Three Rivers Manufacturing TRM BULLDOG REV B Folding Knife Brown G10 3.2" 20CV Stonewash

This knife had everything going for it. But I’m not a fan. The finger choil is very small. I have small hands and the choil is a bit of a suggestion rather than a feature. It’s also interesting how the choil is large enough to fit a finger, yet still hits the plunge grind, resulting in a smile at the heel. The fit and finish is fabulous, but the action out of the box is not very good. It takes a drop of sewing machine oil to get it running half decent. I’m sure you’ve seen videos where the action just outright fails, and I thought that was an exaggeration. It’s not, the action isn’t good with the small blade slot. If the slot was larger (or it had thumb studs) it would be great. The bearings make closing a breeze and with zero blade play, but they do not help deployment. As it sits, it’s kinda just bad at every deployment. Easy for your thumb to slip off when you slow roll it, very hard to get good purchase to thumb flick it, index finger flick is only good if you do it really hard, and good luck with the middle finger. This knife has great potential, but every time I picked it up, I just wanted a Neutron 2 with a River Lock (no I won’t get a neutron, I don’t do liner locks). For the price, this knife fails at the things that are required form what I thought was the premier production company in the USA. Instead, I feel like this is very much a Gen 1 product. I’d avoid it until the Bulldog 2 or River Lock Neutron comes out. It’s not the worst and it may work well for you, but these are the things that keep me from loving this knife. It’s a shame, but I hope TRM takes this and makes something I just can’t say no to because the blade shape is fantastic.