Demko, George, McNees - Oh My!

what's going on y'all Chuck nface here today we're going to talk about these three knives on the table so we have three knives from pardon that we have three knives from uh American makers small batch production perhaps we should call them perhaps midtech I don't know about midtech that name is kind of antiquated in my opinion I don't really know what midtech means anymore I mean it used to be uh machine parts and hand finishing I don't know if that's still really the case but yeah we do have let's call them midtech knives right here from us-based manufacturers small shops individual owners so we've got a MCN PM Mac 2 3.5 we also have a Demco 820s and we have a Les George Mark III folder so I think there's even though these knives look differently I think there's a lot of similarities um amongst them and really based on the fact they're all pretty much in the same price point uh these two are very similarly priced the mnes is a little bit more expensive but I think they kind of fall into the same pricing category um they're all like I say small batch usamade knives um by makers who have really established themselves and established strong reputations for Quality Innovation things of that nature and and and Designs so kind of going through they all do have magnet cut blades I mean really that's incidental because they've all had different types of Steel in them before Les George's as historically worked with well many different most recently uh xhp the 8020 series of knives have had all sorts of kinds of Steel 3v xhp maybe xhp I'm not sure um 20 uh 20 CV Etc and xhp most recently on the Mac 2s uh these are all however in magnet cut now just incidentally from what I know um MCN is doing 63 64 on their magnet cut I believe these are coming in around 62 which is slightly under than the recommended and I'm just not sure about the less George uh as far as hardness goes um and so when it comes to Magna cut too just as an aside small batch production companies small makers I will trust magnut heat treats from these guys where as opposed to larger companies um I know there's Magna cut inv we are in full swing everything is magn cut it's the greatest thing since slice bread um but and so everybody in their cousin is using magnet cut steel in absolutely everything but that is going to leave a lot of room for error as far as heat treat goes I've kind of talked about that um at nauseum so I don't really want to go down that road again but uh when it comes to you know magnet cut steel I will trust smaller manufacturers rather than you know major major manufacturers when it comes to that stuff um for heat treating so all of that said we do have two similar locking styles on these two knives right here they're both obviously um frame lock folders and this of course is the shark lock which is exclusive to Andrew Demco is his design now Cold Steel does have something similar with the atlas lock which I'm sure um you know borrow pretty heavily from that while while Andrew Demco was employed with cold steel however um this is 100% his design right here so kind of getting into a little bit more of it they all have somewhat similar blade blade uh lengths as they're all in that 3.5 is sub4 in category this is just under 3.5 in at about 3.4 um and basically most of that is due to the fact that this is the quote unquote spear Point even though it's really not a spear Point that's a spear point right there um but that's what MCN is calling this one the spear Point spear point blade it's really just more of a clipped point right there more dramatic drop point um on the folder and then of course the the left the Les George Mark III this one is going to be about a 3.75 in Blade and then about a 3.6 or so almost a 3.7 3.6 on the Demco 820s um now this is the Mac 2 while the smallest of the group it is the most efficient when it comes to size um it is really kind of the the blade to handle ratio champion where you've got basically you've got almost a 3.5 in Blade you got a 3.75 in handle and a 3.5 in blade or just under that um I mean you really can't get much closer in Blade to handle ratios than that um on the opposite end of the spectrum is really this one right here where you've got a 4 in wait 1 two 3 four 5 in handle on this one and a 3.75 in Blade so there's a lot of real estate in the handle on this one right here um as opposed to this one but this one still my hand fits I have a mediumsized hand small to mediumsized hand and uh my hand fits very comfortably around the um the Mac 2 3.5 obviously I'm going to have the same experience here with the Eros um but if you have really big hands this is probably going to be a better choice as far as knives go and then the the grip on this this is certainly um the most distinctive in its shape um and we'll kind of get into that right now too it fits great in the hand the Eros are great um but this one is definitely going to be the most tactical of looking of the three knives at least so these two are definitely more EDC looking types of knives the you know the 20s with its clip point blade and then of course the uh the P the Mac 2 and this one's definitely going to be your most tactical looking knife now from an EDC standpoint all of them carry quite well um they they really work well in the pocket the best pocket clip is going to be on the Les George now it does have quite a bit of ramp right there but it is the easiest in and out of the pocket um and then these two are about tied for a second now historically the um there are a lot of complaints about the Mac 2's pocket clip and Lynch Northwest makes one in fact Lynch Northwest makes them for the ad20 as well uh so they do make a replacement pocket clip I have not noticed a really a problem with this but it's not the easiest in and out of the pocket um it is a very stiff clip but it's really not anything too severe um this one I found to be fine um it's not going to it's going to ride pretty high out of the pocket but that doesn't bother me at all this one's going to ride about right there as well um but this one is definitely going to be easiest in and out of the pocket and a lot of that is due to the fact that these scales are quite smooth the texturing on this one right here while smooth for whatever reason it does provide more of a grip and it's probably that Atomic finish on there it doesn't feel it when you just rub your fingers across it however it does feel naturally like it's got some more grip and it's just that I don't even know what it is that chalkiness to it of that it's a little bit more tactile than the smoother Stone wash of the Les George um in fact that was one of my primary complaints about the Les George Mark III was the fact that the handle scales could use they could stand to be roughed up just a little bit more but still not bad at all um from an action standpoint these two are running on bearings where whereas this one is running on phosphor bronze washers and really this is such a great phosphor bronze washer experience I've talked about that in my review of this knife it really is just fantastic on washers um I mean it's right up there with any of the best St you could think of uh we're talking Chris ree um when we're talking uh Spartan hary it's really going to be some of the best action that you're going to find on a washer uh PB washer knife any of course are on bearings like I said um the action on this is very distinctive um it's it's kind of got that axis lock feel to it and no I don't have a ram lock on me or close by um or that Ram lock feel in fact they all borrow I think the ram lock borrows pretty heavily from in in feel from the uh the shark lock right there but you know it's uh it's definitely super fidgety I mean this especially the 20 0.5 is going to be you know it's it's kind of known as a as a real fidget monster right there so um that is to be noted and this is also on bearings I believe these are on delin bearings I have not taken this apart have I taken this apart I have taken it apart yeah there on it's on I believe delin bearings but I can't remember off the top of my head but yeah really smooth action nothing to complain about there whatsoever um nice drop on that too um this one was a little tight out of the box I kind of kind of addressed that so I made some mods to it but all well that ends well right there from an everyday carry perspective um these two are probably going to be the best or the mo the best choices from an EDC perspective this is certainly um can be everyday carry knife however it is going to be a little bit more in the Tactical realm at least from looks now it's certainly functional with that higher flat grind so you it it's a nice slicer I've used this a fair amount and it's a it's a just fine slicer however it's not probably the one that's going to jump to mind the most when you think of EDC knives um so it's probably going to be bottom of that category these two right here I mean really it's just going to be a matter of preference on what you like now this is the hollow ground blade so it is going to be a little scier than the um than the standard PM Mac 2s so it is Hollow Grind it's a shallow Hollow Grind but it is there I don't know if it's going to come across in camera but it is there um and this one of course is a flat grind it is a full flat grind the whole length of the blade so that makes it very nice from a cutting perspective so that is something um that I really appreciate about this most of them have more of a saber grind or just a a a high flat grind rather of the a20s and 20 s's um there are couple I have seen the other buoy which is a more dramatic buoy style blade more dramatic clip Point um I've seen a few of those with full flat grinds but this one of course does have the full flat grind as well so I think I inadvertedly when I picked this up I got the maybe one of the best versions of this knife with that grind right there I mean this thing's just it's a monster when it comes to cutting um as far as sharpening goes these two they they resharpen just fine this magnet cut um it hasn't been a problem it getting a nice Edge on there um this one they're both very easy to sharpen in the sense that you have a lot to clamp onto if you're using a fixed angle system like a kme which is what I use this one's probably the easiest right there and then this one right here I haven't tried to sharpen the mark the mark iiii yet um it shouldn't be too much of a challenge but you can see from right there you may have an issue with an angled system or even a stone of uh this kind of pseudo guard this faux guard right here um from the design of the knife from a sharpening standpoint um so we remains to be seen on how that goes this is still on the factory Edge um yeah so really when it comes down to these three I think there's a lot of similarities and I just wanted to do a video on the fact that yeah they're very different knives but I think they come from a similar place um from a design standpoint or a manufacturing philosophy I think that's probably a better term to use um certainly this one is a great work knife this is going to serve you really well no matter matter what same with the ad20 or the a20s these are both be excellent choices it's hardworking EDC knives this one is going to be a little less at least on the nose from an EDC standpoint but you can certainly do something like that so how would I rank these three h man that's tough um I would say this would be one just for my own personal preferences but I think this for the masses would be one I think this is probably the most useful to the most amount of people would be the Mac 2 but this would be one 2 three for my favorites so H something about the 20 I I I've always liked the 820s or I shouldn't say that that's not true but I have had an 020 in the past and I it was just a little too chunky um I think this 20s version is just fantastic so I'm going to say right now for me that's my favorite this is my second favorite just cuz I wanted one of these for a long time um and I wasn't able to get one so I finally got my hands on one I was like yeah that thing's pretty dope I really like that and then this I mean it's such a great knife so to call it third I mean it doesn't mean it's bad in any way it just doesn't speak to me in the same way that these two do I think I just prefer the size these larger models over the Mac 2 but however man every time I put this in my pocket I just feel like I want to do work with this thing so I don't know man it's tough call Tough call y'all but in any case that's going to do it for me I hope uh you got a little bit Insight out of this video give me a follow on Instagram at chuor nface uh do consider subscribing to the channel I certainly do appreciate that drop a comment let me know what you think share this video out there and that is going to do it for me peace