Page 51 - Blade (February 2020)

he popularity of neck knives has
increased over the past decade.
TMany observers, however, have
opined that such blades lack any utility.
My team and I recently reviewed three
neckers with the focus on exactly that—
everyday utility.
After doing initial examinations to

see how sharp the knives were from
the factory, we put them to the test by
accompanying a friend who owns a
security alarm company and working
with him to install alarms. Our initial
sharpness test was to slice ripe tomatoes
and grapes. Forget about cutting paper
as a sharpness test. My daughter-in-law’s
$1.95 paring knife will cut paper. It will
not cut a wafer-thin slice from a grape
or a ripe tomato without squishing the
fruit. Each of the review neck knives
passed the wafer-slice test. Th at done,
we hung them around our necks and
headed out to job sites.
During a typical work day the tasks
we performed included cutting zip
ties and cord, slicing duct tape, cutting
through and trimming wall board, and
sharpening pencils. Pencil sharpening
(page 22) might seem frivolous for a
knife review, but sharpening pencils on
a job site with whatever knife is at hand
is a common occurrence. Many knives
have blunt bevels and will not sharpen a
pencil properly. Many are simply too dull. The three test knives, from top: Camillus Heater, Boker Magnum Challenger and CRKT Owlet.
Each of the test knives sharpened pencils
easily, slicing off thin curls of wood with
good control. In fact, none of the daily

BOKER MAGNUM

CHALLENGER

BLADE LENGTH: 2.125”

BLADE STEEL: 440A stainless
ROCKWELL HARDNESS: 56 HRC
BLADE WIDTH: .875”

BLADE THICKNESS: .1”
BLADE STYLE: Cleaver
BLADE GRIND: Hollow

BLADE FINISH: Black
WEIGHT: 1.3 ozs.
OVERALL LENGTH: 4.75”

SHEATH: Black Kydex w/neck chain
Magnum
Boker
passed
Challenger
The
the
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: China The Boker Magnum Challenger passed the no-squish testno-squish test
by wafer
by wafer-slicing a tomato nice and thin.
-slicing a tomato nice and thin.
MSRP: $29.95
FEBRUARY 2020 blademag.com 51