Puma's SGB line has been around for a couple years: they send German blades to China where they're built into these inexpensive knives bearing the Puma medallion. I've seen generally good reviews of them, with occasional remarks about less-than-perfect fitting of the parts. Puma lists the Lonestar yellow-bone sodbuster model for $25, and Midway USA sells them for that with free shipping thrown in; Amazon has them for $21 (free shipping) - I threw this into a Sierra Trading Post order I was doing (free shipping) and it cost me $11.67, a price point at which I thought I could not go wrong. I was right.



You can see the fitting of the scales on mine is absolutely fine, and the smooth bone scales feel like an old bar of soap in the hand, yet retain enough natural bone grippiness that I don't see the thing slipping.



The sharp-from-the-box 440A steel blade was advertised as having a Rockwell hardness of 55 to 57, and has a useful size and shape.



There is no lock (of course) on this sodbuster, so it's a light duty pocketknife. It's one that I can see having some pride in, however. Gina likes everything about it except she has reservations about the Happy-Face-Yellow (her term) scales - me, well, you all know how much I like knives that are easy to find once I set them down. For $11.67? What a deal!

__________________
Now go make God proud...

Nice. I like a sodbuster pattern. I may have to see if I can find an old Case in CV steel like the one I had many years ago.

The yellow bone damn sure ought to be visible if you set it down!

__________________
Oh well, what the hell.

That yellow sodbuster was calling to me from its blister pack at Fleet Farm the other day, but I resisted, for a while at least. My only other knife of that pattern is a wood-handled Loewen that I bought while backpacking in Holland about forty years ago. I have picked up a couple others of the SGB line in the last few months; I guess you could call it a guilty pleasure.

I mean, I know they are Chinese and everything, but jeez, twenty bucks? They are pretty nice at that price, and Lord knows Fleet Farm has plenty of cheap, cheezy Chinese knives on its racks to make a fair comparison.

Frankly, I have no qualms. My first Benchmade was a discontinued Chinese Pika II that had been marked down to seventeen bucks. A failed experiment for Benchmade, but it was my introduction to the brand, not a bad knife, a lockback with a thumbhole. No comparison to the Axis locks, but still, not a bad knife.

__________________
Not in jail.

Erich, how big is that overall?

__________________
James L. "Jim" Rhiner

6.7" OAL. Mine came in a box, not a blister pack, but I know they are also sold that way.

__________________
Now go make God proud...