Surprisingly good knife from Hungary
I can thoroughly recommend this model by Betyar.. It strikes a good balance between modern manufacturing techniques, and traditional aesthetics & materials. It's like a European take on a Buck 110, with it's brass bolsters and hardwood scales, only with this model, you can adjust the tension on the pivot should you need to. The specs on the HH site are little off, the blade stock is 3mm thick at the ricasso, which gives it a really chunky feel, without feeling too heavy. The clip point blade behaves more like a drop point, as the clip starts really early on the spine. However, the blade is relatively broad, meaning that it retains some belly before the point. The handle design is really nice, relatively slim, in comparison the the broadness of the blade (it reminds me of a traditional French pocket knife, like a lagoile), and the curved shape gives a slight gunner grip. It would be a great whittling knife, with it's full flat grind (plus a sharpening choil..!), but equally good for food prep. The blade pivots smoothly on either Teflon, or Nylon washers (can't quite tell), with really good lock up and no play whatsoever... It's possible to 'Spidey flick' the blade open, using the removable thumb stud, but I guess making it a two hand opener by removing this feature would allow you to carry it as an EDC in some countries, so I get the idea of having a nail nick as well. It came razor sharp out of the box, and first impressions on the heat treat seem pretty good. the only downside to this knife is the blade steel (440A is pretty low end), but if the heat treat is good, I'm not too worried. In short then- great fit & finish; nice use of traditional materials; lovely design; buttery smooth deployment, with great positive lock up & zero blade play; not too sure about blade steel, but just buy one anyway!. Excellent service from HH as ever!
