About a year ago, not long after a lost slipjoint edc rekindled my interest in knives, my wife and I were guests at a dinner celebrating our friends 50th anniversary. The setting was a bit formal but with a touch of homespun worked in as their extended family was in charge of all the arraingments including the preparation and serving of a Prime Rib dinner. My wife and I were seated a round table with three other couples waiting for our meal when the hostess came up to us and with a harried look on her face said "We've run out of silverware! I think we can rustle up enough forks for everyone but does anyone here have a knife?" The fellows looked to their pockets and the ladies dived into their purses and in a flash eight folding knives or all sorts and descriptions appeared on the white table cloth. "I guess I should've known better than to have asked, huh?" she said with a relieved look on her face. The majority of the knives presented were slip joints with a several liner locks thrown in for good measure. In the bunch mine stood out as an oddity because of its size and the fact that it was very tactical. I decided then and there that I would start looking for something a bit more understated. Not that anyone was dismayed by my knife but just for my own peace of mind and because it would be an interesting quest to undertake.
This week, I think I came a bit closer to reaching my goal when the mailman delivered my latest on-line order, a sprint-run Tim Zowada.
This knife hasn't generated much chatter and I find this curious as it is very attractive both in presentation and--in my hand at least--ergonomics. The carbon fiber scales are finished very smooth so that the knife slides right out of your pocket and doesn't abrade the lip as do the scales on both my Mili and Para. The action is slick with the locking liner snapping solidly into place on the radiused tang with a noticeable snick. Finally, like all of my other spydies, the blade was razor sharp right out of the box. I must acknowledge, however, that offsetting these commendable attributes is the fact that its' pocket clip is not moveable: tip down is all you get unless you send it off to an after market customizer. Another nit is that on this particular example, the grind lines are a bit asymetrical at their terminus at the base of the blade. Even so, overall this is really is a nice knife. I think it was made just for the RFP of my slacks.
Here's a few pics:
