This is an English version of a review or maybe overview of a knife that is part of a series called "The search for the Perfect pocketknife" and this happen to be part no 23. Not really logical but the rest is written in Swedish. This is one of the latest texts on the subject. It started some years ago with Spyderco Delica 4 followed by it's antagonist from Benchmade, the Mini Griptilian and continued from there.
I'm quite sure that I will never find the "perfect" knife in any true sense of the word. But getting there is both fun and entertaining as you all probably are well aware of. And you nice people are most welcome to follow my journey there.
Today I give you a piece of refined Japanese cutting tool.
This model is hardly new to the market since it been around for more than ten years and is part of the MCusta "Basic-line". What caught my eye and interest back when I saw it the first time was the elegant lines, well chosen materials and the reputation about Japanese quality. I was already familiar with lots of other knives from Seki City like Fallkniven and several Spydercomodels which are made there and I have had the privilege to handle knives from MCustas line of kitchen knives at more than one occasion.
The MCusta knives are available in several versions with or without damascus steel and with handles in materials like Micarta, Corian and a number of different woods like "rosewood", ebony, cocobolo and quince. The charm with wood is that one piece isn't exactly like another and therefore have it's own expression.
I was at the time in pursue of a sleek and elegant knife with some character and the choice fell on wood even if black Micarta or white Corian with dark contrasting damasteel also were tempting alternatives. I also went for a standard blade to follow the idea about simple elegance.
"Machine Custom", Japanese craftmanship combined with modern production technology
The first impression was very good since the knife comes in a rather nice box and at first glance the knife looked exactly as I pictured it. Second impression was however not good at all. I will come back to why.
Blade
This knife is equipped with a rather pointy droppointblade with a well defined top swedge that run for almost the entire length of the blade. The tip is quite thin but not the needlepoint you find on a Kershaw Leek for example but very capable and a bit more sturdy which is commendably. The finish is a very well made satin that gives a nice shine and luster to the blade especially when light is reflected in the grind and swedge. In short it's a beautiful blade.
A sleek blade in VG-10 steel
The blade length is 3.25" and the edge is almost as long, proportions which I highly appreciate. The tumbstuds also acts like bladestops so they are placed as close to the handle as possible and are therefore not in the way at all during work and through cuts. An area where many knife models fails unfortunately.
Accordning to me MCusta could however have crammed another millimeter or two of blade into the handle in order to maximize use of space. In general I like when the ratio between handle and blade on folding knives is as close to 1:1 as possible. Exceptions always exists but it's a good ground rule.
The bladesteel is Hitachis VG-10, a quite common steel in knives made in Japan. It's a steel I really like and have worked plenty with since it's found in several of my kitchen knives from among others Shiki and Hattori. It's easy to sharpen, takes a really good edge and is fairly corrosion resistant even if I don't leave VG-10 blades with lemonjuice on them overnight. The edge retention isn't the best if compared to later "super steels" of course but is still adequate. I might add that I don't mind using my rods or strop from time to time.
The grind on this MCusta knife is not one of my favourites though - a fairly low hollowgrind. That usually means certain problems due to a wedgelike profile on the blade and a clear shoulder between grind and flatside. That in turn contributes to less good cutting performance especially in fibrous materials. That's the theory anyway.
But Mcusta has done some important things right. First of all the radius of the hollowgrind is very large. So large that it almost feels flat to the touch. Then the transition from bevel to side is very smooth and rounded. And maybe more important, the thickness of the bladestock is not more than three millimeters to begin with. If you combine that with a blade that is rather thin behind the edge you've got a knife that cuts well in most materials.
I might add that this knife came with one of the sharpest factoryedges I ever encountered. It shaved hair with ease. Later encounters with knives from MCusta tells me that it wasn't a fluke either.
Handle
The construction is a standardarized open frame made out of steel liners. They are connected with three spacers and a pivot. One of them acts like a bladestop in closed position. When the knife is unfolded the thumblugs acts as stop pins.
A handle made out of 3D-sculpted Cocobolo with finger grooves
The frame is not drilled out in any way but despite that this is a light knife weighing in at mere 3.25 oz. But of course there are some weight to be saved if they aimed for really light weight. But the knife is well balanced and in current configuration the balance point is found exactly where it should be - at the fingerchoil. That makes for a knife that feels fast and lively in hand.
The knife can be dissassembled for maintanance if you so wish. Something slightly unusual is that the head for the adjustable pivotscrew is made for an ordinary screwdriver or coin and not the on knives more common torx. A solution otherwise found on as diverse brands as EKA and Emerson.
The sides is made out of wood and is very well crafted when it comes to texturing, finish and fit against the frame. In this case the wood is Cocobolo. I've read on Mcustas homepage that they plan to change to other woods because of quality issues. Henceforth they plan on using "Indian Rosewood", which is some form of Jacaranda, to a large extent. Personally I prefer the larger grainpattern on the Cocobolo from a pure aestethic viewpoint.
Open back construction with barrelspcacers and based on a steel frame
The modelnumber "MC24" means that this is the sligthly thicker version of the knife without a pocketclip. There is also a thinner "MC14" with a slimmer handle equipped with a clip for those who prefer that set up.
The execution of the woodhandle is exceptionally well done but there are actually some small misses in the overall finish. One of the most obvious is that the edge of the pivotscrew head is almost sharp and feels a bit uncomfortable in some grips. I have since I wrote this fixed that little issue.
Another detail that I don't like is how the inside of the frame is finished. It is certainly both polished and rounded. But not enough I think. It still can be felt if you drag your finger along the back of the handle. If you have an open construction it's important that you chamfer and polish the insides properly so that they don't interfere with the hands softer parts when the knife is held hard.
One of few misses - the slightly protruding pivotheadscrew is fairly sharp
Otherwise the handle is quite comfortable. Despite it's shape I might add since I normally prefer straigther handles without this type of pronounced finger grooves. They have a tendancy to not fit at least my hands.
But in this case the grooves works well in different kind of grips. Especially in pinchgrip and other grips that might be used for precise work which is what this knife does best. But I can clearly see that persons with bigger hands than I can feel a bit cramped on this handle.
The knife comes with a very small hole for a lanyard. On this knife it feels redundant.
Deployment and Lockup
The blade runs on tefonwashers which is rather unusual in this priceclass. But Mcustas signature washers have an extremely smooth almost hydralic feel to them.
A very easy accessable thumstud. It rides exemplary close to the handle
But, and there is a big but this particular specimen was everything but smooth at arrival. At first I thought there was something wrong with the knife. It had a harsh almost gritty feeling when opening and wasn't close to "butter anything". The blade was even sluggish to open. I therefore eased the pivot so see if that did help any, but no. I only got blade play as a result.
The wretched feeling was amplified by a sticky lock. Lock-stick on a steel linerlock? Never heard about before, not even on my cheap knives. That wasn't exactly the feeling I expected from a brand known for it's precision and good quality control. They even named their brand "Machine Custom"!
But then I got an idea and put a drop of oil in the joint and in a sudden the transformation was complete. The knife became exactly as smooth as talked about and all tendencies to lockstick was gone at a blink of an eye never to return. Obviously this is a knife that requires a drop of oil from time to time.
Nowadays the knife is a "freedropper", the blade falls under it's own weight when the lockbar is released. I dare anyone to find a more silky action from a knife not on bearings. So some caution when handling is strongly adwised if you prefer to keep all of your fingertips.
The whole lockbarinterface is engaged which makes for a solid lock up
After that speedy spa-treatment one can conclude that the knife locks very positive. No tendencies at all for movement in the blade, not up- and down nor side to side and the lockbar is very easy to release.
For better traction the only "jimpings" found on the knife is placed on the reliefcut for the lockbar. They work well but I could have lived without them as well. Not a fan of the phenomenon at all but that is my personal preference. And if they are going to be present on a knife they should be motivated, well placed and executed.
The blade is opened by double sided thumbstuds who are relatively easy to access. With them you can preferably open the knife in a slow controlled motion. It is also possible to whip the blade out with just a flick of the thumb. But somehow it doesn't fit the style of the knife I think. Nowadays it's hard to avoid though because the knife opens so smooth.
To Carry
I was a bit surprised when I first received the knife since I totally missed that this version "MC24" unlike "MC14" don't have a clip. The latter has thinner handlesides with shallower fingergrooves and other carryoptions. It was probably the one I've seen in pictures when I think about it.
"MC24" comes with a nylonpouch for carry. A material somewhat inapropriate in this case
This knife is instead comes with a pouch. It's made out of black nylon with the option of both horisontally and vertically carrying on the belt. Even if the quality is high the materials chosen feels so-so. The overall impression is saved by a sewn leatherlogotype. But my opinion is that the nylon doesn't match the style of knife. It should have been a thinner leatherpouch. As is I do not use it.
Since the knife is light and measure round 4" folded it may instead slide into a vacant pocket. The downside to that is that the nice woodenscales hardly agrees with keys and other stuff without being scratched. Patina in all it's glory but I don't want to manhandle the knife.
To Conclude
Sometimes a name actually means something and "MCusta" is a good example of that since it is read "Machine Custom" as mentioned. It's linked to the fact that the knives are assembled, tuned and polished by hand but all parts are cut with laser och CNC-machined prior to that. It's a synnergi between traditional Japanese handicraft and modern industrial methods according to themselves.
A charming and sharp alternative to take into consideration if you are in search for a gentlemans EDC
After receiving it's drop of oil the knife is exactly as smooth and nice as the precision in the materials allow and the rumour has it. So the name is still viable.
The blade is close to perfection when it comes to sharpening and polishing. It's also dead centered. Ovarall it'ts a really well made knife, no complaints there.
Maybe it's just me but I feel a discrepancy between the Japanese and the American market or knives mainly aiming that way. Had this been an American made knife I guess the bushings had been replaced with bearings, the frame had been drilled out heavily and the entire handle and maybe half of the blade had been full of jimpings to provide a "traction plan". There is a certain conformity in how knives are made these days. But not in this case. A little bit more tradition and a little less trends even if the design elements in this knife is everything but traditional. A welcome addition to a modern knife world dominated by titanium framelock flippers or as I sometimes call them "herrings".
This is a knife that I can recommend to those who searches for a stylish and sophisticated pocketknife with a terribly sharp and pointy blade. A gentlemans knife with EDC-capacity. Don't buy it however if you want a trusty knife to pry open paintcans at construction sites.
Specification:
Overall Length: 7.5"
Handle Length: 4.5"
Weight: 3.25 oz.
Blade Length: 3.25"
Blade Thickness: 0.12"
Blade Steel: VG-10, HRC60
Handle Material: Cocobolo scales over steel liners
Lock: Linerlock
Produced by: MCusta, made in Japan
