Mavrokniv Shadow Flipper Folding Knife, D2, G10, MK005
[BKMK005]

As I outlined in my post on the Mavrokniv Contender (Model: UCMK017), Mavrokniv is a is a Swedish company known for their fixed blade knives. Blades Canada is selling a number of folding knives. The three I have, the Contender, the Mechanix, and the Shadow, were all manufactured in China. They are all big knives, but the Shadow is the biggest - though not the heaviest - of all. It is the longest, coming in at 8.9". It is a big boy. But the Mechanix is heavier (about 6 1/2 oz) than the 5.6oz Shadow. Beauty is is in the eye of the beholder. Personally I prefer the look of the Contender and the Mechanix, but I could see fair minded people preferring the Shadow. It has a contoured G-10 handle, that has some nice detail - a handle with a curve that contrasts with the "S" look of the blade, chamfering near the blade and at the rear the handle, a bright blue spacer with jimping, a blue collar around the pivot, some texturing on the scale that ensures it stays firm in the hand, even if you work in a vaseline factory, and an interesting two-tone blade design. So this will definately appeal to some people. The D2 steel blade has a flat grind and a drop point. It is two tone - stone wash along the spine, but polished along the belly. It has a cut out along the spine that gives it an interesting contrast, and the spine has jimping. It has thick stock - 0.139" at the spine and 0.043 at the edge. It uses D2 tool steel - a decent budget steel. Mavrokniv's heat treatment seems solid. I have put my Contender, Mechanix, and Shadow to some hard use and they have all performed well holding an edge and cutting well. I have been impressed with the fit and finish of all my Mavrokniv knives. The hardware is good, the scales align tightly with the liners, there are no protruding lines, the edges are rounded, teh blades (with one exception) were all nicely centered, and there is no play in the blade. Really impressive for under $50. I would say this though - although I have not disassembled any of the knives yet, I did purchase one as a gift for a neighbor. It was not centered, so I adjusted it to center it for him. When I took the pivot screw out, I noticed there was no lock threader on the screw. So I put some blue lock threader on when I put the screw back in. I checked the other hardware and none of the screws used lock tite. So I have taken the screws out and put those lock threader on all the screws. So you will want to keep an eye on your hardware from time-to-time and make sure nothing is coming loose or put some blue lock threader on the screws. But this is a small point. The knife deploys by a flipper only. The action is fine. The detent is good, but not remarkable. The blade is so large and heavy that it did take me a try or two to figure out this knife won't just pop open, and you have to use a little more force than, on let's say, the WE Beacon. But it opens smoothly and reliably on the bearings. I consider all my Mavroknivs to be hard use tools. They are pretty attractive knives IMHO, but they are large by my standards. So I use them around the lake. I think they are really attractive options for camping, hunting, hiking, around a farm and the like. But the Shadow does have some style and you can use it anywhere. I can't see using it to open envelopes, or in the office too much, but you may see it differently. I have used it to break down cardboard for recycling, to cut rope, and that is the type of city work I see putting it to use for. But overall, I think it is a well designed, well manufactured big heavy use budget EDC that will serve its purpose at a very very good price. Again, given the choice between this and, let's say, a RAT 1, it is no contest for me in terms of utility - though my RAT 1 may just be a quality control issue. But, of course, the RAT 1 carries a history for collectors that the Mavoknifs can't match. So I gave this knife 3 stars, but added one for the value. I can recommend it.