Having previously depressed expensive fixed blade owners with a review of the $15 mora robust, I thought I"d get the folder owners out on the window ledge too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYSYoFDoh-E&index=100&list=PL873CAE980DDA64DB&t=23s

qjs

Good share.

Not having handled these knives, my first reaction is that a ~$10 knife is way, way better than no knife at all, and these look decent for inexpensive folders. Actually I'd be impressed at $25 or more for some of them.

Mora has had a long time to (in my opinion) perfect the inexpensive high quality fixed camp knife. I do think it's harder to do the same with a folder. I'd rather carry a Mora and a $100+ folder than a $100+ fixie and a ~$15 folder -- if the pivot or the lock fails on a folder I could be out a knife or a finger, where there's less to break on a fixie.

I'm looking forward to learning more about this company and their blades.

Those do indeed seem to be a good bargain, but if I am carrying a folder, I have come to prefer a Leatherman Skeletool, since it incorporates good pliers and is a nice, compact package.

I find it ironic that Cold Steel touts their SRK (R for rescue) as essential for such operations, while I have never wished I had a larger knife in rescues. The blade I packed for nearly all my rescue operations was a SAK Tinker, kept nice and sharp. There were plenty of times when I fervently wished I had a good pair of pliers and I wound up packing such a tool....until the dawning of the L-tool era.

The best SAR knife is the one that is handy. People carry their $100 tools buried deep so they won't lose them, then when they need to cut a strap on a stokes, they waste time finding it.

In the Sub-10 dollar mark, also think of the Opinel's. Sharp, easy to sharpen, great quality, cheap and does look scary in any way. Just don't get them wet.

" when they need to cut a strap on a stokes, they waste time finding it."

Never had to do such a thing. We always preferred to untie our knots, so the strap could be used later.

But this begs a question. We all know that any "rescue" implement includes a seat belt cutter, so that the victim can be extricated from his hopelessly jammed seat belt. Most of my SARs were non-vehicular, so I have little experience with seat belt extrication. From those who have done such, just how common is a jammed seat belt and the need to slash quickly?

I suspect that the seat belt cutter is "SAR bling," more or less.

I have done such quite a bit for several years and we had to open some car doors with hydraulic jaws. The number of actual slashed seat belts I did cut myself, witnessed or heard of was zero. That was not due to lack of cutting tools.
We did cut some seat belts in training but I guess that does not count in this context.
OTOH I regularly gave first aid courses and in about every third course there was a person with a friend who personally witnessed someone cutting a seat belt to save someone from a burning car that exploded shortly after. We did not try to verify the claims though .

I would wonder if good EMT shears would not do everything a seat belt cutter would do and be more versatile in cutting clothing to expose wounds, etc.

Thanks for your real world imput...

Maybe 'knot' have had to deal with rime or freezing rain with cold fingers and a medical emergency.

You must be one of those handsome SAR members, shirtless in the southern California sun, rescuing famous Hollywood starlets.

In training we tried cutting seat belts with good EMT shears as well. The shears did a far better job. They also where superior to knives. I doubt that this would change in real world scenarios.
Newbies tend to struggle when trying to cut a seat belt with the seat belt cutter without prior instruction on the technique. It is hard to do if you try to cut at a right angle.