Schrade SCHF30 Full Tang Clip Point Fixed Blade Knife

Back when Imperial Schrade went out of business and its good name sold to Taylor Brands, which sells knives under many different brand names, there was a lot of of lamentation. And for a while, the Schrade name was besmirched by having its name put on many a substandard knife.The knife industry has been burgeoning for about a decade now and many of the "crap knife" brands are actually putting out fairly good products. This has happened with MTech, as I've noted in recent reviews, though a lot of junk has MTech stamped on it as well.This Schrade SCHF30 is my first Schrade in a long time and let me tell you, it's impressive. It is certainly one of the best "bang for the buck" knives I have.Let's get into the specs first.Overall length: 10"Blade length: 5" of which 4-5/8" is sharpenedBlade thickness: 5/32"Blade coating: Teflon(?)Blade steel: 8Cr13MoV stainless steelFull tang construction.Handle scales are a rubbery plasticAs for the pros, the knife is well designed and constructed. The blade shape is very nice, a modest combination of drop and clip points.I was extremely impressed with the initial sharpness. This is one of the few "budget" knives I've bought recently whose sharpness was right up there with the standards of Cold Steel and Kershaw. In the budget end, being almost as sharp as blades from those manufacturers is a compliment. To be just as sharp is more than you can reasonably ask for in this price range.(BTW, as a bit of an aside, for about two years I worked Sundays in a cutlery shop in downtown Portland, not because I needed the money but because it gave me access to a variety of the kind of knives I was collecting. During my two weeks of training, I was warned by the manager to be extra careful handling the Kershaw folding knives because they were the cause of most of the cuts employees had experienced, and one day I cut myself on one despite being forewarened! LOL)This knife passed the thumbnail test (does the blade catch on my thumbnail enough to keep me from sliding the blade?) and the paper test. It sliced paper as effortlessly as my Talwar, which is dangerously sharp. By "dangerously sharp," I mean that a small mistake closing the Talwar—which is spring-loaded when it closes—could easily take off a fingertip.The handle is very comfortable and between the deep forefinger cutout and the thumb jimping your hand is well-protected from sliding forward onto the blade should the knife meet a solid object while thrusting.There is a generous lanyard hole, which is nice. I don't really use lanyards, but I know many people who use knives in military or emergency situations want them.The sheath is of the Secure-Ex type. I see no trademarking on it other than "Schrade," so I assume it's proprietary to Schrade. I'll assume it's ABS and not Kydex plastic. The plastic belt loop can easily accommodate a belt 1-1/2" wide and probably one 1-3/4" wide, though snugly. There are also slits for thigh straps.Overall, the sheath is pretty good, though I'll talk about it a bit more in the cons section, which follows.Now, for the few cons. This knife is NOT for you if you have hands the size of dinner plates. I have small hands for a man and it's just the right size for me. A man with big hands will find himself gripping it with his little finger behind the handle. Of course, this could be an additional safety factor in addition to the forefinger cutout and jimping.The other major con has to do with the sheath. The fit of the knife into the sheath is very tight. It takes a good hard pull to extract the knife and I can imagine an accident happening while doing so, and with a blade this sharp it could be a fairly bad accident. I'm sure that if you applied a small file and worked carefully, you could reduce the grip of the sheath, though of course you'd have to be careful not to make it too loose. This is one knife you really don't want sliding out of its sheath unexpectedly.As a practical matter, supposing you were a spec ops soldier, there is almost no way to withdraw the blade silently. Likewise, returning the blade to the sheath results in a rather loud snapping sound. Were I a spec ops guy, I'd make a more practical sheath of cordura or leather with a snap or Velcro strap to secure it.If you've been looking for a seriously dangerous fixed blade knife that's not too big and not too small, and you don't want to spend more than $25, this is more than worth a look.(In the photos, I show the knife with two other serious combat/self-defense knives so you can get an idea how it compares in terms of size. Directly below it in the 3-knife shot is the Cold Steel Voyager Vaquero XL, and below that is the monstrous MTech MT 20-39. )

Another example of the fine blades available from Schrade, and at a reasonable cost! Great handle, good fit and finish. Fairly sharp upon arrival, and the 8cr13mov steel used by Schrade sharpens nicely. I got paper shaving sharpness in no time, using my Rada sharpener. The sheath is of good quality and the blade snaps securely into it. A bit too securely, in fact, making the knife somewhat difficult to withdraw. Using a rotary tool with a sanding bit, I removed some material from a ridge just inside the right side of the sheath (the handle/tang of the knife presses against that ridge, rides over it, and snaps into place) and that has resulted in an easier pullout. The knife is sturdy, with a blade thickness of 4 mm, or 5/32 of an inch. So this is a medium duty knife, in my opinion, and would nicely compliment a larger, heavier knife as a companion blade. The reason I would classify it as "medium duty" is because the tip is rather long and slender and if this knife were used in a situation where even a little prying was done, a little torquing from side to side with the tip embedded, I think it would break. Hence the need for a stronger knife, such as the schf 9, or the BK2, for instance, both of which have a short and very strong tip. In a medium sized knife, the schf 42 has just such a strong tip (being a smaller version of the schf 9) and with a thickness of 5 mm, or 3/16 of an inch, is really an excellent choice and would qualify as a primary knife, or as one's only knife. I have a 42, and it is indeed a beauty! Just my thoughts, of course.

This is an excellent knife. For less than $30 it can't be beat. The sheath is acceptable. The knife is very secure. A little hard to remove but very usable. The black coating on the blade is very rough but removes easily. Edge retention is decent, sharpens very easily. Overall this is a great all-around knife. I carried it for 30 days in the bush and it was capable of doing any task I attempted. This is the Jack of all trades type of knife. Not particularly great at any one thing but with some work you can do it all. I highly recommend this knife.