UST Paraknife Glow Review
The Ultimate Survival Technologies Para Knife 4.0 Glow is another blade off UST’s line of budget cutting tools. So far I’m 50/50 on them.
Let’s see what this one has to offer:
-8.5 inches overall length. -3-3/4 inch partially serrated blade. -Full tang 440 stainless steel. -Black titanium coating. -Nylon sheath with snap and velcro closure. -The price is around $24.
I tested the glow model of the Para 4.0 knife. It has a glow in the dark paracord wrapped handel. This seems like a good idea to me. So of course the first thing I did was charge it up in direct sunlight and then see how long it stayed charged. At first it was cool to see it glow, it would make finding your knife in the dark easy. I really dig that paracord, and I see a lot of great applications for it, but... The charge doesn’t really last more than about an hour, and that was after setting it in direct sunlight. I figure that by the time the sun goes down it probably wouldn’t glow much… Now onto the knife itself.
The first thing is that there are around 1.5 inches of serrations on the blade. This is something that I hate on a knife. I understand that they come in handy for cutting tough fibrous materials but we woodsmen don’t find ourselves cutting wet hemp rope all day long. A razor sharp strait blade is better for wilderness tasks like whittling dead-fall triggers, bow drill spindles, and other basic camp gadgets. They do excel at some things like cutting notches in wood using it like a saw. The second thing I noticed about the knife was the finger choil. I personally like choils, they allow you get close to your work. On this knife however, the oddly shaped finger choil was extremely uncomfortable (unless you had a serious industrial accident involving you finger) it was basically unusable. This meant keeping your finger even farther from the blade edge than had it not been there.
First thing I did was basic fire prep (making feather sticks). The serrations worked, but not without a lot of effort on my part. I resorted to using the plain edge of the blade, which is now almost 2.5 inches from my finger. This means that when you cut you are getting leverage feedback on the blade. Basically, it takes a lot more effort, strength, and control to do your cutting. At this point I really started to not like this knife.
The handle wasn’t comfortable, the choil wasn’t usable, and the serrations made it almost useless for general cutting tasks. On the other hand, the edge did come shaving sharp out of the package. I whittled a trap trigger, some dead-fall notches, and a spear point. I found myself using the belly of the blade (which is very fatiguing to the hand) for most that work. I seriously did not like the design of this knife, it was not user friendly at all.
After that, I went on to processing some kindling for a fire. I split logs, did truncating cuts (hammering the knife across the wood grain with another stick), and basically beat the thing to hell and back, but it kept coming back for more. At this point I shaved a patch of hair off my arm with the belly of the blade… I was amazed it was still that sharp. I cut halfway through branches about 2 inches inches in diameter and pried the knife sideways to try to bend or break it. It still kept coming back for more. I hammered it though a knot in some very hard wood, it laughed at me, so I stuck the point into a log and tried to snap it off… Log 0, knife 1. As much as I hate the design of this blade, the steel quality is spot on with some of my other blades. I’m torn between giving it a good review and bashing it. Honestly, the design sucks, especially for any real world woodsman uses, but the quality of the steel way outperforms the price. I have to say it’s not a great knife by any means, but for the price if you can get past the ergonomics, it’s not a bad blade. It will find a home in my car kit when the rest of the ZASC staff gets done beating on it. I’m sure it will take anything they toss at it.
Other ZASC staff members review
Doc: “This was the 3rd and final piece in my first impression hour of testing. Those who know me know I’m not a paracord wrapped knife fan. I like a full set of scales so I may be a bit critical on the handle. This knife has one thing going for it. Tough as nails. Seems like a decent heat treat, but longer testing is necessary. However, this is one tool I’m going to have to say no to, primarily because of the design of the handle and my big hands. The finger choil is oddly shaped and only allows the very tip of the finger to seat in it properly. If you use it for heavy cutting, the choil is just too small to fit the finger. The handle is a bit short to be comfortable for me (Again, big hands though) and also the overall shape of the handle, choils etc just become painful to use. I’m also not a fan of serrations on a working knife. For a general use knife that may stay in the pack for extended periods of time, serrations are fine. The blade portion has a good belly and cut very well. The spear point makes this a good knife to strap to a stick to make a spear, but just doesn’t fit the hand well enough for most cutting. For such a small lightweight knife the sheath is a bit bulky. But it’s a solid sheath with good snaps.
