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Based largely at least externally on the combined successful elements of its few forbearers, the Piranha Excalibur fits neatly into the mostly ignored mid sized category for this rare type of knife that few manufacturers have taken the time to construct. After waiting patiently for 2 years for Masters of Defense to finalize and produce the production version of the J.A. Harkins Triton may were disappointed that this knife lacked the speed and power that had become legend with at least the Microtech Dual Action Out The Front (D/A OTF) knives. Not many people actually owned that original $1000 to $4500 custom Harkins model but everyone had it in mind that they were all was pretty stout and for the most part they were but the power wasn’t there. It was only until after the Ultratech 6 (UT6) from Microtech had been updated into the Scarab and then Makora that slam and speed could be bench marked – these were fast – especially considering the fact that there’s not a lot of spring in a D/A OTF compared to the Single Action OTF design that was what was referred to as an OTF prior to the Harkins design. No one gave the Italians much credit for that clanky NATO that had been floating around for the last several decades it was seen as more of a gimmick. There are a few good ones granted like the 777 series Black Finger that while not even close to what you see in the Piranha or the others they are the closest you can get. So far no one is able to built that knife in the $99 to $200 price range – it’s either molded something with a stamped blade and it sounds like a baby rattle or it’s something Q couldn’t barely afford to loan to 007 made on a C&C with a laser cut blade. So many parts and such tight tolerances!
Material detail on the Piranha Excalibur is par for the course when it comes high end C&C fabricated knives. No baby rattles here! Anything with tolerances this tight has to have a laser cut (or even wire EDM cut) blade to fit properly with all it’s tang post and hole details that are added after with a C&C machine. Initial grinding is always a surface grinding with all the finish work done on several different belt grinders by hand first. The blade is high speed bearing steel. And that’s exactly what it sounds like – the bearings in very important things that spin like jet engines are somehow related to the blades in knives in the each would suffer immediately from being too brittle or soft and has the sole objective of retaining its precise shape in order to be effective. The heat treat on these knives is 60 on the RC Scale with crucible metals S30V for the material.
The handles are the Type 6 Alloy AKA Aircraft grade aluminum and have that silky smooth black anodize on them. The clip on the back and the graduated steel button on the front do give you plenty of grip for operating this knife. And finally total weight is four and a half ounces.
Mostly above and you’ll get this in part from the videos: Piranha went all out on this knife and ended up with a great look and internals that give this piece some alarming speed and power that results in the best to date audible type resonation. About 10 clicks that scream still made in USA better than anywhere else in the world - inside the ¼ second it takes to pop it out.
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