Ontario Knife - Falcon Ranger - First impression

[the count]

Just got my first knife in 5160 steel. Also my first Ontario knife. Here's my initial impression...

Very nice heft, if that's what you like. Love the micarta handle but its almost too short. I don't have big hands in the sense of long fingers but my hand is chubby and pretty wide. But the handle still works, after all this is not a bowie knife so you cant expect a huge handle. The blade is very thick, over 1/4". If you ever have to pry something you want to have this knife with you. Sharpness out of the box is OK but there was some hesitation with my copy paper slice test. I touched it up with a 1000 and then 6000 grit water-stone and now pretty much passes the copy paper test but nothing like a Fallkniven. But thats OK with this knife because this is a chopper more than a slicer. I would rate ease of sharpening at a 5 on a scale of 1-10 (1 being extremely hard). This steel is supposed to be very tough but I cant confirm or deny it at this point. Most people diss the included sheath. I actually find it OK but surely not perfect. In my opinion the Falcon Ranger most closely competes with the slightly larger Becker BK2. At a street price of about $60 this is a good deal if you are looking for a heavy duty, rather compact, survival knife.

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Ontario-Knif...U1/$(KGrHqZHJC!E-kTSe!V5BPvI5ODRe!~~60_57.JPG

 

[hso]

Let us know how it holds up in use.

 

[RaceM]

I make all my heavy duty use blades out of 5160. Properly zone heat treated they're pernt near unbreakable (believe me, I've tried). That one you've got there oughtta hold up well.

 

[the count]

I make all my heavy duty use blades out of 5160. Properly zone heat treated they're pernt near unbreakable (believe me, I've tried). That one you've got there oughtta hold up well.

Interesting....I will be ordering an Esee 5 soon. Thats in 1095 which theoretically is inferior to 5160 yet Esee has an awesome reputation for toughness. How can that be? Is it all about the tempering and heat treatment?

 

[RaceM]

5160 has molybdenum in it which gives it a "memory", great for springs as it'll want to return to shape. Toughness can be kind of subjective on the definition. I define that as decent edge holding ability and capability of taking some abuse. During testing of one of my designs for search & rescue I plunged it, repeatedly, through a truck windshield (broke off about 1/16" at the very tip). To test the blade design itself, and my heat treating, I clamped a blade (sans grip) to a trailer tongue, then put an 8' cheater pipe on the tang. Didn't break it after flexing to 45 degrees.

5160 is meant to flex and return to shape, and it does well at it. For edge holding, but still be able to flex, I zone heat treat so the edge gets quenched at bronze, with the spine at blue.

Ain't nothing wrong with 1095, I use that for straight cutting blades. For abuse, I find 5160 to be better.

 

[7.62 Solution]

Just a sidebar comment on Ontario Knife, I purchased a survival knife from an online seller and there was a defect in the scabbard. I contacted the manufacturer directly through email explained the issue and had a new replacement mailed within days. To me this is top notch cust. service. I offered to mail back the bad one but the person I was communicating with said don't bother. I buy US made whenever I can, and an experience like this confirms my decision.