Um.... REAL quick. (Reference to the carving portion) Whenever I buy a new knife I DONT CARE WHO MAKES IT I put my own edge on it. I have this knife too. Holds an edge for an OK time. The black legion version of this knife (pretty much same bells and whistles ie compass in handle survival kit inside etc. Major difference is it's better stainless steel, nylon and glass handle and it's a bayonet style. Taken my black legion camping and hunting and chopped with it on WRIST DIAMETER limbs. Held up didn't loosen.) Think I paid $25 for it. Way better than this one. Save the $8 and get a better one. This one may do good in a pinch if you have nothing else for a time but I aim to keep stuff around for repeated use.
This knife can be a decent one with a few minor modifications. Sharpening being one of them, replacing the small pin holding the blade with something more durable, and make your own survival kit for the handle.
Sharpen it. I gave these out at Christmas. Teenagers have fun with them. There Cheap enough. Now one still sealed in plastic was floating in my trunk tire well. Took it out. Need a knife to cut knife out of plastic. The stuff in the still sealed handle was soaked. So if using as tool on a canoe I would use plumbers tape on threads.
Blade needs to he sharpened, tighten screws and hold slanted a little to use the saw blade - before use I have one too.. Also, I have Rambo #3 knife.. Real good.
I did some improvements, fine tuning to mine. I took a diamond hone to the entire edges, got it razor sharp. I took a die grinder and ground a lead cutting angle, and relief angle on alternating teeth, went opposite direction on other teeth. made the saw cut like a hand saw! Installed in handle shortened allen wrench, kitchen matches, variety of different fishing hooks, some fishing weights. On the scabbard I installed magnesium fire stick also from Harbor Freight. You can take the blade off from handle and take to a shop that sharpens skill saw blades. They can put a grind on it with precision! I put lock tite on the screw threads of the allen wrench and in the receiving hole, this stopped the allen screw from loosening. In the marine corp they sale a $150 knife with marine corp on it, in the PX. But just to expensive for daily use for me. This knife is perfect for me, once you do some needed improvements. Also a great gift as long as you do the fine improvements, before you give them as gifts for a survival situation! For under 10 bucks, its worth it.
Don't you remember being a kid in the 80's and having one of these with the compass in the pommel? And wasn't that the best thing ever? There ya go. Kids knife.
Dude, I completely forgot about mine until now. I'm not sure where my parents got it. It had some fishing line and a hook, some matches, and something else I can't remember, along with the compass on the end. Edit: just finished video. Mine didn't have a sewing kit with it. Maybe a whetrock?
Put an edge on it and do again... don't baby it. Work it like a rented mule. Pry, dig, scrape, cut rope, limbs mine works better than what you're showing... it's still an 8 dollar knife... see ya Bill
The M9 bayonet that we carried in the infantry was easy to break. It wasn't a full tang would snap at the handle. When you used them on the actual bayonet range you had to be really careful to pull straight back after you stuck the blade in the bags because they would snap off if you twisted even a little bit sideways. I think uncle same was paying over $300 for them.
Uncle Same doesn't seem to be a cost-savvy shopper: he shops at the expense of the taxpayer to the pocket-filling benefit of the crooked connected cronyist politician. Go figure.
@@kirknunya4291 was it really that bad? Have you tested or used this harbor freight knife. I got one and it has worked real well for me but I know the steel is a little softer than other knife makers despite being thick. I was still looking around for cooler stuff. If harbor freight sells something head and shoulders above anything else around 100 dollars I might just hide away from looking at the other stuff.
@@krknfmkr8919 FACTS. High carbon is still personally preferred over stainless (you know what I'm saying) I have a propane forge but I know what your hinting at.
I bought one a few years back knowing exactly what I bought,... I noticed a gap where the blade meets the handle so I made sure it was tight & then pushed JB Weld into the gaps ;)
$8 worth of imagination for a kid! I was also playing war and Rambo with mine, teamed up with a 22 cal pump up Crosman pistol, I WAS a force to be messed with. Thanks for the great memories!
Same here, all my friends had one too, I grew up pretty rural, we were always running around out in the woods playing army and Rambo type stuff. Definitely good times the 80s were, glad I was a kid then.
Thx, it seems to perform reasonably well and certainly didn't fall apart... and wonder if folks are often so hard on these things just 'cuz they are 'cheap' to own? Would love to see a sorta 'blind test' done on knives like they once did with wine snobs... who couldn't see what they were drinking, and often liked the 'cheap wines' _better._
Be interesting to see if you could buy a cutoff wheel, a grinding disc, a drill bit and a piece of sandpaper for 8 bucks and make a solid knife out of an old leaf spring.....I see foot long chunks of them at the roadside everywhere heavy trucks run....
Heh...I have that same knife...took one look at the edge and had a friend of mine who sharpens knives professionally take a whack at it...it will take a good edge..😁
I've had one for over 10 years now and it's holding up great. I had to sharpen it when I bought it, and I put a chunk of inner tube over the handle for grip.
I have one I bought years ago also. I did locktite the set screw in on the blade and put a pretty good edge on it with my worksharp belt sharpener but have never taken it out and used it in the field. I do however carry my Morakniv's frequently. No doubt it is a poor excuse for a knife but maybe it is better than nothing.
I got mine around 2015. Glad i watched this, i thought the compass didn't work but when set down on a flat surface it works great! My blade stock seems to be a tad longer inside than the one you showed. I haven't had any lossenung problems but haven't tried wood chopping, glad i got one!
It worked for me in deer camp notching the tree for my climber stand n I've used it for hunting and camping.......it's a budget survival knife it gets the job done for a cheap survival knife......ive never had to tighten the set screw
I have two of them, I am realistic enough to not try to take on a major survival event, but I like them. They came out of the package sharp and after touching them up seem to hold an edge. they make for a fun conversation starter as well. I have wrapped the pommel with paracord, and modified the contents as well, a striker, dependable matches, waxed cottonballs, etc.
As to the knife, to be fair, I have never bought a knife that was truly sharp right out of the package. Handmade knives, yes, but prepackaged knives, never. It's a cheap knife, frankly it's better than I would expect it to be. Please don't blame China for making cheap stuff. In all fairness, the companies that sell it here tell them what the price has to be, so they have to make it accordingly. If the buyers for these companies wanted them to make high quality stuff, they could easily make it.
Of course it can’t cut a fart. A fart has superior sharpness, in fact it’s the sharpest thing known to man... it can cut through 4 layers of clothing without even making a hole!
I got a cheap Rambo style survival knife when I was 8 (thing were different in the 80's 😂. I had about 15 knives - SAK, pocket knife, bushcraft, hunting by the time I was 10) Edge was crap so my dad put it on a grinder and got a real good edge on it. Used it & abused for several years with hunting and just general bushcraft and camping. Compass was perfect even though it was cheap and added my own little "survival" back up kit in the handle. I was really happy with it and it performed pretty well with the home mods
In the 80s things were still made of better quality than much of what we see today...I too had a cheap Rambo knife in the early 90s,as a kid I thought it was the coolest thing ever.I felt like I could venture into the wilderness and survive through a Rambo-like scenario 😂
I remember having this knife in Mexico 🇲🇽 when we go fishing or when I go hunting 🐇 rabbits when I lost the survival kit I end up filling with concrete the handle 😂😂😂 what a beautiful times back in those days 😊
Worked better than I would have expected. I always felt the weakness of those hollow handle knives would be the lack of a decent tang, and that seems to jibe with your experience. As for feathering and such, I don't think I would ever expect a knife to work well straight out of the package without some sharpening.
Mine cuts pretty darn well after some sharpening with the Lansky diamond stones. It is infinitely better than nothing and for personal protection??? Remember the bit in the Crocodile Dundee movie where here says to a thief with a knife...."that's not a knife, THIS is a knife". I think that would work. WARNING!! Do NOT bring a knife to a gun fight!!!! LOL
I like how you tried to give this $8 knife the benefit of the doubt. What knife I would like to see tested is the “SmittyBilt”chopper. Not sure if it has a specific name but it’s made by SmittyBilt,it’s 11” w/ a 6” blade and was VERY sharp out of box and very heavy as far as choppers go
For me ,the issue that any yahoo can separate the blade from the handle and conceal it and enter any facility with it that isn't monitored ,gives me the creeps...
I had one years ago I still have the blade and broken handle. > I was chopping some small branches wet wood in the back yard. The handle broke off 3/4 if an inch above the guard. The metal is cast and this was a thin spot. The blade flew back and over my shoulder. Close call. This is dangerous junk. AS PUT TOGETHER.. However the blade is ok for the cutting. But do not force that handle... It can't handle real work.
It's a rip off of the Aitor Jungle King l knife, I owned one 40 years ago in 1984, an excellent knife. This knockoff one doesn't have the multifunction slingshot sheath. I guess imitation is the highest form of flattery.
I knew Jimmy Lile back in the 80's use to set up next to him and across from Jack Crain who made the predator knives Arnold Schwarzenegger used in his movies those were great handmade knives.
Thumbs up for your persistence, optimism and humor. I didn't expect that much from the Harbor Freight quality Chinesium of the blade. (Gotta keep the maintenance tool close by, though.)
I’ve noticed the guard broke. It’s a gimmick knife even the real Rambo clones that sold for $100 back in the 80’s where gimmick. Nothing wrong with them, but they are what they are good wall hangers
I bought one of these a couple years ago. I removed the blade filled the slot with epoxy pressed the blade back back in and locked down with the Allen screw. That seemed to fix the loosening blade.
The reason they make it so, is so when it goes south you can replace it with a better one you yourself made. Or take it and weld it to a non- cancer causing handle, or weld a tang to the blade and then… the sky's the limit.
that "guard" on the real knives is supposed to be bent and holes threaded for the spikes to screw into to use as a grappling hook for climbing with real Para-cord. this crap would never be able to do that.
Is it just me who thinks that when they already put a recessed set screw in that 8 dollar knife... Why not make it go straight through the blade instead of having it clamp the blade down? I mean they are already machining a spot for the set screw to sit in, and having it go through the blade would mechanically solve both the screw loosening up and the rattling blade.
Loved knife when they came out as kid with the ball compass on ends but the handle was kind flimsy and came unscrewed when you were trying use surated end to saw small limbs I got looking realized the locking nut on the small tang wasn't all that great and used some lock tight to stop it from falling apart but they were only good for few season As for these new ones I expect about same handles need be longer with longer blade more robust tang that's got better lock nut system the longer handle so you have real space to store survival stuff Old ones the stuff was tiny and some times weak like fishing line or tiny hooks And a heavy butt plate in a hammer shape with recessed compass so you don't smash it if you do hammer with it
I found in the Mojave desert, a Smith and Wesson 5 inch outdoorsman. I pulled off the side of the highway I40 to take care of business and was just kicking around in a ravine looking for my rock collection and this knife was in a scabbard lying there. What i expected was a rusted up piece of junk but when I pulled it out, the blade shined like a mirror. I felt kinda bad for the adult beverage consumer who lost it. I checked it out by the model #on it and it was made by S&W before they started outsourcing the making of it in the early 80s. for150.00 dollars!!
I imagine the steel is fairly soft, so it should be easy to sharpen. Put a good edge on it, Loctite that screw, and fill the bottom portion with some decent strike-anywhere matches, and honestly it seems like a pretty good bang-for-your-buck 3-night survival knife.
If I paid $200+ for a knife......it had BETTER be able to go to hell and back. If I paid $8 for a knife, I'm not going to expect much right out of the package. THAT BEING SAID. I have one of these in ALL 3 of my vehicles. About a month ago, I was pulling my trailer. Had a flat. My "Master Lock" froze up and wouldn't open. I CHOPPED THROUGH THE SECURITY CABLE with THIS KNIFE. 4 hits. Cut through it easily. The blade didn't even have a mark on it. ALSO.....when you buy something like this, always expect to have to sharpen it, tighten it, and maybe make a modification (for safety) or two. I put JB Weld in the handle where the blade went through, and tightened up the set screw again. I've been hammering the CRAP out of this knife, and it has stayed pretty sharp, and HAS NOT LOOSENED UP AT ALL.....yet. For $8......I have a total of 10 of these around my property, house, garage, vehicles, motorcycle........and so far the ones I've used are still in great shape. Nothing has broken. OH......and I even used the FISH HOOK setup on a big, willow branch and caught a rainbow trout in a river nearby. Worth the $8......10-fold.
I have one and it came reasonably sharp. It’s quite a bit sharper now, but the secondary bevel was pretty good when I go it, so it wasn’t a lot of work.
I think I paid $6 for one in the 80s it was camouflage with the compass on the bottom had some matches in the handle some other stuff as well cheesy s*** but cool
I’ve got one of these tucked away somewhere that I bought out of curiosity years ago. For $8 it’s surprisingly good, but that’s not really saying much. It takes a decent edge, holds it reasonably well and the tang is tougher than it looks. It’s not a knife that really has much of a purpose however. The only thing you’d ever use this for are outdoor activities, (camping, hunting, fishing, etc...), and for that there are much better, full tang knives that are also reasonably priced.
I put mine through the wringer just the other day, and it held up shockingly well. Just had to tighten the screw up every once in a while. I've decided it'll be my hiking companion, along with my magnum. If I end up needing to warm up at a rest spot on the hike, I can use the matches for a fire. Only damage was that the compass broke, so that was annoying, but as long as I know roughly what time it is, I can use the sun to direct me.
I sharpened my knives with the old ceramic isulatators from knob and tube wiring I get them from old houses that are being torn down they make great knife sharpeners free performance tip. Get a small Bic lighter and use it as a match replacer then ad a piece of candle that has easy fire covered to fix the handleyou just use JB-WELD to help backup the st screw I cleaned all residual machine oil off with alcohol a clean surface will help make a good glue joint
My "survival knife" is, and has been since 1991, a Victorinox Swiss Army Knife Ranger Model. I carried it through 10 years of US Military Service, 6 years of Law Enforcement, Camping, Hunting, Craftwork, and General Pocketknife use. It has served me well.
@@bstevermer9293, that's me wirh Zippo Lighters! I've owned probably over a dozen, including 1 that had the Parachutist Badge, aka "Jump Wings, engraved with my name and the date of my 1st Jump. I lost it in less than a week. FWIW, when I bought the SAK, I also bought a Leather Sheath that imcluded a mini Sharpening Steel, and I always carry the Knife in the Sheath, and it is also attached to my belt with a Paracord Lanyard. Those probably have kept me from losing it
Make fun of the sewing kit all you want but what if ya got button up britches and ya button pops off while ya whizzin??! Dongs all hangin out ya could get frost bite or sun burn. Charlie Wong sewing kit could keep ya twig an giggle berries under cover.
One guy on utube drilled the pin hole put and used and old drill bit to pin it. He said it has lasted through batoning and other hard use. Course that doesn’t help its edge holding ability.
Yes red is better. but put a ferow rod in side /add some package fire start tinder. A fire is your only best frend. Have a army issue. Hidden at home many years, and certnaly it is not as cheep as that. Sgt williams (retired) combat engineer. Good show. Tks
Silly me, the dollar sign is actually supposed to go in front of the price. I’m sorry that confused you. No, I am not from Russia. They do not use this symbol “$”for their currency. I hope this clears things up for you. Have a great day😁
I would rather have an old hickory butcher knife if all I had was 10 bucks to spend on a survival knife , but as that style of survival knife that’s your reviewing you know as well as I do that you can’t beat the schrade solid one piece survival knife with the hollow handle , it’s the best in my opinion
They just don't make knives like they use too. It may be tuff but the blade is made of poor steel. I'll keep my Kay-Bar it has never failed me for more than fifty years.
I always re-edge every China blade. Plus, the saw is like the ones on a Victorinox, it's made for cutting limbs from trees. You let the wood move too much
Surprised the heck out of me truthfully the Carving fail wasn’t that unusuall. Almost any knife ive owned needed some type of a dressing out of the box With a few exceptions of some Leatherman Multi tools i used for EDC purposes because ive been a lifetime Boatowner / Operator and always kept a knife on me for Emergencies and i dont think having to add Loctite on the Screws isnt that big of a deal for a 8 dollar knife it was a surprise to me that it didnt break right away thanks Brian in all honesty I’m more of a Hiker / Backpacker and I wouldn’t carry that much weight in my pack as ive been a fan of The Buck Lite knives for their price and durability
I bought so much disappointing stuff from Sportsman's Guide that I gave up on that firm. ( E.German boots with a horrible chemical odor / Little John urinal that leaked at the cap / useless musty Baily Bridge tool kit / British commando pillows that were hard and had a feather poking / British commando sleeping bag that was too short for anyone over 5'6" / British emergency shelter that was useless / used ammo can that was dented / Used M Alice pack with tear that wasadvertised as "no tears" / Russian thermal underwear that was too small for anyone / used mess kit sold as new....😨
