Svord Peasant Knife

I've carried a knife just like this for longer than I can remember. Unfortunately, it disappeared while I was working earlier this week. Found this seller, who had one left in stock, and immediately ordered it as a replacement.This is a DEAD SIMPLE knife. No fancy features, no fiddly locking bits, it's just a blade and a handle, and that all it needs to be.The steel is not rust-proof, but use it for a while and if you care for it properly it will develop a solid black oxide patina. It's hard enough to take a great edge, and tough enough to hold it. I only ever sharpened my old one every few months; that's all it needed.There's no lock or assisted opening, but the design of the tang means that opening it one-handed is simple, and it can't fold if you have a firm grip on the handle. Simple and effective.This knife is inexpensive enough that you don't worry about messing it up, but will become a trusted part of your EDC.

first off, cut me some slack, i'm 62 years old. I got this in the mail today,and yes, the grind is a bit uneven. but ten minutes in front of the t.v. with an "india stone" and a piece of leather and it's sharp enough to shave. but that doesn't mean crap, I can sharpen a piece of banding you can shave with.in fact, for most of my life we sharpened everything with a coarse stone that left scratches all down the edge,and used that edge to skin mink, muskrat, fox, etc.a polished edge with all this" 1200 grit on a mousepad " is fine if you need to impress people with your sharping prowess, but in the real world, unless you're a surgeon, folks, it just ain't needed. hit it with whatever stone you got, learn from your mistakes,and get outside and cut up some stuff! this knife steel reminds me of the old boker "tree brand" steel, fairly soft, but easy to sharpen and will hang in there and do whatever needs doing with a knife. except "battonning", which is something else that has has come along , like an urban myth, to ensnare the young and unknowing.NEVER in 62 years of building fires have we EVER needed to split wood to feed or start a canpfire. yes, i've seen it done with this knife, but seriously....like cow-tipping, this was started by folks that were raised on concrete sidewalks instead of dirt roads....this is a good knife to do most anything a knife should be used for.I like it so far. if you're really worried about rusting, just stop washing behind your ears, and smear a little of your own oil on the blade when out and about. let it develop it's own patina, which it will if you take care of it and stop trying to keep a shiny blade.your girlfriend don't care about such things.now buy this knife,fix it up a little, don't worry that the "blade finish" which is just scale and oil residue from the heat treat...not a finish at all..wahes off. you kids. you'll learn, somma you anyway. now where did I leave my beer?ok, it's now october 22. my final impressions? I LOVE IT. excellent edge holding, easy to maintain,fun to use. peels potatos,whittles, best deal in a real knife i've seen since the moras...get a few...

I've had the opportunity to try out this knife and it made a very strong impression on me. While it has some very strong points, overall I am not terribly pleased. This review would have been three stars, but the price earns it one more. At this writing, the knife can be had for about $16 including shipping. I don't know of ANY other folder of this quality and utility at that price point. The nearest competition would be about twice the price.The knife has no locking mechanism. Simple friction holds it open or closed, and it often reminds me of an old-fashioned straight razor in the way it handles. It has a big tang sticking out when closed, and of course this part folds into the handle when the knife is open. The tang makes the knife easy to grab in your pocket, and easy to open and close one-handed. It also strengthens the knife against lateral pressure-- this is one folder that could probably be used for a LITTLE prying without damage. But of course the tang looks funny and makes the folded knife bulkier.The tang acts as a "lock" when the knife is in use. With your hand wrapped around the handle (and the tang), the blade cannot fold. It isn't nearly as secure as a good mechanical lock, but it's much more secure than most of the slip-joint folders we grew up using. The tang also has a hole to which a lanyard could be attached.The knife is very easy to assemble and disassemble, even for someone as mechanically incompetent as myself. Two rather simple screws hold the whole thing together. They are also used to adjust tension on the blade. The screws, once adjusted, seem to stay put very well. I have not noticed that they loosen up in use.Being able to take the knife apart and reassemble it quickly and easily is a bonus. If you were doing some messy work with the knife (dressing a deer for instance), you could get all the nooks and crannies clean and dry very easily. The black plastic handle scales are cheap and durable. They are also very tough and give about the right amount of grip. The handle shape is very comfortable and functional.The blade is carbon steel and of course will rust pretty easily. I recommend cleaning the petroleum oil off the blade when it arrives and wiping it down with a food-grade oil (like vegetable oil), in case you want to use the knife to prepare food. The carbon steel is cheaper than stainless and easier for the manufacturer to work with. While lots of great knives are made of stainless, the very best-performing knives are still made of carbon steel. Part of the blade and the tang have some kind of dark coating on them. It is attractive and I imagine it helps prevent rust on those portions.The blade has a flat grind and a convex edge. As one of the other reviewers pointed out, the edge was pretty lopsided-- the angle of grind was much steeper on one side than the other. For those with OCD, this will mean some time spent with a coarse stone resetting the bevel on one side. The knife still performed well, despite this flaw. The convex edge took me a few tries to sharpen, as I have not dealt with one much before.The blade is very thick near the cutting edge, especially for a folder. This adds a lot of strength where it is most useful, but also diminishes cutting efficiency. The blade shape is excellent for push cuts and draw cuts, but not so great for puncturing. The tip is a little too rounded to puncture well.The knife arrived sharp and held its edge well. It cut well and when I wanted it sharper, it was easy to sharpen (after a little trial-and-error with the convex edge). I tried cutting cardboard boxes into strips. The knife had a slight tendency to drag through the cardboard, caused by the thick blade. It was more like plowing than cutting. The knife would "push" cardboard out on either side as the cut was made. A thinner blade would have cut more efficiently, but also of course would not be as strong. The knife would likely handle other materials better than it did cardboard.Even when the knife started tearing cardboard instead of cutting it, the blade still felt sharp to the touch, and would have cut other materials quite well. Cardboard is just hard to cut, which is why I chose it for testing.The knife comes with a neat little brochure detailing the history of the design and the Svord company. It also includes a warranty registration card.If you need a good pocket knife on a budget, this would be a very good one. An Opinel folder would also be great, but the Svord is more of a heavy-duty knife. The Opinel is lighter and more size-efficient, but the Svord can be opened one-handed. The Opinel has a mechanical lock and a slimmer blade. It is also available in stainless steel. But it cannot be taken apart so easily. Well, you get the idea. They are very different knives and it is hard to compare them. But if you need a hard-use folder and you only have $20 to spend, the Svord Peasant Knife is the clear choice.If you have $40 to spend, get something else.For me, the thing that hurts this knife most is the carbon steel. While the steel is excellent quality, it will rust, and in an era of plentiful, high-quality stainless steel folders, I can't justify buying a carbon steel blade. If I lived in a cold climate, it wouldn't be a problem. I'd never sweat on it. But Arkansas is hot most of the year, and that means that any knife in your pocket will get sweat on it. A lot of sweat. This could be a great knife for your bug-out bag or camping gear-- a knife that doesn't get carried in a pocket-- but if you carry it in a bag, then a fixed-blade will generally give you a lot more utility than a folder. For the same price you could have a Mora, in stainless or carbon steel, that will give you better service.There is a sheath available for this knife, so you can carry it and use it like a fixed blade. That is fine, but this folder will never have the strength of a fixed blade.Ultimately, while this is a fun, unusual, and impressive knife, technology has moved on and this 17th-century design needs an update. Without going to stainless steel, a locking blade, and omitting the funky tang, this knife is more a curiosity than a useful implement. I understand the marketing being employed here-- EVERYBODY makes a stainless folder with a locking blade and no tang. Svord is going for that part of the market that wants something different. But unless you are part of that market segment, you will probably do better to let this one pass by.These knives are made in New Zealand. Most of the work is done on machines and then the knives are assembled and finished by hand.