14C28N Steel Pocket Knife

Nice knife. After decades of using liner lock and assisted opening knives, I bought this to try it out. I like it. Works well, can be opened fast. I do have to get used to the "closing button", aka cross bar lock. Nice size feels well in hand. added a paracord tassel to it. Another for my collection.

Originally, I wrote a less than stellar review about the quality of this knife and how I felt it was made on a Friday with the issues the knife had (bad micarta strands, sticking flipper tab, etc). XTOUC customer service reached out to me to make things right. We had a brief interchange and they sent me a new knife without any pretense I change my review.The knife I received in the mail today is everything I wanted in the tool when I first made my order, what many YouTubers touted on their videos. The button lock works great and the lockup on the blade is solid. There is no wiggling, play, or off-centering, and the pivot is incredibly smooth. The micarta scales are nice and clean, the flipper tab lets the blade open easily without getting stuck, the factory edge is super sharp too with a uniform grind on both sides, and 14C28N stainless steel means it is durable and less likely to burst into rust when I sweat (living close to the ocean further requires me to be choosy about the blade material in a carry knife).The thing I liked most was the customer service. They came through when I expected to just let this be another unpleasant Amazon shopping experience (yes, I admit I was wrong, there are companies who still care about satisfaction). If you have an issue with your knife, XTOUC (that is hard to type right the first time) will strive to make you pleased with their product.My only regret now is I did not order the green micarta one but that is no fault of XTOUC, that is just me wanting different colors to my knife collection.

This is a superb quality “check box” pocket knife which I bought because it hit many of my personal checkboxes, but then returned due to the same “finger safety “ anxiety I feel with known lock back brands like Spyderco, Kabar Dozier, plus all liner locks, all frame locks, and most cross bar locks except SOG XR and Ganzo.The root of the problem is online knife sellers (KCOI/BHQ) and YouTubers promoting flashy opening and closing techniques. Nothing to match balisong pyrotechnics, but stuff like magically snapping the thumbstud design open when I sometimes have trouble (Kabar Dozier) even rolling it out, blowing my mind by using the bottom finger to snap it out, and simply disengaging the lock to flick it open or closed (principally Axis and other crossbar lock designs - unlocking nubs on opposite sides of the handle; but lately some button aka plunger lock designs too).This whole movement to snap out blades probably started with the combination of stiff detents and flippers on liner lock designs. And that started from liner lock’s dirty little secret - that they need a snappy opening or the liner lock won’t seat against the tang deeply enough for a safe, jar-resistant lockup. (Kershaw’s Speed Safe may have faux switchblade dramatic openings, but the “Safe” is rightfully in its name - it uses its built-in snappy opening to get a solid lockup).The work-around for liner locks without Speed Safe has been to lock them closed with a ball bearing on the liner lock leaf spring fitting into a tiny matching cavity on the side of the tang when fully closed. With the perfect leaf spring tension, ball bearing size, and depression, the blade will stay closed until the right amount of finger flipper pressure has built up which causes the detent to suddenly release and propel the blade into full lock up.This was really the invention of the “fidget friendly” opening/closing/reopening/reclosing cycle many owners love. The Speed Safe did all the work in its own and the magic wore off too quickly.Then operator skill level nuances developed. Can you snap open a lockback like Cold Steel and Spyderco? How about a liner lock with no flipper tab? Can you do it with strong thumb alone, or do you need to add wrist flip? A bug wrist flip ot near invisible manipulation? Can you do that with a large round Spyderco hole? How about Benchmade with Axis crossbar design locks? (Wait, Axis locks can simply be unlocked in a pinch grip yo let the blade freely swing open or closed!)Knives started getting re-tuned for flashy fidget friendly openings. Cold Steel is well known as one of the harder blades to snap open due to extra strong retention-in-handle from a super strong lock bar designed to minimize accidental unlocking when fully opened. So, let’s just weaken the spring! (Verdict)New fidget friendly standards came into play. A knife had to fling open as though on ball bearings, so little race cages with tiny ball bearings - susceptible, of course, to mere pocket lint - came into existence. The blade was also now expected to “fall free” - no “sticking” requiring shaking it loose - which meant only a short range of movement should be required to release the blade. The comical, but sad, result for one new wave designer was a 2023 button lock new release that had an easy to use button releasing the blade to swing open with a snap, and to swing closed with no “button stick”. Unfortunately the button lock then proceeded to fail to do its job as an actual lock-up mechanism, accidentally unlocking with only gentle table top taps on its spine in one YouTube video. (The company explained the lock up angles it used to eliminate all button stick was the culprit.)The insanity of playing to fidget-friendly excuses for buying had finally reached its limit, ir more precisely my limit. Using hardware tweaks to compensate for a beginner’s lack of thumb and precise angle, or inferior wrist snap technique, now resulted in degradation of actual utility and defensive uses.tk;dr - I bought this knife due to a glowing review by an articulate and convincing YouTube table-top reviewer due to satisfying the following check boxes: renowned budget performer steel from Sandvik (14C28), beautiful blade design, premium G10 (with liners), button lock, thumb stud out of the way from pocket snagging - close to handle, perfect sized flipper - not ginormous. Mostly, NOT a notoriously unreliable (as a class) liner lock.When I got it, it looked like Ganzo made it. That’s a good thing! Solid, well-finished, good-to-premium materials. Unfortunately, 3x the price of a Ganzo/Firebird. And, unfortunately, a button lock plunger that, unlike my Hogue X1 Micro Flip, didn’t cover nearly as much of the tang as I’d like to see, yet had its push button higher above the handle, not collated or sunken in) (hence more prone to accidental release).BTW I really like the Ganzo cross bar imitation of the Benchmade Axis lock (legal copy, the patents expired). It has a lot of return spring pressure (to resist accidental opening from loose carry snags and jostles) and takes a solid pressure to pull back the opening nubs - omega spring is tight (also seats in deep, so a longer release pull is required). But do you know what happened on a husband and wife YouTube review team? They loved the Ganzo quality, but went on to but criticize the feel of the Axis lock copy - despite the inherently safer execution- because it wasn’t as much fun ti going open and closed.It is these combination of factors - not materials quality, fit, finish - that led me to return this. I don’t need or want cool snappy openings or stick-free drop closings. I want finger safety. If, like the Ganzo, this emphasized solid, finger-safe lock up over friction free openings and closings, I would have kept it for the G10 and 14C28. I just felt that the implementation of the plunger lock design looked too shallow, and the external height of the button didn’t emphasize safety. IMHO when deployed, the release button should have been flush with it below the handle, and the spring should have been stiffer. I used the return funds, plus a mere additional $10, to buy a large Voyager here on Amazon.

Well people. I have said it before but this time... It's is the best..!!!!!. This knife xtouc sx602 green .. for the money.. is the best. Best. Budget knife you can buy. .....Imo.. I have had it 3 weeks now .. put it through everything a knife should do. And it said give me more... Never quit on me not once. .. .. button lock . Perfect... Blade steel.. perfect... Action.. perfect... Edge... perfect... I could go on and on ... But I love it so much . I have a new one in my cart right now ... And I don't do that for anything......and I mean anything... So if you need a new e.d.c. you are crazy if you don't pick one up .this company has been around since 1990... They know knife making....don't waste you money on high dollar knifes ... Buy one of these . You will be glad you did ... Thanks Amazon.... You know me I will be back soon...

This is a fun fidget knife. Size is right and comfortable in the hand.

This knife really surprised me. I didn't have high expectations for it, but one I got it in hand and felt how good the button lock action was it quickly became a knife I didn't want to put down. I have had much more expensive button locks that don't come close to the action of this knife. It had no button stick at all! The blade was perfectly centered and there was no blade play. The button lock held up to spine whachs and still performs perfectly. It is actually getting smoother by the day. I did sharpen the 14c28n blade and it took a very nice edge and has great edge retention. I look forward to seeing what knives Xtouc comes out with next.

Not bad for a budget Chinese knife. Probably on par with Remette offerings in the same price range. Would have preferred a Land product.