orders for the SHF, and that is why I finally bought mine today. I will be getting a SHF with the black handle and stonewashed blade. I have no idea when the FDE blade might be an option.

The other thing that I hope will happen sooner, rather than later, is a full flat grind option like the one on my T2. I had some questions about the SHF, and I emailed Curtis Iovito, who was kind enough to get back to me promptly. One of the questions I asked was whether or not there would be different blade styles. He told me that there was a possibility of different styles, but there was no current plans to start working on new designs. It will probably be longer than I want to wait before any new blade geometries come out, but I can hope.

Tip up clip. You can go left or right, but it is tip up all the way.

One thing that I was sad to see on the SHF was the obligatory tip up clip. I really like the design of the tip down clip on the T2 (though it was one of the aspects of the T2 that I have read the most complaints about online, there are a lot of people that prefer tip up). Despite the large size of the clip on the T2, I have found it to be very unobtrusive in the hand, I worry that the SHF clip will be less comfortable. We will just have to see.

Update: I got to handle the SHF folders at the Oregon Knife Collectors Association Show this spring, and I found the clip to be totally unobtrusive in the hand. I seriously did not notice it when I held the knife. I have also realized that most of the pants that I wear in the field have flaps on the back pockets, so the front pocket carry is going to be actually a plus for me.

Colored hardware

The last thing that I am looking forward to is the different colored hardware that has been shown in the prototype photos that Spartan Blades has put out. The gold and blue colored screws, standoffs, and thumbstuds look like a neat way to add some visual spark to the SHF.

But enough of my rambling on about a knife I haven't actually had a chance to hold. I've given Spartan Blades enough free advertising for today. I just wanted to share my excitement at the news that the new SHF is finally coming out.

Monday, March 2, 2015

Knife Review: Spartan Harsey Difensa: First Impressions

Since my other reviews have had pictures of folding knives with guns, I thought that for my first review of a fixed blade knife I would picture it with a folding gun. My great-grandfather's .22LR-20Ga. over under.

Introduction:

Even more than my other knives, this knife purchase for me was an extravagance. The Spartan Harsey knives are a pretty expensive line of knives (the Difensa starts at $425), but I have wanted one for a few years now. It was actually meeting William Harsey at an archaeological excavation he visited that got me serious about knives again. And it was this knife, the Spartan Harsey Difensa, that he showed me a prototype of that really captured my imagination. So when I got paid for my first piece of professional writing, I decided to treat myself.

This is actually the second Spartan Harsey that I have purchased, but this is the first one that I have purchased that I have actually gotten to hold. The other Spartan knife was a Harsey Model II that is currently residing in the Middle East with the soldier I purchased it for.

This knife was designed for a Canadian special operations force. The name Difensa comes from the battle of Monte la Difensa in WWII. This battle was the first combat in the Italian theater for the First Special Service Force, a combined Canada and US elite commando unit. During the battle of Monte la Difensa the FSSF suffered 77% casualties, but they accomplished their seemingly impossible goal. Following WWII the FSSF was disbanded, but the Canadian Special Operations Forces trace their lineage to the FSSF, and the Green Berets trace their roots to the FSSF and OSS.

The Spartan Harsey Difensa was designed to be a knife that would serve well in the Canadian forests, as well as in combat. It's a heck of a knife.

Let's start with the specs:

Specifications (from Spartan Blades Website):

Knife Name: Spartan Harsey Difensa

Designer: William Harsey

Overall Length: 11 5/8"

Blade Length: 6 1/4"

Blade Thickness: 3/16"

Blade Steel: CPM S35VN

Blade Hardness: 59-60 HRC

Blade Style: Spear Point - Flat ground main bevel with tapered top edge.

Coating: SpartaCoat - PVD - Tungsten DLC (Black) or ZrN (Flat Dark Earth)

Handle Material: 3D Contoured CE Canvas Micarta® Black or Green

Weight: 0.710 LBS

This is a substantial knife, but not actually as heavy as one might assume. Despite having a full tang construction, and being ground out of a beefy 3/16" blade stock, the knife still comes in under 3/4 of a pound.

The handle on this knife is made of contoured canvas micarta. This gives the handle an organic and warm feel in the hand. One thing that I have found when holding this type of textured micata is that it feels almost soft in the the hand, even though it is actually a very hard and durable material. Micarta is made by layering organic materials like canvas, linen, or paper with resin and compressing them. G10 is a similar material, but with fiberglass as the layered material. The advantage of a canvas micarta, aside from appearance, is that with a rough finish of the type used on this handle, the very outer portions of the canvas can actually absorb a little moisture which means that the handle actually becomes grippier when wet, even though the dimensions and shape of the micarta remain stable. It is a very subtle feature, but an example of the way that Harsey designs his knives.

The blade coating on my knife is the Flat Dark Earth, which is made of Zirconium Nitride (ZrN). Zirconium Nitride is a very tough and hard coating material with a Vickers Hardness of 2800. For comparison steel is apparently generally in the 55-180 Vickers range, while diamond is 10,000. So the coating is a very durable coating. It is also an attractive coating with a coloration similar to elemental gold and a subtle sheen. ZrN also has a respectable friction coefficient of 0.5, which is about on par with raw dry steel. However, lubricated steel has a coefficient of 0.16, which translates to a noticeable difference in ease of slicing when chopping vegetables since the ZrN coating doesn't behave the same as wet steel. For comparison teflon has a friction coefficient of 0.04 and rubber has a friction coefficient of 1-2.

The steel itself is the very fancy supersteel CPM S35VN. This is a very tough, hard wearing, corrosion resistant, stainless steel that is able to take and hold a very keen edge. It is a particle steel, which as I have written before is made with science magic. The fantastic performance has something to do with carbides... I think. I'm no metallurgist.

The CPM S35VN really does not need the blade coating for performance reasons or corrosion protection, the coating is put on the blade to reduce the reflectiveness of the blade. This knife is designed for tactical use by Canadian Special Forces after all.

A note on the sheath: I chose to get the MOLLE nylon sheath, rather than the Kydex sheath that is offered. My reasons for this are that I like the look of the nylon sheath, that is what the version that Bill showed me was in, and I do not plan to be in situations where a fraction of a second difference in how fast I can pull out the knife would make a difference. But most importantly for my choice was that I like the more traditional sheath appearance of the nylon sheath. For the Model II that I purchased for that soldier who is currently in a warm place, I chose the Kydex sheath. Just in case.

Review:

In previous reviews I have made lists of pros and cons. I have decided to try a different format going forward, I will see how I like it. I'll go over different aspects of the knife and give my opinion. In order to avoid stepping on any other knife reviewers toes out there I won't be giving numerical scores (there is a knife reviewer, Everyday Commentary, that uses set categories and numerical values, and makes very excellent knife reviews. I am trying to find a way to make good knife reviews without ripping him off, but his reviews are really nice. You can read them here. I think his reviews are some of the best I've read).

I also want to be clear that I am evaluating this knife differently than I would be evaluating a $30 knife. This is a $400+ knife, and I am evaluating it as such. It is by far the most expensive knife I have purchased, so I am quite picky as I review it.

Steel:

I feel that CPM S35VN is an excellent steel, and a good fit for a knife in this price range. I'd say that the steel is an unequivocal positive.

Blade Coating:

The ZrN is good looking. It's tough. If it gets any apparent marks on it you can just spray it down with WD40 and they'll come right off. But I'm not really that crazy about it honestly.

I'd be lying if I said that the cool factor of the coating wasn't a big part of what first attracted me to the knife, however now that I have it I feel ambivalent. I find that the coating is actually difficult to keep clean looking. The coating has a texture, and that texture makes everything seem to show up on the blade. I don't know if this will change over the years or not. Plus, as I discussed earlier I feel like the increased drag of the coating makes the knife less useful for food prep tasks, but it is not really designed to be a kitchen knife.

I can't say that the coating is bad, I just don't find it to be a positive for me, other than the cool factor. It is very pretty and cool looking, especially in person (Maybe some day I'll have the juice to get my hands on a Harsey Tactical Trout which is similarly shaped but has an uncoated blade).

Blade:

The blade size is a little large for some tasks. It is probably about an inch longer than would be ideal for most fixed blade purposes that I would typically subject a hunting knife to. That said, since I don't buy knives that are going to just sit in the safe, I have started carrying this when I am clearing brush and working in the woods. What I have found is that the little bit of extra size really actually does make a very perceptible difference when doing things like chopping through small branches. This is a knife made for heavy use, and it handles the heavy tasks very well indeed. So while I might want a knife that was going to be for just hunting purposes to be a little smaller (like say the Spartan Harsey Hunter, which I seriously considered buying since it is smaller and hand ground by Bill Harsey, but it is almost $100 more, and I had fallen in love with the Difensa first), but for the use that I have actually been able to put this knife to so far, the extra size has been a bonus.

The blade shape is quite lovely. The tip comes to a point that is a little more acute than I feel the photos truly capture, which is consistent with the original intended purpose of the knife, but the blade shape remains a good, broadly useful design. The dropped point brings the point to a very controllable location for fine work. The blade provides ample belly for slicing tasks. And the large choil allows the user to choke up on the blade.

The blade geometry is a high flat grind, which is well suited to general and rough use. The stock that the blade is ground from is a beefy 3/16 inch stock, so the blade gets thicker faster than a blade from thinner stock would, this could also contribute to the less easy kitchen cutting I mentioned previously (also the finger guard gets in the way on a counter, really, it just isn't a kitchen knife, and it is not designed to be). This is one of the inevitable trade-offs that one encounters when getting a heavy duty knife. A big beefy tactical utility blade with a full tang is not going to be the same shape as a kitchen knife and neither will perform the same for different tasks. Different knives have different uses that they are best suited to, and I feel like the Difensa does an admirable job of balancing different needs.

Handle:

When it comes to the handle I have to both praise it, and voice a very specific to me complaint. First the good. This handle is very comfortable in the hand. The texture of the handle feels nice to touch. The handle is large enough to comfortably accommodate larger hands. The handle is also designed to work with people wearing gloves (Canada, Eh?), which is very nice for me since I do usually wear gloves when working in the bush.

Also, as a very specific aside on the handle, the full tang of the handle sits flush with the handle scales. This is in contrast to the Chris Reeve Harsey knives that feature tangs that sit a little proud of the scales. I find that feature slightly uncomfortable for ungloved use, but it was designed to make it easier to orient the knife in the hand while wearing gloves. I am grateful that the Difensa does not share that design feature.

So what's the complaint? Well it has to do with an old injury I suffered. Some years back I fell off of a roof, broke a bunch of bones and suffered various other collateral injuries. Specifically, when it comes to using knives, I shattered my right ring finger metacarpal, and broke the right ring finger itself in four places. This injury isn't particularly noticeable unless I point out that I have no knuckle on that finger, and it waggles. It is excruciatingly painful to this day for me to grip hard with the right ring finger, so I have adjusted by using the right pinky for grip more than most people. If you ever notice in my reviews that I pay a lot of attention to whether or not a folding knife allows for a four finger grip, that is why. For me a three finger is a two finger grip. That also means that I tend to want a little extra room to position my pinky on a handle, especially on a fixed blade. The design of the Difensa handle is ergonomically lovely, but it crowds my pinky just a little. Oddly, this isn't noticeable when I'm wearing gloves, but when I am using the knife bare handed it sometimes bugs me a little.

So that is a hyper specific complaint based on the ways that I adjust my grip on knives. Take it for what it's worth.

Fit and Finish:

Here is were the judging is most affected by the price tag, as I said earlier, this is a $400+ knife and is judged as such. My current gold standard for fit and finish is the Fantoni HB 02, which had zero defects I could identify. The Difensa did not quite match that.

First off, the primary bevel does not appear to be completely symmetrical to me. This is a little surprising to me since my other complaint is that it looks to me like there are some faintly visible CNC milling marks on the primary bevels. I know that most of their knives are not hand ground, but I would expect computer precision on the primary bevels if the grinding is being done by a CNC machine.

So those are my fit and finish complaints, otherwise this knife is just gorgeous. Also you may want to bear in mind that these complaints I mentioned are so subtle that I actually could not capture them with my cameras. The fit and finish is excellent, but I cannot call it flawless like the Fantoni.

Summary:

This is a special knife. When I was first introduced to this knife a few years ago it was so impressive that it played a big role in rekindling my interest in knives, which had been fairly dormant for a number of years. When I decided that I was going to use my first check for archaeological writing on something for myself I immediately knew it was going to be this knife. I had held this knife up as a "someday" aspiration, and it was pretty great to make "someday" into "now."

Now that I have this knife that I had built up into an aspiration in my possession, I am pretty darned happy with it. I think that is a strong recommendation. It takes a lot of knife to live up to the expectations and anticipation that I invested in this knife.

If you are looking for a solidly constructed knife for rough use in a variety of environments and purposes that is also aesthetically pleasing, this knife is a good choice.

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And now the rest of the pictures. These were taken with a new lens that is better for low light, but I am still getting the hang of it, and the lens cannot zoom.

You can see a little of the wear on the handle from use in the Oregon woods. This is not a bad thing in my mind, this is just the start of the handle gaining the character I expect it to gain from use.