Overview & First Impressions
A kestrel is a small falcon that hovers before it drops, and the Tercel is named for it, which tells you most of what you need to know about the intent. This is a field knife that happens to fold: 126 grams, a stonewashed CPM-S35VN blade, a titanium frame lock, and a handle shaped to be gripped hard with cold hands. It is not a tactical folder and it is not a gentleman's knife. It is the one you take when the day involves blood, mud or rope.
Materials & Construction
CPM-S35VN with a heavy stonewash is the right choice for field work, because a stonewash is the finish that looks better after it has been dropped on gravel. S35VN brings good edge retention with enough toughness to survive contact with bone, and it resists corrosion well enough for a wet morning. The titanium handle is contoured rather than slab sided, with a frame lock that engages early and a ceramic bearing pivot that keeps working when it is gritty.
Design & Details
The blade is a broad drop point with a lot of belly and a spine that thickens toward the tip, so it can be used for light scraping without folding the edge. The handle has a pronounced forward finger groove, a palm swell, and a slight hook at the butt that stops your hand sliding back during a pull cut. Jimping on the spine is coarse, which is what you want with gloves or wet fingers. The clip is sturdy rather than deep carry.
Real-World Use
Field dressing, camp kitchen, cutting cord and kindling, opening feed bags, trimming branches to clear a trail. The belly rocks through a joint and the coarse jimping holds under blood or rain. It is a folding knife, so it is not a replacement for a fixed blade when you are putting real lateral load on the edge, but for everything short of batoning it is more capable than its 4.4 ounce weight suggests.
Ownership Notes
Field knives get cleaned with whatever is available, which is how pivots die. Rinse the blade, dry it, and blow the grit out of the pivot before you fold it away. Grease the lock face lightly, because a titanium lock that runs dry will gall and develop play. S35VN will take a coarse working edge off a diamond rod in the field and a fine edge at home. A short cord with a lanyard bead helps you find the knife in a pack pocket. Field knives that fold are always a compromise, and anyone who has carried folding knives through a wet season will recognise the Tercel as the compromise that mostly works.
Who Is This For?
Buy it if you hunt, hike, fish, or work outdoors and you want one folding knife that will take a bad day without complaint. It suits the person who already owns a fixed blade and wants something for the walk in. Skip it if you carry a knife in an office, if you want something light and discreet, or if you need a stainless handle for salt water.
Final Verdict
The Tercel is a working knife with no vanity about it. S35VN, titanium, a grip designed for a wet hand, and a blade shape that does real work. It is the sort of knife Bestech knives built their name on before the designer collaborations, and it is still the sort of knife most people should own. EdcMall stocks both BT1708 variants.
