SOA® Battle Talon Karambit Knife And Sheath - 3Cr13 Stainless Steel Blade, Twice Injected TPU And Rubber Handle - Length 8 7/10”

I was pleasantly surprised when I opened my KOTM and saw this! It is beautiful, sharp and the plastic belt sheath is really nice. After having this for a few days, I'm posting another review (sorry site admin, if you could please delete my other review on this item). The knife itself is still a 5/5, but as JohnW mentions, the sheath doesn't suit the Karambit style. Karambits are intended to be quick drawn, whereas this sheath will almost always come off your belt/pocket/etc when trying to draw the knife. On other knives, this sheath is perfect, it's my favorite! but for a Karambit, it defeats the purpose.

This is an in-depth review. I own hundreds of blades from inexpensive to outrageous. The reason I bought this particular blade has more to do with its design as opposed to the steel and sheath. The steel is of low quality; but it can be somewhat sharpened for its intended purpose. On the other hand, the overall design is almost perfect. Conversely, the sheath is worthless as follows: It is right-hand draw from a vertical position meaning the edge will be pointed to the ground rather than facing up. This makes the method of deployment completely wrong in a defensive situation. Further, there are two nubs that secure the knife in the sheath; and they are too secure making it impossible to extract the knife without pulling the sheath free of the belt. Since I will not carry the knife using this sheath, I filed a little bit of each nub to make withdrawing the blade easier. This is only a temporary measure; since I will have someone make a leather sheath of special design that will allow proper carry and deployment from either right or left-hand draw. The entire design of the knife itself is great even though the steel is not. But it is well suited as a defensive tool. I would like to see an improvement in the steel and sheath design. Proper deployment would be as follows: Make a fist as though you are going to punch someone. You will see that the edge of the blade should face forward rather than back toward you. Keep that in mind when designing a sheath. There are numerous people who can make one for you. Overall, I like the knife design. Of all the karambits out there, I have only seen and bought two that are of any account.

I was pleased to receive a karambit this month and after reviewing it, I found the following flaws. The karambit knife is a fighting, self defense tool. It’s meant to be able to come out of the sheath right away however the sheath provided isn’t of any good use. Karambits also have a finger hole at the end of the knife (sometimes one for the index finger as well) that ensures the knife stays in your hand. This particular knife does not have one. The steel used is a weaker steel however not too bad for what it’s intended purpose is for and could easily be sharpened. I wouldn’t really use this knife for self defense purposes being that it could easily be dropped but definitely could be used for other jobs. It’s a nice looking karambit just not one you want to depend on in an emergency.