Budget Shank

No, really, that’s what it’s called.

This is Morgan from No One Coming’s entry-level G10 knife, with a V grind blade with a zero edge (no secondary bevel).

For those unfamiliar, G10 is a fiberglass resin composite, one of the toughest out there today. It’s .260″ thick, and completely nonmetallic.

Conveniently, the sheath is also nonmetallic – it’s a Kydex sheath stitched together with Technora (an aramid weave fiber, like Kevlar) cord, with a ToughClip plastic clip attached with some 3M bonding tape.

Despite being one of his self-proclaimed “minimal effort” pieces, this knife has some loving details that are not immediately apparent.

First, each of these nonmetallic knives he makes are worked in isolation from steel, with different grinding belts and tools to prevent cross-contamination with steel dust.

Additionally, each knife is individually hand-tested with a handheld metal detector (usually more sensitive than walk-through units) to ensure it is completely nonmetallic.

Finally, he stands behind his products with the following warranty:

I sharpen composite knives sharp enough to cut nylon webbing. They are not intended for such use, however. They aren’t utility pieces. Utility use will damage the function of the knife.

If you damage the knife doing something you shouldn’t, I’ll repair or replace it for whatever it costs to do so in materials and time.

If you damage the knife in actual use, or lose it to an evidence room after use, I’ll repair or replace it for free. If you open a letter or two with it, and want to touch up the edge, use 400 grit sandpaper on a hard flat backer (like a paint stirrer or a piece of bar stock) or a 400 grit diamond hone.

The material will fade a little with time. When it does, wipe it down with a light oil to restore the color. I use orange oil so customers don’t get a petroleum-stinking package, but machine oils or gun oils work well too.

Morgan Atwood, No One Coming

I usually like to use and test products I review fairly extensively, and I plan to do some testing with this knife, but as you can see from the warranty, this is not intended as a hard-use piece, so I will be taking more care with it than I would with many of the other items I review.

Overall I am quite impressed with the knife and the maker’s attention to detail – I fully intend to seek out more of his products in the future – he’s got plenty on offer.

Until next time!

-T