Masters of Defense
The Trident by Chief Jim Watson
MSRP U.S. $189.98

With 16 combat decorations, including 4 bronze stars with the Combat V for valor, veteran Navy SEAL Jim Watson has seen it all. Most people know him as Dick Marcinko's point man Patches in the Rogue Warrior series. Watson, a Team 2 plank owner, has authored two books on his days as a SEAL, Point Man and Walking Point, both published by William Morrow. In developing a hard-use knife that would meet the needs of these spec op's warriors, Jim Watson was a natural choice. The industry is full of people trying ta capitalize commercially on the names and reputations of these brave men of honor. Most of the so called SEAL knives out there today never had the input of a SEAL in their construction, and more disturbingly, wouldn't hold up if a special forces operator actually had to use one. Jim Watson designed this knife as a user who has actually been there and done it. We at M.O.D. feel that the durability and quality of the Trident is reflective of the honor with which Jim Watson conducted himself throughout his distinguished career, states M.O.D.'s Jim Ray.Watson's knife features a modified spearpoint with optional serrations running 2/3rds length of the blade. Like all M.O.D folders, a protected speed bushing toleranced to less than 1/10,000th of an inch provides its silky feel and precision lock-up.

SPECIFICATIONS:

HANDLES: Milled, 6061-T6 Aluminum
BLADE: 154cm high carbon stainless steel alloy, 60 Rockwell hardness! Cryogenically hardened for complete molecular conversion and absolute dimensional stability. Ambidextrous milled thumb studs.
HANDLE FINISH: Military Spec Hardcoat, Black Anodized
POCKET/BELT CLIP: Through hardened 301 Stainless steel, matte finish. Point up carrying.
OVERALL LENGTH: 7.8", 4.4" when closed.
BLADE LENGTH: 3.4"
BLADE THICKNESS: 148 thousandths.
LOCKING LINER: 17-4 Stainless steel, 76 thousandths, sustains over 100 lbs of reverse force.
EDGING TREATMENT: Precision hollow ground modified spear point. Thumb ridge on top.
HOLSTER: CorduraTM Nylon, can be worn horizontally or vertically on belt. Velcro ® closure.
BLADE FINISH OPTIONS: Matte double bead blast, or new ultra hard Stealth matte black Boron Carbide.
SERRATION: Optional, half-serrated or non-serrated, all finishes.
AUTOMATICS: Auto-opening version available for military, fire/EMS and law enforcement.

Our review of the MOD Trident

The MOD Trident was the second knife that Masters of Defense has send us for testing. We decided that this one, would be tested by me (i.e. John), instead of our usual knife expert (i.e. Brownie), so that I start getting some experience on these things. So please, be a little forgiving, if this test is not up to the standards that Brownie has set, after all it is my first one.

I received the MOD Trident in a relatively large carton box, which included the followings: the knife; the cordura/nylon belt sheath; warranty/registration card and maintenance instructions. The box was opened and the knife was attached to a piece of carton, by its clip. I lifted the carton with the knife, and below, there was the sheath and the warranty and maintenance cards. One thing I noticed immediately, was that the Trident had the clip attached in the ... wrong way, i.e. for tip-down carrying. This is something I do not like. On top, the knife was not threaded to allow reversing of the clip! I also noted that the sheath was not of the same quality as the one of the Tempest.

Initial impression was that this is a quality knife. Contrary to the Tempest, the blade of the Trident, was adjusted just perfect for a defensive knife, the screw holding the blade in the handles was not too tight, nor too loose. The blade had absolutely no play, either sideways or in the up-down sense and it was locking like a vault. On the blade, you can read the characteristics of the knife etc., and the Masters of Defense logo is found. All this, is etched in silverish letters, I would prefer a more subtle approach, but.....

Before proceeding any further with the test, I decided that I needed to change the way the clip was installed, otherwise, I would never be able to familiarize myself with the knife. I removed the two tiny hex screws which held the clip in place and looked for a 1.5 mm drill bit. I attached it to my Dremel, and after carefully marking the required clip position, I did two tiny holes on the right handle of the knife. I then added a drop of red Loctite on each screw and mounted the clip in its position. It hasn't moved since. The clip was intentionally not mounted parallel to the knife axis, but at a slight angle, due to the slot that exists at the rear end of the handles, which didn't allowed me to mount it totally centered. In the way it is mounted, the mounting edge is closer to the lower side of the handle, while the free edge is centered in the knife width. See picture below:

I also decided to shorten the thumb studs at my usually prefered altitude of just below the handle for the left one, and a bit more for the right one (being right-handed, I very seldomly have to open a knife with the left hand). The reason for this being, that at least once, the blade opened up on me, as I was drawing the knife, after I had reverse the clip.

During all this time, I had the opportunity to study the knife features. As you can see at the picture below, the knife has three ribbed areas at its back, one on the rear end of the blade, another at the front of the handles, and one third, near the rear of the handles. These prevent sliping of the fingers, when holding the knife in the various positions. At the lower edge of the handle, there are two more ribbed areas, one around the liner release (which itself is also ribbed) and another near the rear end of the handle. The back of the knife has also a couple of slots, which facilitate cleaning the knife.

All screws are hex head ones, which is fine with me, while there is also a non-slip area on the left side of the knife, covered with a rubberish material.

After this I started carrying the knife in my jeans pocket and trying to get the feel of it. My first impression is that the handles are a bit small for normal grasping as shown at the picture below at left, but not if I use the method shown in the picture at right, in which the knife feels very anatomical, like an extension of one's hand. This is the feeling I get, with my hands, your mileage may vary.

The knife feels perfect, when grabbed in a point down position, as can be seen at the pictures below.

I started carrying the knife on myself, and use it on normal everyday chores. What I found out, which is consistent with Brownie's findings on the Tempest, is that the knife stays put, wherever you place it in the morning, that's where you will find it at the evening, unless of course you removed it to cut something. Interesting! Another thing I noticed during these two weeks I've been carrying the Trident around, is that it never opened, as I was pulling it out of my pocket. That means that the thumb studs are perfectly filed, nothing to grasp upon your trousers to turn the blade around and open it (VERY DANGEROUS).

One more thing I noticed, if cutting some materials, like a cardboard box, the blade gets some mark lines, do not worry, most propably they are not scratches, they are just traces of the cardboard left on the blade's coating. I once had that happened, all I did was follow Brownie's advise and clean the blade with my kitchen's sponge. There was no trace of these lines left on the blade. It looks as if the coating used on these knifes is quite sticky and strong.

Opening the knife's blade was not as smooth as with the Tempest. Not that there was anything wrong with the mechanism, it is just that the Tempest's thumb stud position, allows a smoother motion in my hand, the flick towards the open, locked position is easier for me. The fact that the Tempest's thumb stud is mounted a little bit more forward than the Trident's one, may have something to do with it. Again, this might be a personal issue, and it was by no means a problem. I just noticed it as I was playing with both knives, for comparison purposes (the Trident is on top).

Coming to the blade itself, as it came from the factory, it was razor-sharp. I know that Brownie is fond of razor-sharp knives, so I am sure he would love this one. After using the knife for a couple of weeks, I tried to shave my arm again, and the blade was still razor sharp. I guess that this goes along with what Brownie has found for the Tempest, after all, the two knives are similar enough to give the same results when used. Blade-wise, the Trident has a hollow-ground, modified spear point blade, which is fine with me. I did some tests, cutting a cardboard box and the knife kept cutting and cutting, without any appreciable degradation of its sharpness.

Not having Brownie's experience with knives, I decided to skip the stubbing-the-wooden-board test. You see, I still need those fingers of mine, to change the twin's dipers (among other things), so I was not ready to sacrifice them in the interest of a full test. I also have nothing that can protect my fingers, in case a blade snaps or something. So please forgive me for not putting this knife through this ordeal, it was done more to save myself, than anything else. Since most knife characteristics are similar with the Tempest's ones, I guess Brownie's findings should apply to the Trident as well.

Another test I performed with this knife, is the "Ukranian Ham" test. In my wife's country, they sell some very delicious pork meat. Typically this meat is smoked, and has a varying amount of fat. It is usually shaped like a stick, see the picture below.

We always have some of that meat in our fridge, thanks to my beloved mother-in-law, who makes sure that we never run out of it. I love to cut slices of this thing, with my knives. Depending on the pressure each knife needs, to cut a clean slice, you can judge its sharpness. Well, this is not a scientific test, but I always try it, when I get a new knife. I get all the folders in my collection and start cutting slices from the meat stick. In that way, I usually end up with two or three groups of knives, one which need the minimum pressure to cut a slice, one with average, and one with maximum.

Well, as you might expect, the MOD Trident was added in the first category, above. It just slides through the pork meat (and the fat) without the slightest hesitation, producing beautiful slices. Admitedly, only one of my knives cuts better than the Trident, but this one has a longer blade, which allows you to cut the slice, in one, swift move.

Oh yes, another side-benefit of this procedure, is that I end up eating the slices I cut!!!

Overall impression: One of the finest knives I have owned. As a tactical knife, it has the benefit of a very sharp and strong blade, a perfect locking mechanism and mostly good ergonomics. It is much better than other, much more expensive knives I have tried, without any significant flaws (other than the non-reversible clip and the tall thumb studs, both of which can be easily fixed). MOD, if you are listening, give your Trident a reversible clip and somewhat shorter thumb studs. You got yourself a winner. One final thing, all MOD folders will from now on, come with the new, black clip.

John

Visitor's opinion (January 22nd, 2005)

Kent Ferrell (e-mail at: kent.ferrell@halliburton.com), from Carrollton, Tx, USA, was kind enough to send us the followings, regarding this knife.

I have a MOD Trident that has been my EDC for about a year and a half. It is a strong and very well made knife but I have not been thoroughly pleased with it. When received it was not sharp, period! The sheath was very poor quality, and it was much too large for the knife. With the velcro closure closed in its normal position the knife would fall our of the sheath as a result I have never used it. There is no sideways or up and down play in the blade which indicates the tolerances are very close but if not kept strictly clean the blade will become very hard to open. During an attempt to clean the knife I opened it and sprayed some cleaner into the action then shook the knife briskly to shake out the cleaner but the lock had failed to fully engage and allowed the blade to snap closed. As a result I received a nasty cut. I am used to the tip down carry position but the knife rides too high in your pocket and tends to hang on things getting in and out of a vehicle. I would also prefer the blade to have a flatter grind it would improve the cutting ability with little sacrifice in blade strength. I also do not care for all the writing on the blade. Overall I have not been fully pleased with the knife but it has been durable, holds an edge well and the clip holds the knife in your pocket well even though it snags everything because it rides so high. Overall I would rate this knife about a 6.5

Thanks Kent

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