Ultimate Equipment M1911 Folding Knife
I was very excited when I purchased this knife, especially when I found out the creator is a local Vancouver Canada based business. The knife is called the M1911, and called this because the handle scales can be swapped with a 1911 handgun. This is the main reason why I really liked this knife.. I am a huge fan of the 1911.
First think I noticed when I pulled the M1911 out of the box was that the action was not consistent as you can really feel the lock bar pushing on the tang of the blade when you are opening it. This makes the knife a little slower deploy and difficult to flick open if that’s your thing.
Blade
The blade on this particular M1911 is black coated S30V stainless steel, which is their premium steel. If I recall correctly, the frame for this knife is made in China, but the blade is made separately in the US and fitted afterwards, since S30V steel is not made in China. The blade is very sharp out of the box, and even pops hairs.
Handle
This is kind of the feature of the M1911… the interchangeable Colt 1911 grips make it a fun and customizable knife. You can buy matching grips and make this your EDC to matchi your 1911 too. This one comes stock with checkered Cocobolo grips which feel exactly like a thinner gun grip. Lots of purchase, and a bit of a guard make it pretty good to handle and use, though some portions of the handle can feel a bit big depending on your grip.
One word of warning, however, the grips are a bit harder to pop out than it looks. They are fit quite tightly and it took me a lot of wiggling and effort to get one of them off in particular.
Lock and Action
This is my biggest beef with the knife. While the knife has a cool novelty factor in that it uses 1911 grips, it would be really nice if this was a basic liner lock folder or had a slicker, more useable locking system. I personally find the locking system a bit clunky and difficult to use, and it makes opening the knife a bit less smooth than it could be. It does however lock up like a vault and instills trust in the user.
The fit of the lock and the action are very good however, and there is very little if any blade play at all with this knife. For the price of $140, this is a decent knife with a good quality blade, but I think this knife still is mostly going to be of interest to gun collectors and fans of the 1911 pistol.
Overall
Good quality but somewhat flawed execution, the M1911 is a very cool knife that lacks a bit of polish in the design. Its a decent value for an S30V blade, and is very usable with a reliable albeit difficult-to-use lock. The selling point is the interchangeable 1911 pistol grips, and unique style. I would recommend this knife to gun enthusiasts, but not so much to knife enthusiasts.
Specs:
Blade Thickness: 0.154″ / 3.95mm
Blade Length: 3.5″ / 90mm
Overall Length: 8″ / 205mm
Weight: 8.11oz / 230 g
Blade Steel: CPM-S30V
Handle Material: Cocobolo Wood (Varies)
Frame: Stainless Steel
Video Review: