Casey Kienzle

August 11, 2024

Review, Gear

Sencut ArcBlast

Casey Kienzle

August 11, 2024

Review, Gear

Sencut ArcBlast Review

With the prices of so many things going up, the amount of money in your wallet goes down. But if you are looking for a good quality knife that won’t take a massive hit on your wallet, then the Sencut ArcBlast would be a fantastic knife for you. Let’s check out all of the things that this great knife features and how it’s a great bang for your buck.

The Handle:

The ArcBlast features an aluminum handle with a smooth finish. I normally like to have gripping on the handle. So when I took the knife out of the package and noticed that the handle was smooth, my first thought was “oh I’m not going to like this”. But I actually really like it. I feel like I can get a solid grip on it. One that doesn’t allow the knife to slip in my hand. The handle also has a great shape that fits really comfortably in my hand. Because of the smooth aluminum handle, the knife slides out of the pocket very easily. But not easy enough to fall out, due to the great pocket clip that comes on it. It will stay where you want it!

Opening:

I’ve used a lot of different pocket knives over the years. Normally thumb studs aren’t my favorite style for opening, but I know it’s good to have different options for opening the knife. But on this knife in particular, I like how quickly the thumb stud deploys the blade. I find myself using the thumb studs more than the flipper. Although the flipper gives it a real quick opening and works fantastically. One thing that definitely helps with this quick opening is that it uses bearings at the pivot point. This gives it a quick and smooth opening.

The Blade:

The Sencut ArcBlast features a 2.98” drop point blade made from 9Cr18MoV. This is a great steel for this price, and it’s widely used in lots of other knife brands knives. I have been using this blade for a few months now and working in an industrial environment. I use it a lot to cut open boxes, plastic wraps, and various other items. So far… I haven’t needed to sharpen it, but 9Cr18MoV does sharpen very easily. Another reason why 9Cr18MoV is an awesome steel, is that it is corrosion resistant. This is a great material for harsh environments where liquids and other corrosive materials may be present. So you will not have to worry about wrecking your knife.

The Lock:

I have come across quite a few different button locks on different knife brands, but this is definitely one of the best in my opinion. The ArcBlast uses a standard button lock. This lock is used a lot in the Sencut, Civivi and WE Knives line of knives. They really have designed a fantastic lock, which is probably the reason they use it so much. The lock is great because it is easy to unlock, but not easy enough that it will unlock when you don’t want it to. This is due to the button being flush with the handle. So when you grip the handle, you don’t run the risk of accidentally pushing the button and unlocking it.

I have had a couple of Civivi knives, but I haven’t had a Sencut knife before. I definitely like this knife for many reasons. It’s a very sturdy knife with a smooth and comfortable grip. It also has a great 9Cr18MoV blade that has stayed sharp through lots of use. If you are wanting a great quality pocket knife that will not cost an arm and a leg, you should definitely check out the Sencut ArcBlast.

Firearms Insider Reviews - Key Points

Claim to Fame:

Smaller inexpensive quality folding knife

Target Market:

Anyone who doesn’t want to spend a fortune on an everyday carry pocket knife

Features, Benefits, and Specifications of this product:

Overall Length: 7.07" / 179.5mm
Width: 1.3" / 33.1mm
Overall Height (Include Clip): 0.66" / 16.8mm
Blade Length: 2.98" / 75.7mm
Closed Length: 4.09" / 103.8mm
Blade Thickness: 0.1" / 2.6mm
Handle Thickness: 0.46" / 11.6mm
Weight: 2.96oz / 83.9g
Blade Material: 9Cr18MoV
Blade Hardness: 58-60HRC
Blade Grind: Hollow
Blade Finish: Black
Blade Type: Drop Point
Handle Material: Aluminum
Handle Color/Finish: Black
Pocket Clip: Tip-Up, L/R
Clip Material: Stainless Steel
Pivot Assembly: Caged Ceramic Ball Bearing
Manual Opener: Thumb Stud and flipper
Locking Mechanism: Button Lock

What other aesthetic options or finishes are available?

There are 4 different color options for this knife, but the materials are all the same. For the black blade you can get a black or red handle. And for the satin finish, you can get a black and blue handle.

What others are saying?:

5 out of 5 stars from Benjamin B. at Sencut.com

A Really Good Knife

I love the simplicity of the button lock. Also I think that the knife looks great and works like it should. Seems like it is very well made and I carry it all the time. I recently purchased another one to use at work. I plan on using my all black one at work because I work in a dirty environment, and the one with the red handle I will use as my e.d.c. when I am not at work.

Link to other reviews:

Stassa23 Knife Therapy

Price point:

MSRP = $55.00

Retail = $46.75 on Amazon

I need it now! Availability:

Sencut or Amazon

Our Rating:

Pros:

It’s a fantastic knife for the price
Comes with tons of goodies and a case
It’s a very well made knife that holds an edge for quite some time.

Cons:

I did accidentally bend the pocket clip when I sat down in a chair, but I was able to bend it back into place very easily.
A good amount of the anodizing around the top of the knife (opposite end from the clip) came off within 2-3 months. But that doesn’t affect the functionality of the knife at all.

Score: 8.50 Great

Chad Wallace

December 14, 2023

Review

Vosteed Thunderbird

Chad Wallace

December 14, 2023

Review

When it comes to everyday carry pocket knives, there are a ton on the market. All of them have various features for you to choose from. Vosteed makes a good selection of knives to fit whatever you are looking for. The Vosteed Thunderbird is one of those edc knives that has plenty of features. The Thunderbird’s features will rival knives that are priced much higher.

Vosteed’s Thunderbird is a unique knife. Not in the way it looks, or the materials used, but in the way it opens. The Thunderbird uses Vosteed’s “Trek Lock” opening system. Trek Lock is a multi-opening system that allows one to open the knife in 4 or 5 different ways. One is by using the thumb hole. Another is using the normal flipper, located on the spine of the knife handle. And yet another way to open it, is to use the front flipper, located on the lower front of the closed Thunderbird. Then, since the knife uses a button lock mechanism, one can push the button and flip the blade out. Lastly, which isn’t really a flip method, is to just fold the knife out like you would an old school lock blade. To close the blade, just push the button and close it however you see fit. I would like the button lock to be a little harder to push. I just feel that little bit of extra might help keep the blade from wandering out when in the pocket. Not that it did this, but I can get the blade to open by just flicking the knife downward, something I can’t always do with button lock knives. If you like to fidget with your knife, the Thunderbird can’t be beat for that. I even find myself opening and closing it for no reason. As you may, or may not know, I am a big proponent of multiple ways to open a knife. Mainly because if you need to open a knife in some odd place, or body position, your main way of opening it might not work. So the Thunderbird is a dream come true for me.

Blade steel is an important quality of any knife. The steel Vosteed chose for the Thunderbird is top tier. This particular Thunderbird uses M390 steel. M390 is pretty much labeled a “super steel”, at least for knife making. It is super tough and durable with high edge retention, which leads to a high wear resistance. What that means for you is that the Thunderbird’s M390 blade will stay sharp for a very long time. M390 also has high corrosion resistance. So when you are actually using it, if it gets blood, or other bad stuff on it, it won’t damage the blade as quickly. One downfall to all of this, is that it takes a lot more effort to sharpen the Thunderbird. I’m okay with this trade off since the knife stays sharper longer. Vosteed also offers some versions of the Thunderbird with Elmax or S35VN blades. I don’t think you can go wrong with any of the blade steel offerings of the Thunderbird.

The handle of a knife is also important. Vosteed chose a Laminate GT-Mascus, or in simple terms, a G10 handle with a topographical pattern. This topo pattern is a black background with blue topo lines. Besides looking great, the Thunderbird’s handle shape is useful. The handle's spine has a slight curve to it. This makes it fit the hand fairly nice, even though it is a fairly sleek knife. It also has a decent choil built into the handle. That way you can really dig into the handle for a tight grip. The back flipper tab also meets up with this choil, extending it out a tiny bit farther. One notable thing is that the flippers jimping is slightly noticeable in the front of the choil. This gives the knife a little better grip on that index finger. The handle doesn’t have any real texture to it, but being G10, it still gives a great grip. Vosteed also designed the Thunderbird with a deep pocket clip. The clip’s mounting is inlaid so it doesn’t bind up when putting the Thunderbird in your pocket. It is reversible, but both options are tip up carry. Lastly it has a brass spacer at the rear. The spacer also includes a place to install a lanyard. The brass nicely sets off the color scheme and helps balance the Thunderbird out nicely.

The last important design of the Thunderbird is the blade profile. Vosteed gave the Thunderbird a curved tanto style blade. It also has a harpoon style top structure. These two designs give the Thunderbird a really good “piercing” ability. More important to me, is that the tanto’s tip melds nicely with the belly of the knife. This makes it more useful than a regular tanto style blade. On the spine of the blade there is some jimping. The jimping is the Thunderbirds one downfall. It is fine and not deep enough to really aid in use. The Thunderbird also uses a shallow hollow grind, which gives it some good slicing ability. I typically don’t like tanto style blades, but the Thunderbird made me believe that there are good style tanto blades out there.

Even though I haven’t had the Thunderbird for very long, I have used it. It is really good at just about everything. From slicing gummy bears, which is the real test of a knife's sharpness, to scraping off stuff from hard surfaces, the Thunderbird just performs. As Vosteed states, this is the fidget king when it comes to knives. The knife is SHARP. It also stays sharp thanks to the M390 blade steel. I’ve cut a lot of cardboard too, and the Thunderbird keeps slicing through it like soft butter.

If you are looking for that do all edc knife, the Vosteed Thunderbird might be it. It has an excellent blade material and shape. There are multiple ways to open it, thanks to its Trek Lock. It feels good in the hand and has a silky smooth action thanks to its ceramic ball bearings. At $135, it is priced far below what you would expect to pay for something of this quality. So go check out the Vosteed Thunderbird, they probably make a version that you’ll like..