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Ruger Follow-Through Knife  Illustration courtesy of Columbia River Knife & Tool. For years, our primary hunting weapons have been Ruger No. 1 and Model 77 rifles. That pretty much says it all when it comes to our faith in Ruger's quality and reliability. When we heard that Ruger was going to add knives to their product line, we looked forward to seeing them at the 2016 SHOT Show. We were not disappointed. Ruger has avoided the mistake some other firearms companies made when they ventured into cutlery, by degrading their brand name with poor quality blades. Rather, Ruger demanded a quality line of knives designed by well known bladesmiths. To achieve this, Ruger partnered with CRKT, who recommended designers Ken Steigerwalt, Bill Harsey, Robert Carter, Matthew Lerch and Ryan Johnson. These five experts designed a series of everyday carry, hunting, tactical and survival knives that are worthy of the Ruger name. As would be expected, CRKT made sure that each knife was well made. We selected Matthew Lerch's Follow-Through for our first test and review. This is a lock-blade folder with a liner lock and blade flipper. The black handle material is tough, glass-reinforced nylon and it is checkered for a secure grip. The single, half-serrated, hollow ground, drop point, matte finished blade is made of 8Cr13MoV stainless steel. 8Cr13MoV is a high quality Chinese steel that approximates the properties of Japanese AUS-8. It is very tough, easy to sharpen and holds an edge well. This is a large folder, measuring five inches closed and 8-3/4 inches with its 3-3/4 inch blade open. Too large for most folks to comfortably carry loose in a front pants pocket, a two position (left or right side) pocket/waistband clip is thoughtfully provided. Specifications
The Ruger Follow-Through is comfortable and easy to use and it re-sharpens quickly when needed (which is not very often). It is destined to become our workhorse knife around the farm, to be used on leather harnesses, the polycord binding alfalfa bales and whatever else requires a good blade. Because of the unique nature of the new Ruger line of knives, we encourage our readers to check them out at ShopRuger.com. There is a knife to meet practically every need and they are what one would expect from CRKT and Ruger: quality and functionality at a fair price. |