This review consists of :
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This review consists of : |
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From the Fallkniven website :
PXL is a modern, slightly larger folding knife for daily use (called EDC or every day carry). The stainless, adjustable blade is made in a stainless 3G laminate powder steel at a hardness of HRC 62, resulting in an edge which will keep its sharpness extremely well. The handle is in stainless steel and indestructible micarta, other materials will be an option for the future. The safe and strong liner bladelock allows you to open and close the blade using one hand only. PXL is offered with a strong, removable clip and offers a safe, fast and comfortable access to the knife. Please note that this folder is a precision instrument, a very sharp tool and should be used with care.
Specifications :
- Total length: 7.83" (199 mm)
- Length folded: 4.37" (111 mm)
- Blade length: 3.46" (88 mm)
- Blade thickness: .14" (3,5 mm)
- Weight: 6.2 oz (176 g)
- Steel: 3G
- Hardness: 62 HRC
- Handle material: Maroon micarta
- Locking: Liner lock
This one is :
A quick web scan :
This knife was used so no comments can me made in regards to surface finishes :
This knife is used so it is decently sharp but would be classified more as a working type edge :
On 3/8" hemp :
On carving wood compared to the #1260 Mora :
On some hardwood dowel making 2" points with light force (10-30 lbs) :
The performance is fairly low, only about half of the ability of the Mora which would be expected as shallow cutting is very dependent on edge angle and the edge angle on the PXL is twice that of a standard Mora.
On some 1x0.5" pine making 2" points with heavy force (50-70 lbs) :
This performance was fairly disappointing however not surprising. The PXL is a knife with a primary grind and still on deep cuts is well behind a standard Mora. The problem is that the primary grind is also fairly heavy :
This primary grind is about 7.5 dps which itself is just barely under the actual edge grind on the standard Mora.
A few checks on some various materials :
The cutting ability is fairly low due to the :
The shallow cutting on some of the materials would be improved with a higher sharpness, however on all of the binding materials the low performance isn't going to be improved with sharpening as the bevels are still too heavy.
In regards to ergonomics, normally a run of 500-1000 slices on woods is done to check the ergonomics however even a small amount of work showed that there are a number of problems stemming from the fact that the fact the inside of the scales are sharp enough that they can be used to scrape wood.
This is a curious knife, it is looks like a gentlemans's EDC but acts like a tactical spike / tent peg because the cross section is so thick.
In order to increase the cutting ability and ease of sharpening of the knife, the PXL was reground to a full zero grind. If the bevel was cut true flat then it would have been 6.5 dps however it was sharpened on waterstones (King and Sigma Power Select II) and picked up a small amount of curvature due to the wear of the stones and the effect of the swarf in cutting.
This increased curvature gave the edge a light convexity in the last 0.035" of thickness and the angle swept up to 8 dps. The PXL is normally sharpened with a micro-bevel for ease of maintenance and to adjust the durability as necessary for the cutting performed.
Ergonomics : the comfort in hand of this folder is fairly low given the raw size / weight. The nature of this knife is obviously not one of ease pocket carry as it is fairly thick and heavy. But yet the comfort is rather low as :
In a tight grip there are multiple sharp contact points with the hand and thus for all of its size it is not functional in heavy cutting unless gloves are used.
Security : the handle has very low security as :
There is little retention to keep the handle from moving forward on the blade and therefore hard stabs/thrusts are problematic unless a hand lash is used through the laynard hole.
However the grip is significantly wider than it is thick and thus is fairly stable under rotation and thus works well to resist heavy force in powerful cuts.
Durability : the only durability concern of the handle has to do with the choice of construction materials. The extremely tiny torx fasteners (t5) used are them prone to having the heads damaged.
The PXL has a standard liner lock.
However the large release opening and very square edges on the liner which make it easy to operate also make the lock is instable under a tight grip and it can be released by simply squeezing the handle. This is fairly dependent on hand shape and size so it is very much a personal attribute.
The PXL is made from a clad steel, 3G is just a core of SGPS with a wrapper of VG-10. However both of these steels are not easy to grind and thus the modification to a full zero grind took some time with a couple of 1000X stones. Specifically :
On Cardboard it performs as a Class III type steel as expected :
| # runs | Sharpness | 15% | 10% | 5% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| cardboard cut (m) | ||||
| 5 | 94+ 0(15) | 4.8-0.2(0.4) | 12.4-0.3(1.1) | 56- 1( 6) |
For clarification, 3G is just a core of SGPS with a wrapper of VG-10. This is a curious clad steel as they are very similar steels both are :
stainless steels. The main difference is that SGPS has 2% Vanadium and the higher carbon necessary to form that into carbides (0.35%). However the performance of the steels in general would be so close that most would rate them in the same class if they were similarly hardened.
In general most clads would use an outer layer which is very different from the edge steel to make the blade very different in performance from if it was formed from a solid billet of the core steel. This is why 420J2/J1 is a common stainless clad as it is :
that core steels which are used for their ability to take/hold a fine edge.
SGPS is an interesting steel, it is a particle metallurgy steel and compared to the much more common and well known S30V has :
however has a lower wear resistance. While S30V was popular for some time, eventually S35Vn was released to deal with issues with toughness and grindability/machinability. SGSP was around long before this though and interestingly enough is a very similar step from S35VN as S35VN was from S30V.
As-boxed the knife had fairly poor cutting ability :
The first modification was to grind the primary to a true zero of 6.5 dps.
Overview :
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Most of the pictures in the above are in the PhotoBucket
album.
| Last updated : | |
| Originally written: | 05/09/2013 |