WithArmour Model: Expendable*
The Chinese OEM knife making company DAV Gear has it's own product line under the banner WithArmour. This is the second product I have tested from them. The previous san mai constructed bushcraft knife (Cajo I) from a German designer, was of excellent construction and functionality for it's intended usage in the field of bushcraft.
Now I focus upon a long standing model which is clearly "combat/survival orientated; The Expendable. This is a design from the CEO of the company Davis Zhang otherwise known as ROARDRAGON.Com The knife went into production about 3 years ago and Ive had my eye on it for a while.
There are a lot of high quality outdoor products, in the way of edged tools that are coming out of China these days. Specifically, Chinese producing their own brands of gear.
So far, WithArmour appears to be one of them, at least for the very two knives I have had in my hands in the field. As you can see from the above image, the presentation is great, in a well made (but of course fully recyclable) cardboard presentation/storage box. This particular knife comes as a "complete package" for around $144-00 USD! (sale price now as new models are due to be released).
It should be noted that the parent company DAV Gear is OEMing for some very well know USA brands, so making knives is their business.
So what's in the box?
Kydex scabbard (with a kind of ballistic nylon belt carry loop, (removable)
CNC made screwdriver/torx head driver (2 bits supplied)
(seen here without the combat styled guard installed)
Microfibre cleaning cloth
Separate guard, since this knife can be easily converted to a "no guard version" More on this later.
Publicity material and warranty card
Small nylon pouch (could take a small folding knife or other kit). This pouch attaches to the scabbard.
Desiccant film.
The Construction
The steel
Industry standard D2 tool steel hardened to 59-61 HRC. Personally, I've found D2 to be really able to handle outdoor abuse. All those concerned about non food safe blade coatings then no problems, as this uncoated knife blade will be fine for food preparation.
The Design
The "Expendable" will not be everyone's "cup of tea" especially with the upper spine edge carrying an absolutely lethally sharp set of non alternating concave serrations.
Reminiscent of the Aitor Survival knives of old and many other combat knives of more modern designs from various manufacturers such as Fox but not limited to. Note: this knife blade is definitely NOT a copy! One either hates serrations or recognises them for a functionality. Personally, I love them and have plenty of outdoor uses for them.
The stonewashed blade is almost a drop point/spear point, with a deep double fuller. It is 5mm in thickness to a full tang and bashing pommel. The tip narrows to a unsharpened spine swedge.
There is a lanyard hole and the pommel partially protrudes past the CNC machined G10 scales.
The tolerances for the fitting of the interchangeable guard/s is/are very good (see below). Interesting for me is that a knife guard can be fitted in the following traditional ways: A bolster/guard is physically pinned (generally irreversible) into the knife tang; the guard can be press fit (very common method) whereby friction alone holds the guard in place. If done properly then the guard will remain in place forever. Finally, a less common method is to simply slide on the guard and it is held in place by the handle construction/material. This latter method's success is totally dependent upon the handle construction and for such a guard, it has the possibility of movement. Usually this technique is done in order to easily disassembly the knife for cleaning.
Now we have a newer take on guard attachment, whereby the guard is precisely machined in order to fit a precisely machined part of the tang where it is held in place with two small screws. Any forces upon the guard do not impact the screws as the guard itself fits tightly to the notch in the tang. Since this tang is of adequate thickness (5mm) then more than adequate strength is achieved by this manner of fitting. This technique could only be achieved via machine construction to be able to produce tight tolerances of both guard and tang and CNCed G10 handle scales. This technique then allows for simply exchanging one part in order to replace the combat style guard with essentially a "bolster".
The actual guard is attached via two torx head screws into a tapped tang. Whilst these said parts appear to look like titanium, I believe they have been titanium coated and of stainless steel construction.
I'd like to see a full titanium guard/bolster but this of course would only increase the cost and add no mechanical benefit to the overall knife's functionality.
Their site erroneously says this knife has a scandi grind, however this is incorrect and the edge is a typical beveled knife edge. That's probably just a result of a translation from Chinese to English?
Functionality
These types of blades (literally doubled edged) I would argue are for those very comfortable with handling edge tools/weapons as there can be no room for error in the handling of such items.
The WithArmour Expendable generated feathers ok on some random piece of wood lying on the ground.
Bashes fire tinder fungi ok! and cuts birch bark well too! Note: No gloves were worn at any time using this knife in the field!
The serrations on the spine enable this knife to rapidly cut such materials as reeds. Reeds of course are excellent for the bushcrafter as they can be sat upon, build floatation platforms, survive the sub zero temperatures with a makeshift shelter, bedding materials, fire torches etc. etc.
The knife comes fitted with the full guard however you can easily exchange it for a more "Bushcraft" appearance by replacing half of the guard with what's in the above plastic bag and thus produce a knife with a "bolster".
Dead easy to interchange the full guard for the no guard!
These serrations, IMHO are excellent for rapid cutting of reeds and other fibrous materials.The knife is certainly strong and I gave it some abusive tests (see videos) and I threw it several times into a tree and dropped it onto some very solid wood. No tip damage!My only gripe!
Summary
I'm going to give this knife, the Expendable, from WithArmour a 9/10 for construction, fit and finish. I'm going to give the sheath however a 7/10 as the tolerances are way over the top as in TOO tight and there have been other comments from other influencers regarding the tight fit of the scabbard.
The kydex does NOT need to press into both side of the fullers, as this simply delivers way too much friction. This is so far the ONLY gripe I have about this knife as a whole. When I received the knife, I naturally inserted it into the scabbard to check the fit and then found it was almost impossible to remove it! This problem was however rectified with a hot air gun by my local gun and knife shop.
It stayed sharp and so it should, as D2 is a no brainer for achieving a high hardness and good temper as there is so much metallurgical data on the optimal heat treatment/s of this tool steel.
Looking at the construction, it appears to have been made mostly by machine, so that's no surprise about the tolerances of the final product. Some may say the screws are a weak point in the tang, it's very thick and I doubt it could be broken at this point unless severe abuse applied (like for any knife-get a crow bar!).
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Note:
Since this is a model which is now 3 years old. WithArmour have now released several other versions which are now made with their WASTEEL (san mai constructed laminated steel).
* No this is NOT a movie knife!
