MTech USA MT-20-35 Series Fixed Blade Knife, Black Drop Point Blade, Plastic Handle, 8-Inch Overall

I'm giving this one a five star rating. It was much nicer than I thought it would be, especially for less than eight bucks delivered. The grind is even, and it shaved the hair on my arm just fine right out of the box. Finish was consistent and very nice. The black coating is even and smooth. Blade spine is plenty thick for this size knife. As for the grip scales - yes they are plastic and slick. So, I wrapped a piece of 220 grit Gator sandpaper around a file and sanded them. Since the attaching screw heads are countersunk, I didn't even have to remove them. They feel just fine now, and the texture looks like G10 rather than the plain old thermoplastic that they are. Comes with a lanyard and I almost tossed that. However, I decided to just braid it and leave it on.Now for the sheath. It is the same construction that MTech uses in a lot of their larger Bowie type knives. I have replaced those sheaths on my other MTechs with better ones. But in this size, it seems perfectly matched to this small knife, and is secure and safe. So I very well may leave it alone.The blade is a half inch longer than a Buck 110 that I compared it to, and the overall length is a half inch less when the 110 is open. It also seems to weigh about half as much. After a couple of minutes on my strop, it is just as sharp as the 110 too. I look at this as a utility or backup camp knife. It is just so small and light that I can't see any reason for it to NOT be on me someplace when I'm knocking around in the desert. It's fine for skinning a jackrabbit or a coyote.This knife - at eight bucks - deserves the high rating that I gave it. I will be buying more of them to put into tackle boxes and camping bags.

This is my first ever review, so sorry if it’s not that great. I love testing knives and this one passed its first one. My can opener broke so I needed to open a can. So using a hammer and my new knife I worked my way around the can. And after punching holes and prying open the can, I inspected the knife. And after a quick look over all I noticed was a few chips on the edge of the blade with a small spot where the edge rolled, and some scuffs on the finish. And the next thing I was using it for was to cut up some sausage for breakfast. And it sliced up that with ease. The only thing I don’t really like is the sheath but I will be making my own soon for it. The handle fits my hand pretty good and I didn’t slip any as I was hammering the blade into the can. This knife has became one to add for my EDC. So really it’s a well built knife for the price.

Ordered the black handle version. The sealed box said the handle was black as well. Opened the box and out came a knife with PINK handle! LOL The nylon sheath seemed decent and it will probably last longer than many nylon sheaths that came with knives around this price range. The fit and finish of the knife felt rather decent as well. The factory edge wasn’t very sharp and the knife will barely cut paper. But at least it’s a nice preliminary edge waiting to be properly sharpened. The handle is definitely youth sized. People with large hands will find the handle uncomfortable. I would be much happier if the the knife came with a shorter blade and a longer handle. The finger grooves did not help the grip much. The spacing of the finger grooves felt limiting; a larger single notch for the index finger should give the user a much better feel. The plastic handle was smooth and I think the handle will become slippery when wet.Sharpening this knife was very easy. The metal was soft and the factory “preliminary edge” really did help. It took very little effort to find the apex of the knife. I tried a toothy edge first but it didn’t last very long. Slicing paper alone managed to kill most of the microscopic teeth. LOL To my surprise, a highly polished edge worked much better for this particular knife. I’ve only tried 17 degree sharpening angle, which is very close to the factory sharpening angle on this knife. The edge retention of the knife wasn’t good and it was marginally serviceable at the best. I’ve done quite a bit of feather sticking with this knife and I found the edge held up just long enough for an overnight camping trip. I’ve sharpened my knife to the point which it will slice cleanly down a piece of folded, free standing college ruled paper. The knife will stop slicing (hand held) paper cleanly after making 3 or 4 feather sticks but it could still crank out around 8 more feather sticks before the blade stop biting wood. The edge might be fine for a 2 day trip if the handle was a little bit longer. It was difficult to exert extra power to force the knife to shave wood with such a small handle. I’ve also tried light batoning with the knife. The thin hollow grind made me felt uneasy but the knife survived a few branches up to around 2 1/4” in diameter. I thought there would be lots of wear on the black coating after batoning but it held up much better than expected. One interesting thing I found about my knife was that the knife’s edge didn’t really roll like regular stainless steel knives. Instead, I got many many almost microscopic chips as if I was using a carbon steel knife. Thanks to the soft metal, only some light stropping will make those mini chips disappear. My knife could be stropped back to life 5 to 6 times before I need to give it a light, maintenance sharpening.If you intend to strike ferrocerium rods with this knife, you’ll need to give the knife’s spine a sharp 90 degree grind. The knife as-is could only throw sparks by using the notch between the blade and the handle. The notch on this knife do not throw sparks efficiently and the sparks will damage the soft metal blade.Update before the 1st review was even submitted:I was playing with one of my pocket knives as I was writing the review and I suddenly realized the knife’s handle really wasn’t as small as it felt. The handle on my newly purchased 3 1/2” frame lock was definitely smaller but I wasn’t complaining at all. It was the finger groove on the handle that caused this youth sized handle illusion! The spacing of the finger grooves was better suited for people with smaller hands. The whole problem will go away if there’s only 1 finger groove for the index finger or no finger grooves at all. Duh!!

Firstly, I'd like to state that I'm en everyday person and not an expert on knives.The knife itself was sold at an inexpensive price so I would expect to receive what I paid for. That being said, I found the handle to be a tad short, unwieldy to grasp, and the handle felt a little too thick. The blade was as sharp as a butter knife.Though the knife seems sturdy, the first things I'll to to modify it is to get rid of the handle, and replace it with a para cord wrap. Second I'll sharpen the blade and add a cord to the hole at the end of the handle.It'd make a nice project knife and I bought it as a around the house tool as I work around the house and maybe for to have while running small errands. And I'd like to make a better sheath than the one it came with as the one I got was adequate but I have something different in mind for myself.All in all it's ok for the price and will make a fun project knife.

Great product and value highly recommend