There is a long story behind this one. Was very impressed with the design is Maxace Kestrel when it first came out, and immediately bought one on release. It was a great pocket carry, before the moment I decided to disassemble it, just of curiosity. All screws were smooth, except the pivot one – it was not fixed, and kept rotating with some locktite in it (or maybe just jammed). I passed a couple of evenings trying to unscrew it. I cursed it with all the swear words I know, boiled it several times, hammered the pivot, twisted the knife while trying to unscrew, heated the pivot with industrial dryer. All in vain. The pivot was steadfast. Finally, humiliated by this Kestrel, which from now on reminded me only of burnt fingertips and sweat, I sold it. It was good as new, no blade play or offcentered blade. Damn, if it had broken in process, I would somehow be happy.
When V.2 Kestrel has arrived, I decided to give this knife a second chance. Due to the upgraded design, no problems this time (maybe it had a D-shaped pivot). Even the titanium inlays were not glued in, but fixed with screws.
But sometimes children have to pay the sins of their fathers, so I sent the new Kestrel to be dremel-tortured by my friend, who made a few dozen amazing upgrades for me. It was long before CrystalTi was mass produced for knives, so the pseudo-crystal surface he made was certainly rare. The big subframe was made of steel and gave us a headache in attempts to match the texture and the gamma of titanium parts. At the end of the day, the ensemble was complete – now the vivid purple colors of pseudo-CrystalTi match with chaotic shredded carbon of the handle.
Love this knife, but still gives me shivers sometimes =).
by rEAll0Ad
