FSB -- ZT0393: Affordable Eklipse Perfection!

Hey gang, Rob, here it is the afternoon of April 5, 2018. I'm coming to you today with a bench sharpening video on a zero tolerance knife. I look forward to it very excitedly. Yes, a zero tolerance knife. I am very excited about you. We're looking at him on camera along with his model, the knife we're talking about is the zero tolerance zt0 three nine three ii discrete model pattern on the Hendren ives eclipse that you see here as you can tell the envelope from those two. The knives are very similar in shape, let's remove the obstacle for a second.

I'll compare their similarities and differences a little later, but the 393, as I said, is the second model pattern after the Eclipse; the first is the zt0 392, now the 392. I think it comes in seven different versions, different blade shapes, different finishes. I think they are all titanium handles, so there are titanium plates of equal thickness on both sides of the lock, an inch outside the frame and most of them, if not all, I think there might have been one. regular production 392, but the rest are classified as track or factory custom ZT, so you have to love the 392 very much to buy one because they sold new for between 350 and 400 on the secondary market.

They regularly make 600 and more, especially in the majority. Desirable Versions ZT fans have been clamoring for a more

affordable

Eclipse platform for a couple of years, that's what the 393 has brought us, you look at it and it's great, while the 392 was all full thickness titanium plates on both sides the 393. has decided to save some weight, the 392 weighs about 5.8 ounces, the 393 5 on the nose is only a tenth of an ounce heavier than the Eclipse with its g10 scale and thin liner of titanium, very similar in weight to the original and then superimposed. On top of those thinner titanium frame slabs we have a very interesting piece of g10 on both sides, it's a 3D machine and when you look at it I'd probably have to tell you it's g10 because you might think it's carbon fiber just like this.

It catches the light in that mill pattern quite well and then it's a relief to expose that blue anodized titanium frame that now manages a thickness of 540 mils on the outside, which is the same as the 392 and the same as the Eclipse, but in the edges this frame is just thinner. three eighths of an inch about 375 now in the hand you notice that thinness, but I'm not going to say it's shabby, just when your fingers wrap around it, it feels a little thinner, especially at the bottom of the handle, it's not uncomfortable , so it's just mm-hmm, so some aesthetic and mechanical, you know, the physical dimension differences between this and the 390, for sure, but the main difference is the price, these knives have a matte price of about Two hundred and forty dollars, I think in comparison, I think it's the least.

Expensive 392 was 350 most of them cost 400ish, let's talk about some of the components of this knife before we get into the details of the blade and handle. The clip is pure eclipse. I think it's a Hinderer clip. It appears to be covered in black DLC. on the 393, the Hinderer clip on this Eclipse is fine, it's a functional finish, I guess we'd call it that, but it's the same clip on the ZT, however, we're going to tilt up a positionable left or right hand, while on the eclipse Hinderer is tilting up or down with your right hand alone is a much better clip positioning option.

I think on the 393 it gives us a screw filler tab for the slot you are not using, this will be a fin write on caged ball bearings. like most modern GT fins the flip action is stellar it's a free dropper nothing to complain about standard is the ZT mechanics which I'm a fin knife it's as good as this particular eclipse with washers Teflon, flips surprisingly well, not entirely free. The drop or west is tight, but guys will definitely prefer the ball bearings over the Teflon washers and the eclipse makes it a little different on the 393 than some of the other ZT obstacles.

We have a captured hex nut on that G tab on the female side. and then a t8 Torx screw on the male side, a little different than the Hinderer pivot, I don't think you can use a female pivot on the 393 like you could on the 392, however a male screw works because I just installed one and another of these yesterday is a little long, however, for the female 393 pivot and it's also going to be very tight in the opening on the g10, so let's talk a little bit about the blade here, we have a 2 ton blade, so it's coated with dlc before moving on to CNC grinders and I guess ZT is an interpretation of hindered point grinding which is kind of interesting.

I guess there isn't much of an angle difference, if any, between this bevel and this bevel, but there is a pretty hard line between the grind. I think I'm trying to show you the bevel where the width changes, you barely see it now almost as much as an obstacle or a point oh, I think it's kind of a feature without a purpose, it's more aesthetic than anything else just to nod to the obstacle or the place, oh, if there's something that probably interferes with the cutting a little bit, then you have this gorgeous harpoon clip apparently also done on CNC grinders, the symmetry is incredibly good, as with most CNC ground nzt blades, I guess we'll call it a harpoon clip tip.

Let's look at one of my favorite areas to examine on a knife where the plunge sharpening sharpens the ground and the edges cross as you can see, and this knife is sharpened to 18 degrees per side, so it's not particularly. thin around the edge and if you want something much sharper than that, you're really going to run into trouble in that toy line dip routine. I actually start the choil a little bit, going back to the edge of this knife and putting it in stone to do it. It looks a little pretty and a little fake for that corner a little bit on the back sharpening.

It's going to start to be a problem. It's not Choya. I really want to expand because there's a mm-hmm layer of DLC in that land, so they did that too. on the 393 like they did on the 392 in that sense the blade steel will be CPM 20 HP from the crucible, a pretty good steel, we've talked about this before, basically the same chemical recipe as bohler m390 and carpenter cts 204 P , but it's kind of a step back in powder metal technology, it tends to be a little more wear-resistant than the other two, about the same wear resistance, in my experience, requires pretty good polishing and maybe not as well like the m390, it definitely sharpens like i said. 18 degrees to the side was my sharpening angle on this knife, which I think is dictated by the toilet plunger and the area it looks good.

I think that in this thickness of blade, yes, Mr. Obstacle, your knife will cut three and one. half an inch is the length of your blade 5/32 is the original thickness hmm does it have thumb studs? You might ask, these are the same featureless butt terminals we've seen on the 562 and 392, they're not really designed for your thumb. to make any purchase, they are stop lugs, not some bolts, but can you use them again even with your right hand? because those knives are a little prone to getting a death lock especially with any finger pressure on the lock bar which brings me to another interesting point because these g10 scales you can never get a death lock if your fingers are on the locking bar because they're going to rest on the g10, you really can't get a bad grip on this knife for it to affect your flipping action, which is great.

I think here's your blade centered on this one in particular, it's perfect zero tolerance, like we said, stellar flipping action and it blocks this. one is maybe twenty percent super beefy, has a stainless steel lock bar insert, like most modern ZTS's, how about it closes if I put my thumb in a natural position on the lock bar and Did I hold the fin tab against my thumbnail in my past? the ball hold, you bet, no double clutch required, that's good, see how it works with the left hand. Same thing, that's all good guys, no deadlock, no double clutch on the ball catch on closing, they kind of dialed it in, so we're talking.

We talk erratically about the fringes of ergonomics, so let's talk about that because I think the Eclipse handle is an ergonomic masterpiece, at least in the Saber grip. I think it's the best Saber grip ergonomics of any Hinderer, maybe it could be the best Saber grip. The ergonomics of any folding knife handle I've ever held in my hand is phenomenal. Now when you use the overhead pinch grip, not so much your fingers don't seem to touch the grooves comfortably, you can go back one, but then you're nowhere near the work and I think the same is true because of the thinness of the part. titanium handle, this could be a little more comfortable in that grip if we go to the hammer grip, it's super good.

If that thinness bothers me, yes, the overall thickness of the original Eclipse on the spine makes it a little more comfortable with the hammer grip, but it doesn't, you just have a small void right here, not bad, the cut grip drawing is really good in comparison. Again with the original, you may want a little more thickness on the spine and bottom of the handle, but again, it's not uncomfortable if we use a reverse grip. It's money, absolute money. The original you don't really notice any difference in that grip, so Virg anomic. I sacrificed the first ethic a little, but not in any appreciable way, how about the appearance?

I love the two tones with that pinwheel satin. I love the blue anodized frame and I love these g10 panels. You know, this is something that is going to be dictated by your personal tastes, if you like the hourglass shape of that scale, sometimes ZT tries to make their knives original in style and aesthetic and this time they just screw it up. I don't think they did it, they didn't. Go above and beyond, this is a knife that is special, it doesn't look like anything else, but it doesn't look ridiculous either, just, very, very well made, a full size three and a half inch knife with a 4 and 3/4 handle , but only 5. ounces, barely 5 ounces and super well made and very attractive, not the best cutting geometry in the world, but not bad, the knife cuts very, very well with a good edge.

Let's look at the thickness behind the edge, as evidenced by the width. In the bevel of my edge you can see that it doesn't thicken dramatically at the tip, it stays pretty much the same width from tip to hill, which to me is an indication of high quality process control and grinding operation , and now I have sharpened two of these. They are all equal in every way. I just think this is a super fine knife. I don't own a 392 and you know the only reason this oil starts to bother me on the handle, the only one.

The reason for this is because I'm just not a buyer of a four to six hundred dollar ziti, you know, I don't put them in the same class just from a specialty standpoint as Chris Reeve or even getting in the way of paying. for more bucks for ziti but sure you could pay 240 and with its ambidextrous clip holder and easy left hand operation even for a right handed frame lock it's so good guys oh well this could be next on my list, I sure could be like I have. I said before guys, I don't hate ziti.

I am dyslexic. I'm always looking for this hero tolerance knife that I want to carry, but generally there are one or two things about each of them that are not there from a quality standpoint. From an ergonomic function cutting ability standpoint, what bothers me about ZTS is almost every model they make, not the 392. I'm just not paying four or five hundred dollars for one, so this is a economical version, if you can say that at around $240 it is a really, very, very special ziti knife. I think the one that pushes every button and this one does too, so it will probably be on my short list of knives to buy this year.

An absolutely excellent review on a zero tolerance knife in all aspects, from the Apostle P, did you ever think you would see the day who knows tomorrow maybe I will be Buddhists in a coma that's not going to happen that's all for this my friends grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and remember the word? and this here ZT 0 3 9 3 r sharp