the count
Member
Just got my first knife in 5160 steel. Also my first Ontario knife. Here's my initial impression...
Very nice heft, if that's what you like. Love the micarta handle but its almost too short. I don't have big hands in the sense of long fingers but my hand is chubby and pretty wide. But the handle still works, after all this is not a bowie knife so you cant expect a huge handle. The blade is very thick, over 1/4". If you ever have to pry something you want to have this knife with you. Sharpness out of the box is OK but there was some hesitation with my copy paper slice test. I touched it up with a 1000 and then 6000 grit water-stone and now pretty much passes the copy paper test but nothing like a Fallkniven. But thats OK with this knife because this is a chopper more than a slicer. I would rate ease of sharpening at a 5 on a scale of 1-10 (1 being extremely hard). This steel is supposed to be very tough but I cant confirm or deny it at this point. Most people diss the included sheath. I actually find it OK but surely not perfect. In my opinion the Falcon Ranger most closely competes with the slightly larger Becker BK2. At a street price of about $60 this is a good deal if you are looking for a heavy duty, rather compact, survival knife.
http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Ontario-Knif...U1/$(KGrHqZHJC!E-kTSe!V5BPvI5ODRe!~~60_57.JPG
Very nice heft, if that's what you like. Love the micarta handle but its almost too short. I don't have big hands in the sense of long fingers but my hand is chubby and pretty wide. But the handle still works, after all this is not a bowie knife so you cant expect a huge handle. The blade is very thick, over 1/4". If you ever have to pry something you want to have this knife with you. Sharpness out of the box is OK but there was some hesitation with my copy paper slice test. I touched it up with a 1000 and then 6000 grit water-stone and now pretty much passes the copy paper test but nothing like a Fallkniven. But thats OK with this knife because this is a chopper more than a slicer. I would rate ease of sharpening at a 5 on a scale of 1-10 (1 being extremely hard). This steel is supposed to be very tough but I cant confirm or deny it at this point. Most people diss the included sheath. I actually find it OK but surely not perfect. In my opinion the Falcon Ranger most closely competes with the slightly larger Becker BK2. At a street price of about $60 this is a good deal if you are looking for a heavy duty, rather compact, survival knife.
http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Ontario-Knif...U1/$(KGrHqZHJC!E-kTSe!V5BPvI5ODRe!~~60_57.JPG
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