704 Gear Hornet EDC Folding Pocket Knife with Crossbar Lock | 3.17" Reverse Tanto Blade, D2 Steel, G10 Handle, Reversible Pocket Clip | Black

I'm very impressed with this knife for the on sale price of 19.99. It's well designed and built like a main battle tank and ready to do whatever Edc tasks you may ask of it. It was Sharp out the package with a nice consistent edge bevel from side to side and right on 20 degrees per side. It's size is perfect for large to extra large hands and is comfortable and provides a solid grip. Value for the money is insanely good, at 20 bucks I don't think you can find a better Edc knife on the market it really is THAT GOOD. It's built stout and is a chonky boy so it isn't the lightest knife out there but it's not overly heavy neither.I've had problems with 2 out of the 3 knives I've bought from 704 gear and had to return both the Urban ranger V2 and Urban ranger lite V2 but this Hornet model is VERY GOOD. The D2 is very well done and isn't ran soft, it feels nice on the stones and sharpens up very nicely. It strops back well and touches up well on a ceramic rod, just a well done piece of D2 that I have no complaints with. The crossbar lock action is rock solid with absolutely zero up and down play or side to side, irs like a vault. The omega springs are harder than your typical omega springs but that's a good thing for me and means solid lock up, if you don't have strong fingers and you fidget a lot with your knives then you may not like the extra firm omega springs. The blade shape is about as good as it gets for Edc tasks and does most cutting taka extremely well and excels at push cutting with the nicely done flat grind that comes down nice and thin behind the edge so it slices like a laser. The factory edge held up well and stopped back to hair popping with just a few passes on a diamond loaded strop but I wanted to put my edge on it and drop the edge bevel angle from the factory 20 degrees per side down to 15 degrees per side. At 15 per side the thing slices so much better and perceived edge retention increased drastically and the steel/heat treatment has the stability to handle a 15 per side edge bevel angle with no issues what so ever even when doing some pretty heavy cutting. It stood up to cutting heavy and ultra abrasive dirty nylon strapping, heavy plastic banding on 1x6, 2x4 and 2x6 bundles of lumber, heavy plastic sheeting, 1in dirty nylon anchor line and heavy 1.5in sisal rope that's been outside and all dirty and full of silica and is ultra abrasive. It handled all that cutting with no edge stability issues at 15dps and the edge retention was excellent even with cutting dirty silica loaded up rope that absolutely chews up edges once the edge started to fall off to where it wouldn't cleanly slice paper all it took was 5 passes per side on a 9 micron diamond strop and 5 passes per side on a 3 micron diamond strop and it was right back popping hair so the D2 is done very well. I finished the edge quite coarse on a Atoma 400 grit diamond plate so it was very aggressive and toothy and it held that aggression very well after all that cutting and after stropping the edge back to hair popping it still has plenty of bite. That tells me the D2 micro structure is well done from the heat treat and that the steel is ran on the hard side for typical China done D2, it's probably at 61-62hrc as where most China done D2 is ran around 59-60hrc and those 2 points make a big difference. As I said I was disappointed with the two others that I bought in 14c28n but this Hornet in D2 in on point and is one heck of a great knife for 20 bucks, irs a good deal at the normal 30 bucks it costs but at 20 it's untouchable. You will be hard pressed to find a better Edc knife than this for under 50 and forget about finding a better Edc knife at 20. The PVD blade coating has held up very well through all that highly abrasive material I have cut with it, while it's not DLC tough it's definitely a well done PVD to have held up as well as it had. Silica is super abrasive and chews blade coatings up and really dull edges quickly if the steel isn't well done and highly abrasion resistant and this well done D2 is highly abrasion resistant so it's handled it very well and the well done PVD coating has handled the abrasion just as well. To say I'm shocked at how good this knife performs is a understatement, I'm absolutely floored at how well it performs considering the cost.

I’m pleasantly surprised with the 704 Hornet. Feels great in hand, looks great in person and the action is well crafted.

Decent design but the crossbar lock is way too stiff and the g10 is waaaaaay to aggressive for a pocket it. It will eat your pants alive sliding in and out of your pocket.

Love it very fidget friendly sharp and well made. Would buy again

Goodie

This one has the same exact handle profile as the Fang. The handle is a bit on the big side and needlessly bluky. The balance is very handle heavy, it's too much handle for the size of the blade.Opening is very stiff, blade does not drop free or drop closed. As I've stated in other 704 knife reviews the crossbar studs stick out more than they need to.It functions fine but it's not smooth. Overall quality is good, blade is centered in the handle. G10 textured scales are nice. I cant comment on the D2 steel performance yet, but it shaves hair easy enough.Bought on sale for $20, couldn't pass it up. I do like these 704 knives, they are a pretty good value for the money, even better if on sale. I don't mind banging these up. My favorite 704 knife is the damascus Blitz. That one is near perfection.

I found this company on You Tube. 704 gear. Watched a couple the the videos and saw this knife was on sale. I always wanted a Benchmade 940 folder but would not spend the 240.00 for it. When I saw this knife ,the blade profile resembled that knife. I took a chance and order this knife. BOY am I impressed with the quality for $24.00. The knife is very smooth to open and locks up vert tight. No movement in the joint. This is now my EDC knife. Don't hesitate to order this knife or any other knives from this company.

Been carrying it daily for 6 months. Keeps an edge fairly well and sharpens nicely. Joint is start to get slightly loose now, but definitely still usable.