First Opinion

You get this nice little key chain-style tool you can use to adjust various tolerances on the blade. That tool can be used to lock the blade in fixed position, it also doubles as a debris remover. The blade comes out of the box in immaculate condition and I was, for a split second, considering just leaving it as a show piece, thankfully I enjoy breaking things so I took its shininess as a challenge.

The carbide glass breaker came out looking rusty, I cleaned it up with a brush and put some Froglube on it and it has not looked rusty since.

The G10 is very grippy felt like a very fine version of stippled kydex , this also means it will attract dirt really easily but is able to be cleaned up easily as well.

The frame lock blade locking system, is pretty sturdy even for being titanium. The clip, itself, is very sturdy and shows every sign of attention to detail.

In the Field

This blade has been in my pocket for no less than 6 days a week for hours everyday. I have cut boxes with it, pried doors and locks open with it, cut cables, chopped up steak and open beer bottles.





(Video is from YouTube, all rights and credit goes to the owner/uploader, it depicts a fixed HEST opening a beer bottle, but the blade design is exactly the same)









The blade went everywhere with me and was my go to utility blade of choice. I did not have to sharpen the blade once yet. Though it did not come out of the box hair cutting sharp it never really got noticeably duller.









The locking mechanism never skipped a beat. I never once had it not lock in place or fail to release due to anything short of user error. Sometimes I did not press the Ti tab out enough to let the blade move freely. I fixed that by putting some Fireclean around the locking mechanism and the hinge area. I actually coated the whole blade with it. (like I always do)









Ownership and Usage

wave ability, popular with I have no complaints or issues with this blade. It did and still does everything I ever want out of a folding pocket carry knife. One added feature that I did not discover right away is itsability, popular with Emerson folding knives





( Video is from YouTube, all rights and credit goes to the owner/uploader, it depicts the wave function of the HEST/F)





The knife can be deployed from inside the pocket by pinching with thumb and pointing finger, pulling up and slightly to the front to catch on the front cutout of the top of the blade. It does not provide a "combat grip" by any standard but allows the blade to be deployed without manual actuation via the two pegs at the base of the blade. Gives the HEST/F some cool points.





(RAT Blade size comparison to the DPx HEST/F)



