Casey Kienzle

October 12, 2024

Review, Gear, Knives

Vosteed Parallel

Casey Kienzle

October 12, 2024

Review, Gear, Knives

Vosteed Parallel Review

Vosteed has a brand new knife out and it’s called the Parallel. It’s designed to be a very thin and lightweight pocket knife. And let me tell you, they succeeded! So if you are looking for a tough, lightweight and thin knife. The Vosteed Parallel could be the knife for you.

The Handle

The Parallel features a non textured titanium handle complete with a lanyard loop. For this knife you can get in 3 different styles. I received the gray handled knife and I was completely blown away by how thin the knife is! Coming in at a thin measurement of 0.28”, I couldn’t even tell it was in my pocket sometimes. There were even a couple of moments when I actually thought I lost it, because I couldn’t feel it in my pocket. And that’s also due to the knife being so lightweight coming in at 2.29oz. When I first opened it, I was a little worried about it not having a textured grip handle. It wasn’t a problem for me at all. I can get a great grip on the knife without it trying to slide around in my hand. Having no gripping also helps make it slide in and out of your pocket very smoothly. But thanks to the very strong pocket clip, that can be swapped to either side of the knife, it stays clipped in your pocket really well. It is probably one of the strongest clips I’ve had on a knife.

The Blade

Now here is where it gets really awesome! The Vosteed Parallel has one of my personal favorite blade styles on it, a 2.90” reverse tanto blade. For me personally, I love that style of blade and I feel that it is one of the best for piercing and cutting. On the back side of the blade it has some really great rough jimping. This helps keep control when I’m cutting something up like boxes or plastic straps. I have had knives before with smoother jimping and it definitely takes away some of that control you get. The blade steel is 154CM and because Vosteed designed the knife to be thin, the blade is only 0.08” thick! I was worried about the blade breaking due to it being so thin, but it has proven to be way tougher than I thought. Plus it has stayed sharp for a while now. When the time comes to sharpen it, 154CM sharpens very easily. This blade steel is also highly corrosion resistant so you don’t have to worry about it getting ruined by harsh chemicals.

Opening

The Parallel comes equipped with only two styles for opening, that is a thumb stud and pulling back the crossbar lock and flipping it open. I personally like having more ways to open a knife like front and back flippers. Or being able to flip it open using a button lock. And this is one of my complaints with this knife. As you open the blade, the spring loaded lock parts move so that the crossbar lock can engage when the blade is fully open. This causes the blade to not want to smoothly open when you take your thumb off the stud while opening. It can kind of push the blade back towards your fingers. So you have to sort of guide the blade open with your thumb on the thumb stud. Or give it a flick when you start to open it.

The Lock

Something that is handy about this knife is you can adjust the stiffness of the crossbar lock and that also makes the blade opening a little bit easier. However, It does not fully fix that stiffness. It definitely helps though. You can do this by essentially taking apart the knife, which is not complicated, and moving both springs (one on each side) to 1 of 3 different pin holes. This can definitely help with making it lighter or stiffer to open. It just depends on how you like your knife to open. When I first opened the knife, the lock was very stiff to pull back when the blade was open. So I did that spring adjustment and that made it a lot easier to open and unlock. This is my first pocket knife with a crossbar lock on it, and I have really come to like it. The lock tabs have great gripping on them, so you can pull them back easily to fold the knife closed.

Summary

I have come across so many different pocket knives over time, but I have never come across one so thin and lightweight! I sometimes forget I have it because of how well it fits in my pocket. It has been through quite a bit of cutting and slicing. I work in an industrial environment, and this knife has been doing a fantastic job cutting just about anything I need it to. I do wish that it had more ways to open and not such a stiff lock. But that being said, it is still a great knife! This is my second knife from Vosteed, and both the knives have such great quality and designs. If you are looking for a knife that fits perfectly in your pocket and doesn’t have much weight to it, I highly recommend the Vosteed Parallel.

Firearms Insider Reviews - Key Points

Claim to Fame:

Super thin and lightweight folder

Target Market:

Those wanting a super thin pocket knife

Features, Benefits, and Specifications of this product:

Blade Length: 2.90" | 73.85 mm
Overall Length: 7.04" | 178.90 mm
Blade Width: 0.96" | 24.50 mm
Blade Thickness: 0.079" | 2.00 mm
Blade Material: 154CM
Blade Grind: Flat
Blade Style: Reverse Tanto
Blade Finish: Satin
Hardness: HRC 60±2
Handle Length: 4.13" | 105.00 mm
Handle Width: 0.92" | 23.40 mm
Handle Thickness: 0.279" | 7.10 mm
Handle Material: Titanium
Color: Gray
Weight: 2.29 oz | 65.00 g
Opener: Thumb Stud
Lock Type: Crossbar Lock
Pivot Assembly: Caged Ceramic Ball Bearing
Pocket Clip: Reversible | Stainless Steel
Carry Position: Tip-up
Knife Type: Manual Folding
Backspacer Material: Aluminum
Backspacer Color: Green
Thumbstud Material: Aluminum
Thumbstud Color: Green

What other aesthetic options or finishes are available?

There are 3 different styles that you can go with:

Black titanium handle with a black SW blade.

Grey titanium handle with satin finish blade.

Black titanium handle with Satin finish blade.

What others are saying?:

Both from Vosteed’s website

“Only one major flaw, otherwise a very nice knife

Deployment is unpredictable for a crossbar lock. There is a place between the closed and open positions where the blade swings free. The lightweight blade often bounces back towards the handle as blade approaches the open/locked position. I can’t be sure blade is locked open without looking at it”

Great knife for the money

Super thin
Feels good in the hand no real hot spots
Super sharp out of the box
Great knife and super nice to carry with how thin it is, feels sturdy for its size. My only complaint is the springs are super stiff and you have to really send it to open and on my office hands it can be a bit uncomfortable to hold the cross bar back to have the blade drop closed. I opened it up, it has adjustable spring tension, three positions and it was in the weakest position. Definitely needs break in but will enjoy flicking it until it does

Link to other reviews

Melissa Backwoods on YouTube

Price point:

MSRP = $129.00

Retail = Same

I need it now! Availability:

Vosteed or Blade HQ

Our Rating:

Pros:

Love how thin and lightweight the knife is! It fits in my pocket so great.
It cuts so dang smoothly and has held a sharp edge for a while now.

Cons:

I do wish it had more ways to open it than just a thumb stud or using the crossbar lock to flip it open.
I don’t really like how stiff the lock is and that I had to take it apart to adjust that stiffness.
Because of the stiff lock, it makes the blade opening not too smooth. You kind of have to guide it out with your thumb otherwise it pushes the blade back towards your fingers.

Score: 6.50 Okay

Casey Kienzle

August 11, 2024

Review, Gear

Sencut ArcBlast

Casey Kienzle

August 11, 2024

Review, Gear

Sencut ArcBlast Review

With the prices of so many things going up, the amount of money in your wallet goes down. But if you are looking for a good quality knife that won’t take a massive hit on your wallet, then the Sencut ArcBlast would be a fantastic knife for you. Let’s check out all of the things that this great knife features and how it’s a great bang for your buck.

The Handle:

The ArcBlast features an aluminum handle with a smooth finish. I normally like to have gripping on the handle. So when I took the knife out of the package and noticed that the handle was smooth, my first thought was “oh I’m not going to like this”. But I actually really like it. I feel like I can get a solid grip on it. One that doesn’t allow the knife to slip in my hand. The handle also has a great shape that fits really comfortably in my hand. Because of the smooth aluminum handle, the knife slides out of the pocket very easily. But not easy enough to fall out, due to the great pocket clip that comes on it. It will stay where you want it!

Opening:

I’ve used a lot of different pocket knives over the years. Normally thumb studs aren’t my favorite style for opening, but I know it’s good to have different options for opening the knife. But on this knife in particular, I like how quickly the thumb stud deploys the blade. I find myself using the thumb studs more than the flipper. Although the flipper gives it a real quick opening and works fantastically. One thing that definitely helps with this quick opening is that it uses bearings at the pivot point. This gives it a quick and smooth opening.

The Blade:

The Sencut ArcBlast features a 2.98” drop point blade made from 9Cr18MoV. This is a great steel for this price, and it’s widely used in lots of other knife brands knives. I have been using this blade for a few months now and working in an industrial environment. I use it a lot to cut open boxes, plastic wraps, and various other items. So far… I haven’t needed to sharpen it, but 9Cr18MoV does sharpen very easily. Another reason why 9Cr18MoV is an awesome steel, is that it is corrosion resistant. This is a great material for harsh environments where liquids and other corrosive materials may be present. So you will not have to worry about wrecking your knife.

The Lock:

I have come across quite a few different button locks on different knife brands, but this is definitely one of the best in my opinion. The ArcBlast uses a standard button lock. This lock is used a lot in the Sencut, Civivi and WE Knives line of knives. They really have designed a fantastic lock, which is probably the reason they use it so much. The lock is great because it is easy to unlock, but not easy enough that it will unlock when you don’t want it to. This is due to the button being flush with the handle. So when you grip the handle, you don’t run the risk of accidentally pushing the button and unlocking it.

I have had a couple of Civivi knives, but I haven’t had a Sencut knife before. I definitely like this knife for many reasons. It’s a very sturdy knife with a smooth and comfortable grip. It also has a great 9Cr18MoV blade that has stayed sharp through lots of use. If you are wanting a great quality pocket knife that will not cost an arm and a leg, you should definitely check out the Sencut ArcBlast.