What "Other" is in your pocket???

[bearfacedkiller]

[DSH007]

TRM Atom in green linen micarta. Very nice!!!

Nice! Glade you were finally able to get one! :)

[DSH007]

I think it looks good overall, but those thumb studs look to be pretty massive. Are they larger than typical studs, or am I just seeing it wrong?

I don’t find them to be too big but if I have one complaint it is that they are a little smooth. I am obviously partial to the Spydie hole so I am not the best judge of thumb studs but I would like to see a little texture on them.

Other than that the only thing I would change is that I prefer tip down. That said, I appreciate the clean look that a one handed and one clip position knife offers.

I agree with all of this.. a little smooth, but certainly not impossible.. I find I'm able to deploy the blade more reliably using a slow thumb-roll vs. flicking. With practice though, I'm now able to use both methods quite efficiently. Overall, I think TRM's thumb studs are actually pretty good compared with some of the thumb-studded competition.. It's definitely weird going back to studs after getting so used to the Spydiehole though and they are not my preference..

If you're interested in gaining a little more purchase, TRM sells little colored rubber gaskets for the Atom thumb studs on their website.. at first, I dismissed these as being a little gimmicky, but eventually settled on giving them a try.. they do seem to help a little bit..

[TkoK83Spy]

Buddy at work who's a BM guy wanted to see what marbled CF looked like, so I brought this guy along today. Haven't really cut much with it since I got it last month...I just like it though!

[bearfacedkiller]

I think it looks good overall, but those thumb studs look to be pretty massive. Are they larger than typical studs, or am I just seeing it wrong?

I don’t find them to be too big but if I have one complaint it is that they are a little smooth. I am obviously partial to the Spydie hole so I am not the best judge of thumb studs but I would like to see a little texture on them.

Other than that the only thing I would change is that I prefer tip down. That said, I appreciate the clean look that a one handed and one clip position knife offers.

I agree with all of this.. a little smooth, but certainly not impossible.. I find I'm able to deploy the blade more reliably using a slow thumb-roll vs. flicking. With practice though, I'm now able to use both methods quite efficiently. Overall, I think TRM's thumb studs are actually pretty good compared with some of the thumb-studded competition.. It's definitely weird going back to studs after getting so used to the Spydiehole though and they are not my preference..

If you're interested in gaining a little more purchase, TRM sells little colored rubber gaskets for the Atom thumb studs on their website.. at first, I dismissed these as being a little gimmicky, but eventually settled on giving them a try.. they do seem to help a little bit..

Are they just o-rings? We have a million sizes at work. I could throw some small ones on it and see?

[DSH007]

I think it looks good overall, but those thumb studs look to be pretty massive. Are they larger than typical studs, or am I just seeing it wrong?

I don’t find them to be too big but if I have one complaint it is that they are a little smooth. I am obviously partial to the Spydie hole so I am not the best judge of thumb studs but I would like to see a little texture on them.

Other than that the only thing I would change is that I prefer tip down. That said, I appreciate the clean look that a one handed and one clip position knife offers.

I agree with all of this.. a little smooth, but certainly not impossible.. I find I'm able to deploy the blade more reliably using a slow thumb-roll vs. flicking. With practice though, I'm now able to use both methods quite efficiently. Overall, I think TRM's thumb studs are actually pretty good compared with some of the thumb-studded competition.. It's definitely weird going back to studs after getting so used to the Spydiehole though and they are not my preference..

If you're interested in gaining a little more purchase, TRM sells little colored rubber gaskets for the Atom thumb studs on their website.. at first, I dismissed these as being a little gimmicky, but eventually settled on giving them a try.. they do seem to help a little bit..

Are they just o-rings? We have a million sizes at work. I could throw some small ones on it and see?

Yes, exactly! https://www.threeriversmfg.com/knives/atom-o-ring-set They seem to bill it as an aesthetics thing, but I find it adds just a little extra traction on the stud as well..

[The Meat man]

This one came today:



I've got mixed feelings about it.

Pros:
1. Clean design
2. Strong spring
3. Premium blade steel
4. Very thin geometry
5. Inexpensive - cost only $60-some
6. Good construction, no blade play.

Cons:
1. Absolutely horrendous finish.
2. Not sharp out of the box
3. Difficult to disassemble/reassemble
4. Very dirty inside

The opening and closing action was pretty rough out of the box and I could immediately see why - the backspring looked like it had been cut out with a malfunctioning laser and no attempt appears to have been made to smooth the rough edge. I took the knife apart and the liners were likewise - looked like they had been cut out and stuck into the knife with no deburring or smoothing done on anything. It was pretty bad. My job is mainly running CNC lasers and I can say that if I had a part that looked like these I would immediately stop production and figure out the problem. (From the looks of it I'd say they need to either replace a lens or nozzle, or else adjust the laser beam focus.)
The innards of the knife were filthy. It has two phosphor bronze washers for the pivot which is a nice touch, but they were totally black with grime and I had to polish them for awhile to clean it off.
Reassembly was kinda tough with the stiff backspring and I had to use pliers but eventually got it together again. The action is still very rough even though I did try polishing up some of those surfaces. I think it will smooth out over time though.

All negatives aside though, it is a great cutter! I really like the edge performance so far. I'm going to pair it with my Byrd Hawkbill and see how I end up liking it with use. The four stops is unusual but not too annoying. I think if the action smooths out a bit I will like this knife. And realistically it's hard to complain too much since it only cost $60+.

[The Meat man]

Update:

This knife just took a nosedive in favorability. I was playing around with it this morning and suddenly noticed a huge flattened spot in the edge.



Apparently the edge can contact the backspring when snapped closed. Severely blunted a good quarter inch of edge.
Now, not only am I going to have another long sharpening session to repair the edge, I'm also going to have to disassemble it again and try to fix it.

I don't care if it only cost $60, I should not have to be doing this to a brand new knife.

[TkoK83Spy]

Yikes! So they hook you up with a high end steel and the rest of the knife is a nightmare! Might as well gave them $60 and said thanks for the steel, I'll do the rest myself.

[prndltech]

I forgot I had it on me this things so light.

[bearfacedkiller]

Update:

This knife just took a nosedive in favorability. I was playing around with it this morning and suddenly noticed a huge flattened spot in the edge.



Apparently the edge can contact the backspring when snapped closed. Severely blunted a good quarter inch of edge.
Now, not only am I going to have another long sharpening session to repair the edge, I'm also going to have to disassemble it again and try to fix it.

I don't care if it only cost $60, I should not have to be doing this to a brand new knife.

Manly has intrigued me for a while but a few things have held me back. Mostly mixed reviews like yours and that I think one of their knives looks too much like a Spyderco.

[abbazaba]

I think it looks good overall, but those thumb studs look to be pretty massive. Are they larger than typical studs, or am I just seeing it wrong?

I don’t find them to be too big but if I have one complaint it is that they are a little smooth. I am obviously partial to the Spydie hole so I am not the best judge of thumb studs but I would like to see a little texture on them.

Other than that the only thing I would change is that I prefer tip down. That said, I appreciate the clean look that a one handed and one clip position knife offers.

My Atom came with an O-Ring around the thumb stud and it really helps.

[bearfacedkiller]

Cool, back to work tomorrow and I’ll throw one on there and see.

I really like it. It is pricey and there isn’t anything amazing about it but it checks all my boxes. It does have perfect fit and finish. I think the blade shape is perfect for EDC and the stock thickness and blade length are ideal. Aesthetically it is sort of utilitarian which I also like. A great EDC made by good people that are only about 1 hour away.

[The Meat man]

Update:

This knife just took a nosedive in favorability. I was playing around with it this morning and suddenly noticed a huge flattened spot in the edge.



Apparently the edge can contact the backspring when snapped closed. Severely blunted a good quarter inch of edge.
Now, not only am I going to have another long sharpening session to repair the edge, I'm also going to have to disassemble it again and try to fix it.

I don't care if it only cost $60, I should not have to be doing this to a brand new knife.

Manly has intrigued me for a while but a few things have held me back. Mostly mixed reviews like yours and that I think one of their knives looks too much like a Spyderco.

It has a ton of potential - CPM S90V with such a thin grind - there isn't anything else like it on the market. If they could just spend 5 minutes finishing, and fix the flawed design, it'd be nearly perfect.

I sent a complaint to Manly so we'll see what happens next.

[TkoK83Spy]

The Tinker is always riding shotgun with something else.

[soc_monki]

Enjoying the Super Freek today.

[soc_monki]

Now I have a mini Crooked River...

[TkoK83Spy]

Just yesterday my 2nd ZT knife showed up, the 0460. I know ZT is known for oversized and overbuilt knives, but I have to say I really like the sleekness of the 0470 I already have and still on the fence with this 0460, which is also very compact and sleek in its own right. Had to prop it up as it won't stand on its own for a pic.

Here it is in comparison with the Para 3 I'm carrying today. Definitely leaves a lot more pocket space! I read a lot of reviews before buying this knife and wasn't sure what to think of the scales. People seemed 50/50 on them. For me, I like them. Very cool and different in my opinion.

-I'll continue a few more observations in my next post following this one, as I have a few more pics and for some reason can only post 5 at a time per post.

[TkoK83Spy]

I thought the handle shape kind of reminded me of an oversized Dragonfly, so I was interested in how this knife would feel ergonomically. My hands are a Medium/Large, more towards the Larger side of the two. As you can see in the pic below, my pinky finger naturally wants to rest right on that hump of the handle. It's quite pointy, and imagine it would be pretty irritating if using it for a long time.

It's not a hassle or uncomfortable to move my pinky slightly back a bit and it rests comfortably on the flat part of the back of the handle. It's just not QUITE as natural.

As I saw in the reviews, this pocket clip really doesn't go with this knife. Especially with the lettering on the clip, an all black clip would have been better than this. Slides easily in and out of the pocket with great retention though. Soooo much lettering on ZT blades, this is a sleek knife and would look better without so much going on the blade.

This is where disappoint sets in. When the knife arrived, it wasn't very sharp at all and couldn't even cut paper. I immediately took it to the Sharpmaker. It was screaming loud on the 40 degree settings, loading up the brown rods with metal very quickly. I looked at the knife and couldn't believe how thick it was behind the edge! Below is the best I could do with a comparison with it compared to the Para 3 I'm carrying today.

I worked on the knife for a bit last night and sharpened it up quite a bit. It can now shave and cleanly cut paper...though the blade has to be laying almost flat against the paper to do so. I seriously can not believe how thick this is behind the edge, making it a terrible slicer! I'm debating if I will want to keep this and reprofile it, or just end up selling it. I would be extremely angry if I paid the full price of $196 that these go for. Even for $138 I'm still a bit disappointed. Ergos aren't as good as I was hoping for, and obviously the grind being so thick. But, I do like the look of this knife. It's very unique handle, blade shape and carbon fiber scales are all a plus. It weighs next to nothing, disappears in the pocket and has some really good action with a strong lock up for being so light. Much more authority when the blade deploys compared to my 0470. My verdict isn't out on this one yet, but I think for a $196 knife that there are things that should have been done better.

[soc_monki]

Not every knife can be a homerun. The 470 definetly is. The 456 is as well (love my 456cf, that thing slices big time!). The 460 and 462...feel good, great fit and finish, great action... But there's just something about them that push me away.

And zt can be terrible with their edges. I've had to reprofile most of mine. They just put too obtuse of an edge on them usually, and some are super thick behind the edge.

Love the ones I've got. Hate having to reprofile but I do it if I have to lol