REVIEW: SMITH & WESSON CKSURC SURVIVAL KNIFE

SMITH AND WESSON URBAN CAMO SURVIVAL 440C TANTO BLADE w/ TITANIUM COATING

With a long beast of a blade comes a long beast of a name as well.  But it tells you all you need to know about this monster. Yes, it is made by Smith and Wesson.  Yup, that's right, the guys and gals who make world class firearms (Remember Dirty Harry and his partners Smith and Wesson?).

What originally caught my eye was the fact that it was made with 440C steel.  This is an excellent material for making knives when you want the edge to stay sharp.  Some will say it tends to rust more quickly than 440A and 440B steels.  That may be true but that is where the titanium coating comes into play.  Titanium doesn't corrode like most high carbon steels.  Although this is only a coating, it will protect it, and even the edge, where there is no coating, hasn't shown any signs of corrosion on my knife, even after sharpening.

The blade is a tanto configuration, based on the short knife Samurai warriors, in feudal Japan carried.  To make it more modern Morgan Taylor, the designer, added the serrated edge on the top.  Mostly for show, I tried to saw through some logs with it, and got decent results.  I am sure, if you tried sawing for any length of time the coating would wear off, mine is still intact.  I would love to see the serrations sharper.  That might be a future project for me to modify.  But for now, I am happy with the serrations and coating the way they are.
  
When I first saw this knife at a factory tool liquidation place, right away I thought, what is wrong with this knife? And why would my beloved S&W sell a cheap knife?   First of all the price was $89.00 at the store.  Compared to some other survival knives, I would deem this middle of the road for Canadian pricing.  (more on this later).

When I asked the clerk if I could see the knife, even HE was surprised at the weight.  This knife is SOLID.  For some, it may be deemed too heavy, I, on the other hand prefer a solid work tool.  I never plan on buying a knife just to cut bread.  The blade actually goes through the handle and protrudes out the end.  This makes for a good design for whacking things like windshields etc.  The handle is a two piece design screwed through the knife blade itself.  When you first pick this knife up you will instinctively grab the handle and notice the balance is fantastic.  This makes for a great chopping knife.  Another first impression are the three holes in the blade, at the tang, and butt.  These, I will assume are for running 550 para cord through to mount the beast on a stick, to make a spear.  I have seen similar holes in my other knives, and they are perfectly sized for para cord.  The handle grip is flat and makes for a good contact point if you do decide to make this into a lance.

I then inspected the sheath.  Nothing is worse than a sheath that falls apart and exposes the blade to your expensive equipment, or anatomy parts.  Again, there has been some thought into the design.  The sheath is made of the same webbing as in scuba diving weight belts. It also has an insert to prevent the blade from cutting the webbing.  All is screwed together and is again solid like the knife.  Although there is a Velcro strap to hold it in the sheath, it isn't really necessary unless you are swinging from tree to tree.  There is a slot on either side of the bottom of the sheath where you can install a webbing leg strap. I put one on, but never used it.  No need, the weight of the knife will keep it pointing to the ground.  Besides, this is a big honkin' knife and I tend to bend my legs when I walk, so, unless i need a splint, I won't be latching it to my leg anytime soon.  There is a D-ring at the bottom of the sheath.  This is great for holding onto, when removing the knife.  Another pleasant surprise is the water stone that comes with it.  Not one of those cheap oil stones, this is a water stone.   I opted to put the sheath on its own webbing belt.  This allows me to also add multi-tools, lights and also keep my pants around my waste, where they belong.   

Before I parted with my money to buy one of these knives, I decided to check online, and see what others thought of it.  The first review I read, had a complaint about how difficult the tanto blade design is to sharpen.  ????  That one had me totally stumped.  This is one of the easiest blade designs to sharpen with a flat stone. PERIOD.  Almost all the reviewers loved the knife, sheath and sharpening stone.  There was some reservation about the weight, but it was usually stifled by the word SOLID or ROBUST.  During my search, I noticed the prices elsewhere were substantially cheaper.  I decided to order mine from an online firearms / ammo store.  At $44.95 plus 20.00 for shipping I settled on my purchase from SFRC in Harrowsmith Ontario (Canada).

http://www.theammosource.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=209_331&products_id=1380

The service was great.  I had my knife within a week and saved myself twenty dollars, even though it traveled half way across the continent.  The every first thing I checked was the sharpness of the blade.  Only a couple hairs were sacrificed to testing.  I promptly took it to my garage / research lab / sharpening stone and commenced to sharpen the blade to MY satisfaction.  Being old fashioned, I used my Hard and then Black Hard Arkansas stones to 'touch it up'.   Within seconds (OK, maybe 2 - 3 minutes)  I had bald spots on my arms from testing my handy work.  If I haven't mentioned it before, I LOVE 440C STEEL.   I am not disappointed with this knife's ability to sharpen, sharp and quickly.

I took it up into the mountains and gave it a test run.
This is what I found.

1) It holds its edge.
2) No corrosion.
3) Easy to sharpen that tanto blade.
4) Don't pry anything with the very tip.  IT WILL BREAK.  (I didn't break mine BTW)
5) No need for the leg strap.
6) The serrations on the spine work OK on sawing through wood.
7) Para cord fits in those holes to make a spear.
8) Some people will think they are Rambo with this knife.
9) Not a fan of the camo,  put it on the ground and it vanishes.  (I put reflective tape on to see it at   night)
10) Bears will fear you. (I never saw one bear when I had this knife on. No Sasquatches either)
11) Don't know if I would put it on a pack shoulder strap.  It would probably poke you in the eye, and stick in your waist.  Yes it is that long (13 3/4"  overall).
12) It sure isn't compact, but then, you can use your folding knife for the day to day uses.
13) The blade is VERY THICK at the spine, I did change the angle on the blade tip to make it more whisker unfriendly.  For an all round tool, that isn't needed.

All in all.  I LOVE THIS KNIFE.   My other knife is a Gerber LMF, that I also hold in high regard.  Which is better?  hmmmm  that's a tough call. 

 



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