After reading about Ultralight Ridge Blades on the Rokslide forum, I checked out the offerings and decided to purchase one of their knives. The fact that it is made of S90V steel was especially appealing as the vast majority of the knives made from this steel are twice, and sometimes 3x the price offered here. Purchasing items manufactured in the US are especially important to me, and when the folks at Ultralight indicated the knives came from the east coast, the decision to buy was very easy.
Shipping was quick, and the knife came well-packaged but without a lot of unnecessary paperwork that only serves to increase the price. Before buying the knife, I had read the reviews, and at least one was critical of the sharpness of the blade. I was not concerned about this as I enjoy sharpening knives and planned to put my own edge on it. This was totally unnecessary as the blade from Ultralight was extremely sharp out of the box, and no touchup was required. Additionally, I was very impressed with sheath. The kydex mold holds the knife very tightly, and the positive click provides an audible indication the knife is secured. I have a kydex sheath from another company, and while the knife is well-made, their sheath seems to be an after-thought. This knife, by the way, costs twice what the Ultralight does, and it's made from a lesser steel.
Since it was January when I received the knife, I was concerned I'd have to wait until the following hunting season to see if the knife was actually up to the task of processing animals such as whitetails. Fortunately for me, a friend was taking his son on a pig hunt, and I gave him the knife to use, asking him to find out how good it was.
After his son harvested the pig, they gave the knife to the guide who used it to make some of the initial cuts in the skinning process. The blade held up well on the tough pig hide, and my friend then used the knife exclusively while processing the meat.
After returning the knife to me, my friend relayed that the blade stayed very sharp with the tip dulling just a bit after being used on bone and in separating the joints of the pelvis and shoulders of the pig. He did share that he prefers a knife with more of a handle than just paracord, but that is personal preference. I too would like to see this knife offered with a G10 handle (probably wouldn't fit the Ultralight category anymore), but I have used skeletonized blades like the Pak-Lite from Buck to skin deer before with no problems.
The knife was put to hard use and demonstrated good edge retention. I could still slice paper with it when I got it back, but there was a bit of tearing once I got near the tip. Resharpening was easy. I have the Wicked Edge system, and the factory edge was 20 degrees on both sides. I was quickly able to bring the knife back to hair shaving sharpness, and it's ready for next hunting season.
As a testament to the quality of this knife I have since purchased two more of them and plan to finish them to differing degrees of refinement. In doing so, I hope to find which grit (600, 800, or 1000) provides the best combination of sharpness and edge retention when gutting and skinning whitetails. It is only because the price of these knives is so reasonable that I can afford to do this.
