Once upon a time Benchmade had the perfect, high value EDC/lightweight tactical blade: The Ascent. At just 2.4 oz the Ascent is a great design. A nicely shaped, flat ground 3.5″ 440C blade, a strong lock back, fast deployment, tight lockup, perfect stonewash finish, and an excellent reversible pocket clip are the highppoints. And there’s not too many lows here: maybe just the pointy handle that might stick out of the pocket a bit while you’re carrying the Ascent. Wisely, BM chose to NOT put …
The Benchmade Pika II is difficult to open handed due to its overly strong back spring. That with some other minor issues resulted in my low likability and a tepid review previously. Enter the Pika G10 model, marketed under the BM Harley Davidson banner for now. It fixes some of the “Pinkachu” issues and is really a different knife. First, the Pika G10 deploys much quicker since it has a well-balanced back spring; not too strong, not too weak (it amazes me when a company gets this simplest …
Previously reviewed by me, the Pika II has some issues which do not endear the knife to me. One of the most serious was the lack of grip the spine jimping lacks. Here is a quick fix you might want to try that fixed the problem. Tools? Just a Dremel tool with a thin cut off wheel and some 400 grit sandpaper on a small wood block. Knife becomes a lot more useful with this mod!
In the field of daily carry knives, the SOG FLASH 1 is a fast, lightweight, well-built, and securely carried companion. I have many of these knives and have used them extensively for both duty and personal use. As my VIDEO shows, the FLASH 1’s size is perfect as is the deep carry clip. Add its good quality AUS8 steel and most importantly it’s feathery 1.2 oz weight (not 1.4 oz ike I said in video) and you have the near-perfect daily carry knife. For a knife you’ll have on your person at ALL …
A quick look and observation on the Satin finished SOG Aegis tactical folder. Still a great knife in any coloration but the jimping on this version, due to the polishing process, is not as sharp as the black TiNi coated blades. Some careful block sanding with some 400 to 600 grit auto sandpaper (to square the edges) might make the jimping have some “bite” again. But as it comes from the factory, the jimping kind of sucks on this version and SOG should fix that….
