The Harnds Talisman is a chinese designed and made knife that stacks up an impressive value. It’s a larger unassisted flipper running on ball bearings for under $30 most places. Gearbest sent this to me so I could tell you what I think.
Image Gallery – http://imgur.com/a/p6BRi
Video Review
Use the coupon code JonMCK9168 to get a sale price of $22.79
at http://www.gearbest.com/pocket-knives-and-folding-knives/pp_593383.html?lkid=11002175
This knife is running on small bearings and flips really smoothly right out of the box. It’s an unassisted flipper, Many budget blades or even higher end knives need some break in time. The Talisman was really smooth right out of the box and centering was great. It did have a bit of excess oil that needed wiped off but that’s not a bad thing. The flipper seems to be at a pretty good angle but not perfect. It has some jimping http://i.imgur.com/5pg0pwU.jpg on the flipper itself to aid in deployment.
The blade is a modified drop point shape, that’s full flat ground in a satin finish http://i.imgur.com/x3UjKZ0.jpg and made of AUS-8 Steel. I like drop point blades and I find it to be a great slicer both in practical everyday tasks like opening packages and envelopes, and food prep. AUS-8 is an ok steel, slightly better than 8Cr13Mov. Some big knife companies like SOG use it on a lot of knives that cost way more. Out of the box sharpness was good but not hair popping sharp like some of the Ganzo’s I have gotten. This should be a quick touch up though and then it will be great, just don’t expect it to hold an edge without some up keep. The grinds on each side of the blade are nice and even. Lockup http://i.imgur.com/2OaMqLJ.jpg is a little early on this liner lock. I would guess this will wear in and improve as you use the knife.
This knife users a custom pivot screw head the presentation side http://i.imgur.com/MmGnBpC.jpg. On the locking side it uses T8 Torx for the pivot and body screw, on the clip screw it’s a T7 Torx. The screws are flat and appear to be well made and I didn’t have any issues with them stripping.
The black G10 is contoured and profiled http://i.imgur.com/x3UjKZ0.jpg. It fits in my hand decently but isn’t the most grippy surface. The hump in the middle isn’t quite in the right place for my hand but it’s not too bad either. If you’re used to G10 from Ganzo this is much smoother. When in the hand this isn’t a problem but when pulling it out of my pocket I wish I had a little more grip. The look is attractive and with the G10 layers it almost looks like wood grain a little. There is jimping on the top spine of the blade thats really nice. It’s not too aggressive, or to passive.
The clip is thankfully a very deep carry http://i.imgur.com/IfWGlNa.jpg. It’s a loop over design, tip up right side carry only. It is removable but you would have to disassemble the entire knife and you can’t mount it any other way. It’s a little shorter than most and I think this makes it a little harder to grab, or you have to adjust your grip. The clip fits pretty tight on the body of the knife yet at the same time is pretty easy to insert onto a pocket. Overall it’s a great clip!
The liners opposite the lock side of the knife are milled and skeletonized to reduce weight. That’s a good thing unfortunately it’s still not the lightest knife at 5.2 Oz Ounces. That said for a knife that has a 3.5” blade and decent blade stock it’s not too bad. At this price range I don’t expect milled liners. This is a simi flow through http://i.imgur.com/0hFUY0Q.jpg design and the backspacer runs about half the length of the knife and has a nice texture milled into it for added grip. The lanyard hole is oblong and on the larger side. This will make attaching paracord easy if you want to do that. All the surfaces have been nicely finished and there are not any sharp spots where there should not be any. This attention to detail is impressive for this price category. The packaging is nothing special but it does include a manual which can be seen here http://i.imgur.com/OslF0BB.jpg
On the Gearbest website this knife is as “Girl Pocket Knife” and I can’t figure out why. Nothing about it is specific to one gender or another. It’s a little more gentlemanly but definitely on the larger side of things. Overall this is a pretty solid knife for the price. It carriers better in the pocket then I thought it would due to the contoured edges and deep carry clip. For the price point the steel is what i would expect and it looks like Harnds has good quality control throughout production. The action on this knife is great and I expect it to get better as it breaks in more and if I take it apart and clean out the bearings and lubricate. If you are looking for a 3.5” flipper on bearings for under $30 I would definitely recommend you add this to your list.
Use the coupon code JonMCK9168 to get a sale price of $22.79
at http://www.gearbest.com/pocket-knives-and-folding-knives/pp_593383.html?lkid=11002175