Manly Knives Blaze Review (Bulgaria EU)

Last Update 31-01-2021

hello folks!

welcome to my first review on maxgearedc.com

Manly Knives Blaze Review, the First knife reviewed here is Bulgarian made , this is a medium Bushcrafting or Hunting knife, very well suited for General and Kitchen use too, it is a medium large one compared to the Patriot
I found out about them talking with friends on a knife group on fb.

The blade on mine is D2 (it has an awesome price to performance ratio), D2 is a semi-stainless steel, which means it will stain if in contact with acid foods, acids, or when left dirty-wet. On the other side it does not rust so easily as carbon steels maintaining a good toughness, edge holding and ease of sharpening.

It is also available in USA made CPM-154 powder steel, a high performance powder technology stainless steel. (might review it in the future!).

Back to the knife, it arrives in a plastic sleeve inside simple cardboard box marked manly, inside you find the knife in the sheath (for protection) with no card blade protector and a folded card with specs (model name, steel, size, materials etc)

The Blaze is  very comfortable in the hand, it does not slip or move easily, i have small-medium hands is it should fit bigger hands comfortably, the knife’s tang protrudes from the G-10 handle, this solution is often used in cheap knive in order not to finish the handle joint to the handle, in this case I believe it is intentional, the tang’s edges are NOT rough and VERY smooth, not sharp at all although not really “rounded” as you find on some knives.

The 4mm thickness of the tang is more than enough for most chores, it’s a good choice as the grind is slightly hollow-flat (to my eye at least!) and very thin behind the edge, this gives the Blaze an awesome ability to slice and cut through most materials and food. The D2 should give enough toughness and resilience so no worries about it.

The spine is sharp and can be used with firesteels or ferrorods (will update the review as soon as I can test the bushcraft capabilities…damn coronavirus!)

The sheath is very well made and it’s made of kydex, it has a distinctive SNAP! in both ways, no ptoblems in safety and to draw it.

The clip rides high on the belt (for my likings, I don’t need to conceal it) so on mine I have added a safety-belt made, belt-loop so it can ride lower, no need to rise your jacket to draw it.

Here are some Technical Specifications, taken from the website and reviewed, weights on mine are 202gr for the knife, not 210gr as from the website.

• Model: Blaze 1.2379 ( D2 ) Black
• Steel: 1.2379 (German D2) you can download the specs sheet on the manly website or check the composition on zknives for D2 or 1.2379
• Blade Length: 11.9 cm
• Blade Thickness: 4 mm
• Overall Length: 24.5 cm
• Weight: 270gr with sheath  – 70gr sheath  – 202gr knife only
• Finish: Machine Satin
• Handle Material: Black G10
• Sheath & Material:  Kydex with Stonewashed steel belt clip