This is intended to be a quick photo review with some thoughts and comments mixed in.
I’ll start by saying these are most certainly fakes, and I don’t much care for the ‘Strider’ branding on them. But they are amazing knives for 10 bucks, and I bought them planning to strip the paint off of them and maybe make a couple Kydex sheaths. I have seen a similar knockoff to one of these for about $5 on Amazon, but the sheaths that come with the Fasttech versions are almost worth $10 in their own rite.
Both versions come in a high quality sheath with lots of attachment loops and a firesteel pocket, which I have yet to test.
The sheaths are a little rough around the edges but high quality.
Yeah. Don’t like the logo on the sheath either. I have to figure out what to do about it since I may or may not keep these sheaths.
They both come wrapped fairly decently in paracord. Certainly better than I could do it, since I’m a noob.
Both these knives look to be about a quarter inch thick! The drop point version is tapered, but the Tanto version keeps its width down most of the spine. These knives look to as robust in my hands as they do in the pictures.
They look to be absolutely indestructible. These are Chinese steel, so I can only imagine what the real ones are like. In fact, I’ve been looking at buying the drop point version someday soon at about $300. But I couldn’t imagine being able to damage anything but the edge on these knockoffs.
This one is my favorite, since I’m not a huge fan of Tanto style blades. It’s got a pretty good feel—good ergonomics, even holding it choked up.
The fit and finish is decent—probably a little better than it needs to be since if this isn’t a beater knife, I don’t know what is.
Mine came with a decent edge on it—nothing special. I probably won’t sharpen them until I figure out what I’m going to do with them.
Hopefully the picture does the knife justice for what an amazing value it is for 10 bucks. At least the same amount of the value as Fasttech’s Buck 480, which I also bought and plan on reviewing here.
It’s the width of a Becker BK2 for one fifth the price, though the Ka-Bar uses much better steel. Either way, these things are beasts.
The paracord wrap looks good, but again, I’m no expert. I wonder what someone like Stormdrane would have to say about it. But it looks good to me, and it’s not too loose or anything. And the paracord looks to be of decent quality.
I do not like the ‘Strider’ logo one bit, and if I didn’t think I stood a good chance of stripping it off wouldn’t have bought it. I’m totally OK with copies, but I don’t like seeing another company’s name if there’s pretty much no chance they can be authentic, unlike the Buck 480 which may or may not be authentic.
My wife thinks the tiger stripe paint looks cool, but I think it would look much better stripped and either polished or maybe with a forced patina on it.
The Tanto version is nice, too. It’s a little more compact but a little heavier since it’s not tapered as much as the drop point version. It came with a decent edge as well, and the same fit and finish.
The Tanto version feels even more robust. I wonder what it would take to kill one! Other than maybe breaking off the tip or possibly rolling the edge both of these are effectively indestructible pry-bars.
These are both amazing values for $10, though I’m hesitant to buy more of them until I figure out how to de-badge them. If having the Strider logo doesn’t bother you, then these look to be top notch survival knives in the same ballpark as their made in the USA counterparts like the Ka-Bar Becker series.
Thank you for the great photos!!! Someone here asked about this knife some time ago and provided a link to this video Because of the video, I’ll LIKELY be getting one
I’m not aware of any folders of this ‘brand’ whatever the brand is. Fasttech does have a few folders from Enlan and Ganzo I believe, and a couple others like the BG knockoffs.
The steel on these is decent. These are no S30V knives. Probably 8Cr13MoV like the more well known Chinese-made knives such as the Tenacious. Chinese steel doesn’t hold an edge as good as American steel, but it makes up for it by being easier to sharpen.
Nice, thanks for the video. I watched the whole thing. The only concern I had with this Strider copy was the tip, and I don’t have that concern after watching the video. Looks like my theory was right that this thing is basically indestructible. The guy on the video seriously tried to kill it lol. Amazing.
lol. The guy on the video was amusing for more than one reason. 1) I swear he would have cut off a finger or stabbed himself at some point. 2) He has some breathing problem and when he’s up in the camera, i can’t help but laugh!!!
I don’t speak German which he kept switching over to, so I didn’t catch everything he said. But the guy is hilarious and I really enjoyed the video. He seemed really angry that he couldn’t destroy this knife. The guy is an animal lol.
Yes, i put that video some time ago. But the problem with the fakes is that you don’t know if there are some factories for that model of knife with different steel or heat threatment. Even in the same factory it can be different. You know about chinese lotery in flashlights no?
What do you guys think is the least invasive way of determining the heat treat? I was thinking about doing a tip test, but I don’t want to damage the knife just to see how usable it is. Hmm I should’ve bought 2 and destroyed one! Either way it’ll be a good entry level fixed blade that I would say is probably a better value than you would get from the typical brick and mortar store.
For my Go Bag, I’ll stick with the Becker BK14 ‘Eskabar’. Everyone is a winner in the Becker lottery
I’ve seen this guy do abuse tests before. It’s ironic, but I think his failure to kill some of the test knives probably causes a few to go out and buy them. He called this one “f*ing tough” and I’m certainly going to get one. Thanks for the review Racer.
Tough is just one property of a knife. Generally, from what I understand, tough is a desired property in chopping tools where chipping undesired and doesn’t coincide with edge retention…. but it doesn’t matter does it, we’re talking about a $10 knife here Knife Steel FAQ
In the video above, it took a 10 Kg. sledge hammer to bend it. I was impressed that he bent it back nearly straight when he was done.
As an entry level survival knife, I’d rather see someone like my dad something like one of these instead of the poorly constructed knives you’d find in big chain stores. I wouldn’t want to try to pry anything or baton wood with the $20 Coleman I saw in the camping isle today.
Good question. It’s kind of a different paradigm, meaning what do you value most in a survival knife? I had this exact discussion with my sister, who spent many years in the Peace Corps living in remote areas. She told me as a hiker she would never carry a knife that heavy, and she fell in love with the Mora I gave her.
The Moras
— Extremely light
— Reasonably robust*
— Cannot be used for prying or digging; no lateral force
— Can be used to baton wood if you’re careful
— Mostly just for slicing: food, rope, paper, etc.
— Not full tang
*Keep in mind they make thicker Moras.
The “chunks of metal”
— Extremely heavy
— Extremely robust
— Can be used for prying or digging
— Not great at simple slicing like food prep but can suffice
— Full tang: one solid piece of metal
I’ve decided in a survival situation that i want both. I wasn’t giving up my Eskabar for the Go Bag, so I added a Mora Companion.
From top: Mora Clipper, Gerber Freeman Guide, Ka-Bar Becker BK14 “Eskabar”
Quite expensive but you can get a set of hardness files to test heat treat.
A cheaper way, use a knife you know has a good heat treat and try cutting into the blade edge of the cheap knife. I did this with my carbon steel Mora Companion and it cut into the edge of the blade of an untreated cheap fake without damaging the Mora. The Mora also cut in a little of the edge of my Cryo, which has is a better heat treat than my Enlan EL-01 (both 8Cr13MoV).
If you’re doing a lot of batoning there is the Mora Robust.
No, the normal Companion is probably ideal for hiking and comping just like it is. Making it thicker still won’t make it a pry bar. I think you’d probably gain extra weight without much extra functionality for hiking. But I guess for car camping the weight won’t hurt you. I use my Companion mainly as my go to camp knife. It does a lot of food prep so I’m not sure I want it thicker.
I handed my sister the Clipper in the above photo, and she told me it was the best backpacking knife she had ever seen. I told her about the thicker versions and she said “why would it need to be thicker? this is perfect!” She had a bag of knives she had tried for backpacking and didn’t like, including a few I gave her.
