Is it my imagination, or is it a fact that there's no snob like a knife snob?
A couple of weeks ago, I bought a Cold Steel Finn Bear knife off e-Bay for the grand sum of $12.50. These are nothing fancy -- just a fairly thin, sharp blade and a molded-on polypropelene grip -- but I didn't want fancy, just something light weight and durable that, I hoped, would hold an edge fairly well and not break my heart if I happened to lose it (which I have done with knives plenty of times!). Cold Steel says the steel is "4116 Krupp". Having no idea what that means, I checked several knife forums and found a universal disdain of the stuff, and of these knives. I mean, the criticism was downright brutal!
So, here's the deal -- in the past week, this knife has field-dressed, skinned, and cut up 4 deer -- and it is still shaving sharp! Dare I say it -- this Taiwan-made blade is outperforming the old Buck I toted for a couple of decades (and then lost).
I know some gun forums are like this -- mention you have a Mossberg or an H&R, and you might as well admit to being engaged in carnal relations with a goat -- but this attitude seems to me the exception rather than the rule. But these knife guys spent page after page after page lambasting what, to me, is a darned good utility knife, and a bargain to boot!
They can keep their multi-hundred-dollar, never-used bragging blades. I know what works for me.
A couple of weeks ago, I bought a Cold Steel Finn Bear knife off e-Bay for the grand sum of $12.50. These are nothing fancy -- just a fairly thin, sharp blade and a molded-on polypropelene grip -- but I didn't want fancy, just something light weight and durable that, I hoped, would hold an edge fairly well and not break my heart if I happened to lose it (which I have done with knives plenty of times!). Cold Steel says the steel is "4116 Krupp". Having no idea what that means, I checked several knife forums and found a universal disdain of the stuff, and of these knives. I mean, the criticism was downright brutal!
So, here's the deal -- in the past week, this knife has field-dressed, skinned, and cut up 4 deer -- and it is still shaving sharp! Dare I say it -- this Taiwan-made blade is outperforming the old Buck I toted for a couple of decades (and then lost).
I know some gun forums are like this -- mention you have a Mossberg or an H&R, and you might as well admit to being engaged in carnal relations with a goat -- but this attitude seems to me the exception rather than the rule. But these knife guys spent page after page after page lambasting what, to me, is a darned good utility knife, and a bargain to boot!
They can keep their multi-hundred-dollar, never-used bragging blades. I know what works for me.