Anyone heard of Condor Knives?

Yes, they are very good knives for the money. There were come quality control issues on some earlier models but Condor listened to their customers and made the necessary changes and improvements. The knives are pretty popular in the bushcraft arena. I sell a few of their models. Not must best selling, but I have sold quite a few. I have zero complaints. The Fidelis is a new model of theirs so there may be limited feedback.

They are made somewhere in Central or South America as I recall and are made from 1075 simple carbon steel. 1075 is a pretty good cutlery steel for hard use knives because it balances edge retention, toughness and ease of sharpening. The Condor knives are generally regarded as giving very good value for the money, sort of like Mora knives.

I am wearing a Condor Fidelis as I type this. I am new to the knife world, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

I was disappointed in the knife's lack of sharpness when I received it. I have been working on edge with a variety of sharpeners since (Lansky Diamond Hones, Whetstone, and pull-through V-type diamond sharpener). To me it looks like the edge angle was greater on the left side than on the right. I am slowly moving towards changing this to a consistent 20 degree angle on both sides. The 1075 carbon steel they use seems pretty hard.

I do like the kydex sheath and the paracord wrapped handle.

I am hopeful that I will learn to like this knife. For $17.99 I figured I couldn't go wrong. I would happily buy a knife made in El Salvador rather than one from the PRC.

Yes. Two I bought for my son. I posted these reviews on another site. The first a Mini-Bushlore.

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I just received my Mini-Bushlore this morning my first Condor product.

With my SAK for scale..




Fit and finish is pretty good for a knife in this price range. My hands run a smallish medium, and it isn't that bad a fit..




I was ready to sharpen it right away. However it took hair off my arm straight out of the box.. So I left it as is for now.





It is a cool,windy, overcast,misty day here but I wanted to give it a quick workout.

Cut a section of branch with my SAK...




And made a rough mini-spoon.




For its size it works rather well in my hand. I didn't notice any hot spots,and my hand doesn't ache. If you are in the market for an inexpensive pocket knife that doesn't fold, well give this one a try. I'll scrounge up a pocket sheath for this one. It might just become a carry knife to keep my SAK company.

One more thing. Though it wasn't that much wood work the edge held up fine. Still took hair off my arm.

Second a Sapien.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------About a month ago, on a whim , I purchased a Condor Mini-Bushlore. I was favorably impressed, did a little review here, and ended up giving it to my son. My boy loves that knife, and he wanted another full tang, carbon steel knife about the same size as his Buck 102 to use as a Bushcraft knife.


I ,of course, said sure and we looked into the Condor offerings. (Since my boy's tastes in knives changes more than his underwear I ain't about to shell out big bucks)

Enter the Sapien. Ad copy and specs..
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The Sapien is designed with the every day outdoor knife user in mind. It takes the desirable features of many smaller survival knives and combines them into one ergonomic package, a full tang round handled work horse that can be used all day with no wear and tear to the hand! The Sapien comes with a quality dark brown leather sheath, and is sure to please the owner.

Specifications

Code: 60007
Stock : CTK239-4HC
Blade Length: 4"
Blade Thickness: 1/8"
Overall Length: 8-1/4"
Blade Material: 1075 High Carbon Steel
Blade Finish: Epoxy Black Powder Coating
Sheath: Handcrafted Welted Leather
Weight: 0.38 lbs.
Made in El Salvador
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It arrived on Friday. I guess we got the size right. Matches up well with his 102.



Out of the box was a drastic difference than my experience with the mini-bushlore however. The knife was extremely dull, to cut butter I'd have to baton it. The grind is very thick, and uneven.



It took a while by hand but I was finally able to get it to draw cut newspaper and scrape arm hair.



The grind is still very thick, and fine work suffers due to it. Notching is able to be done, but it is harder and less clean than I like.



I didn't even bother to take photos of the "curls" I was able to eek out of this knife.

Batoning a small branch is doable...



Drilling works..







The handle, as the ad copy suggests , is awesome. Very comfortable.







Since this knife is only like $27, it wasn't worth sending back.I don't really expect perfection in this price range. Just wish more attention had been given to grinding the edge. I still have a few days to work on the edge before I have my son, so I am sure I can get a little better performance out of it.

Would I buy another Condor product? Maybe. I seem to be 1/1 right now.

Last edited by dayhiker; 06-18-2011 at 05:40 PM.

Amazing value for the money, Condors may not be the prettiest knives, but they perform well above their price range.

Their Bushcraft Basic series are really good.

I removed the black coating from mine, and cleaned it up a little.





Condor's also come with very good leather sheaths.

Condor Bushcraft Basic 5 "at work".

Seems to be a bargain.

Reprofile issues aside I am impressed.

Reprofile issues aside I am impressed.

Click to expand...

They're not too bad. If you are comfortable with hand or power tools, they are a bargain for what you get.

If you expect out of the box perfection, well than maybe you should look elsewhere.

At least for now.

They do listen to customers and are working on it. Their 2011 production is better than 2010, so maybe 2012 will be even better.

I have a Condor Nessmuk.



Pros:

It works well for camp tasks.
The handle is comfortable.
The sheath is extremely well made and is usable by lefties.

Cons:

Workmanship on the scales was only ok.
I didn't care for the gray finish the blade had so I sanded most of it off.

I have Tangara neck knife and like it. It doesn't have the paracord on it. I am no expert on neck knves. I got the sheepsfoot/wharncliffe design as I like that blade shape for practical cutting activities.

I have the bushlore knife. I prefer the spear point blade shape to the bushcraft knife design. It is inexpensive, and should take a lot of abuse if needed. I have not used it yet for anything. It was pretty sharp out of the box. The sheath is very good.

I have a number of their machetes and really like them. The Golok and Parang are my favorites. I use these often.

I have a few Condors. Great knives for the money. My 2010 had to be professionally sharpened ($5, big deal), but all my 2011 models were great out of the box.