Condor knife made in El Salvadore

[Gr8Scout]

In this thread:
http://allaboutpocketknives.com/knife_f ... php?t=4686

The topic of Condor knives was brought up. I had the bright idea of buying one and putting it to the test. The knife I choose was the 'Mountain Knife'. Now I don't know what that means, but a mountain rifle I am familiar with: A lightweight long arm for taking into the high country. And yeah, taking a long trek into the mountains, every pound counting, this may be the kinda knife one would consider.

I choose a 10" blade model. Also comes in 8 and 12". Weight is only 9.5 oz. Blade thickness is 2.2mm or 1/16". I was mystified by the steel use... 420 HC harded to RC 53??? When I first got the knife, it needed a sharpening, and I was amazed, so certain it was 1095 or some other carbon steel, that I applied a bit of bluing to see if it would stick. Nope, it's stainless, very very very soft stainless. I know what happens when a 420HC 58 or 59 RC bladed knife is slammed into a deer's pelvic bone.. it breaks. At least the couple I have seen did. Maybe it made sense to soften this stuff up.

I took the knife to a local construction site and proceeded to have fun. Photos will show some of it. I wore safety glasses and made use of the lined thong hole in the knife's handle (goes through the tang of the knife) to tie on a wrist lanyard. Handle is blue santoprene, nice shape and comfortable. There was no doubt in my mind that this knife would deal with brush and smaller tree limbs, so I went right for the big stuff, chopping 2 X 4s and stuff. I found one with a sixteen penny name bent into it, so I whacked that a few times as well. No chips out of the blade, it didn't shatter, but the edge did dent. Left a bruise or two on the nail as well.

I hammed the knife, using a two by four, 3 1/2" into a stud. Hit another nail on the way. No damage to the handle. Stuck it in so deep, that I stepped up onto it to loosen it up. I bent the knife each way, a pretty impressive bend, and when I removed it, the blade was straight.

I hacked up some romex, which is three 14 gauge wires. Did a good job, no real damage to the edge. I smacked around some other stuff. and tried throwing the knife against a wall a dozen times to see how it handled that abuse. No problems. I laid out some pressure treated lumber and just repeatedly hit it with the knife edge. For sure, this did dull the blade more.

Blame it on my working class background, but I am not going to break a knife just to say I did. The test had gone on long enough. Back home, it took a half an hour to restore the blade pretty much as it had looked when I got it. This soft stainless does sharpen quick.

Call this a lightweight camp knife or a mini machete. It would serve in my camp pretty well, slicing veggies, bacon, cutting up a venison backstrap. It would clear brushy vegataion from the campsite. It would cut a shooting lane at my deer blind. It probably will not pry open a paint can. At this price point, it is a good knife. It is not a Becker BK7.

Phil

[jonet143]

i suppose the construction site was empty? cool test and thanks for the info.

[El Lobo]

Thanks for the fine review Phil.

Well done!!

Bill

[Brent]

Great test. I learned a lot from what you had to say about the steel. My thoughts about these knives are that each one does a certain job better than another. One may be better at cutting weeds and brush than tree limbs. The other may cut wood better than grass. I think you have to know what you want to use it for and get the appropriate knife or machete for the job. Thanks.

[Gr8Scout]

http://www.condortk.com

I made a mistake on the handle; on this model it is constructed of blue polypropylene. Thanks for your comments.
Phil

[MITCH RAPP]

Thanks! Phil; Very informative!

[Bryan]

Now that's what I call a knife review Great work Phil. That was awesome.

Bryan

[sunburst]

Now that's what I call a knife review Great work Phil. That was awesome.

Bryan

I could not say it any better, fantastic review...Wow...

[orvet]

Great field test Phil.
Very impressive knife.

Dale

[Gr8Scout]

You guys are too kind. Thank you.

Got my new issue of KNIFE WORLD today, and knife writer MW Offnutt does a field trial of the Condor Combat Machete. He was impressed with that issue, although sadly, he did not try and chop nails with it. He did put the knife through a workout, though. That particular knife is of 1/8th inch 420hc, also hardened to RC53. He found his knife to be less than sharp out of the box. Amazingly, he also found his knife to be a "tool for clearing a campsite" and he wrote how a "hunter can clear lanes of fire from a deer stand". Mr. Offnutt thought the knife was a very sturdy and useful tool, worth more than it's price.

This knife was brought to my attention by our member Brent, who sells this make in his Store here at AAPK. Now I have to admit, if I had found the knife to be a lemon, I would not have written anything; We're brothers of the blade here in this forum, AAPK not being one of the two gorillas of knife chatter like bfc or knifeforums.

But after my experience, and reading the article today, I think our friend Brent is selling a winner at a good, fair price.

Thanks Brent for bring this up, thanks again to all of you guys who read my review.

Phil