What knife do you carry
during the Covid-19 pandemic?
There are a lot of
options to choose from. I’m going with
Steel Will’s Plague Doctor!
Steel Will offers three
levels of pocket knives. First is their
EDC. Up a notch is their Outdoor line
followed by their Tactical line. I don’t
know the difference. I’m cynical enough
to know “Tactical” products are usually black and cost more.
The Plague Doctor is a
product of the fertile mind of the mysterious designer Vaeringi. At least he is mysterious to me. I was unable to find a first name or any kind
of bio.
The knife is a frame
lock, with G-10 scales available in OD green and black. I went with green G-10.
The knife blade sports
a flipper that rotates to form a deep guard for the index finger. The top of the blade has a riser with jimping
providing a friction surface for your thumb.
A depression in the handle feeds your thumb into the jimping.
There is no opening
stud on the blade. This knife was
designed to open with the flipper. Not
enough of the closed blade is exposed to grasp it and open the knife slowly and
politely. Politeness be damned, it’s a
fighting knife.
I went with the OD
green because it wasn’t black. There is
a fine texture on the G-10 to help with grip but not so much you’ll sand the
inside of your pocket. Steel liners
support the scales and one side forms the liner lock. The lock takes a pretty solid bite out of the
back of the blade. The blade pivots on
what appear to be bronze washers. I’d
put tiny drop oil on them too.
Let’s summarize the
knife specs:
- Blade Length: 3.43" with a cutting edge that’s 3.54"
- Closed Length: 4.96"
- Overall Length: 8.31"
- Blade Material: D2 Tool Steel
- Blade Thickness: 0.14"
- Blade Style: Drop Point flat grind
- Handle Material: OD Green G10
- Handle Thickness: 0.51"
- Weight: 5.4 oz.
You can get you own Steel Will Plague Doctor for just under $80.00 at
https://steelwillknives.com/our-knives/tactical-series/plague-doctor-f16m-02.html
It’s a lot of knife for
a reasonable price.
Steel Will is a
division of Sports Manufacturing Group (SMG), an American company located in
Huntington Valley, PA. The knife was
manufactured in China and despite my feelings about China due to the Covid-19 pandemic,
it is a quality knife. I would have no
trouble carrying this to a knife club meeting or taking it off the
pavement.