SOG Slimjim XL Lockback Assisted Opening

TLDR: Love everything about the knife BUT the lock to keep it closed is breaking over time and is a struggle to open if I can at all.I love this knife for the most part and carry it almost every day; it's light weight and comfortable to use. The blade came and has stayed sharp after A LOT of every day use ie. cutting tape, rope, food, etc. I don't even feel the weight of it some times and have to hunt for it in my dirty clothes' pockets. The lock system to keep the blade open and safety close it is sturdy and works great despite the dumb things I tend to use the knife for.My only issue has been a growing issue with the lock mechanism that keeps it closed. It has been happening more and more that I cannot open the knife unless I mess with the lock a lot. I have fight with the lock to disengage it for almost 5-10 minutes (because I'm stubborn) before I am able to open the knife and it seems to be getting worse. I'm at the point of removing that lock.

I'm a big fan of minimalist folders that are functional but thin, light, and easy to hide. I have had one of the original SlimJim knives for about five years now and it's quite a good knife. Not what I'd select for EDC simply because I don't think it's long enough in the blade to be as effective a defensive weapon as I'd like. High quality though, and the thin blade doesn't appear weak but being thin it cuts like a razor.When I saw that the larger XL SlimJim came out, I ordered one on the spot. I'm very pleased with it. Like the smaller one, it cuts like a scalpel, and is about as thin and light as it could possibly be and still actually be useful for utility or self=defense.This is, again, a minimalist knife. It's for cutting. Like, you know, what knives were invented and designed for. The blade is thin like a filet knife and cuts about as aggressively (which is to say handle carefully or you will bleed). This is NOT a heavy duty utility knife. If you plan to whittle hickory, or pry open stuff, or open cans of tuna, or use the blade tip as a screwdriver, then all I can tell you is that you will damage or break this blade. That's an ignorant use of a knife anyway. If you need to do all that stuff, then you need to be wearing a tool belt and not carrying a folding knife.Drawbacks? Sure. You have to consider that in making these knives as thin and minimal as possible, and still be usable, there are some unavoidable drawbacks. The biggest one is how the spring-assist works on them. On one hand, and this is good, you have to push it open in the exact right way or else one of two things will happen: one, it will go flying out of your hand; or two, it will fail to open all the way and lock. The spring is extremely vigorous and the knife weighs about as much as a hummingbird fart, so the spring can easily send this thing spinning across the room. On those times where it fails to open all the way and lock, you can correct it in about a quarter second with your thumb on the opening stud on the blade.This is problematic and requires some experimentation and above all practice on the part of the user. I do not consider it a flaw because what it's all about is keeping the thing from snapping open when it's not supposed to. Pretty much everyone who has used a lot of so-called automatic and/or spring assisted knives has at one time or another reached for their knife only to get sliced or skewered because the damned thing popped open in the pocket without the user realizing it. This knife will absolutely, emphatically not do that. If you operate it the correct way, you can have it open and ready for use in a flash. But if you don't do it correctly, it ain't opening.You also do have to pay attention to how well you hang on to it when opening it because, like I said, the thing is so diminutive that the spring can bounce it out of your hand.Now if all that sounds like a pain in the neck, it isn't. If you fiddle around with it for fifteen or thirty minutes or so, you will have complete mastery over the thing. And did I say this knife is fast? It's fast, and opens more quickly than any other spring-assisted knife I own.So what's the trade off? Why bother with this thing if you have to fiddle with it so much? That's easy. Because it's the only knife I know of that's more than large enough to be useful in a fight, that you could conceal in a pair of Speedos at the beach if you need to. As far as EDC, you could easily carry five of these blades and never notice the weight. Try that with conventional folders and you'll need a pair of suspenders to keep your britches from falling down. You can literally hide this knife anywhere. It could probably even be concealed by a completely naked person, but I'll leave it to your imagination to work that one out for yourself.In short, I've been stabbed. I've seen people dead from stab wounds (police work, ugh). I've trained in both knife fighting and in knife defense. I would have no misgivings whatsoever carrying the SlimJim XL for a defensive blade. And if I'm going to the beach in my Speedos this knife is the only one that will work anyway.

I've been carrying this daily a little over a month now so I feel confident giving a review.Short version: Sharp, thin, not a chopper, excellent slicer, practice opening it so your finders don't drag on the side of the blade, a lanyard under the clip helps to get it out of a pocket.Now the long version:First off, this sucker is SHARP. Seriously. That's a good thing, but if you aren't used to using seriously sharp knives, you (like I did) will cut yourself. On the plus side it doesn't hurt, but does bleed...well, like a razor cut.It's THIN. The pictures just don't make clear how thin. It just seems to take up zero space. That's a bonus. However, that thinness does have a consequence. One, there's not a ton of extra space for your fingers when opening it. I felt mine was a little tight when received so I loosened the pivot just a bit (about 1/8 turn). That was basically personal preference.I've had no trouble with it snapping open, with a few notes. One, just about every time I've not gotten it to lock open I've noticed my fingers on the far side were on the blade. So, while my thumb and the spring are pushing it open, my fingers are dragging on it and keeping it from opening. the solution is simple: keep my fingers on the ridges in the side when opening. I just don't do it every time. A very few times I think the lock at the back slipped up a hair and kept the blade from deploying. If I carried it locked (which I don't find necessary) I'd unlock it every time and not have this problem. I'd prefer some kind of detent so the safety more positively clicked in the on or off positions though.This is a long thin knife, and light. It is not a chopper. It is a very good slicer. That's not a complaint, that's part of the trade for what I was after (thin, light, longer blade). It is NOT a pry bar or screwdriver. I chipped the edge a little using it to pry a stuck 22lr case out of the chamber of my rifle. Should not have used this knife for that, and probably would have been fine if I'd used the back instead of the edge, so that's my fault, not the knife's.The clip lets it sit deep in the pocket and very discreet. Major plus. However, my pocket tends to ride over the upper edge under the clip and catch there, making it hang up trying to get it out. Thicker pocket material or a thicker edge to the pocket would not have this problem (like jeans) but in dress pants or thin material shorts I had issues. I tied a leather lanyard up high on the clip, so it basically sits between the bottom of the knife and the clip, and this solved the issue plus gives me a second place to grab to pull the knife. Not a negative either, just a consequence of the design.I don't care for the thumb stud. I think the top is a bit tough on my thumb (defined ridges, narrow point) and sits a bit high. I'd prefer a broader, lower, more like a ridge instead of the stud. Personal preference. It does work.Handle ridges and the notches on the back of the blade give a very secure grip, surprisingly so. Very well done.I did note some scraping of the blade on the handle after I'd carried it for a while. I'd managed to bend the upper "lips" of the handle (above the pivot). Loosening the pivot a little and using the blade (carefully) as a lever straightened that out and I haven't done it again.Very happy with it. I already have at least one person who wants one, but I'll probably get him the shorter version. Back when I got out more this would be an ideal tackle box knife, especially after tying some fishing line between the lanyard hole and the tackle box to prevent losing it. Though, i bet a good sized bobber on a leader attached to the lanyard would work too.