POHL FORCE Compact ONE SW Hot off the press Review

 POHL FORCE Compact ONE (Stone washed) SW

 Hot off the press! for March 2022! Review

Pohl Force is a familiar name in the world of tactical knife design; So I'm not going to rehash all the history of this German designer Mr Dietmar Pohl.Youcan read about him here.

Needless to say his designs are made to a standard because they (his company) actively encourages the use of their products in law enforcement and the military worldwide. So to that end, products are serial numbered and a small certificate of authenticity is issued with his products. (Of course this certificate can be easily forged : let the buyer beware as there are plenty of fake Pohl Force knives around).

On that note products are either produced in Taiwan, notable for the high tech knife making industry and or made in Italy by renown knife makers such as Lion Steel, say no more!

Remembering D2 IS NOT metallurgically considered a true stainless steel so we are reminded of this aspect on the care instructions card (which is also the reverse side of the authenticity card.

Now the Compact One is hot off the press, being only released this march on the 18/3/2022 to be exact.

Pohl's rationale for such a design was (briefly summarised here): A robust and compact EDC knife. Made with 6mm D2 and carrying the rounded spine synonymous with the designs of Lion Steel (this model is made though in Taiwan-actual manufacturer is unknown-at least to me). There is no mention either of the HRC on the company website, although my guess and I hate guessing because I'm one of those scientists who hate guessing LOL; is that it will be around the HRC value of 60 as it's relatively easy to heat treat D2 via air hardening.

The massive blade is clearly a small version of a classic modern Bowie design and is massively thick at 6mm, so  you can really feel you have this small 88mm knife in your hand. There is no need to introduce D2 as a tough tool steel of semi-corrosion resistance. This model is also offered up in TiN coating (black).

Designed with a minimalist grippy handle with machined G10 scales and as I've already said, a rounded spine.

Sorry for the poor images here I was in a hurry! The Kydex scabbard is actually FDE (Flat Dark Earth) in other words just like Coyote, which is like a mixture of Desert and  LOL! It has a sort of "Tek Lock" Style adjustable belt lock.

Ok so just quickly I will summarise my "Out of the box findings". The construction looks good (otherwise I wouldn't have parted with my goulash (that Hungarian for money LOL!). It fits my size 8.5 hand (remember such knives u really need to try before you buy. I can use in in several grips and it did not appear uncomfortable.

So in my case I bought mine from a real store and could handle it as many times as I liked (I've  known the owner for years); so if you like this knife and intend to use it (as i do) and not just look at it then you will need to check how it fits your hand.

So without further a do what is the usefulness of such a knife?

I'd say everything from hunting to day hiking in familiar areas, where one want to go light weight but to also be carrying something very sturdy. It's short overall length (ie knife inside of the scabbard) of 7 and 2/10 of an inch, ie 180mm is quite compact for those who want a short knife.  No, it's to for hacking down trees of course and yes, the blades is no bigger than your average folder but it isn't a folder and has the beefiness of a fixed blade because it is. One could argue one could take a longer fixed blade of say 4mm or max 5mm and have a longer blade; for sure! This kind of knife will not appeal to everyone I have no doubts about this.

You can also see this product here:

Anyway stay tuned for a full BCT style field review of this new acquisition.

BCT