Mercator Brass Large Carbon

This review is for the Mercator Otter knife with high carbon blade and brass handle.i've had this knife a while now and it has gotten to be one of my all-time favorites.+: Ergonomics are surprisingly good for such a slim knife. Lock-up is very solid. Detent closed is secure, won't open accidentally, but not so secure as to make the blade hard to open as has been the case with some folders i've owned. It IS a 2-handed open with a thumb nick in the blade. Not a stainless blade but not particularly prone to rust, similar to D2 steel in that respect. Mine is developing a patina that resembles the old 'case hardened' steels at one time used in tools and firearms, with blues and grays. Sharpens easily, edge retention is good (ran into an issue with that early on, where i'd put a really fine edge on it and simply slicing mushrooms would take the edge off, had me concerned if it was even food safe, but this changed dramatically for the better after resharpening a handful of times; don't know what was up with that...).-: With my copy, the opened blade cants slightly to the left as viewed from the spine. As the varnish on the brass handle wears away, the oxidizing brass is getting a splotchy look, looks 'dirty' more than 'cool'. Maybe that will improve in time, no plans to remove remaining varnish here. There was initially an issue with edge retention (the issue mysteriously went away in time). Does not carry comfortably in a pocket, it's longish closed and lands horizontal at the bottom of the pocket. Best carried clipped to something, maybe with a small, lightweight carabiner.The knife is fun to use and sees quite a bit of duty in the kitchen; i'll go grab this instead of a paring knife. Just because i find it very fun to use and it serves the purpose very well. If you're into foraging for wild mushrooms, this slim, flat ground 3.5" blade would likely be ideal. Maybe even good for dressing small game like rabbits or squirrel. i can see this being very popular for fishermen also but maybe go with the stainless blade, steel handle Black Cat version around salt water. A very light weight utility knife for camping/backpacking. Great letter opener, and for opening the occasional small package. Maybe even some good use in gardening. If you slice cardboard, butcher cattle or split kindling all day, you've already got something else.i find it very fun to use, lightweight, reasonably durable, elegantly simple, functional, and the history of the design dating back to the mid 1800s is a little icing on the cake. Subtracted one star for the cant to the blade but the overall package still hits a sweet spot; highly recommend.