Okay, this is a cheap knife, and it looks like a cheap knife, which is part of it's appeal: It has a certain understated menace that's a great counterpoint to its outstanding practicality and surprisingly good fit and finish. One look at this thing, and you can tell it ain't a Spyderco or something you ordered from an LL Bean Catalog. It looks like the kind of knife you'd get mugged with in the 1970s, but it's a far more versatile and well-made tool than the Mexican gravity knives I bought on 42nd Street as a teenager, and it somehow manages to be elegant and kind of vulgar and disturbing at the same time. I would say it probably has the best price-to-value ratio of any cheap knife I've bought on Amazon. Put it this way: The action is definitely better than the low-end Kershaws I've bought. It opens more easily, and the metal tolerances are tighter, which is astonishing, though it's not in the same league as Kershaw's higher-end offerings, like the Launch 4, which costs a lot more and is a lot smaller. I The spring is strong, and it doesn't take much pressure on the spur on the blade to open it. It's been my EDC carry for months now, and the blade still isn't wobbling at all. I use it mostly for opening packages or other mundane household chores, which is its primary purpose, but I always open-carry a knife for last-ditch self defense whenever I'm in a dodgy neighborhood (if it's legal per city, state, and federal law, which it is most places I go except some of my workplaces, and of course it stays home when I'm there.) Another plus: The backside of the blade is sharp enough to finish cutting packing tape if you start the cut with the front, and that's a good idea, because this seems to be cheap steel-- I'm sure it will need sharpening pretty soon, but not at excessively short intervals. 7CR17 -- if that's what it really is -- is actually a very solid alloy for survival knives. The clip is pretty loose, but not the worst I've seen, and it's never dropped out of my pocket when I've been driving. I'm no knife expert, but I have owned dozens of knives, and this one vastly exceeded my expectations. From the other reviews, it looks like quality control may vary, but I definitely wound up with a good specimen. The included sharpening stone is a nice plus, and it even comes in a little velvet bag.
