Illustration courtesy of Amazon.com.

The Flying Falcon Wave Raider knife (item # 15-408B) is a medium size, liner-locking folder. The blade is marked "Flying Falcon" and "Stainless" on one side and "China" on the other.

The Flying Falcon brand seems to specialize in low priced knives made in Red China that resemble name brand cutlery (Victorinox, Spyderco, etc.) We found an assortment of Flying Falcon models and styles on Amazon.com ranging in price from $1.25 to $8.99 (not including shipping).

The blade, liner lock and waistband clip of the Wave Raider are made of an unspecified grade of stainless steel and the black handle is some sort of molded polymer. Only the locking side of the handle's interior is lined. Both the blade and handle have a row of lightening cuts. The slots in the blade also serve to provide purchase for one hand opening. Assembly is my means of Phillips head screws.

The Wave Raider's folded length is 4-1/4" and its blade is 2-3/4" long. The overall open length is 7" and the knife weighs only 1.9 ounces. The drop point blade is hollow ground, the first half of the cutting edge being fine ground and the rest serrated.

Specifications

• Type: Lock blade folding knife
• Brand: Flying Falcon
• Model: Wave Raider
• Item number: 15-408B
• Blade material: Stainless Steel
• Blade type: Half serrated
• Handle material: Black polymer
• Overall length (open): 7"
• Length closed: 4-1/4"
• Blade length: 2-3/4"
• Weight: 1.9 ounces
• Country of origin: Red China
• Approx. 2013 retail price: $10 (We paid $2 for our sample.)

This is a low price, Chinese made knife. As such, it is perhaps one of the better examples of bargain knives. The assembly of our test sample is good. The blade is tight when locked open, yet opens and closes easily with only minor roughness.

The blade is reasonably sharp out of the box. It holds an edge about as well as you would expect from a $10 knife, but it sharpens easily on a hard Arkansas stone. We didn't test our Wave Raider to destruction, but we advise against putting any prying load on a blade of this quality. Use it for light duty cutting and you will get your money's worth. This is not a Buck knife, so don't try to hammer it through a stove bolt.

If you want a good folding knife with a blade of high quality steel, get a Buck, Gerber, Kershaw, Spyderco or other name brand knife produced in a first world country. If you have $100 to spend on a knife and the choice is between one Kershaw and 50 Wave Raiders, get the Kershaw. On the other hand, the Wave Raider is about 1/10th (or less!) the price of the aforementioned brand name knives and if $10 or less is your price class, you could do worse.