Condor Tool & Knife, Rodan Camp Knife, 5-1/4in Blade, Polypropylene Handle with Sheath

I am very happy with my purchase. The Rodan knife is a full tang carbon steel blade with a protective black powder coat. Unfortunately the cover tends to scratch and may be removed altogether with heavy use or during careless sharpening (much like my Leatherman Wave) but then again, I don't care for that. I have used the blade for batoning, wood carving, prying open boxes and cans, and other heavy duties. I feel it performs as well (or better) than other, more expensive knifes. The handle is just right for my hand and feels firm and easy to control. The belt sheath is genuine leather (amazing for the price of the product). It required a small modification to ensure the knife would not come out while running or when hanging upside down, but it was easy to do and inexpensive. The blade holds a great working edge, and it can be made sharp enough to shave with it. It does hold the edge just as well as the other, more expensive carbon steel blades. In summary the Rodan knife by Condor is the best knife on its price range, and in the top three on its size (five inch blade) and purpose (bushcraft and survival) class. If you take good care of it (keep it clean and dry when stored) it will last a long time.

I was just browsing around and found this knife which caught my eye because it looked to be heavy duty (very stout). When I saw where it was made, I was intrigued. I don't think I have ever seen a knife made in El Salvador, cool. I decided to take a chance and went ahead and bought it. The handle is molded onto the blade; there is parting line flash in multiple spots around the handle. Where the blade goes into the handle, there are a couple places where the flash was trimmed, maybe with a utility knife, and the tool cut through the black epoxy coating into the steel of the blade. This a minor flaw, just make sure you keep a little oil on it at this point to prevent rust. The edge grind appears to be between a V and convex, closer to the convex. The edge isn't very sharp, but that is easily fixed. The blade thickness has a nice taper from the handle to the tip. The only real problem with my knife is the tip; it doesn't have a much of a tip. The tip doesn't look like the knife pictured on Amazon, which shows a nice point to the end of the blade. The tip on my knife is blunted and there is no cutting edge near the tip. A detail too important for a knife to be lacking. It will take some time to get the edge and tip right Steel is 1075, which rusts readily, so make sure to keep it protected with oil or other protectant, such as Barricade. Regarding the strength of the knife, I wish I knew the configuration of the tang through the handle. It would be nice if Condor would show a picture of the blade before the handle was molded on. The sheath is a pouch-type, with no fail-safe retention for the blade, but the knife sits deep, so it should stay put. This sheath is very nice; thick & supple gray leather, painted black, with nice, heavy rivets. All-in-all, a decent knife for the price; put a little time into getting a nice edge and you should get good service from it. Depending on how well the blade holds an edge, I would consider other Condor knives.

Out of the box, my first impression was of the sheathe, which is a thick, high-quality leather. It is much like a scandinavian fit and relies on friction from the handle to hold the knife in place rather than a retaining strap. It has a belt loop that will fit any size belt. It will take some use and maybe a couple aplications of saddle soap to get the leather supple enough for quick use, but I'd rather break in a thick sheath than tolerate a flimsy one. The knife's poly handle is thick and a little large, but that may not be a bad thing in terms of leverage during heavy use. Should one want to grind a couple of finger grooves for a more personal fit, ther eis plenty of room and I may just do that. The blade is thick! It's a balck epoxy coated high carbon steel and it will be very hard to damage this thick blade. It came from the box sharp, but not shaving sharp, understandable with such a beefy hunk of metal, but it literally only took 10 passes over my sharpening steel to get it there. The total length of the blade from the hilt is right at 5.5" and the actual cutting surface, measured on the curve is right at 5". This is important for those of us in Texas who can't legally carry a knife with a blade over 5.5". It is sturdy enough to puncture sheet metal, thick enough to be used for camp work and shaped just right for skinning. It is also very easy to get to a razor edge due to the high-carbon steel. If you keep it sharp and keep it oiled, this rather inexpensive knife will last you years. Totally reccommend!

My title line says all you need to know about this knife. The Condor Rodan is, indeed, a poor man's Becker BK2, and that aint bad folks. For around $30-35, you can get the Condor Rodan, a/k/a the poor man's BK2 if you want one. That's a great deal for the money, and I will let you in on a little secret too---the leather sheath that comes with the Rodan is MUCH BETTER than what you get with the BK2. Like the BK2, the Condor Rodan is a robust, tough, beast of a knife designed for heavy duty camping, hiking and other hard-nosed tasks that you would dare not perform with another knife. The blade is thick, but NOT as thick as the Becker BK2. I believe this is 1075 crovan steel which is not quite as good as the BK2 1095 steel, but that's why I call it the poor man's Becker BK2 because while it is inferior in terms of the steel and the handle, the knife is built very similar to and functions almost exactly like the BK2. In other words, there are very few tasks that the BK2 can do that the Condor Rodan cannot do, and that is what is most important here, because some people are looking to save a few bucks, and you can save about $35-40 with the Condor Rodan as opposed to the Becker BK2. In short, if I could only have one of these knives, yes, it would be the Becker BK2 which I MUST CONFESS that I LOVE, but if I didn't have the money, I would go for the Condor Rodan, and I would feel pretty darn comfortable in doing so. This knife will take care of you. The only things that I can think that the Becker BK2 could do that this knife can't would be hammering chores and prying tasks which the Becker BK2 is clearly better because it is a slightly thicker blade and heavier knife. I would prefer the BK2 to the Rodan in terms of chopping because I like the BK2 handle better for chopping, but the Rodan can do that for you as well. If you needed to cut some metal or steel, the BK2 would probably be better as well, but that's about it as far as tasks that the Rodan would not be as good at when compared to the BK2. I must say that I very much prefer the Becker BK2 handle to the Condor Rodan's handle, but the polypropylene handle on the Rodan is tough and appropriate for this knife. I can work with it, and I wouldn't complain a bit in a survival situation, but I just prefer the Becker handle as it is more comfortable in my hand. There might be some people out there who claim that the BK2 is a better batoning knife and it probably is, but the Rodan will perform that task competently as well. All in all, the Condor Rodan is a terrific alternative to the BK2 in terms of getting a similar knife for a much cheaper price. So, why the 4-star review instead of 5 stars? Well, the way I figure it is that I rated the Becker BK2 5 STARS as it is probably the best survival knife that money can buy, but while the Condor Rodan is not as good as the BK2, I feel comfortable calling it the poor man's Becker BK2 because while it is inferior in terms of craftsmanship and quality materials, it is only slightly inferior as in one (1) star inferior. Thus, 4/5 STARS from the SkillMaster for this beast!

I can't say enough about this knife. I purchased it in February of 2013 and have used it on several camping trips, and a week long wilderness survival course. The knife has met and exceeded all of my expectations. It outperformed and outlasted several TV personality endorsed survival knives that cost twice as much as the Rodan. And it accomplished everything required of it as easily as the instructors $300 custom knives. Its a great size for general camp ground or bushcraft work. It's thick and beefy enough that I had no concerns batoning or chopping with it. It was a bit thick for fine whittling or carving but that's true of all knives of this style, it's not this piece of equipment's purpose. I have large hands so I found the thick round handle very comfortable. I really like the finger choil to choke up on the blade for carving / shaving wood. The finish was enough to keep me from seeing any signs of rust on the knife as long as I wiped it down every night. The 1075 steel easily kept an edge through out heavy all day use, and I just touched it up with a fine sharpener every night out of habit more than necessity. The sheath was very nice leather and worth the price of this knife by itself. If you're looking for an absolute bomb proof knife for bushcraft or wilderness survival and want to do as little damage to your wallet as possible, then the Rodan is definatly worth considering.

Very cheap dont waste your money...... I sent this back right away after opening the box

Ok so if you've read a few of my reviews, it's no secret I love knives. I wasn't going to buy this particular knife because I was warned by my wife about future knife purchases. However, I was in the market for a hatchet. I read the reviews and did some online research to pretty much sum up my hatchet had taken the form of a Condor Rodan 5.25 knife. The sheath is awesome for leather lovers, it's holds it snug. The handle couldn't be destroyed by a nuclear explosion and it feels pretty good in my hand. Reshape and paracord it or whatever you wish. Run it over, throw it at a tree, or just use it as a hatchet. Seems legit. Okay, and I wanna say if you trying to choose between this and the Becker BK2, buy this knife. I know some people are gonna be angry with that statement. But I've seen both up close and this is more knife. I'd trust it, and I think the Becker's sheath is a joke. It's not even kydex or decent enough for what they want you to pay. My Kabar War Sword has a better sheath, and that's saying something. The Rodan is a winner all the way around. Use it and abuse it, it's a great carbon blade. No regrets.

If I had it to do over again I would have bought a different knife. Pros: Heavy enough that that you can do some basic chopping with it. Comes decently sharp. Has a leather sheath that is decent quality. ( if that is a pro for you ) Cons: Sharpening grind/edge was quite a bit more on one side than the other so point is offset when looking down at the top of the blade. Handle is ok but would be better if it had an open rear shank? like the Becker BK2 for pounding etc. No retention strap on the sheath, It just slides way into it and the pressure from that kinda holds it in place (at least till it gets some wear and stretching) This knife should be closer to $15-20. At this price point for the quality of the knife I would recommend to look for something of a better value or spend a little more money and get something nicer and better quality. I plan to just keep it around for our car camping kit.