Schrade Lake & Walker

The first impression I got handling this drop point small-to-medium frame lock with lock folder it was light and smooth. Almost everything on it is either rounded or polished, even parts of the blade you'll rarely come in contact with.

I got mine because I wanted a relatively sturdy one about this size, but not with metal handles, as that's uncomfortable when it's cold. It's a perfect size, just a tad over the weight I was aiming for and the blade could almost have been designed by me and to some extent also the handle.

It's not perfect, but on many counts it comes close to how I'd've specified the design.

The pocket clip is of a low ride design, something I like. It's formed of the same piece of titanium which forms the single liner/frame lock, so you can't change the position of it or even remove it.

It's got dual thumb studs, which is good (I wouldn't've purchased it otherwise), but with gloves it's hardly possible to open it lefthanded. As frame and liner locks go, it's of course not symmetrical, but it feels OK in both hands when it's opened.

I would have preferred the blade not being hollow ground, but the blade isn't very thick and it's ground almost to the spine so the difference from a flat grind isn't large at all.

The piece of the frame lock which comes into contact with the tang is a round steel disk. When you engage the lock lock by sliding down the switch it blocks the outside of the disk so it cannot be disengaged. I find that the lock lock switch isn't in a very accessible position, which is of course good to prevent unintended release, so I don't think it's meant to be used always and the rest of the mechanism seems adequate for most uses by itself.

Construction feels solid and it's comfortable putting pressure on the handle when cutting. The surface seems textured mostly for looks, but so far I think I get a good enough grip on it.

Steel:                     BG-42
Blade length:              71 mm
Blade thickness up to:      2.7 mm
Total length:             172 mm
Thickness excluding clip:  11 mm
          including clip:  16 mm
Mass:                   0.085 kg

Mid-term update

Most of my initial impressions have held up. n short it's very close to exactly what I want in most respects, but it lacks a bit to be perfect.

I did not like the edge as delivered. No problem at all cutting wood and the like, perhaps apart from requiring a bit too much force. Plan was to keep the factory edge to see how well it stood up (which I think it would have quite well), but it irritated me that the performance wasn't close to what the steel and geometry should be capable of, so I took out my diamond hone and put a whole new edge on it (at first I only was going to do a part near the handle and the tip) with a much smaller angle. After polishing edge is about as good as they come. Cuts with very little resistance and shows very little sign of wear from light-to-medium work on different materials.

The lock lock may be a good idea, but the implementation has faults. The frame lock isn't as stiff spring as on a Pinnacle and the like, so in some cases a bit of twisting will disengage it, which of course is prevented by the lock lock. But I really only has had a use for it when I was sharpening it. Otherwise, for what I do, it's just not worth the bother of engaging it. The lock itself is good enough.

Unfortunately, the placement of the lock lock lever makes it possible to accidentally lock the lock in the disengaged position. It's happened to me a couple of times that when opening the knife, there wasn't any 'klik' to show it's locked properly, and I couldn't figure out why. A couple of times it may have had to do with pulling the knife from a belt sheath. It's smooth, so you need a bit of force, so maybe it could happen then, although I'm not certain it has. The times I know how it's happened has been when closing the knife. If you disengage the lock and push the blade closed with the finger close to the handle it can slide the switch to the "safe" position, and as your thumb holds the frame lock open, there's very little resistance to it. So you need to close it not like that or be certain to close it against the ball detent.

The handle flexes when you cut with some force, which means the lock moves across the tang. This feels a bit weird, partially because it takes different force unlocking it when you close it. But it's not something you notice when cutting, nor have I found it make the lockup unreliable.

Document created 2000 Sep 14, text last updated 2000 Oct 03, document last modified 2001 Aug 01, content last reviewed 2002 Sep 06 by