*Somewhere, a man in South Eastern, U.S.A. literally flies… through the air... and picks up the 2nd new knife of the day left out on the front steps of his house and says out loud: “The very BEST bargain knives are the ones, that not a lot of people know about..”Yep, 2nd knife in one day is always great. This is my review on the Tac-Force model TF-800 spring assisted pocket knife. I bought this off of Amazon on sale for $5.59 USD. A happy value meal price of a knife!
Specs:
3.5-inch drop point fine edge blade
4.5-inch handle
8-inch overall length.
The knife is partially serrated and I like that, as I can saw through rope and other material leaving the fine straight edge sharp. The partially serrated is also a negative which I have below in the CONs list.
The steel is 3cr13 is close to 420J2 stainless steel, so it is more corrosive resistant as it has more chromium than carbon. Yes, it will dull faster however it is easy to re-hone the blade if I am out in the field or on a client/stakeholders site.
The handle slab material is not plastic, but nylon and it does have a nice grip and small checker pattern. The other thing that is nice is there is a lot of jimping on the top of the handle as well on the beginning top of the blade as shown in the pictures below:
1.jpg (Filesize: 366.89 KB)
2.jpg (Filesize: 276.02 KB)There was no packing grease on the blade, but as always I washed it in dawn dish soap, dried it off, used some compressed air to make sure all the water was out. Then I used REM oil (which is a gun oil) on the pivot point and blade. The pivot point uses two white teflon washers, not metal but again no issues with blade deployment, which is spring assisted. The pivot point uses a T-8 Star / Torx bit, the pocket clip (tip down carry only) uses T-7 Star / Torx bit and the nylon handle slabs uses T-6 size Star / Torx bit. There is no hole for a lanyard however, you may be able to use the back slab support post and loop one around that. Also before I forget,
in SOME areas spring assisted knives are not legal. Where I live, everything is legal no matter of method of blade deployment or blade lengths.
A lot of times, these folding pocket knives get a huge negative bashing because the are made in China and because of the very low price price. Tac-Force, is a brand of Master Cutlery and also make knives under the brand names of Mtech, Elk Ridge, Survior and MasterUSA. SOME, repeat SOME (not all) are worth buying just like the fixed blades they have (under the Mtech brand name) and there is again some of their folding knives that are worth buying for the low price points that they are at. To note, the TAC-Force brand is more spring assisted blades than manual folders. Many of the folding knives are more novelty.. like they have skulls, or dragons and that sort of thing… And I usually stay away from those as they seem like they have plastic handle slabs. Others, like the one I’m showing here for a every day carry is good and if you lose it, your not out of your xyz $100.00+ high end knife. I owned for years Tac-Force and Mtech folding knives and the models I have are still holding up. Anytime I’m going out and about and I’m not working per se.. I always have a knife on me, and for an every day carry knife, this is a decent one especially for the very low price point that it is.
The PROs:
- Price is awesome! And the knife that I have works as intended.
- Nylon handle feel nice and has a good grip.
- Clean edge on blade, had to re-hone a little bit but razor sharp now.
The CONs:
- I really like serrated edge, but the issue is that they painted over the serrations and that also dull them. I have very small rounded diamond files that I will use and correct that issue quickly.
- Pocket clip is strong but is a bit thin.. Need to watch that.
- Pivot point seems ok for right NOW.. however I have seen one or two over the years need thread locker, for example Loc-Tite (the blue stuff). If see it loosening up I’ll use that thread locker.
Conclusion: Again, if you see one and it at a very low price AND it has nylon or metal handle slabs GET IT... you may have found a nice new EDC. -OHT
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