STR's "He Man" Folder in D2

A new development if you have read over this before is a review done for the green handled D2 folder. This is on youtube by a friend and fellow knife nut, Cutlery Lover. Here is the link if you care to look it over in a video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-4JHTNnfsk

You might note that I've changed the name to simply the "He Man" model to make it easier that spitting out all the rest. Its still a RIL (Reeve Integral Design Lock but from now on these will be all be titled the He Man model since the lock is not for the faint at heart)

First pictures up are a couple shots of the folder I built and posted about yesterday in orange G10 side by side with the D2 model and then some solo of the D2 model I did today. This D2 folder is another birthday knife. It is one of several other birthday knives I've built on my birthday over the years since I started making folders. I don't do it every year and I've only kept one of them all this time although I often think at the time I'll keep them of course but rarely do I do it being the full blown knife addict I am. It seems each one gets a bit better than the last. I guess thats the way it should be though and this one is certainly nice.

Anyway, this D2 folder went together quite well. I used fancy stand offs in the rear instead of the standard ones like I did yesterday on the orange one. The washers in this D2 blade steel model are teflon as opposed to the PB washers used in the orange one and the action is quite smooth on both but I'd have to give the edge to the D2 model there. Unlike yesterdays model I did this D2 folder in textured green G10 for the overscale for adding some grippy texture to the slab.

I also equipped this folder with one of my signiture low rider clips and again this is a 'mans knife' just like the orange one is a man's knife because both of these folders are equipped with a very strong lock for no compromising strength! Even though the locks are stout the action for both knives is smooth and the blades roll out easy enough for convenient use. As you can see from the photos there are no wimpy lock cuts here thats for sure! These .095 thick ti slab models with no thinned down lock relief cut to bend the lock are probably as strong as a frame lock can be for the size and footprint of the folders. I did put a shallow cut in this one furthering my experimentation to see how much it would change the action. It didn't by much and the lock is still very thick. The lock cut does not go all the way across the lock but stops short of coming down to the bottom leaving the bottom of the lock solid as you can see in the photos. I suggest that these solid and near solid .095 locks are stronger than any .160 thick lock with .045 to .059 lock relief cuts to spring the locks given that you look at the folding knife system as a chain with a chain only being as strong as its weakest link. The weak link is all but eliminated in these thinner profile. 095 locks. Read more on that in the next post down from right before I did this folder.

The D2 model is a bit heavier than the one from yesterday. This one weighs in at 3.5 ounces. Measurements are the same as the orange G10 ATS34 blade model shown below in the next post which is also seen here side by side with my D2 model. As shown this folder has a hand rubbed blade finish vs the bead blasted finish for the ATS34 model.

Thanks for looking.

STR