Monday Morning Carry: ZT 0220 Flipper

Today on Your Monday Morning Carry we're not going to look at a full loadout, we're going to take a closer look at a particular example of an EDC tool — the (should-b) ubiquitous knife. Specifically, the Zero Tolerance ZT 0220 folding knife we were sent as part of the Trails Found project with the Grasky Tracking School. (#trailsfound16). The coffee cup you see above is one that came home from the King Abdullah Special Operations Training Center a couple years back.

We've been using the ZT 0220 for a few months now and it has yet to disappoint. The 0220 is a folding flipper, and is the first collaboration between ZT and Danish knife and toolmaker Jens Ansø (Ansø Knives, on IG as @ansoknives). Ansø describes his initial work with Zero Tolerance (on IG, @ZTknives) as a “huge challenge”. He says it was a very important personal goal, and something he'd worked toward for years.

The ZT 0220 sports a slightly recurved drop-point blade of S35VN stainless, built with additional niobium and vanadium carbides chosen to “…enable a razor-sharp edge and enhance edge retention.” In ZT's product description they advise that the 0220's powdered metallurgy steel is “…tough, wear resist and resists chipping.” Our use thus far indicates this is a righteous claim, at least within the confines of reasonable everyday use. How it would withstand stupid or in extremis employment remains to be seen.

Our sample arrived at RECOIL HQ with a pretty determined detent, making it initially very difficult to open, but after a few flips to break it in there were no further problems. To be clear, this wasn't a case of too much flipper horsepower; there was no need to adjust the pivot screw or alter anything internally, but it was sufficiently striking to mention. We prefer a knife built with those sort of tolerances anyway, as opposed to one that's as loose and easy as…well, you know. One that's loose and easy.

The one thing we have yet to do is manipulate the pocket clip (tip up right or left only). We cannot (yet) tell you how simple it is to move, whether it backs off at all once tightened down or anything like that. Perhaps in a follow-up on down the road. Really our only complaint, such as it is, is the lack of a thumb rise or jimping on the spine. There are few times we'd prefer a smooth-backed folder over one with something that allows solid purchase with the thumb.

Aesthetically, we like the 0220, perhaps not quite as much as the 0456 (q.v.), but that's a matter of taste, and it's all relative anyway. The 0220 is a gorgeous knife we're proud to carry. Although there are apparently some who do not care for the oval ZT logo medallion, we like it just fine, and actually prefer the unusual orange lanyard attachment and aluminum backspacer. It's not as overt as a reflective PT belt, adds a splash of color, and makes it stand out against piles of other stuff in black, gray, FDE, and green.

The ZT 0220 MSRP is $285, but you can find them on other outlets (including Amazon) for much less. We've seen them go for under $200, which in our mind is a more than reasonable price for a folder of this quality.

Find more about the ZT 0220 on the Zero Tolerance website.

ZT 0220 Specs

• Made in the USA
• KVT ball-bearing opening system
• Flipper
• Reversible deep-carry clip (left/right, tip-up)
• Titanium frame lock, hardened steel lockbar insert
• Custom aluminum backspacer with built-in lanyard attachment
• Steel: S35VN, stonewashed finish
• Handle: Titanium, bead blast finish
• Blade length: 3.5 in. (8.9 cm)
• Closed length: 4.9 in. (12.4 cm)
• Overall length: 8.4 in. (21.3 cm)
• Weight: 6.2 oz. (175.8 g)

You an hear from the designer here:

Blade HQ did an overview earlier in the year, if you're interested.

Knife and Blade Know-How

Mankind has been using knives since first he figured out the advantages of a sharp rock. Since then we've seen them built and used in countless styles and ways, from knapped flint to baselards to the Fairbairn-Sykes dagger. Knives and blades come in all different shapes, sizes, and configurations, each one intended to address a different need. Scalpels are different than straight-razors are different than fighting knives, etc., and each “category” (an anemic term, to be sure) is further divided countless times. Karambit fighting knives, for instance, are substantially different than balisongs, which themselves a far removed in look, construction, appearance and use than kukris. There are chisel grind blades and flat grind blades, folders that are flippers, folders that are auto-openers, fixed blades designed to stab, fixed blades designed to slash, fixed blades designed to carve…

To learn more about the design and construction of knives, read Knife Steel – Edgy Stuff right here, or take a look at the Know Your Knife guide here. Our sister publication OFFGRIDweb.com often runs articles about, or pertaining to, edged tools (those are collected here). You might also be interested in a series called Monday Night Knife Fights. The articles in that series can be found online here.

Your Monday Morning Carry — (E)DC

Lots of people like to show off their Every Day Carry. Usually these folks can be numbered among the gearcurious. Other times they're more metrotactical than gearcurious and at least a few people are both.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Whether it's a legitimate interest in good gear, a morbid fascination with the overachievers who claim to be carrying three times as much as they actually do or a harmless expression of narcissism, EDC pictures and discussions are now a intrinsic part of the tactical/firearm community.

If you have suggestions or questions for us, send us an e-mail, RECOIL(at)enthusiastnetwork.com. We'd like to see your Monday Morning Carry, if you're amenable to sharing.

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