Fri Jul 20, 2012 12:33 pm
Darrel Ralph Tactical - American Patriot // Wafflesong: A re
After a month of flipping this fat boy, I feel opinionated strongly enough to write a review on Darrel Ralph's American Patriot -- or as some of us know it, the Wafflesong. This is a production knife that is very affordable for even the most broke flippers, looking to graduate out of your Kimura's or Bear & Son's balisong. It's available as a kit for around the $200 mark and fully assembled near the $300 mark.
Feel free to spam the comments/reply box with questions or concerns. I'll do my best to get back to you that make sense.
Overall Length: 9 3'8"
Blade Length: 4" edge 4 3/8" from handles
Handle Length: 5"
Blade Material: 154CM
Handle Material: 416 Stainless Steel
The Handles
Where else did you think this review was going to start? Come on...
These things are weird. At a total width of 21/128" per handle piece and 9/16" total width on the "top" of the waffles and 3/32" per peice and 27/64" total width in the "valley" of the waffles, this American Patriot[AP] has great weight reduction and balance considering the steel that's used. It's right at a square 1/2" near the latch and 21/64" nearest the tang, it's very reminiscent of the DDR Twist I acquired about a year ago; beefy! The space between the two handle pieces comes out to 31/128" making the handles, like the other DDR flippers I own, very rounded and even-feeling in the hand.
The horizontal cuts in the handle -- what make the "waffle" -- are pretty deep and completely rounded. There is no snagging of the palm or fingers, even with my calloused hands, as I experienced with the chevrons of the Alpha Beast. Honestly, you barely notice them if you're using this knife as a flipper. They're great to use as leverage when attempting to use the knife as a puncturing tool. The tip of my thumb fit quite nicely within the grooves and I was able to get a few extra pounds of pressure geared towards the tip of the blade when stabbing forward or downward. I was also able to tell the second my hand was starting to slip, because of the grooves.
What the AP does not have is the typical DDR-style milling on the edges of the handle pieces. Not that it makes much of a difference for us flippers but, it does give it a feel of genericness, in my strong opinion. I've always enjoyed the look of my locked DDRs sitting sideways on the table with the divots on the side.
As much as we complain about wanting longer handles from Darrel Ralph, imagine how heavy this sucker would be if it were full-size!
NLT Pivots
Unlike my previous DDRs, the AP has dual-stacked PB washers instead of the Darrel Ralph-patented Maxx Glide system. Yes, you read correctly, washers. Not bushings this time. The bushings couldn't hold up to the NLT pivots so well, for some reason. With a total of 8 PB washers per knife, I thought I'd be slick and steal 4 of them out and put them in my other balisong. The knife still flipped well without them but, there was a noticeable difference, for me anyway, in the way it handled afterward. Needless to say, I put them right back in.
It has the T15 & 1/16" allen NLT pivot system on it, as my other DDRs. But I feel it worth mentioning that it does come unbound after a few days of flipping, unlike my titanium models. I speculate that the heavier 416SS metal used in the AP takes a much greater toll on the pivot system than the titanium-handled models. It still allows for exact positioning, loosening, and tightening of the handles as needed but, I don't feel it deserves the "NLT" title on this knife. Loc-tite the pivots if you own this knife. Nothing you've not had to do before, right?
With the other DDR balisong I own, the Maxx Glide system kept the handles perfectly in-line with each other. With such a consistent swing on the handles, it became very easy for my hand to adjust to where each of the given handles were going to be, after any given toss/throw/etc. With that being said, it did not allow much room for handle play, like I have in my Arc Angel and BM42. There's a little bit of flop that I like and with the NLT pivots used in combination with the washers, the AP allows you to do so.....without fear of losing a million ball-bearings everywhere.
Das Blade
The 154CM blade, coming in at exactly 3/16" is noticeably bulkier than any of the DDRs I've flipped previously.....which is a good thing. The extra heft offsets the obese handles in just the right way. If it were any lighter material, the handles would overpower the blade, exponentially. The lack of a recurve and a high zero-grind spine keep the weight right where it belongs, in relation to the handle weight....for flippers, anyway.
Instead of the famous DDR-in-a-hoop logo stamped on the blade, the AP simply has the letters "DRT-AP" stamped on the side.
As many have complained about, and feared, this knife does have a strong potential to cut you even when locked shut. The utility-type grind on this knife has an extra-long amount of straight edge on it. The edge of the lade is, literally, thousandths of an inch away from the edge of the handle. Unfortunately, the human epidermis tends to conform to shapes more than thousandths of an inch in difference. The length of "straightness" on the blade is about 3" so, potentially, there is three inches of cut skin just waiting to happen. We can only hope that this minute error is fixed in his next production run. No one wants their knife to be feared....from a user aspect.
The Weight & Flipping
Coming in at a hefty 6.649oz, this is easily the second heaviest knife I own, falling a single ounce behind my eleven-inch long, 7.5oz FHM! Okay, so maybe it's less than an ounce but, you know what I mean. It feels huge in the hand upon initial flipping as well.
I remember thinking to myself at Blade Show, "This won't flip well at all!" How wrong I was! Any kind of lifting action does take a little more effort but when the knife falls in any manner, it gains momentum like no one's business! A helix, for example: It takes more oomph to get the y2k started but, once the bite handle drops below the usual y-axis, there's no stopping the motion it has going for it. Even the most basic of aerials feel powerful when the *snap* of the handles closing together, when it lands just right in your palm. It's very satisfying, to say the least.
Initially, I ws scared of throwing a basic scissor with this bad boy. The unusual weight really intimidated me at first. Evan chaplins took a little more oomph from my forearm muscle to initiate. That was short-lived though, as I learned that it was my lack of confidence that was throwing me off. Call me crazy but, the extra weight rfom this knife makes it feel as if it's going a little faster than my titanium models. Here is a link with some DRT-AP flipping in it. A raw video that was for testing purposes only.
The Latch & Spacers
Not much to go over, here.
It has the typical adjustable latch that I'm not too particularly fond of. But, ya know, I prefer the tapered the latch that bounces off the inside of the handles. It took a complete unassembly and re-assembly of the latch to keep it from straight-up locking up on me when finishing a trick/combo. For some reason, it wouldn't adjust all the way down for me at first. I use teflon tape(or dental floss) to keep the latch in the tightest position.
It comes standard with the barrel spacers. The minimalist design helps keep some of the weight off. In my opinion, a set of block spacers would make this knife near-impossible to flip. It's just right where it's at now. Again, this is yet another way that the DRT-AP reminds me of the DDR Twist I own -- keep the block spacers!
Overall Impression
As it is priced, this is a fair knife. It's not spectacular, and it's definitely not a Kimura. It's a good medium if you're looking to upgrade out of your lower-end balisong. Due to the lack of titanium handles, the knife will be easily out-performed by any balisong with them. Especially if you're flipping competitively, which has grown into a sport all of its own.
PROs:
Heavy handles give it good spin, when you get it there;
Pretty much indestructible;
Price tag isn't too high;
CONs
Heavy handles make the knife harder to get started flipping;
Blade pokes through the handles, pretty bad;
If you have $200 and are looking for a decent balisong, the DRT-AP is definitely the way to go. You won't be disappointed.
