Lofty
I have really enjoyed this thread and appreciate all of the time you have put into the research of heavy duty folders.
My daily carry is a Benchmade Axis flipper 154CM steel, not overly robust but good for a lefty.
I have a Spartan Harsey folder but have never used it but it appears pretty solid, have you any experience with those?

Peter

Peter, I have done nothing but look at listings, my only experience with Spartan was a cool looking Horkos, which was a nice stout compact knife, but edge so thick for toughness that I found it not much better a knife for cutting than issue Ontario stuff. If I were still doing the bust pallet straps thing with it, no doubt would love it. Very well made knife, and the heat treat (they have done?) is spot on for the steel.

Titanium hardware is not as strong as steel, nor as wear resistant, but kept clean and lubed, there is no denying weight savings add up when about everything but blade, lockbar insert, and stop pin made of the stuff...be careful with slots/recesses/threads, and do not crank on them as if steel, nor anywhere close.

For the curious, such as self, found this as for pivot and stop pin diameter...offhand, from specs, would rate it about Inkosi or 3.5" Hinderer XM-18 all around. Quite tough.

Pappy, was the Benchmade you carried for 15 years happen to be the AFCK by any chance?
I have one and understand why you liked it. Me too..

Mine was the AFCK for sure, bought before even their Emerson hit the market. Made with royalties to Spyderco, and a rude awakening to same when the modern linerlock taktikool market took off like a rocket. They immediately deployed their military model in response, and were playing catch-up.

By way of closing out, any folder will offer less blade to handle ratio... MOST times, as yes, some fixed blades have gianormous handles, but, generally, in same length knives, a fixed blade gives more blade and less handle.

The below four are almost identical length, and are identical 3/16ths"+ thickness, the folder having an inch more handle and an inch less blade. But obviously more compact in carry mode.



In ultimate yield, the folder will fail before the fixed blade, on liner/integral/frame locks, the locking bar already prebent, and eventually will buckle at base. The fixed blade solid handle far stiffer than a hollow box.



All a matter of compromise and choices...circa 5" of blade and 4" of handle, or visa versa, more easily carried, yes/no, how strong does it have to be, anyhow....



For any questions on the fixed blades (preemptive, "yes, they are Winkler, blame DS"), will do a separate thread under proper topic heading in "fixed blades" in the next few days.
Sorry for blurred photos, literally too much coffee. Need MORE.

Lofty, Great read, especially with coffee and Fritos.

OX Enterprises makes a tough auto. Definitely not as tough as a Hinderer though.

Now, THAT one I know well, could be ordered through supply, and many many own them. I actually just passed on buying an older one, had talked to a pal who wore his out as a crew chief and who sent back to Charles for the spa treatment. Good knife, as far as autos go, and back 20-25yrs ago mostly a black market "psst, wanna buy a SEAL auto?" thing. Charles sells to military, while only civilians who can buy one are cops (who ARE civilian, contrary to their wishes to be thought a branch of military).

A great and detailed article, down a post or two..
https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/knife_forum/viewtopic.php?t=50584

Very useful article about black knife, thank you!

Recently I took this knife, it's very used,
but given that Strider stopped serial production,
focusing on custom knives, this is a good buy.

Initially, I had doubts about originality,
since there are many manual changes here,
but an attentive scan showed that
this is a standard SnG Lego with S30V steel.

He has a comfortable grip, although I would like
to have even more thickness of handle.

He very badly cut a wood because of a thin handle
and also it prevents to cut thick rubber and plastic,
that is those things where it is necessary
to apply great pressure. On the other hand,
I have rather tender hands and I do not use
tactical gloves. In general, it is very durable
and performs all the necessary work.








One of my friends was testing the folding Strider,
if you are interested you can see
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAz4zhBvx4o&t=878s

I appreciate the review, having never handled one of Mick's knives. Considering where you are at, lucky to see one at all. I looked up shipping to Russia (no idea if that is your location), and it seems impossible to ship knives into the country, from here. I once bought a knife from Romania, it arrived here with no problem at all.

Mick Strider, it seems, essentially gave his knife to the SEALS in order to get it approved after they played with/tested it, and in return was named one team's official knife, or something like that. Whereupon, he immediately began capitalizing on the association.

Many makers have done same thing, while a few have not, and stayed quite reserved in naming names, something I admire.

I note that knife of yours has the Hinderer stabilizer. Hinderer, I think, is one who really worked at making such a knife work for the hand, and a pity I cannot simply drop one in the mail for you to try, compare, and write up. I have not been curious enough over Strider to buy one for same purpose, purely because it seems to do the same thing.

And yes, I realize Mick Strider was likely making such knives before Hinderer by several years, near as I know. A Strider expert is free to fill in all manner of details unknown to me.

Thanks again for the review. I see no modification which would have hurt performance, but only attempts to make it likely work better. Not like I do not convex some blades to get them where they should be.

Hard to go by only one photo, but it appears Strider used a non-stainless steel for the blade pivot, or very low chromium stainless with not much rust resistance. Plain steel in contact with carbon fiber is going to be a problem with galvanic corrosion with any moisture in environment. And it seems the carbon fiber side of pivot is indeed corroding.

Non-conductive lubricants can help, but, your best bet is to remove the parts touching the carbon fiber, clean off existing corrosion, and apply a thin coat of paint to the areas which contact that side of knife. No need to coat interior of anything, but only those surfaces directly contacting the carbon fiber. No need to coat entire pivot or internal threads, or where blade rotates, etc.

Could be entirely wrong, but the symptoms seem there, from the one photo. Could be only lighting, reflection, or just coating doing same galvanic breakdown, but be advised of that possibility, anyhow, with any knife having carbon fiber. Many makers do not consider such in designs.

Thanks for the clarification, I did not know about such problems with carbon fiber!

With delivery there are no problems, I a lot of bought
and sold on ebay. Problems were only with fixed blades,
local customs do not like knives with a blade longer
than 9 cm and with a guard, they sent them back.

As for the Hinderer and Strider, I'm not an expert on them.
Strider was more common here, I think because the standard
models were somewhat cheaper than Hinderer and there
are many Chinese counterfeits of the Strider at a low price,
the Hinderer is much smaller in total.