Thank you, Jeff.


Agreed.


I haven't had a chance to heavily use it, yet, but here are my impressions, so far:

I sold my Steel Heart E in order to buy this, which is notable, because I usually coordinate sales in order to get incoming knives which I intend to directly replace the outgoing knives... hopefully an upgrade. In the case of the CG SFNO, it appears I did this very successfully.

The Steel Heart E (in case you haven't handled one) is an extremely well designed and executed knife, one of Jerry's better ones, for sure. A vision of spare elegance, it has the unassuming beauty of utilitarian form melded with function, without extraneous details ruining it. I was well pleased with the SH E... except that the rear talon dropped down a little to much for my hands, thereby painfully crushing my pinky in prolonged use.

This issue has been solved on the CG SFNO. Indeed, the handle profile (the two dimensional shape from spine to "edge") manages to lock my hand solidly without crushing it. It is the best handle design I know of... greatly improved... perfection, or very close to it.

The SFNO, overall, is a stunning design. Jerry makes a lot of high quality designs, but occasionally he makes one that is just superlative, where everything comes together in one visionary, integrated piece, with a much higher level of design sophistication, near perfection both functionally and aesthetically. This is one of those rare knives. The only other ones I own that are like that are the PBFs.

The CG SFNO is much bigger than NO-E that preceded it, just a little bit smaller than the SH-E. (Interestingly, the Natural Outlaw has grown in the most recent generation, while the Steel Heart has shrunk in the most recent generation [ASH], so that the Natural Outlaw models are now larger than the Steel Heart models. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> )

Anyway, despite the names, the CG SFNO is really more of a refinement/evolution of the Steel Hearts than the Natural Outlaws. In my opinion, it is a worthy successor. It is made from a somewhat thinner stock than the SH E, and has a wider blade (from spine to edge), making it have a more acute geometry for its edge and for its primary grind. It is comparatively rather svelte. It is also more neutrally balanced (the SH E is a bit front heavy) making it fast in hand. These, combined with the improved handle, make the CG SFNO quite lively, with remarkable control for a medium-large knife, and good cutting efficiency. To give an automotive analogy: The SH E feels like a Humvee, and the CG SFNO feels like a high end sports car. (And yet, still tough enough to take what I can dish out.)

It'll handle delicate, intricate cutting tasks handily.

I am curious how it will be as a chopper, with the more neutral balance. I am guessing that the better geometry for cutting will make up for the loss of forward weighting. Also, the handle does allow for comfortably gripping it far back.

The handle slabs are on the thin side, for my tastes. However, that makes them easier to use with gloves, and makes them work better for affixing to a pole to make a pole-axe (my preferred method for chopping). The handle slabs also have very aggressive texturing... too aggressive for my hands, I am sure. In fact, I'd guess they'd tear up work gloves, and tear up cord for attaching the knife to a stick. So, I'll need to sand 'em down, I expect.

The thumb depression and ramp could be positioned a little further forward, for me, though they do work reasonably well where they are.

I prefer the look and feel of micarta over this G10, though perhaps this G10 is a little bit tougher.

This may not be the absolutely perfect user design, but I have a feeling that this is going to be the closest to perfect that I've found, or will find, short of a custom.