old4570
Flashlight Enthusiast
When I first saw this knife I got excited ! Then they posted the price and I was less excited !
I ho hummed over this one for a long time and then decided that for 2024 I would have to buy it !
Real Steel Pathfinder ! 14c28n blade steel an mine is 60/55HRC ( 60HRC file bites / 55HRC file skates )
The blade is relatively thin with a very high grind making for a very thin / fine apex . And from the factory it is scandi with a micro bevel ! Lets get right to performance . The blade is sharp , slices well and after some 200 slices of rope we induced a fail to slice printer paper ! And being A-Typical scandi with a micro bevel the edge stropped back relatively easily . Resharpening the knife was Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy ! Using a fine EZE-LAP Diamond Hone all it took was some 6 passes each side of the blade and a quick strop for the edge to be sharper than factory . ( Been sharpening scandi this way for 40+ years = Maintaining the micro bevel )
It's the easy way to keep a scandi sharp ! ( Easy to do , easy to maintain , easy to live with ) . What's hard and I mean really hard is to create a functional full scandi edge . Simply because many knives just wont support full scandi . Sure , you can make the edge so fine , so sharp , it makes a surgical scalpel look weak . But the edge will lack strength / durability . If the bevel is too tight , the apex will be too fine and the edge will fold / fracture / fall apart ! So too many times there is no option but to micro bevel .
To full scandi , one needs a thicker blade stock with a less tight bevel angle . ( Anyways )
This is a large folder , maybe a little too large to be called a pocket knife ( in the true sense ) . In fact the Pathfinder is larger than my small fixed blade bushcrafty knife and a fraction loner than my small / medium bushcrafty knife ( Sheath knives ) . Also the Pathfinder is being touted as bushcraft ? Now there is in my World a minimum requirement for a knife to be Bushcrafty ! It has to scrape wood and ferro with the spine ! Yeah , the spine on the Pathfinder is beveled and polished and feels rounded . It's not scraping anything ! The Pathfinder is just a large folding knife with a scandi edge micro beveled .
A complaint ? The thumb studs are too small for 100% reliable opening !
Lock up is tight , no play at all !
Knife is large , comfortable in the hand , Oooooh right ! The stupid cuts on the spine of the blade for traction or looks (?) , after 150 slices were quite painful ! Why does a blade need this Dumb ( S ) ... I get the feeling no one actually does product testing ! Cos if some one actually tested the knife and after giving it a decent work out - went owie / owie , that hurts ! They may have left the junk feature off the knife and maybe used larger thumb studs ? ( I can imagine - maybe )
At $164 Oz bananas to my door , it was an expensive indulgence . Is it worth the money ? There's the million dollar question !
The Pathfinder brings nothing to the table that makes it exceptional . Simple fact is , there are better knives out there for less money !
Honestly , you want a Scandi Folder ? There is this knife called the Finn Wolf !
Anyways ! I might attempt a full scandi edge in the future ( Might ) ... I'm tempted to sell this knife , pass it on to some other sucker ! ( Options / options )
