I ordered this CIMA fixed blade knife a couple months ago when it was on sale for less than $20 and was shipped free. I really wasn’t expecting much. This is a chinese-made and at that price point how good could it be? As usual when ordering from GearBest a package was waiting for me when I arrived home approx 3 weeks later.
This review is going to be a short one and a true “table top” rather than “testing & evaluation”. I love this knife. I have not taken it out in the woods and feathered sticks, stabbed it into dead carcuses, or zombie eye sockets. No – it has remained in the box in mint condition. I have since ordered two more which at least one will come under regular use.
Here are a few specs:
- Blade Material: 7Cr17MOV stainless steel
- Hardness: 58 HRC
- Blade Length: Almost 3.5″
- Handle Length: 4.5″
- Overall: 8.5″
- Color: Black
- Handle Material: Flax/Linen
Quick Summary: This is a smaller knife that feels great in the hand. Balance is towards the handle which doesn’t lend well to batoning but come on – the blade is less than 3.5″ long. Full tang thickness is 4.5mm which is acceptable for a knife this size. Sheath is great and the knife retainment is excellent via an audible “snap” when the knife is interested. No straps needed.
Check out the pictures below that will scroll across the screen. They are a combination of photo’s I took and ones used for advertisements.
Oh – did I mention that the CIMA fixed blade knife is a clone of the respected ESEE 3 which cost around $100? No? – well it is and a very close clone at that.
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Rourke
Very nice looking knife. Have looked at it before. Will have to order a couple, or maybe four and give one to each of my boys. Thanks for sharing. – Keep Looking UP
I bought the knife after you first mentioned it. Overall, I like it a lot. it is amazingly similar to the ESEE.
However, I am having some problems with the sheath. I can barely get it out. I can only remove it by attaching paracord to the lanyard hole, wrapping it around my wrist, and yanking really, really hard.
Do you have any advise?
I have not had this problem. I would suggest looking inside the sheath to see if there is possibly some plastic left from the manufacture. You may need to trim the contact points of the plastic that holds the knife in place. Very strange.
Hi JR,
I too have observed the same problem as Indiana Joe. Very tight fit and quite a bit of effort required to release the knife. Looked inside the sheath, but no obvious issues noted, so will do some judicious removal of plastic, slowly, in hope of improvement. That said, thanks for the heads up on this item. It is a very durable, well made knife and quite sharp. The sheath is also well made, perhaps a bit too much. I would not baton with the knife either, blade a bit short for that activity, but it is a good all around performer for outdoor use. Amazing price point of course helped. Kudos to you for recommendation.
Thanks ralph. Mine do fit tight but not as what has been described. Just glad not too loose.
Thanks for the replies, guys! I think I will work on the sheath this afternoon. I did not want to mess with it before checking in, in case I was missing a safety feature, or some such craziness.
The knife is so tight, I am afraid I am going to slice up one of my hands each time I take it out. Yes, that tight, almost as if it is the wrong sheath. 30 years of knife buying, and never encountered anything like this.
The knife itself is really well done. I am glad to have picked it up.
This’ll give me a project while I am watching ‘Jericho’.
Oh, apparently, the box makes a good dog pillow. Jigen has taken to laying on it, as it is sitting on the floor next to my computer station.
The Chinese are capable of making a good product, recently worked on a neighbors Norinco model 213, a copy of the Tokerov from the looks of it and I was impressed with the workmanship, though they seemed to have copied a lot from the 1911.
Indiana Joe,
I agree about the worry/danger of slicing of the hand, I had similiar thoughts also.
Just got mine on Tuesday. Mine too “snap” in pretty securely. I’m contemplating attempting making some new Micarta handles to customize them. I’ll probably order some more in the future, so that the kids will have some decent fixed blades I’m not awfully worried about them loosing. (though custom hivis handles might help that)
Thanks matt – I have ordered a total of 4 of them. Great knife for the money.