Hey everybody! It's almost summertime for me, and I've gotten a lot of new knives to try lately. You could say life's pretty good right now. First off, I need to give a huge shout-out to Drew! He very generously loaned me quite a few of his blades to review on here and on my YouTube channel. I'm super excited to try them all out, as quite a few of them have been on list to try for some time now. I geniunely appreciate the kindness and support from all you awesome people that keep up with my thoughts on EDC gear. You should see tons of videos and posts coming this summer!
I wanted to give my first impressions of all these blades in this post. You should see more in-depth posts on each of them in the coming weeks. To list them all off first, in the top left corner and working down somewhat diagonally is the Kershaw Skyline, Gerber STL 2.5, Kershaw Pub, Ka-bar BK-11, and then Victorinox Recruit and Cold Steel Voyager large are off to the side. It's quite a nice selection to work through, since there's a little bit of everything from small to mid-sized knives and a fixed blade that I probably never would have tried in my life. The two I'm most excited about are the Skyline and the BK-11. I don't buy too many fixed blades anymore, so the BK-11 will be a nice change of pace for me. Drew was telling me the scales are custom micarta ones, and I really dig them. The edges are nicely rounded off, so the handle melts away in my hand. The ergos impressed me a lot initially, but after holding it some more, I wish the handle was a smidge longer. My pinky just barely hangs off the butt of the knife. It's not the end of the world, and I haven't carried it enough to see if I'll grow used to it. The sheath he has with it is great. It's kydex and has a nice belt loop attachment on it. You'll be able to see a closer look at it in the unboxing I did (should be up today by the way) and in my thoughts in a separate blog post as well. I don't ever wear a belt, but I did discover I can clip the belt loop part in the waistband like how I typically carry my clipped knives. In the quick test run I did, it carried surprisingly well. I don't know much else about it, so it should be fun to give it some more pocket time.
The Skyline is a knife that I've always heard of ever since I first got into knives. Everyone I watched had one at some point. It seemed like a necessary knife for a knife nut to pick up at some point. It's a well-known knife for a reason. The ergos are great, and the fact that it's a flipper is awesome. It's a relatively good flipper, though I do find myself not flipping it cleanly open all of the time. Sometimes I don't need any wrist action at all, but other times, it's necessary. It's a cool budget knife from Kershaw. My only real complaint about it is the weird stubby clip. Other than that, I do think I'll really enjoy it.
Next up, let's go onto the Voyager. One of my favorite knives of all time is the Mini Tuff Lite from Cold Steel. I haven't tried many Cold Steels, but I know the Voyager is one of the more popular models. Cold Steel has it in all the size ranges from medium to this large one to an even bigger extra large one. The design isn't anything crazy, but I've found simple is often better when it comes to EDC. Realistically, it's too big for my carry. Thumb studs are always hit or miss for me, yet these ones are great. They're placed in a nice spot so you can easily open the blade. The Tri-Ad lock is always fun to have on a knife since it's so strong. I don't think this is one I'd want to carry everyday, but again, it'll be one of those ones that changes up my EDC a bit.
Last but not least, all the small ones. The Gerber STL 2.5 is another one I've always had my eye on since I first got into knives. I love my small knives, and it seems like an interesting alternative. I thought the thumb hole might mean it could be opened one-handed, but it's not possible. The hole is too close to the handle, and the knife is so small that you can't really get any grip anywhere. I'm fine with it being a two-handed knife though. I don't dig the metal handles with the combination of how slim they are. It's a very pocketable and affordable knife, so we'll see if it ends up surprising me. I still think the Spyderco Ladybug is the best keychain knife. The Gerber does have it beat in terms of size. I hadn't seen the Victorinox Recruit before, but it essentially seems like a classic Victorinox. It's got a very solid toolset for its size. From what I remember, it seems smaller than the Cadet sized Victorinoxs, which I really like. I could see myself keeping one in an emergency or hiking bag. I'm on a Victorinox kick at the moment, so I expect it to get some love from me. And finally, onto the Kershaw Pub. I've recently been talking to one of my friends about what knives we've been enjoying lately, and she really likes her Pub. She was pleasantly surprised with how great it was, especially for the price and its size. I've never tried any friction folders before, so it's a completely new experience for me. I still need to figure out the best way to open it. You'll see me struggle to get it open in the unboxing I did. It's interesting overall though. I do think it has potential. For the price, I don't expect there to be any glaring issues with it. I'm not sure how I'll like carrying a friction folder vs. a typical locking folder.
Anyways, that's all I've got for now. Thanks again to Drew for loaning these to me! There should be lots of posts and videos on them coming your way. It'll be fun to see which ones end up impressing me. At this point in time, I don't necessarily see any of them supplanting my current favorites. Only time and carry will tell I guess. Thanks for looking!
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