DiamondBlades Summit Folder Evaluation | GearJunkie GearJunkie Examined

A very powerful ingredient in a knife is its metal. DiamondBlade Knives claims its metal is the perfect and most balanced you will get, due to a singular forging course of. 

DiamondBlade Knives’ “Friction Cast” D2 metal supposedly has 10 instances finer metal grain than conventional D2. The model says that course of makes the sides of its knives tougher, thinner, and harder. The web site claims its knives “will outperform another knife by 10 instances — or higher — assured.”

These are massive, daring claims. However DiamondBlade Knives developed this Friction Cast know-how in collaboration with Brigham Younger College (BYU). It’s patented, and clearly, the model is assured in its qualities. So after I bought my arms on a DiamondBlade knife, I used to be instantly itching to check it. The model calls the Friction Forging knives “Tremendous Blades,” in any case.

I bought the DiamondBlade Summit Folder a yr in the past (October 2023). Since then, I’ve used it to subject costume my first whitetail deer, reduce paracord on numerous tenting journeys, chop veggies and meats, slice tops off beer cans, break up wooden, and make shavings for firestarter. I even began carrying it round as an on a regular basis carry knife.

However does its Friction Cast D2 make-up make it 10 instances higher than each different knife available on the market? The jury remains to be out. Whereas some specialists have expressed doubt, I’m not saying no simply but.

In brief: The DiamondBlade Knives Summit Folder ($295) sports activities a 3.375-inch Friction Cast D2 blade and a G10 deal with. It’s a full-sized folding looking knife that holds an edge remarkably effectively. In months of testing and every day use I haven’t seen a single spot of rust. This knife feels good, seems to be good, and appears to be as top quality as its makers declare. For its worth, I’m glad that’s the case.

Should you’re purchasing for looking and survival knives, take a look at our information to the Greatest Survival Knives.

‘Tremendous Blade’ Metal: A Disclaimer

Earlier than I begin, I want to notice that GearJunkie couldn’t procure true metallurgy checks to verify or refute DiamondBlades’ quantitative claims of its Friction Cast D2 metal.

I reached out to an area firm that would check the blade, however the price of testing a single knife for this evaluation was prohibitively costly. With out testing the metal, that metallurgist declined to touch upon the manufacturers’ claims.

I did converse with one other knife and metallic professional (you’ll hear from them shortly), however most of what follows are qualitative observations based mostly alone subject testing. This knife noticed lots of arduous on a regular basis carry (EDC) use via an extended tenting season within the Rockies. It reduce wooden, paracord, cardboard, leather-based, deer flesh, human flesh (unintentionally), meals, plastic, aluminum, and extra.

This has develop into the knife I placed on my belt each morning.

What Is Friction Cast D2 Metal?

The DiamondBlade Knives web site has a complete web page devoted to its Friction Cast course of and the science behind making D2 metal into “Tremendous Blades.” It will get deep within the weeds. The model spent lots of money and time on R&D for this tech. I’ll keep away from getting too detailed, but it surely’s value understanding why the model claims that its Summit Folder is such a particular knife.

Friction Forging makes use of a really particular device comprised of Polycrystalline Cubic Boron Nitride (PCBN) to “penetrate the blade” because it rotates, creating frictional heating. That additionally permits the knife maker to realize “differential warmth remedy” — making the backbone softer and blade edge tougher with stainless and high-alloy steels. 

Throughout the course of, the PCBN device strikes alongside the piece of metal that may develop into the blade’s edge, frequently forging it because it does so. That brings it to the “transformational temperature” that produces fine-grain metal buildings. These are so small, the model claims, they will solely be seen with electron microscopes.

DiamondBlade claims that the exceptionally fantastic grain of its Friction Cast D2 permits it to make a thinner, non-brittle blade with an ultra-hard, long-lasting edge. For supplies nerds, that may sound too good to be true. Sometimes, tougher steels are extra brittle than softer steels. That isn’t the case with Diamond Blades’ Friction Cast Metal, the model alleges.

DiamondBlade Knives Summit Folder Evaluation

After I shot my first whitetail in Nebraska final fall, the Summit Folder was the knife I field-dressed it with. It made the method really feel virtually too simple, however that was proper out of the field when the knife nonetheless had a factory-sharp edge.

I attempted to not let these thrilling first impressions go to my head as I continued utilizing it. However the knife continued to impress me. Whereas tenting, I used it for all the pieces from batoning wooden to chopping paracord, slicing aluminum cans, and prepping veggies. I even used it as a steak knife one night time. As a knife, the Summit Folder is a particularly efficient device for basic tenting functions.

It has a satisfying 3.5-ounce weight. The deal with is ergonomic and comprised of G1. In your hand, this knife feels very stable and wieldable.

I actually respect the three.375-in. blade size. It’s lengthy sufficient to perform hardier duties like splitting wooden or subject dressing. However as a result of it’s a folder, it additionally isn’t too massive for EDC. Size-wise, in my view, the Summit Folder hits the candy spot.

Edge Retention

Within the final yr and a half, there have been two different major folding knives I’ve used — each from outstanding, recognizable knife manufacturers. One in all them used S30V metal, and the opposite used S35VN.

Sadly, I don’t personal one other D2 steel-bladed knife with which to make a direct comparability. However I can inform you that the Summit Folder has saved a notably sharper edge than each of these different knives over comparable testing durations.

I additionally don’t have an electron microscope. So I can’t inform you precisely how effectively the blade’s edge is holding up. I gained’t say that it has remained as sharp because it was the day I bought it. However it has positively stayed sharper for longer than different knives I’ve used.

DiamondBlades offers information from its personal CATRA “edge retention” checks on its webpage for Friction Cast. It claims this check confirmed that Friction Cast metal cuts “50% extra materials per stroke on the outset” and that it stayed sharper than the opposite knife steels DiamondBlades examined. A “strokes to uninteresting” check indicated it maintained its sharpness after extra chopping than different steels did.

Nevertheless, just under that, DiamondBlades exhibits information from a “chopping life” check that exhibits Friction Cast metal truly carried out worse than different steels. So even DiamondBlades’ personal checks go away room for interpretation. It’s sort of arduous to parse out.

If you wish to see the information for your self, scroll right down to the “Testing” part on the Friction Cast Know-how webpage.

Sharpening

I didn’t want to sharpen the Summit Folder, however “simple to sharpen” is one in all DiamondBlade’s massive promoting factors for its Friction Cast blades. So I needed to attempt. I put it in a lineup with a few different pocket folders and two of my kitchen knives that wanted a little bit whetstone love and made a night of it.

Softer steels sharpen simpler, and the bladed fringe of the Diamond Blades knife has a hardness of 65-69 HRC, in response to DiamondBlades — that’s in comparison with the everyday 54–62 HRC hardness of standard D2 device metal. It’s arduous stuff. The honing progress is incremental, but it surely wasn’t prohibitively robust. It would simply take a little bit longer, relying on how uninteresting the blade has develop into.

It could repay to hone this blade frequently so that you don’t must work too arduous to regain its edge.

Dealing with

At 3.375 inches, the blade is a really practical size. It’s sufficiently big to carry out extra vital duties with out shedding maneuverability factors. It’s comparatively skinny at 0.118-0.120 inches huge, which feels nimble in use in comparison with some chunkier blades I personal.

A full inch of jimping on the backbone of the blade presents some critical thumb management, too.

The G10 deal with is comfy, ergonomic, and simple to carry. It’s a surprisingly mild knife for its measurement (3.5 ounces), however the weight feels good in your palm.

Motion & Lock

The DiamondBlade Knives Summit Folder makes use of a conventional lock-back design. It’s easy. It doesn’t snap open simply with a flick of the wrist. However there’s a small hex screw the place the blade connects to the deal with. Should you actually needed to, you may loosen that barely to make the motion simpler.

Total, although, opening and shutting this knife is easy. There isn’t any give or looseness in the blade, whether or not it’s open or closed.

Restricted Carry Choices

The Diamond Blades Summit Folder doesn’t have a pocket clip. As an alternative, it makes use of a sheath. DiamondBlade Knives presents each nylon and leather-based choices. The tooled leather-based sheath prices $20 extra and has a pleasant, stylish aptitude.

My solely subject with it’s that it’s cumbersome. It seems to be such as you’re carrying a Palm Pilot in your belt. I ended up trimming the leather-based on the clip so it’s a little bit decrease profile.

For individuals who carry multitools or cellphones on their belts, it gained’t be a trouble. However I’m not used to having one thing so massive on my hip, and it sort of throws me off. I actually want this factor had a pocket clip.

There’s a lanyard aperture on the deal with, so you may put on it round your neck. However that may feel and look even weirder.

The benefit of the sheath? It’s practically inconceivable to lose this knife. I’ve had folding knives with pocket clips that get snagged on jackets and yanked out. I’ve truly misplaced knives due to unfastened pocket clips. That’s by no means going to occur with the Summit Folder so long as it’s securely buttoned up in its sheath.

DiamondBlade Summit Folder Value

Folding knives are a broad class and their costs range considerably. This folding knife is the very same blade measurement and form as DiamondBlade’s flagship fixed-blade, the Summit. Each variations of the Summit are categorised as “looking knives” and lean distinctly extra towards survival functions than on a regular basis carry (EDC).

In comparison with the opposite knives on GearJunkie’s information to the Greatest Survival Knives, the DiamondBlade Summit Folder is on the expensive finish of the spectrum at $295. It could rank third for the costliest blade on the checklist.

Essentially the most comparable knife on that checklist would most likely be the Benchmade Anonimus, which makes use of Benchmade’s improved model of D2, which it calls CruWear. That mounted blade is barely larger than the Summit Folder, with a full size of 9.83 inches (in comparison with the Summit Folder’s 8.75-inch size). However it’s in the identical worth vary at $275.

What Does an Knowledgeable Assume?

As famous, I’m not a supplies scientist, nor do I’ve the tools or sources to have this Friction Cast metal lab examined to confirm DiamondBlades’ claims of metal superiority.

Nevertheless, I used to be capable of contact Larrin Thomas, a metal metallurgist in Pittsburgh, PA, and the founding father of the weblog Knife Metal Nerds, to speak about metal grain. Thomas has a PhD in Metallurgical and Supplies Engineering from the Colorado College of Mines. He provided some attention-grabbing views on Friction metal.

Diamond Blades claims that its Friction Forging course of creates metal grain buildings which are 10x finer than these of conventional D2 metal. Nevertheless, Thomas believes that it’s extra possible that the metal grain buildings, whereas nonetheless very small, aren’t fairly that microscopic.

In accordance with Thomas, “There’s a minimum of one printed examine on friction forging of D2 device metal … the place they discovered the friction cast D2 to have a grain measurement of two.3 microns. It is a very fantastic grain measurement however is considerably bigger than the 0.5-micron declare of DiamondBlades. The two.3 microns measurement would possible be extra affordable.”

Thomas stated that there’s a small enchancment in carbide measurement with Friction Cast metal. However he provides that powder metallurgy is significantly better for making the carbide measurement each smaller and extra constant.

“I feel it’s attention-grabbing and distinctive,” Thomas stated of the Friction Cast metal from DiamondBlades. “Although, for me, I’d somewhat use powder metallurgy metal for its superior carbide construction.”

DiamondBlade Knives Summit Folder: Who Is It For?

In case you are a frequent knife person who likes larger-sized blades that you just don’t must sharpen usually, DiamondBlade Knives made the Summit Folder for you. It’s a very succesful knife with a particularly sharp blade that holds its edge very effectively.

I can’t verify or deny that it’ll “outperform another knife by 10 instances” — that’s simply an inconceivable declare to check with out entry to a lab. However I can say for certain the sting on this blade outlasted the opposite two I’ve been utilizing and testing within the final yr.

I may inform you that it regained that edge after I put it to a whetstone (with some elbow grease). And I can verify that I haven’t seen a single chip or chunk alongside the Friction Cast edge regardless of a yr of use.

Truthfully, I like this knife a lot I’ve been making an attempt to put on it day-to-day. It may be overkill, although. Particularly with that cumbersome sheath, this knife is difficult to make use of for EDC. Though it’s authorized to hold in my state of Colorado, because the blade falls a hair’s width under the authorized size restrict. Nonetheless, I’d want a pocket clip to make every day carry practical for me.

The purpose is, I like this knife a lot I need to use it greater than I can. I’m in search of any alternative to chop, slice, or trim issues when my Summit Folder is on me.