Strider SnG Review

[razorsharp]

Probably more pictorial than anything

I have had a strider SnG for about 3-4 months now, Bout time I posted a mini review.


The model: Strider SnG with:
Double gunner grips
Zapp ZwearPM Steel
Ranger Green G10
6Al4V Framelock
Black Oxide Blade finish
3/4 Hollow Grind


My Strider arrived from Canada , Im the second owner, the first owner wanted to sell it, then had sellers remorse and asked if we could undo what was done. Paypal took 17 days to refund me, so he sent it anyway, and I sent the money back (also made 20 bux as the exchange rate changed at some stage )


Upon opening I just couldnt help but do one of those giddy excited yelps. It wasnt fully broken in, but was close. It was pretty dang smooth, not my smoothest (spoiled by bearing flippers).















Out of box sharpness was shaving, felt a little overbuffed, but better than some knives come with. The edge angle was about 22 degrees per side (dps). Around 5 minutes after opening it, fondling it , and enjoying it, I destroyed a phone with it, I was saving that phone from the day I paid for it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHXOH2yVxGg sorry for the bad quality, my mom accidentally took my phone to another city instead of hers that day. Basically, I destroy a phone in that video.


I must say, the zwear impresses me. Its toughness means it holds an edge longer than the high wear steels in rough use, and it doesnt easily get damaged with rough use at all. When I destroyed the phone, the edge dulled, no damage. It is extremely similar to 3v


I used this opportunity to drop the bevel angle





about 18 per side with a 21 per side micro- freehanded.


The knife still held up well as per expected. Out of box the lock was about 65%, it stayed at 65%
Pass a few days of fondling and breaking it in, I put it loose in my pocket , have a shower, when I finish I fold my pants up and the knife slips out and SOMEHOW it opened when it hit my foot








To this day, I still cant feel the toe next to the pinky toe from tip to wound.


The fun thing with black oxide is that its kind of abrasive, looks cool when you cut up an alu can, the alu comes off on the blade

[razorsharp]

As the days went by, the angle of the edge got steeper each time I reset the backbevel (on purpose) it is in this picture, probably close to what it is at this current time, 16 back, 19 edge.



The steel still held up to everything thrown at it, untill one day I pried a weld off a piece or UB beam, and snapped a bit of tip off, whoops :p . I sanded the tip back, which meant a satin finished spine, I aked mick if my warranty was still in tact, he said its fine
At this stage, the coating has wear from every day use. Wood, Cardboard, ropes, metals, using the spine as a scraper and weld splatter remover (lol) and other stuff. Didnt make it that much less pretty, in fact, i think wear makes it prettier



After a few days of medium to light use, and mucking around cutting Corrugated iron, stabbing a freezer, breaking shells, stabbing cans, (steel and alu) battoning, The lock up is maybe 70%, mainly from the battoning, still rock solid though. Also by this stage (3 weeks?) its broken in very smooth. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-vUvKWHG74



Heres a pic from working on site with seismic strengthening, scungy ****ty tape




What is it with me and cans



Still love how the coating is abrasive





Here is the Knife after about 2 months, as a guess:




This is in cleaned up state, about 5 days before the vigorous 1 hour cleaning it looked like this:



Its the worst stuff any of my knives have gone through. they were opening dry mix Grout, and scraping expansion foam off the walls ( bit of scraping along concrete too. The southard got a nice big chip and significantly more edge dulling than the strider (you could see the apex of both knives, more so on the southard), this is what I mean by high toughness lasting longer than High wear in my job. I couldnt fix the Spyderco because I cant get the danged thing apart, the strider wasnt loctited anywhere except the pivot ( i made a pivot tool) The southards pivot screws stripped too, oh well, out of rotation for now (im not missing it :O )

At this stage, lockup is around 75%. Still solid as a brick **** house.

I have cut back with the un needed abuse... Doesnt mean I have stopped

[razorsharp]

Few days ago, I had some work in the mud to do, cutting plastic off the side of the place I work at, Water was wicking behind the iron making the office leak through the wall, so I dug a foot deep trench , had to trim the plastic which made it hard to dig, cut the iron shorter, then I got some gravel and made the trench into a soak pit so the water has somewhere to go.




The Strider has held up well as an EDC. Its overbuilt, but its overbuilt in a good way, Big pivot, thicker tip , trusty lock geometry BUT they do it in a way where its not going to take much more , or may even take less pocket space than a lot of modern pocket knives.
Despite what people say, the striders arent terrible cutters, yes there are better cutters,but these arent slouches. The hollow 3/4 grind on my SnG is 0.020" behind the edge right up till just behind mid belly where it starts subtly thickening to around 0.055 behind the edge at the tip meaning it cuts well where you do most your cutting, but has a stout tip meaning it can hold up to some prying tasks.

Still love the heck out of the Zwear. I think its my new favorite, or up in 1st place with m390 (which is up there for its high wear and decent toughness for what it has wear resistance) just because it handles rough as heck abuse, but still holds an edge for what seems around the level of s30v.

The blade is definitely no Caly 3.5 when cutting 2 layer thick cardboard, it can wedge a little, but regardless, it still gets the job done WAY easier than a prybar , and a bit better than the ZT0560 (now thats an awful cutter).

This is the best knife purchase I made, And my favorite knife for sure. The ergonomics are outstanding in all grips, it is comfortable and will NOT slip out of your hand, the fit in finish is excellent, The action now is GLASSY, SO FREAKING SMOOTH. Taking apart and applying TLC is a breeze with the simple, precise construction



Heres an edge shot for ya's




Here is a beauty shot from a week ago at 160 meters altitude to finish this off





Well Done Strider

[Jes Schuetz]

Awesome review. Was fun to read. Thank you!
I hope your toe will heal 100% soon.

[Stuart Ackerman]

Nice and clear review Travis...

I like the fact that you are taking what might be regarded as expensive knives, and USING them for unkind tasks...

The Spyderco has a wee showing there, and grubby as...

[Stuart Ackerman]

Bet you were hopping mad, eh? :D

[jabba359]

Great review! I love seeing someone take an expensive knife and actually putting it to hard use.

As usual, that is a beautiful edge you've put on it. I can sharpen my knives all right, but have not invested the time that you have to develop such awesome skills.

While I'm not a huge fan of the way Strider knives look, that lock side texturing is pretty sexy. The knife also seems to be just as tough as it looks, as your review clearly shows.

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts and experiences with this knife. I hope to see more super reviews from you in the future!

[nirvanero]

I'm no fan of Striders but things like this make me wanna get one! Nice review and great shots, even the last one... :)

[chuck_roxas45]

Excellent review Travis. Did you ever get back full feeling on your toe?

[The Mastiff]

Excellent review and pictures. That's a bunch harder use than mine has had. Z wear is powder cruwear/vascowear. CTS-PD1 should be similar. 3V was sort of developed from vascowear too which is why the performance is fairly close.

I sure noticed the difference in wear resistance after I got some steel removed from the edge. It sharpens with a completely different feel now. I've come to the conclusion that I seem to notice the difference in steels more with powder steels than with ingot steels. It could just be me fooling myself too though.

Anyway, I like the steel too, and the knife as well. It's a keeper. I sold some knives and bought an extra too which I do regret. :)

Joe

[Senate]

cool review!

did you have to put this blue rubber on the stud to prevent blade play?

[razorsharp]

cool review!

did you have to put this blue rubber on the stud to prevent blade play?

Forgot to mention in the original post, I wrapped tape around the stop pin to make lock up earlier so it was easier to unlock, and for the sake of making it earlier, it was solid as a brick before I put tape on it :)

[xceptnl]

Nice review Travis. I really wanted to pick up one of these before your thread, now I'm looking for knives to sell to afford one. Thanks!

[Knivesinedc]

very nice review. I would love to pick up a Strider SJ75 mini, but, I dont think I can cough up the $400 price.

[senorsquare]

First photo I've seen of one taken apart. That thing has a massive pivot.

Nice review. I've never had a desire for a strider, but I may start to reconsider now.

[RanCoWeAla]

I looked at some Strider's at the Blade Show. In fact that was why I wanted to go so bad to look at and handle knives that I had never seen excelpt in magazines. I was disappointed in everything but the Spyderco's. The only thing I liked about the Strider was the weight because it's light as a feather but I couldn't close the ones I looked at because the frame lock was so stiff. The Chris Reeve was right the opposite. I looked at CR knives at three different booths and I couldn't open any of them. Then there was the dpx HEST that the lock/over travel screw kept messing up on and I looked back and saw the guy at the booth putting out another one. Didn't really like any of the Darrell Ralph either. Had a chance to buy a Micro Tech $425 auto for $200 but passed it up because the pocket clip was mounted for tip down carry. I bought an Emerson just because Ernest was there and such a great guy and also autographed it for me with an electric pen lke a dremel. However I'm not satisfied with it either because when loosened the pivot screw where I wanted it now the blade scrubs so badly its taking the Black finish off. There was only one knife I saw at the Blade show that I really liked and thought was worth the money. That was a Brown sprint run Spyderco Calypso and it makes me sick I didn't buy it. Now I must find one.
The cut place reminds me of the guy with the Micro Tech who pulled his shirt up and showed me whrre he stabbed himself two inches deep with an out the front auto barely missing vitals and six months out of work but still had a $1000 Dr. bill.
I am totally and thoroughly convinced now that Spyderco's are the best knives in ghe world for the money.
Needless to say but I don't want any out thr front auto's either.

[Donut]

That's a nice looking pivot.

Thanks for the review.

I'm looking forward to the Cruwear Millie or something (other than the Tuff) from Spyderco in 3V. I wouldn't pass up Zwear.

[Clip]

Put that on my shopping list!

Rancoweala, PMed you

[razorsharp]

I just did some rope cutting to 7/20" rope (9mm), I made 1010 cuts and ran out (15 meters), Dunno if that is much of an achievement or not, but I did it, and it cuts paper still.

[The Mastiff]

That's great performance IMO. It is a lot of cutting for rope. Heck, it's a lot of cuts for anything but rope is fairly abrasive when cut. Maybe you can get some more of the same rope and test one of your VG10 blades as a baseline to compare. Most of us here are pretty well versed in VG10's performance. :)

I expect the Cruwear millie to be a really good cutter as well.

Joe