These Colonial Knife Corp. fast one鈥揾anders are appropriately named.
One of the lessons my grandfather learned early, and passed on down to me, was the necessity
for a man to have a knife on board during daily life. The knife Grandpa took with him
everywhere, every day, whether in bib overalls or church suit, wasn鈥檛 fancy. No super steel, no
exotic handle materials, no tactical leg harness, no trendy brand name and certainly no 12鈥搃nch
blade. It was a very simple and basic three鈥揵lade stockman folder with jigged bone slabs, and if
he paid more the $1.00 for it at the hardware store 14 miles from his home, I鈥檇 be astounded.
Even in this modern era with better steels, bigger blades, prettier handles and wider choice of
locks than were ever dreamed of not all that long ago, the primary purpose of a knife is to cut.
For 90 percent (and probably more) of the personal knife uses today, the buyer just needs a
nice little folder he or she can tote along in a pocket or purse, and one that only has to get its
owner through the trials and tribulations of everyday life. For the vast majority, this isn鈥檛 for
hacking through the jungles of Borneo, felling trees to build emergency log cabins along the
trail, skinning a dozen buffalo, splintering ammunition crates, reducing logs to firewood,
repelling a charging grizzly, or defending against a masked guy with a bloody chainsaw in the
woods. It鈥檚 the much more mundane things like farm or ranch chores, warehouse work, office
activities, and so on. Nothing glamorous鈥搄ust every鈥揹ay applications where a sharp edge beats
teeth, and scissors are not practical to carry in a pocket.

Given the basic idea, does a decent working knife have to have a designer鈥檚 name on the blade
and a $300. Tag on the box? No. Taking inflation and other factors into consideration, $25.00
today would be roughly the equivalent of $1 knife 50 years ago, and I鈥檇 argue that there is a
place in this day and age for a $25 knife. It鈥檚 even possible to get a bonus feature included for
the money. The Colonial Knife鈩� Corp.鈥檚 Quick Flick鈩� line may interest you if you should happen
to be on the lookout for a working folder. Besides some of the familiar and popular features
found through mid鈥搒ized folder knifedom in general, such as open construction, flat scales,
pocket clip and thumb鈥搒tudded blades, all three of the Quick Flick models also use an assisted
opening 鈥渁ction鈥�.

Neither a side鈥搒winging switchblade nor a front popper, an assisted鈥揳ction blade requires the
user to get things moving by starting the blade out manually on opening, not by pushing abutton or sliding 鈥渟witch鈥�, after which the spring takes over and 鈥渇licks鈥� the blade the rest of
the way open top its locking position. While this can be a fun and showy way to impress people
at family get鈥搕ogethers, it鈥檚 actually a useful feature when you either have only one hand
available to get the blade into use or need it in a hurry. ALL three Quick Flicks鈩� operate the
same general way and all are priced at $25.00.

$25 well spent鈥搇ooking at the broad picture, these knives are a good buy for the hard鈥揺arned
$25 layout. No, 440A isn鈥檛 ATS鈥�34, but it鈥檚 still stainless. You won鈥檛 feel any sticker shock or
buyer鈥檚 remorse, and you鈥檙e not going to worry about making it less 鈥減retty鈥� if you have to use
it hard. Will it hold an edge? Sure. How long? That depends entirely on you and what you do
with it. Use it a little, indefinitely; use it a lot, and you should learn how to sharpen a blade if
you don鈥檛 know how already. I didn鈥檛 do any testing鈥搕o鈥揹estruction on any of the three, but I
can tell you the 7005 cuts stiff hemp rope just fine, the 7002 slices up packaged beef strips
quite well for my quick and easy Ramen trail spaghetti recipe, and the 7001 opened up a couple
deliveries of strapped cardboard ammunition boxes every bit as well as 154CM would have.
Quality levels are nothing short of excellent, equal to many folders priced four or five times as
high. The fit and finish between scales and liners is first class, the actions open smoothly, the
blades are centered when closed, they show no wobble or play either closed or open, and the
handles can be tightened by user if they start to loosen a bit over time. The grinds are clean,
even and consistent, and all three clearly illustrate that the originating company鈥檚 specs and
quality control expectations on cutting tools are at least as important in considering a purchase
as the country of origin on imported models.

Many of us have high鈥揹ollar knives that we鈥檙e proud of. No matter how proud we maybe of a
$400 work of cutlery art, it鈥檚 not the one that goes to work in the corral, on the dock, in the
shipping/receiving room, up the cliff face or along the hiking trail. What does get the job done,
every day, all across America, is the equivalent of Grandpa鈥檚 $1 pocketknife. Ding it up鈥搘ho
cares? Dull it鈥搒harpen it. Lose it鈥搚ou can afford to replace it. This is Colonial knife鈥檚 market for
these Quick Flick鈩�, and assisted opening feature is a bonus.