It was some time ago when I received this nice little parcel from Hungary. Mr. Szabó is a very friendly and professional craftsman, and shipping and payment was executed with textbook accuracy on his part.
The knife came with this extremely durable and well - executed pouch.
By this detail you can see it´s propably an industrial product. But it works great, and is durable to boot. All seams were well executed, the rivets tight, the leather has a straight grain and even colour.
All three blades run on this pivot. The mushroom blade, which can be used as a tool for foraging herbs and pruning trees, is a one-hand opener due to a misunderstanding, for it´s not legal in Germany. Also I wanted the utility blade to be locking, also, and being a two-hand opener, too. But the blades are perfectly made, come with a razor edge out of the box, and they are all made from 1.4034 with a Rockwell hardness of ca. 56 HRC. The one-hand opening pin can be removed by a small Philips head screw. The pivot is riveted. The blades had a bit of play, but with this design it´s relatively easy to adjust them by peening the rivet some more, if you are careful.
The knife´s handle is made from native staghorn, and shaped to accomodate the hawkbill mushroom blade, and with this one it works awesome.
The utility blade.
The saw. Razor sharp, even better than a Vic´s, and that is some achievement! I´d use this knife for the saw alone. Also, it has a hollow grind, which makes for easier cutting.
Now, this is awkward. The utility blade apparently is taken from a backlock design knife, but runs on a slip joint spring, which makes for a bit of a low retention force.
The springs, however, are meticulously crafted again. Mr. Szabó certainly knows his trade, and I can only guess he had nothing lying around at the moment.
Less than optimal was that the saw is moving against the liners, which wears down the edge. Not good.
Another point of criticism I would have is that the liner runs all the way over to the opposite side when blocking, making for less room for wear. But this is a minor criticism, for it holds the blade open fairly well, and withstands even a very rigorous spine whack test.
Overall, this knife is a beautiful piece of craftsmanship with minor faults, some due to my failure to define the task more clearly, but some leaving room for improvemt. When I talked to Mr. Szabó, he offered me to rework the knife, but since this would cost him and me too much, I decided to keep it instead. I look forward to work with him again, and the flaws are nothing to be ashamed of. Just keep a lookout:-).
By this detail you can see it´s propably an industrial product. But it works great, and is durable to boot. All seams were well executed, the rivets tight, the leather has a straight grain and even colour.
