SchradeAlpha Class Radok 8.75in with 3.75in S35VN Steel Blade and Forged Carbon Fiber Handle, Made in USA for EDC

First, the blade is s35vn and does it ever earn it's reputation - sharp as a razor out of the box! I have small hands (8"-8.5") and mastered the opening immediately. The closing mechanism will take some time to master as the blade will close shut almost immediately with deminimus action/feint - watch those fingers! The handle is big and sturdy. You can use this knife for self defense, starting a fire with a fire stick, cutting thick pieces of wood or skinning a gator - whatever you need! Okay you probably want to hear about the pocket clip because many people have a problem with it. The clip is extremely tight and can easily erode the hem on which you slide it. The clip notwithstanding this is one of the best overall knives I have ever seen. Survival, tactical, precision cutting, or carving statues out of slabs of wood - this knife will meet and defeat all challenges. The hack for the clip is to carry it in a knife folding sheath or simply remove the clip and mill it down - no problem. The price at which Amazon is selling this beast is so low you simply cannot afford to pass; you will not be disappointed with this purchase.

I bought this knife for two reasons, made in the USA and the Wharncliffe design. I have become a fan of the Wharncliffe design and pleased that different manufacturers are or have produced it. I’m not a big fan of carbon fiber scales but the design of this knife made me jump on it. I ended up buying two more ( two were really cheap one being around $50). None of them that I can tell so far have any issues with the scales that others have mentioned. I wouldn’t let that be a deterrent if it was going to be a user and if it didn’t cause injury but again I usually stay away from carbon fiber scales because they are slick. As a collector and a user, I usually buy knives for my collection to be more about usefulness or in the mindset that they are usable just in case I want to let go of some of my collection.The pocket clip imoh is trash, even though I haven’t carried it. It sticks out way too far from the body. I cringe at the thought of leaning against anything and scratching it. I do plan on carrying it because of the design and the hefty blade but I’m going to try and modify the clip, maybe make my own. I think it could be removed, grind it down and might have to shorten the screws, if the screws are long as they seem.I would absolutely buy this knife 10 fold over the ones made elsewhere in a certain part of the world.

While I think the design of this knife is beautiful, and the action on the model I received was fantastic, the carbon fiber handle scales are absolutely riddled with voids. You can notice how pockmarked it is from even a medium distance. For a knife at this price, this cheapness and lack of quality in the materials is really inexcusable, and it is something that I haven't even seen on ~50 dollar knives made in China using the same material - Schrade really needs to practice some basic quality control. I attached a picture here of just part of the handle. Both sides are covered in these in their entirety. Other reviews here on Amazon and also on YouTube note this problem, so buyer beware.

I fall into the category of “pocket knife weirdo” . I own everything from an LST micro to a zt0770. I love to use, fidget and look at all of them. I can tell you in all honesty, when this knife is in my hand it is the most gratifying of the 150+ pocket folders in my collection. There is absolutely nothing that I dislike about the Radok. If I could keep only two knives to carry for the rest of my life, one of them would be this new Shrade. And not just because it is Made in the U.S.A. I am not hung up on where the knife is made at as much as beauty and function and quality. Great quality knives are made all over the world these days but the Radok is at the top of my list.👍 Good job Schrade. One more thing, the first knife I ever purchased was a LB7 in 1979. I still use it and it is still tight and beautiful. 😁

First I want to say I appreciate Schrade trying to get into nicer, USA made knives. I have a Schrade Old Timer knife from the 90's I carried daily for 10 years, and still have a Schrade Tough Tool from that era that was used heavily in my younger days living on a farm and now lives in my glove box for emergencies. Those were excellent, USA made tools but in the mid 2000's Schrade moved all manufacturing to China and quality significantly went down hill and I've avoided them since. So I was excited to see that they are making knives in the USA again and jumped at the chance to try one out.The knife package gives off a premium vibe. The s35vn blade comes hair-shaving sharp out of the box. What's perplexing is the blade steel type isn't etched on the blade anywhere which is somewhat out of the norm for a knife like this. The handle has a nice soft-touch feel to it that provides decent grip with a subtle mesmerizing marbled appearance. Blade centering is perfect. Grip is good when dry, but becomes slick when wet. Thumbstud location is perfect for flicking the knife open. I noticed the action wasn't slick-as-snot smooth, but there also appeared to be some dust and grit in the pivot area from manufacturing. After rinsing the knife under water to clear out the action it became buttery smooth. The pivot lock securely holds the knife open (if you're familiar with the Axis lock this is pretty much an exact copy of that). What I LOVE about the Axis/Pivot lock is it's ambidextrous, and being a lefty this is important to me.And that brings me to my issues with this knife that take it down to 3 stars. The pocket clip is NOT ambidextrous, it can only be attached on the right side of the handle making this knife useless for a lefty! Even so, I carried this knife around in my right pocket for a couple days to get a good feel for it and found another issue: the pocket clip is not designed that well; instead of a smooth transitional bend on the leading and trailing edge to glide over the top of your pocket, this clip has a pronounced nub which catches on the material of your pocket. I've taken a picture of all my knives with pocket clips to show the difference, you can see how every other knife is a piece of stamped steel with smooth edges, while the Radok (on the far right) has a solid chunk of steel which appears to be metal injection molded (MIM). The problem with this is it catches on the top of your pocket when you slide it in, and it catches again when you remove it, making the knife much more difficult to deploy than any of my other pocket knives. Eventually, these pronounced sharp edges will wear and fray the top of your pockets. If the clip was ambidextrous so I could carry it on my left side I'd probably take a grinding wheel to the nub to reprofile it to smooth it out. And since I'm already on a rant against the pocket clip I'll mention that it was loose when it arrived so I needed to use a T6 torx to tighten it back up.Now often you can get aftermarket pocket clips for knives, but Schrade molded the profile of the clip into the handle, so even if you could find an aftermarkey stamped steel clip it won't fit nicely on the handle, and if you just choose to remove the clip that inset in the handle has very sharp corners.Ultimately for a $200-250 knife, this knife is a HUGE miss to me. With an ambidextrous stamped steel clip I'd say this is a solid 4.5 star knife, but those 2 aforementioned issues with the clip take this down to 3 stars. If you're right handed though and can deal with the aggressive clip, this would make a pretty nice large "gentlemans folder".Additionally the description needs to be updated to say that the pocket clip is not ambidextrous.