Hey there folks,
This is not a review as such, but some musings on the Enzo Borka folder - I ordered it last week and have been playing around with it incessantly first. It is a very pretty knife and my first scandi folder. A couple pics:
I haven't taken this out to the woods yet, just played around with it at the house and cut some wood here. Few things I noticed right off the bat - the thumb stud is nearly useless, the blade is absurdly sharp and the knife locks up SOLID.
Re the thumb stud, I think this is partly down to being a lockback but also I think the thumb stud is just poorly placed. Really, it's very poorly placed because it's damn near impossible to open the knife with it and it gets in the way when sharpening - I took it out for now, but if I can loosen up the pivot a bit I might replace it.
The sharpness - the sharpest knife I've ever had out of the box. Silk scarf slicing stuff. But I'll touch back on that shortly.
The lock - really solid. I'll have to remind myself that it isn't a fixed blade. No discernible play in any direction.
The clip - very sturdy, but IMO it should be on the other side as it sits in the palm in use. It can be flipped - but I'll need to get a torx bit as I lost the right size!
For the record, the steel on this one is N690Co - a high-cobalt alloy steel, supposedly a good un.
Now back to the sharpness. sharp, it is. Annnd first use rolled the hell out of it! That was disappointing. I whittled some pine, did some power cuts, cut a few notches and the edge was a bit chewed up. Not too deep at all, but very noticeable.
What gives? In my experience, this is zero-grind related. I personally don't do zero grinds - this is my third Enzo (two O1 and one in this new fancy steel) and despite them putting zero-grinds on them, they've all done the same thing at the first hint of cutting, then I put a microbevel on and they become my favorite knife. Either I need to learn or they need to learn
Anyway, that's what I did - I worked up through the grits with wet or dry to take out the dinged edge (it really wasn't deep, I spent maybe 30 minutes total) and used 2000 grit paper to put on a little microbevel and stropped away - works like a champ now!
All in all, I really like this folder. It certainly feels sturdy, it has very nice lines and nice materials - but I don't understand what I'm doing so differently from all the other people who seem to like zero-ground Enzos! The edge just won't last for me until I get that little microbevel on there.
Don't get me wrong though, I love enzos and I will buy again - but that little bit of work is, for me, necessary on the factory knives.
I can't wait to try this folder in the woods.
Anyone else have one of these bad boys?
Pete
This is not a review as such, but some musings on the Enzo Borka folder - I ordered it last week and have been playing around with it incessantly first. It is a very pretty knife and my first scandi folder. A couple pics:
I haven't taken this out to the woods yet, just played around with it at the house and cut some wood here. Few things I noticed right off the bat - the thumb stud is nearly useless, the blade is absurdly sharp and the knife locks up SOLID.
Re the thumb stud, I think this is partly down to being a lockback but also I think the thumb stud is just poorly placed. Really, it's very poorly placed because it's damn near impossible to open the knife with it and it gets in the way when sharpening - I took it out for now, but if I can loosen up the pivot a bit I might replace it.
The sharpness - the sharpest knife I've ever had out of the box. Silk scarf slicing stuff. But I'll touch back on that shortly.
The lock - really solid. I'll have to remind myself that it isn't a fixed blade. No discernible play in any direction.
The clip - very sturdy, but IMO it should be on the other side as it sits in the palm in use. It can be flipped - but I'll need to get a torx bit as I lost the right size!
For the record, the steel on this one is N690Co - a high-cobalt alloy steel, supposedly a good un.
Now back to the sharpness. sharp, it is. Annnd first use rolled the hell out of it! That was disappointing. I whittled some pine, did some power cuts, cut a few notches and the edge was a bit chewed up. Not too deep at all, but very noticeable.
What gives? In my experience, this is zero-grind related. I personally don't do zero grinds - this is my third Enzo (two O1 and one in this new fancy steel) and despite them putting zero-grinds on them, they've all done the same thing at the first hint of cutting, then I put a microbevel on and they become my favorite knife. Either I need to learn or they need to learn
Anyway, that's what I did - I worked up through the grits with wet or dry to take out the dinged edge (it really wasn't deep, I spent maybe 30 minutes total) and used 2000 grit paper to put on a little microbevel and stropped away - works like a champ now!
All in all, I really like this folder. It certainly feels sturdy, it has very nice lines and nice materials - but I don't understand what I'm doing so differently from all the other people who seem to like zero-ground Enzos! The edge just won't last for me until I get that little microbevel on there.
Don't get me wrong though, I love enzos and I will buy again - but that little bit of work is, for me, necessary on the factory knives.
I can't wait to try this folder in the woods.
Anyone else have one of these bad boys?
Pete
