Argali Carbon Knife Review, By Jordan Budd

[kyro]

got a serac for my Bday..cant wait to try it out during spring bear

 

[passinggas33]

I really want one of these...but I’m horrible at sharpening knifes on stones. Can you use a “smith’s” sharpener to get a quick edge on these or will those ruin the blade? My idea would be to use that as needed throughout the season and at the end of the year send it back into Brad for a real edge. Is this a bad idea? Brad, thoughts?

 

[Travis2282]

I really want one of these...but I’m horrible at sharpening knifes on stones. Can you use a “smith’s” sharpener to get a quick edge on these or will those ruin the blade? My idea would be to use that as needed throughout the season and at the end of the year send it back into Brad for a real edge. Is this a bad idea? Brad, thoughts?

I sharpen mine with the guided work sharp knife sharpener. Easy to use!

 

[Brad@Argali]

Maybe I just need a professional to sharpen mine, it goes dull real quick.

Hey there--We offer free sharpening so feel free to ship it back. It should hold an edge for a long time.

 

[Brad@Argali]

I really want one of these...but I’m horrible at sharpening knifes on stones. Can you use a “smith’s” sharpener to get a quick edge on these or will those ruin the blade? My idea would be to use that as needed throughout the season and at the end of the year send it back into Brad for a real edge. Is this a bad idea? Brad, thoughts?

That's a great idea and definitely a good option. Our knives are super easy to sharpen with a ceramic rod, set of stones or anything else you normally use to sharpen. The worksharp belt sharpener is my favorite all purpose home sharpener, but honestly with a little bit of practice and the proper sharpening (i.e. maintaining the proper bevel angle, starting out with a slightly coarser grit and working your way to a finer grit) you should be able to easily sharpen any of our knives.

Also, we're releasing a pretty cool product that "allegedly" can sharpen knives pretty well next month, so keep an eye out for that.

 

[Supranatural]

Brad, what angle should I sharpen the Serac at? I use an Edge Pro so I have a good range of angles I can select.

 

[nagibson1]

Hey there--We offer free sharpening so feel free to ship it back. It should hold an edge for a long time.

Brad, I had the same experience. I got an Argali and it didn't make it through a half elk- I was butchering with a buddy. It was really great at first. But by the time I was 2/3 done I was cursing the thing. It wouldn't cut anything. My buddy did use it a little on the caping, and I'm assuming that dulled the edge. But I was definitely disappointed. I wasn't prepared with a good honing option cause I expected to get though one animal without needing it. And I was trying to be careful not to dull the blade on bone, socket and the like.
I really like the ergonomics, and the blade size- really well conceived knife. But the sharpness retention was a real bust for me. I got it real sharp on my worksharp at home, but do you recommend a honer?
I'm going to use it on a whitetail or two this December before I form a lasting opinion on the knife.

 

[Brad@Argali]

Brad, I had the same experience. I got an Argali and it didn't make it through a half elk- I was butchering with a buddy. It was really great at first. But by the time I was 2/3 done I was cursing the thing. It wouldn't cut anything. My buddy did use it a little on the caping, and I'm assuming that dulled the edge. But I was definitely disappointed. I wasn't prepared with a good honing option cause I expected to get though one animal without needing it. And I was trying to be careful not to dull the blade on bone, socket and the like.
I really like the ergonomics, and the blade size- really well conceived knife. But the sharpness retention was a real bust for me. I got it real sharp on my worksharp at home, but do you recommend a honer?
I'm going to use it on a whitetail or two this December before I form a lasting opinion on the knife.

Not sure what is going on but I'd love to take a look at the blade if you are OK with it. Lots of things impact edge retention including how the operator uses it, but we have so many people, including me, that have cut up a lot of elk with them I'd like to make sure the edge angle is where it needs to be. It sounds like you were doing everything right. I just completely butchered a mule deer with my carbon including de-boning, caping and everything and my Carbon was still sharp enough to do another deer (but definitely not as sharp as when I started).

The honest truth with manufacturing knives is 99.8% are perfect but every once in a while the edge angle on one side or the other might be off slightly, which can definitely impact retention. Please shoot a note to our cs team ([email protected]) and we will have it shipped back, inspected and fixed if anything is wrong. Ill personally make sure to look at it too. And if you can please let them know I asked for the knife to be inspected we will make sure it gets handled!

With regard to honing in the field, that's why I designed our Kodiak Belt. I really do think it is a great belt and I use it all the time to sharpen and hone my knives in the field.

 

[nagibson1]

Not sure what is going on but I'd love to take a look at the blade if you are OK with it. Lots of things impact edge retention including how the operator uses it, but we have so many people, including me, that have cut up a lot of elk with them I'd like to make sure the edge angle is where it needs to be. It sounds like you were doing everything right. I just completely butchered a mule deer with my carbon including de-boning, caping and everything and my Carbon was still sharp enough to do another deer (but definitely not as sharp as when I started).

The honest truth with manufacturing knives is 99.8% are perfect but every once in a while the edge angle on one side or the other might be off slightly, which can definitely impact retention. Please shoot a note to our cs team ([email protected]) and we will have it shipped back, inspected and fixed if anything is wrong. Ill personally make sure to look at it too. And if you can please let them know I asked for the knife to be inspected we will make sure it gets handled!

With regard to honing in the field, that's why I designed our Kodiak Belt. I really do think it is a great belt and I use it all the time to sharpen and hone my knives in the field.

Follow up on this:
I sent the knife back in Feb, and got it back very promptly.
the note on the return said "Knife should be good. Hardness is tested when the knife is in sheet. No other knives have come back out of spec." It also appears they sharpened it.
So, I appreciate the customer service. Very prompt. The sharpening job was pretty good. One side was perfect, but there were a couple interruption in the blade- tiny divots. However, when I cut paper with it with very little force, it sliced through on the whole blade with no hold up points.

However, this leads me back to my original point: This knife didn't get me through half an elk. (butchering with a partner). So I will not pack this knife without a solid sharpening solution. I got a diamond sharpener with a handle that is 4oz. We'll see how it goes. For me, the super steel think hasn't seemed that great in EDC or in butchering. I love the idea of it, but my faith is shaken still.
Plus the skeletonized knives are not as comfortable in the hands when doing long work- esp after a certain age. The carbon is remarkably ergonomic, esp with full scales, for what it is. But it ain't a butcher knife.