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FIELD BLADE REVIEWS
Strider Blades
I’m sure that the self-proclaimed blade gurus out there are going to cry and throw email tantrums when they read this, but the goal of this site is candor and integrity... substance over bullshit if you will. Here goes... I’m going to put it here in print...
Strider blades are overpriced pieces of shit.
There, I said it... and now I’ll back it.
First, I will stipulate that the Strider has an extremely EFFECTIVE design... that is, if the “effect” they were going for was ease of manufacturing in mass quantities. A Strider is a CNC machined, mass produced blade made from ATS-34, a decent, but relatively cheap tool-grade stainless. They also offer the latest fad in steel, which is BG-42, another decent grade of stainless. These are relatively durable, but any metallurgist worth a shit will tell you that these are no match for a good, carbon steel that has been properly heat treated. Either of these steel options, even on the largest blade that Strider offers, uses less than $10 worth of steel (especially in the quantities that Strider is peddling away to an unsuspecting and gullible public).
Each blade takes less than a minute to water jet the shape, and a couple more minutes to CNC cut the angles. A further few minutes is likely spent doing final fit and finish before sending these out for mass heat treatment. If you think someone is personally shaping and crafting each Strider blade, and then carefully heat-treating each one individually, you’re WRONG... they just price them that way! Another couple minutes (and 30 cents worth of Paracord for the handle, and presto... another Strider is born, and ready to soak some sucker for $300-$400, and sometimes more!
The $350 price tag on the knife shown at the top was taken directly from the Strider website. The Ebay blade shown at the bottom was priced at $4/ea, and could also be had cheaper if you wanted to buy them by the dozen. Okay, so the Strider is better because it’s a thicker and better steel, but there’s about the same level of design, machining and labor going into both. Does the $10 extra cost in steel really demand hundreds of dollars in extra sell price? Well sure... you gotta admit that camouflage blade makes it look “cool” and “tough”, and to prepubescent Rambo wannnabe's, maybe that’s all that matters.
It seems to me that we’ve been through a similar phenomenon with a guy named Gil Hibben. When he first started making “radical” looking blades, he commanded top dollar for them and had the blade media drooling and kissing his ass. His 15 minutes of fame ended, and people realized that his stuff was cheap, mass produced crap. Another couple years, and you’ll likely find Striders in the bargain basement knife racks. For now, avoid the hype, and buy a quality blade instead.
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