Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Idaho's SCAR Blades, New Company, Outstanding Quality...Review En Route.

I caught myself a Grizzly at a very fair price on one of the well-known knife retail sites...& I love it.

SCAR Blades is a very young, family-owned company out of Idaho, USA.  I get excited about new knife companies emerging, because the industry is growing all the time.  It's sort of fun to guess at a company's intentions, & then watch what happens as they become more well-known.  Is a new company huffing & puffing "Cold Steel" style, about their products?  (Don't get me wrong, I own LOTS of Cold Steel, their marketing is just silly).  Or are they the real deal?  SCAR Blades, brainchild of the Radford brothers, seems to be the real deal indeed!  These are thick, military/police grade knives built for a beating, working knives, you know what I mean.  These are US made, purpose built blades.

     After checking out SCAR's website, I checked around, & my favorite retail knife site was seemingly one of a small handful of sites carrying them.  I took a chance.  I got my SCAR Grizzly today, & I have to say...really well done.  Everything you'd expect from say, another great Idaho firm, Tops Knives USA, but, in my opinion, priced a bit more fairly...but similarly constructed.  The sheath system is great, the design is great, the compact size is great.  I am seriously looking forward to putting this knife through its paces.  Look for my review in a few weeks, & check these guys out.  I'll be carrying my Grizzly on the belt, & just dropped into the side pocket of my Ranger pants, to see what my carry preference will be.  Small batch production,  family owned & operated, USA made.  Can't go wrong.
     

7 comments:

Unknown said...

I really hope there's room in the knife market for small, family run companies. Very soon there's gonna be a new one opening up in Virginia if everything goes well. I'll keep you posted

Steve A said...

I just order the SCAR Crusader this past Friday. I am very excited to comapare it to the TOPS Knives I own. (Smoke Jumper, FireStrike 46) It is next to impossible to find a SCAR Blade review. Once I receive the new knife I will post a review of the Crusader.

Aaron said...

Dropthe Hammer, Cool yeah sorry I haven't had time to hash out a full review for this one, I can definitely say, it's well worth my $75 dollars or so, & that I'd definitely buy another SCAR knife next time I'm in the market for a fixed blade. If you're on facebook, feel free to post your impressions of your SCAR on our wall, hell, even put pix up there if you want, & let us know how you like it. I really dig my Grizzly because it's very compact.
-Aa

Steve A said...

I received my SCAR Crusader yesterday. The quality of this knife is excellent. It is extremly sharp out of the box. It is obvious that this is a hand made knife, not from a cookie cutter mold. The ergonomics of the handle and blade are very nice. I have only used it to cut up and apple and some celery in the kitchen. I'll field test this weekend. The handle is not as thick as my TOPS handles, which I really like for chopping, but it's longer and provides a good grip. The blade finish is beautiful, the powder coating is clean. The jimping on the blade and handle is very well done and useful for various grips. The kydex sheath hold the blade tight, it will not fall from the sheath. More to come post field testing.......

Aaron said...

Good deal Drop! Feel free to post pix & info as i said on our facebook page also, I will pass your positive feedback onto Marci & Casey @ SCAR! Please keep me updated on the knife's performance, I think I want to get their new Archangel model next!! -Aa

Steve A said...

Some time has passed and I have since used the Crusader for more than cutting up fruit and vegtables. By the way, I have also purchased the Grizzly. Followed your lead on that. I am in Southern Marlyand and the weather is warming up enough for freshwater pond fishing. I have used the Crusader for clearing brush and small trees (2 inches diameter) to create a fishing spot. I was actually impressed with how well and how quick I was able to chop down the small trees and cut away the brush. On to the fishing, I caught 2 pike one 24 inches and a second 27 inches. Caught other fish, but threw'em back. I used the Crusader to fillet the pike and even after chopping and cutting small trees and brush the knife was incredibly sharp and filleted the fish with unbelievable ease. I was even able to use it for removing the Y bones in the pike which is fine work. I am totally sold on SCAR Blades. I especially like the fact that the Crusader is light and very comfortable to carry on your belt all day long, but perform as well as the heavier knives, and seems to be better for the intricate cutting job.

Aaron said...

Thank you sir!!! Your feedback is most welcome, glad you are happy with your purchases, I am too so far, I just can't decide which SCAR I want next. i find them to be much like Tops knives, but priced, as I mentioned somewhere, a bit more fairly for the same quality. Impressive field testing, sounds like you managed to do more real-world testing with your SCAR blades than I sometimes manage to do in a month! If you have time you should start your own blog, very good details! I am excited to use the Grizzly on trout up @ Ross lake in the North Cascades of WA here this summer, (if i can catch anything), I think it's an all around great compact fixed blade...& my actual review will be coming soon now that i'll have some additional free time....thanks for sharing with us...good stuff! -Aa