Grab a cup of coffee and settle back, I think you'll be glad you did...

I recently had the opportunity to receive a knife from Sgt Blades (formerly was Thompson Knives) for review and I had my doubts as to whether to accept the offer or not...

I know Mr. Thompson is a long time survivalist, so I figured he knows the types of knives the Survivalist needs, I've had the pleasure to get to know him on message forums around the Internet where he goes by the moniker of "Hagar"... But I didn't know he was a custom knife maker, and was kinda hesitant to do a review when asked because when it comes to these reviews, I am known to be brutally honest, even to my best friend's products, MY credibility rides on stating the TRUTH as I see it. But Mr. Thompson said he's always looking for ways to make a better product (all the best people are), and he wanted Honest opinions... "Ok, well and good" I thought, "there are more than a few wanna-be survivalist knife makers out there, lets have him send one to the expert and see what HE says..."

Enter my good friend Trace Rinaldi of THR Custom Blades, I trust Trace to tell me the truth about these things, I know (and own many pieces of) his work, he's one of the best custom knife makers around, and the popular knife magazines prove this out all the time. Anyway, I asked Mr. Thompson to send Trace one of his knives before it came to me so I could have his expert opinion... I know what a cut-throat business (no pun intended) the knife world is, so when I got the knife along with a note from Trace Rinaldi to "Keep my eye on this guy", I HAD to check him out for myself! I sent for a bio and the response was prompt.

I learned that Mr. Thompson has been making custom knives on and off for over 15 years... he happily works with ATS-34, 440c and D2 for blade steel, and has even done custom orders from titanium. He makes hunting knives, tactical knives, kitchen knives, swords, spears, and even battle axes!!! His handle materials vary from micarta, antler, hard woods, cow horn, cord wrapped, aluminum, etc. basically he'll put anything on for a handle as long as he feels it will hold up and do the job. He has no "set" patterns to sell, each knife he makes is custom designed according to the customer's specs.

Ok, On to THIS knife... The test knife we received was made from ATS-34, with about a 57 Rc... It's bead blasted, has a THICK black micarta handle with Brass hardware and stays, it came in a multi positional kydex sheath. I have to say right off that it's another of the few Knives I like the "feel" of. I have big hands (You know what they say about men with big hands... they have big gloves J sorry, couldn't resist), When I wrap my hand around many knives, my fingers dig into my palms... that's not good when you need to control your knife! Not a problem here! Mr Thompson believes in nice fat handles and grips, made to YOUR specifications.... That's why I INSIST that custom knives are the best knives for the money, you don't have to settle for "one size fits all". It has a good balance, nice lines and does the job it was designed to do with a minimum of hype.

Trace says to keep my eye on Mr. Thompson, we'll be hearing about him... I heard the same thing about Trace a few years back, and I'm glad I got my knives when I did, cause they are much sought after and hard to come by now, with a long waiting list... I'd suggest you get in on the ground floor of this one too!

Be sure to visit Mr. Thompson's web site and see some of his work!
Sgt Blades (formerly Thompson Knives)

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