With Mass Drop divesting of the knife market, Ferrum Forge picked up the baton of this traditional folder.
The Gent is one among my favourite pocket knife designs and was one of many first Massdrop (later simply “Drop”) knives. I owned 4 completely different variations through the years. It was the starter’s pistol for a run of actually spectacular designs for Drop.
Mysteriously, Drop determined to give attention to keyboards and headphones, however a few of these previous run Gents are nonetheless obtainable. Given Drop’s choice to go away the knife market, Ferrum Forge moved to resurrect the design in-house.
In doing so, it made just a few huge modifications. All however one have been actually good, making an amazing knife even higher … kinda.
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Briefly: Some promising enhancements are offset by selections in metal choice. There’s a lot to like right here, however the worth gained’t be there for purists.
Ferrum Forge Gent 2.0: Evaluate
Gent 2.0: Specs
- Metal: 9Cr18MoV
- Grind: Partial flat grind
- Lock: Liner lock
- Blade size: 2.8 in.
- Deal with size: 3.9 in.
- OAL: 6.8 in.
- Weight: 2.68 oz.
- Value: Beginning at $75
- Nation of origin: China
Design
The Gent 2.0 is obtainable in a number of colour schemes, and there’s a Jade G10/D2 unique for Blade HQ. The knife is a quite simple design with a flipper, a deep-carry pocket clip, a finger choil, and a drop level blade.
In some ways, that is the Platonic Concept of a contemporary folder — modest measurement, easy design, and straightforward carry.
Upgrades
As carried out, there are a number of small upgrades. First, the unique clip was an off-the-shelf quantity that didn’t match the knife’s look nicely and prompted hotspots. If there was one flaw within the authentic Gent, this was it.
The brand new clip is smaller, much less hot-spotty, and ties in with the knife’s look fairly nicely. Moreover, the model modified the pivot, eliminating the free-spinning pivot on the unique.
For individuals who like to wash their knives or take them aside, this can be a sizable enchancment.
Ferrum Forge additionally supplied one thing of a launch path in your flipper finger, making the knife much more fidget-friendly.
Lastly, and most significantly, this can be a sequel that’s inexpensive than the unique. This doesn’t occur typically within the knife world, as success tends to warrant a fancier mannequin the following go-round.
Right here, the worth is about $40 much less. However because the knife gods giveth, in addition they taketh away …
Not So Nice Modifications
As an alternative of retaining the S35VN metal of the unique, Ferrum Forge dropped approach down the metal ladder to 9Cr18MoV.
Now, 9Cr isn’t unhealthy, however it’s inferior to S35VN. It’s not a powder metal and isn’t as corrosion-resistant or wear-resistant.
The worth financial savings nearly actually comes from this transfer and as a knife fanatic, this can be a little bit of a disappointment. However even non-enthusiasts will observe that only a few knives within the Cr household value $75.
This can be a price range metal solely. Now, the Gent 2.0 has premium motion and a beautiful design, however this knife isn’t worth.
There was one final change that strikes me as neither a constructive nor a unfavourable. Ferrum Forge added a little bit of jimping to the flipper tab. I discover it completely pointless but additionally not offensive, so a wash.
Ferrum Forge Gent 2.0: Conclusion
I do assume there shall be fancier renditions of this knife down the road, and utilizing 9Cr is a simple approach of doing product differentiation, however this primary launch of the Gent 2.0 is fairly OK. If it have been $50, I’d be much less vexed by the metal selection. Really useful, however not by a lot.
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