Today, we'll take a look at an interesting new knife from Sandrin, the Monza, featuring a nice big chunk of their Polyhedral Tungsten Carbide blade and the Snecx Tan designed Recoil Lock.
Said to myself: if they ever release something with titanium scales and silver-ish blade im gonna buy it. Monza came to the market, monza was instantly bought, havent regretted it. The Bladefinish is unique and beautiful on its own. The knife feels great in the hand and works well. Lock is a bit to tiny for my ham-fingers but otherwise i cant complain.
I look forward to mine. But note that if you send it in for sharpening in the US they will change the edge to a single bevel. They mention it on the website, but be sure you want that before sending it in!
Sandrin knows tungsten carbide, but they still have a few things to learn about knives. I have been very happy with my Torino but I agree with all your substantive criticisms-the thumbstuds, pivot, and lockbar all need another revision or two. I could do with a little more space under the pocket clip, too. Disagree about the blade finish, though, I think it’s awesome 😎
The choil is so big because the stop pin for closed position is hitting the blade in the choil area. It cant be much smaller than on the Monza. You would have seen it if the knife would come apart.... It also enables you to close the knife in backlock style, so you pull the recoil with your thumb and you let the choil hit your index finger. It feel very natural coming from edc backlock knife to edc recoil from sandrin. Also thumb stunds are not blocking any part of the edge.
Other than the bad stop pin interfacing, the choil is done extremely well for sharpening (very similar to how CRK does their choils). You'll pretty much never run out of blade to sharpen, coupled with the extremely high wear resistance.
The tungsten carbide is the only thing making it different enough to warrant a second look. Other than that it looks like every premium base model just about. 🤷♂️ Thanks for the look brother 👍 Stay sharp my friend!
Awesome review, as always, Nick! I have been looking at Sandrin for awhile but have yet to pull the trigger on one. The prospect of a larger Torino is certainly intriguing, as my only gripe with the Torino was its smaller size. My question for you (or anyone who knows, really) is how does this lock compare to Demko's shark lock? I rescind my inquiry. I thought for about 5 minutes and ultimately realized that I buy knives to use them at work, on a construction site. If I buy one of these to use, I might never need to use another knife again. That prospect frightened me. I'd miss my Shaman and my Native Chief and my new cruwear Ayoob too much. Great review nonetheless!
Mine also has forward/backward bladeplay meaning that the lock to blade interface has issues. The T6 screw for left side pocket clip carry is permanently lock-tight in the frame… guess I’m carrying right, and the edge is a little uneven, perfect on the flat but nearing the tip the angle changes making it look smaller and imperfect. Overall a unique knife but would prefer higher quality and T8s everywhere… wait for their next Sandrin model
I eventually got the screw out to swap the clip on mine, but yeah, it was WAY too difficult, and it’s especially dumb to loc-tite the screw that needs to be removed to swap the pocket clip.
After a couple days of opening and closing mine developed the very slight amount of vertical blade play. I ended up sending it back to see if it could be repaired, lamina said it could not, offered a refund which I took. Too bad actually I was very intrigued and excited to check it out.
I still have and use the original Torino in gas station red. The finger choil makes it very easy to use and close. Still haven't had to sharpen it. I also prefer the rough finish to the high polish.
Were you able to confirm the entire knife is rustproof? They go out of their way to say salt water, and they do have ceramic ball bearings, but wasn’t sure if the whole knife was rust proof?
I just get it this Thursday🤤 I love it. The lock is very fun and works great The blade is a razor 😍 But one thing drive me crazy. For the moment I can't took it appart because they put way too much loctite and the pivot is freespinning 🤢 So I need a hairdryer to go further 😑 Other than that this knife is georgous, first time I've in My hand a textured Titanium knife and I just love the feeling of it 😍. Anyway great review Batman 👌
that blade finish is awesome and way nicer than the mirror finish adds esthetics and ruggedness. id be surprised its a choice related to lazyness and unfinished blade rather than desigh and esthetics considering the attention to details for the rest of the knife
I want to try this knife but the bad reviews of there usa service and all the things you mentioned keeps me from trying one. Ultimately the number 1 deal breaker is the free spinning pivot with out tooling on both sides.
I don't mind the blade finish but the handle shape doesn't connect with me, deep carry pocket clip is always great and I approve of extra prominent thumb studs. I'm a lefty and usually carry right handed knives. I got excited and then disappointed with my TRM Neutron and QC Waypoint because the left thumb stud is not as prominent due to the liner lock. For me a free spinning pivot is a deal breaker at this price point.
A bit biased and over exaggerated review this time Nick. I agree on free spinning pivot and thumb studs though. Apart from that... a must have for me :)
For the price I would want it to be more refined. I understand the material is expensive and difficult to work with but the edge holding capability doesn’t outweigh the unfinished aesthetic of the knife for me
I was very intrigued and very excited to get this knife because of its uniqueness, dimensions and weight. I did not pay $400 I paid $366 shipped from lamnia. But after a couple days of opening and closing there was a slight bit of vertical blade play. It started off slowly depending on deployment method but then was consistent across the board of deployment methods. I emailed lamia and they said send it in to be checked for a repair. I heard back from them and they said there was nothing they could do about the blade play. They kindly offered a refund which I took. Like another commenter mentioned , there's something going on with that interface between the lock and the tang . And at least on mine it did not show up as sharp as I was expecting.
The best version of the Superlock so far is still the Shark lock, both in terms of strength/lock-up and ergos. The Superlock, Recoil lock, even Bryan Winter's unreleased Fusion "vertical lock" all have the same issue: the lockbar is hard or at least awkward to get to. Also, Sandrin's blade finish is still an absolute eyesore. They might as well leave it unfinished because that's what it looks like.
@@YanDoroshenko oh yeah you're right. I've never owned a Manix and mistakenly thought they had the axis lock but I think they call it the ball bearing lock
I give it a pass on the blade's "Plain Jane" shape and contour (or lack thereof). With stock that thin, there isn't a whole lot of room to do much more than just give it an edge, and call it a day. Compound grinds, a sweeping swedge, and other functional or aesthetic niceties are pretty much out of the question, and would defeat the primary purpose of such a blade, which IMHO is nothing more than effortless slicing.
71 HRC ? With a point like that.. 👍. Dont get me wrong, I like the knife, the design (not blade shape tho). If I had the money and it was legal where I live, its best I have seen you review recently. 👍
It’s a really nice start but at $400 it almost deserves a makeover. Thumb studs could be replaced with an ergonomic tab. The lock bar needs jimping or god forbid another raised tab. Blade finish doesn’t work for me either. I do like the pocket clip. The thumb studs need to copy the clip design.
I own this primarily because it's doing something nothing else is doing. I'll forgive a lot for that, now if only reate would re-issue that wierdo gravity knife.