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Stedemon C06 flipper - with a little work, a passable EDC

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Picked up a couple of these at $56.00 each including shipping from Amazon.
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Specs: Opened length: approximately 8.5 "
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Closed length: approximately 4.75" Blade length approximately 3 -7/8" Handle with: approximately .5" wide Weight: 3.6 ounces. Blade material: 440C Blade finish: satin Grip material: Black G10 (other colors available) with black carbon fiber inserts Action: flipper, liner lock Right pocket clip only This picture shows the solid stainless steel liners. The stop pin is part of the blade, and you can see the liner cutouts behind the rear of the blade that the stop pin rides in.
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About a 1/3 - 50% lockup, depending on how hard you flip the blade. There are no cutouts to access the liner lock, you have to wedge your thumb between the stationary liner and the liner lock to unlock the blade. Not as difficult as it sounds.
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I like the kwaiken type blade design, but I feel that the Boker Kwaiken is a little too delicate in my large hands. I prefer something with a little more heft, a liner lock instead of a frame lock, and a thicker blade. I do some serious cutting with my EDC knives. This was a bit of a project knife when it arrived. I have large hands of average strength, but I couldn't flip the blade open with either hand. I finally put the flipper tab against the edge of my workbench and pushed, and that got the blade open. I liberally lubricated the blade, pivot, and liners with Sentry Solutions Tuff - Glide, and even after that, neither knife would open any easier. The detent hole in the blade that helps keep the knife closed was drilled too deeply, and the ceramic detent ball embedded in the liner lock would engage the detent too deeply. I found that the small, folding sharpening stone from DMT would fit between the liners of the knife, so I chose the Medium grit one and ground down the detent ball on the liner to a nub. (I stopped and tested the force needed to open the knife every 2-3 strokes of the stone.) Finally, after about 10 - 12 passes, the detent ball would engage the hole in the blade just slightly, so I don't have to worry about the blade opening in my pocket when I clip it into my pocket. I finished by cleaning all of the screws with rubbing alcohol, coating them with Blue Loctite, and tightening them. The female half of the pivot screw is captured, so I could tighten the pivot to the point where there is no side to side blade play without the liner lock engaged. So, about 30 minutes of work and I have a very light, strong EDC knife that didn't break the bank. Steel connoisseurs will criticize the use of 440C as a blade material, as it dulls a little more quickly than newer steels like D2. But is also sharpens up easily - a couple of passes on a DMT Fine grit stone and it's good to go. I've got a lot of 440C blades that have served me well over the years.
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reswright
3850
Aug 5, 2019
Mine arrived and I have three general comments on it. First is that when mine arrived, i opened it, went to flip it open, and it flipped open pretty easily. Did it again a second time, fired easily the second time. Shrugged, thought to myself maybe @48thRonin2 had got a bad one, set it down on the bench and did a few other things. And came back, picked it back up, and went to just easily flip it back open and it didn't budge. Tried harder. Didn't budge. Finally put some real grunt on the flipper tab and it flipped open. But for a second there it was locked up as tight as Alcatraz. I think what it is, is the detent is fairly aggressive and it fits the detent hole VERY well, which sounds good, but has a drawback -- the closer and deeper it fits, the harder the lockup is to disengage. I may end up filing down the detent a bit to ease it, if more play doesn't help it wear in a little. Second is that once I fettled the lock, my conclusion was more or less the same as yours -- passable EDC. This knife has a lot of things going for it for the $50 I paid. The third is, it likes indigo dye.
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I've picked up a few budget Stedemons now and I note a similar trend -- they're all well put together, but the locks aren't expertly fit. They will engage, but out of the box my experience is they're maybe engaging on %20 of the tang surface and digging in a bit with their leading edge -- fine for everyday tasks but maybe not enough lockup to feel confident using the knife for hard work. A little careful easing with a diamond file is usually enough to get them in much better contact, is the good news -- but not everyone knows how to, or will feel comfortable doing that. So budget Stedemons might not be the thing for you if you don't like fussing with knives. But if you do, this one has a few things going for it.
reswright
3850
Jul 31, 2019
I ordered one of these, will see if mine comes with any easier of a flip.
48thRonin2
117
Jul 16, 2019
It's a good mid-range steel for average everyday use. Nothing flashy, but serves well for 99% of what one usually does with a folding pocket knife on an average day. No complaints from me!
reswright
3850
Jul 6, 2019
440C is like vanilla. Once the most premium of flavors, now so commonplace that it is fashionable to disparage. People come back to it again and again, but it gets no love. Would I rather have PM steel? Yes. But I live amid suburban civilization these days. Who GAF what steel I think I need to survive? It isn’t relevant. On the other hand? You’d be hard pressed to name a modern steel that has been proven anywhere near as well in survival situations as 440C. And if I were in one of those and came across my choice of knives, 440C and S110V? It isn’t a question of which I am going to take, as the answer would be ‘both’ (duh) but I will say this: I would be extremely glad to see that 440C knife.
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