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A look at the Bestech Scimitar

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Bestech is a brand that I have always heard good things about from most folks, but some maintained that quality was patchy at times for Bestech. I also knew this huge douche clam that had a company with the name Bestech and for both these reasons and maybe other similar dipstickery, I never bothered to pick one up, until I joined Drop. I don't know who makes them and am curious to find out.
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What I know: the Scimitar, this version anyway, is a flip knife in D2 and green G10 with a single screw post deep carry clip. The D2 blade is noticeable for a swedge and a blood groove -- it has a slightly hollow ground edge and the angle's a bit narrow for D2 as a material. D2 is D2, it's an old school steel, hard and tough, not a high carbon steel or a modern PM steel with smaller carbides and tiny grain size that can take that razor sharp edge you'd associate with this type of a grind. But the truth is, steel choice is often an economic one, as people do their pricing work and try to figure out options that give a good product and profit both. People know D2 knives have more appeal than the 440 steel that most of us grew up with. I'd rather have Sandvik than D2. That puts me in a different boat from many people; if you'd prefer D2, this is how you wanna roll. I noticed two things about this knife -- it has a nice balance and a nice smooth flip. And then I noticed a third, when I went to wipe my fingerprints off the blade -- the engraving on the blade is considerably more 3D than it usually is, to the point that it was shredding the microfiber. The laser must have been set higher or run slower. Maybe the previous run had a steel that's harder to inscribe and the settings were just accidentally left this way. Only they know. So what's it like inside?
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If this were five years ago, I'd be going 'holy crap'. Now I'm going 'meh' because caged bearings in counterbores on the blade are easy to get, at well under the price of the Scimitar. Now it's all standard, but there's nothing bad about it, nothing shoddy. The streaks on the Scimitar engraving are actually bits of microfiber trailing off the engraving's edges.... and also something it's a little harder to see with the naked eye. But when I take a look at the engravings under the microscope I can see I'm not the first person who noticed that the logo was a bit too deep.
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Jaysus. Someone at the factory finishing department, or later, had a quick go with some sandpaper. This knife was, or should have been, a factory second -- no one ships their logo like that if they give a damn, but these might have been sold out the back door. Whatever, it's cosmetic and I'll have a go at smoothing that out. Some 600 grit and some very careful work and 20 minutes later:
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It's a little hard to see, but basically this thing was etched so deep that sanding it smooth has worn off the edges around the engraving. That bright metal is where little bits of D2 ground away as steel filings. This is kind of an example of how steel hardness and toughness aren't the same thing: many knife steels would have ablated less and reformed more. Edges rounding off instead of grating off. Here on the D2 more steel simply ablated away in response to simple 600 grit sanding at thumb pressure. Some more such sanding in the direction of the satin, a little green rouge, and some work on a leather strop gave me this:
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Ya know, I'll take that. TBH I figured it'd look worse. There are a few errant scratches here and there, but it looks like normal wear, not something concentrated in a spot. And at least you can wipe the blade down without shredding your cloth. If you're eagle eyed you can see how the edge of the D2 blood groove got worked a little bit. Just barely. Just that touch of brightness. Unavoidable when ya got fat thumbs like these. Anyway, onto another issue I noticed: the frame lock wasn't 100% true for some reason, and was catching a bit. Isaw it wasn't getting out as far as it might. Looking at the carefully ground tang I could see something was digging it up:
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That's the surface the lock connects with. See that little dark mark halfway up the left side? Something's gouging the metal.
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See that little lip that's sticking up? That's our culprit. I thought about sanding the whole thing, but you can see where the bearing races are already wearing in. So I just did the edge over with a diamond file, sandpaper, and a fast buff:
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More working it back into place than anything else - the liner is clearly not as hard of a steel as D2, s it's pretty easy to essentially 'hone' those nicks down instead of simply grinding them off. I gave the lock bar face a good evening for good measure. Here it all is back together:
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Simple, the only hard part is that the B pivot didn't want to line up, there's a little play in how it can line up and it wanted to tilt. Took a few tries to nail it. And I'll say this: that's a nice looking knife. So how's the lock? Gets all the way out there, now:
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I'm pretty happy with this purchase. Don't get me wrong, that logo was no bueno; it was probably also the reason these could be had by Drop to sell for $40, all things considered, and as I've shown, a little work with your hands can ease that right up. Some would return the knife. I figured i had that right, as would you in this case, and if you don't like this sort of thing you're possibly better off trying your luck with Drop's return policy. I decided i was going to entertain myself by fixing it instead, and in so doing i got to know it a little better. Many if not most of you probably knew about Bestech before I even bought one, as Drop looks to have been slinging them for a while, so none of this may be any sort of a scoop where some of yas are concerned. It was new to me. The baseline quality is there, and the value is ok if not magnificent. It's a good brand, but not top tier, and if you like optimizing your gear you may end up putting a little effort in to get yours into fighting trim. $40 won't break your bank. I don't think I'm inclined to mod up this knife or try and personalize it further, but I might give it a go on another Bestech. Who makes Bestech? Everyone asks. China has lots of Schrodinger's companies, if you know the old thought experiment about Schrodinger's cat. As for me, I know less now than when I opened it up, which is good news as far as I'm concerned. I expected to take this knife apart and end up seeing some evidence that it was part of the whole slew of companies that spun off from Kizer that all seem connected to CH knives in some way. Y-Start, Stedemon, Vouking, Eafengrow, Snake Eye -- that whole grouping of labels. That's not necessarily a bad thing -- I have seen evidence that TwoSun is a part of that group, for example, and if you've read the Chinese Knives in 2019 post you know that I love TwoSuns, and I've had luck with Y-Start as well. I kinda like the cheap Stedemon I picked up. The thing is, I didn't get that vibe from looking at this knife. Maybe I should have. At this point I am inclined to think they might be their own company, though that might just reflect my limited information where many of these companies are concerned. If you like mid-length flippers with a stout beveled and contoured handle, feel free to give the Bestech Scimitar a try the next time Drop rolls one around.
(Edited)
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reswright
3850
Jul 28, 2019
It turns out that the scales take dye fairly readily!
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Really gives them a grained look. If you look very closely you can see it's accentuated the texture as well -- the vinegar in the solution is a weak acid that etches the G10 ever so slightly.
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Translucent handles have been proving more interesting but I'm reasonably happy with how this one turned out.
erickong
7411
Jul 19, 2019
Very detailed review. I always enjoy reading your posts!
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