CIMA -1 Upgraded Version Black Knife Full-Tang Outdoor Survival Fixed Blade Hunting Knife

I have a LOT and I mean a LOT of "bush-craft" worthy knives. I use my knives, they are not for buying and then sitting in a box. Prior to this knife I was using a Rat 3 which is one fantastic knife for the money and will still get a lot of use from me. As I am not a knife snob, I have found WAY too many knives that are reasonably priced that will do as much as their more expensive counterparts if not more. I can say you will not be disappointed with this knife. It is one hell of a bargain for what you get. When comparing to the OKC Rat 3 this CIMA is a much thicker blade (slightly longer also) The fit and finish of this knife were top notch. It came extremely sharp and so far has held its edge very well. I can honestly say, and it is hard for me to say as I am an OKC and TOPS fan boy. Love their knives and have never had an issue with any of their items. But I can say... for the money and what you get with this CIMA. It is hands down a knife that one should own. The only cons of this knife is the metal plate \ belt loop on the sheath. Just makes the sheath too heavy, noisey and it would be prone to rusting. I will make a replacement loop out of mesh or leather. BTW, the sheath holds the knife tight and you have to give a good pull to get the knife out. So CIMA seems to have fixed the issue from earlier sheaths. The metal plate is held on with 4 screws. I will buy about 6 more of these knives to give as gifts this Xmas. For the guys that will buy only "made in America knives" good for you, but your missing out on a great knife for the money. I am glad I do not have an ounce of knife snob in me. (only thing worse than a knife snob is a gun snob!!!)

Haven't had a chance to really use it in the woods yet but I'm very impressed so far. The handles are a much smoother micarta than what comes on OKC RAT or ESEE knives so it doesn't quite have the grip of them but the blade feels very strong and thick and the edge out of the box was incredible! It will easily roll hair right off your arm and leave a smooth, down to the skin patch! I do REALLY like the jimping and the choil because it lets you choke way up on the blade for really fine, detail work. This upgraded version has a surprisingly very nice kydex sheath instead of the injection molded plastic one. It still has the God awful HUGE metal spring clip on the back but that is a very easy remedy since it's just held on with 4 screws. I plan on replacing it with either a pair of belt loops or a tek lok clip. I did manage to do a few small feather sticks in my backyard and it worked VERY well due to how sharp the edge is and how much control you have on it using the choil and jimping. The edge was still razor sharp after a few feather sticks which isn't anything really special really since that's very minor work but it's good to see on a barely $20 knife from china. For the money it would honestly be very, VERY hard to beat this knife. I'm a huge fan of $15 Mora's and love them to death and have them in every vehicle, bags and just all over the place but I will say that this knife is about 99% as sharp (probably sharper than an out of the box, non touched up Mora) as my Mora's and is a LOT beefier with it's much thicker blade and full tang. This thing will probably take a much harder beating than a Mora could handle.

This knife has been out for some time. You gotta give the company credit as they listen to customer feedback. Coming out with an actual kydex sheath to replace the original thermal plastic one was a great move. I have moved this knife to my EDC set up and wear it scout style when I go hiking or camping. Is it perfect? No but for what I need it to do it does so very well: Cut cordage, feather sticks pretty good, and general purpose cutting. If I travel overnight I take this with me as well. Part of my 3 knife set up for camping. I've included a picture comparing the blade size to the Ontario RD4 Bush knife which is my all time favorite. The RD4 is just under a 5 inch blade. Each has their own tasks to perform. For the money a most excellent investment.

The knife is as many reviewers have already said...solid and well crafted. Fit and finish of the handle scales is excellent, came out of the box shaving sharp with a good angle. I do wish it came in 1095, but I've carried a lot of Cr/MOV blades and it's not a bad steel at all. Holds edges well and relatively easy to sharpen. The Kydex sheath fits beautifully, requires a firm pull to disengage, and carries with no rattles or movement at all. I prefer a dangle sheath so that the knife rides below my pack strap, so I modded the sheath as shown in the photo. The top of the metal clip is just shy of 1.25 inches, so a 1.5 inch nylon keeper and 1.5 inch nylon strapping material fit perfectly. Two snaps provide a secure fastening to my belt, and the bit of leather I added to the end of the strap makes it easier to grip when removing it at the end of the day. I added the paracord to the sheath to increase the security of my grip on the sheath when pulling the blade. Because the handle scales are not exactly beautiful I'm going to wrap the handle with tennis racket grip tape so that my hand won't slip there either. I've carried this knife/sheath setup for a number of hours on trail and am pleased with its performance. It rides well on the hip and unsheathing/sheathing the blade is easy and safe. The knife does exactly what I expect it to do, and after cutting a bunch of briars, assorted vines, and birch saplings, as well as whittling on some seasoned oak, the edge is just as keen as when brand new.

Its an incredible value. This knife feels great in your hand and is the perfect size for general Bushcraft use. It's pretty thick so it's got some weight to it, which improves the overall feel and balance. It came razor sharp and the upgraded K-sheath is definitely worth the extra couple of bucks. It's sort of a hybrid between the excellent high end Esee 3/Rat 3 and Rat 4 versions without the high end price. What I mean is the blade is closer to the Esee 3/Rat 3 and the handle is more of a Rat 4. Speaking of the handle, it comes with a set of nice linen micarta scales. They are comfortable and comparable to some of my higher priced knives. Sure the steel you get isn't a premium steel, but it cuts well and sharpens easily and is 1/4 of the price. Some won't like that it's a budget brand made in China, but I'm not one to pay for a name just because it better known especially when I plan to beat the crap out of it anyway. The fact it comes with a Kydex sheath that solidly clicks and locks into place at this price point is amazing. An aftermarket Kydex sheath alone would sell for same as this whole package costs. Of course there are few downfalls. It's got a black mystery coated 7cr17mov blade, the sheath has a slight rattle, and the included paracord lanyard is too short. For $25 bucks though it's an easy purchase decision. You can abuse it, throw it, baton it, chop it, slice it, or plain lose it and have no worries.

First impressions: the knife is exactly what I wanted for camping and outdoor activities on a budget. The knife itself is sturdy, comfortable to use, and the perfect size for basic camp/outdoor use. It was also sharp enough to shave with right out of the box. We will see how well it holds an edge once I get a chance to test it out, and I will update this review then. I'm really pleased with the knife after some initial evaluation. So why only three stars? Because I paid ~$10 extra for the "upgraded version" with a supposedly better sheath and coating. The sheath is absolute garbage. The knife rattles around in it - loudly - and falls right out if not held upright. Clip it to your belt and the knife will come barrelling out towards your feet if you bend over. Use some 550 cord to attach it horizontally to something and the knife will come out in seconds. The sheath has no ability at all to retain the knife. When I dropped the knife the first time because of this issue, some of the coating on the back of the blade chipped right off. If hitting carpet was enough to damage the coating, I doubt it will stand up to any field use. So, bottom line, I would not recommend buying the "upgraded version" while the original is still available. Reviewing the product descriptions of both the original and upgraded versions, it appears that the only differences are the coating and the sheath, both of which are major flaws with this product. Save yourself ~$10 and just buy the original model.

This thing is legit. If I didn't know any better, and purchased this from a person I would think the sheath that comes with it was purchased through a legit Kydex holster/sheath maker. Its really good quality. The metal clip for the belt is a bit overkill/cheap. Its like a heavy duty stiff piece of sheet metal that is folded/bent into shape and is painted/anodized black. The bolt pattern where its bolted to the kydex looks perfectly square. So it probably wouldn't be too hard to replace it with something nicer. It comes with a good quality piece of paracord attached to the sheath. The grips look extremely well made. Ive never owned micarta, so to me these look like a real smooth g-10 grip with what appears to be some texture on the outside. I may look into replacing the hardware to make sure those are of good quality, usually chinese bolts are crap. The blade is thick, thumb grooves are pretty nice. It came somewhat dull, but with a nice smooth edge that looks like it will easily sharpen quickly. For the price this thing seems like it cant be beat. I didn't buy this to really beat on it, more so a concealed IWB knife for protection against humans and possibly animals if i dont have my gun on me, or if i need to cut something open, which this thing will have no problem doing those dutys. So i may never abuse this enough to ever know if it fails. But I will update the review as I use it.

5 stars for what you are buying. This is clearly a copy of another companies knife. I’m going to call it my NESSE N=Nearly. That being said it is a perfect copy maybe even an upgrade depending on your intended use. The steel is a Chinese stainless with better edge retention than 1095 I would think the blade won’t be as strong as 1095 spring steel. It is however a very thick full tang blade and fit and finish is outstanding. Looking for a cheap, stout knife that looks and feels good this thing is perfect. The kydex sheath is also outstanding firm grip on the knife, not overly bulky and looks good. If your considering this one and don’t mind buying Chinese. Go ahead! This is a great buy.