Viper Ten 5922CBR N690Co satin, burgundy Micarta

Monday, January 7, 2019

This is almost the perfect EDC knife. At around 100 grams it's nice and lightweight. The clip is simple but effective, giving a deep pocket carry. The flipping action is truly awesome - the lightest touch of the finger sends the blade flying out. It closes just as easily - the locking bar offers little resistance. The blade is perfect for most uses like cutting boxes or veggies; it sharpens easily and N690 is, in my experience, totally stainless. After maybe 6 months I see no blemishes. I really love this knife and I'd love to give it a perfect score but it has one terrible defect - the shape of the corner, where the clip meets the handle, is almost 90 degrees and creates an almost intolerable hotspot. Most knives are curved in this area for a reason. The Viper Ten digs into the flesh below the palm of my hand, which is not a terrible problem for short tasks but repeatedly opening and closing the knife, which should be a fun thing to do, is in fact quite uncomfortable. Every time I use this knife I wonder why they designed it like that. Generally I have found Italian knives to be unrivalled in quality and materials, and this is no exception. It is a beautiful knife, too, slightly ruined by that corner. I accidentally dropped the knife onto a hard surface and found I had to adjust with the screws on the lock bar, as it had become loose. Since there are no instructions on what each of the 3 screws do, I had to experiment to get the lock bar locking properly. It's a bit fiddly and some instructions there might be a good idea, if they ever make a Viper Ten model 2 - which I hope they do. It is a great knife. And so close to perfect.

Saturday, April 9, 2016