I loved the look of this knife. I couldn't afford the Chris Reeves Pacific so I went SCHF3N.
Only complaints is #1 The Sheath.
This was a given. I bought this knowing the sheath was crap but they could have upgraded it by now. The sheaths for the Schf-36,37,51,52,9, etc. Are heaps better in quality than this.
#2 The shaping of the handle. From all I've talked to, watched and read about, their SCHF3 handle they love the fit. I have large hands but it does not feel comfortable. I just feels rushed and un-finished. Yes, Chinese, $35. I get it. But still, I will have to sand and shape it. I think maybe I just got a bad one. All & all a good knife. Would recommend.

- UPDATE 2 (pic 2) - Schrade backs up their products! They sent me a new replacement for this knife (which was past Amazon's warranty).

* The KNIFE: The handle's Mycarta grip is also perfectly fit, trimmed and finished, in contrast to handle grips of my previous knife. The blade's edge and spine with perfectly straight. Overall, I love the features of this model: its look (clip point, recurved blade), weight, contoured grip and performance (sharp hollow point grind w/thick 1/4" spine. While this steel alloy will offer some rust resistance, like all carbon blades itwill form rust spots if not routinely maintained or regularly oiled in wet weather climates.

* The SHEATH: As other's noted, the cordura nylon sheath is functional, but not as durable as ballistic nylon. It has a thin nylon fabric over the plastic blade insert, whereas the belt loop is thicker and more durable. The sheath is only sewn together using single-stitch seams, but reinforced with 4 cordage grommets. on each side. It also includes ~6 feet of thin black cordage; and while useful, it's 'not' 550 paracord. Also, the weave on my sheath started to fray apart after 6 months; but I plan to upgrade with an aftermarket ballistic nylon or Kydex sheath.

- UPDATE 1: I contacted Schrade Customer Service (via FB's PM page) and they agreed that it was likely a heat treatment issue, which they stated was rare. They offered to immediately ship a free replacement. I bumped up my rating (3 stars): for backing their product and for their quick and courteous Customer Service. Once I receive the replacement, I'll bump my rating, again (4-5 Stars). :)

- ORIGINAL POST (pic 1): I just returned from camping for 2 weeks (mostly off grid). I used the this knife as my primary camp knife, regularly splitting 4" wide logs for firewood everyday for 5 straight days until it broke Unfortunately, the metal cracked in half close to the handle in the process, while batoning for more firewood (see photo). The back half of the knife remained wedged in the log, as the front half dropped off. I used a short narrow 3" wide log for the baton. I've had relatively minimal use with knife, but had really enjoyed its overall utility at home and for camping. So, no issues with its performance until this incident.

This outcome was surprising and seriously disappointing. Terrible feeling to not have a backup knife. Fortunately, I still had my camp axe. I believe that my order was a defective product and suspect that the heat treatment process was too fast, making the metal too brittle.

I would purchase this knife again! Right out of the box it was sharp. I will say the sheath is a bit on the "busy" side with all the drawstrings and other non-sense. From a blade perspective though, this is nice and large and fits my large hands very well. I was already out batoning chunks of fatwood and shaving it down...Started a nice fire last night using the fatwood shavings I created with this. The mods I will be making are removing the rope (or whatever it is) from the knife itself (it can catch on to things when you're in the woods creating a danger) as well as removing all the nonsense from the sheath.
Overall, I like the knife though! Definitely worth the money.

Overall I really like this knife. It came very sharp!! The blade and workmanship is great. My only issue with this (thus the 4 stars) and a couple other Schrade knives is the size of the handle. I have a medium sized hand and all the handles appear to be made for giants! While I like the design of the handles they are overall just to thick. Schrade could sand down the handles a bit before attaching them to the tang. I could do this as well and may very well end up doing that as I really like this blade.
The steel is great, the design is great, I just can't hold it comfortably in my hand.
The sheath for this blade is great and can be configured for a wide variety of mounting or carrying options.

Right before I went deer hunting for the first time I went to a small hardware store in Wisconsin, USA to buy a Buck folding knife for the hunt. They were sold out, but they did have the same knife only in a Schrade. That was quite a while ago, and I still take that knife deer hunting every year.
Some people think that Schrade is not a premium knife company. This knife, and my belt folding knife prove them wrong.
The SCHF3N is a top drawer knife in almost every way. It has micarta handles which are great in the rain or wet climates. They do not lose their grip. In addition, these are very comfortable to the hand. Great for use around the camp, around the camp stove, hunting, and survival.There is a Lanyard attached that will hold the knife well. The belt is made of Carbon8Cro13MoV steel; basically a stainless steel, Cro=Chromium (tempering agent); 13Mo=Molybdenum (tempering agent); V=vanadium (toughener). This makes this knife blade as hard as nails. It is a tough, tough knife. It will stand up to extreme cold and heat. Along with the lanyard there is a slot on the blade to place your finger in case you want a more secure grip on the blade when batoning, or carving wood shavings for a fire. This knife is tough, it is hard, and it will keep going all day long. The only drawback I found was that when they did the coating for the blade (China) they did a poor job. If that is a deal breaker for you check with Schrade first. Go on You Tube and look up SCHF3N Extreme Test by PreparedMind101. You can see what this blade does. Big thumbs up to Schrade for producing a high quality knife at this price.