Robert from United States, PA Public Profile

I've owned the first Merchant; and while it was an okay knife, it had quite a few flaws that were bad enough that it should have never left the manufacturer. This new version is substantially better, and has eliminated nearly every issue that the first version had; and despite having no lockbar insert, there is no lock-stick. I use mine for a work knife, and it is holding up well. The black coating is proving to be durable, and the steel appears to be well heat-treated after cutting a good amount of cardboard. I sharpened it at it's factory angle once, and could feel that the steel is heat treated well. It is about .018" behind the edge, but I plan on laying back the cutting angle to around 34-40 degrees inclusive, which may place it somewhere around .023" behind the edge. With some break-in and pivot adjusting, you can get a nice action with no blade play; and the knife passes the tenacious "spine-whack" test. Overall: for the $295 that Toor and other retailers are selling it for, I would buy a Benchmade Bailout in M4 or even save the money (if possible) and buy a CRK. For the $138 that Optics Planet is selling it for, it is an absolute home run. This knife now competes with the M4 Bailout, and Magnacut Umnumzaan as my work knife; and for a fraction of the price of the others, I'm not afraid to really thrash it if needed.