EDC Knives

Shirogorov Ne0n Review

I spend a lot of time imagining what it must be like to create a masterpiece. Putting the final brushstroke on Monet’s Water Lilies or for John Frusciante to idly strum the opening chords to Can’t Stop for the very first time. What must be to be involved in the creation of something truly great. That must be something like how Sergey and Igor Shirogorov felt when the Ne0n was designed. It’s rare for me to be such a fan of a knife, this came together in a perfect storm of materials and lines to make something that I truly enjoy putting in my pocket. Although to spoil the ending, it does have one major flaw and that is cost. This is an expensive knife, but in my eyes, I find it well worth the ask.

Buy the Shirogorov Ne0n at BladeHQ

The Shirogorov lineup is a confusing one. They make many different models that seem almost identical to someone that isn’t familiar with their collection. The Neon is one of Shiro’s smaller pieces, the “Zero” or Ne0n has some additional features that earn it this moniker. We’ll get into the specifics here shortly, but suffice to say that I think this is one of the pocket friendliest high-end EDC knives available that isn’t made in Boise.

All Measurements are my measurements and may differ from manufacturers specifications.

Blade: 3.25”
Overall Length: 7.75”
Thickness: .53” with the clip
Blade Thickness: .13”
Steel: M390
Weight: 3oz
Lock: Titanium Framelock with Steel Lockbar Insert

Blade Details

I’ve had two different folks refer to the blade on the Neon as different shapes. It’s a coin toss between a traditional drop point or a subtle reverse tanto. I’m on team drop point, as the spine of the blade DROPS to the point but I’m not going to fight about it. The finish that Shirogorov has used is a really fine, matte stonewash on the blade. This finish is perfect, in my opinion. It catches the light nicely, doesn’t show tape stickies when you’re opening packages or breaking down boxes, and hides any machining marks from manufacturing.

In practice, this knife is a pure laser beam. It moves through paper like it’s not there. It’ll cleanly quarter up an apple to go with your turkey sammy. Cardboard holds no power against the mighty Zero. This is largely due to the thin blade stock and perfectly executed flat grind. Speaking of the grind, it’s pretty remarkable. The plunge lines on either side are perfectly executed and matched. I’m certain that Shirogorov is grinding these, at least mostly, with some sort of CNC machine, but the angle and precision are unusual (and good to see). Just like the plunge, there is a thin swedge that runs the length of the blade until you reach the negative angle near the tip. It’s a very sharp swedge that’s perfectly symmetrical the whole length of the blade.

So, steel… Shirogorov generally makes good steel decisions, in my opinion. They continued that trend with the Ne0n here when they picked M390. M390 is the same (or at least similar enough) to 20CV or CTS-204P. It’s stainless steel that is known for its good edge retention. I’m not one for cut tests or any other of exhibitive “sharpness testing,” let’s just say that I’ve pretty much carried this knife exclusively for a month or so, using it for everything I’d use a knife on, and it’s still SCARY sharp.

Handle, Ergonomics, and Pocket Clip

Let’s go over the handle finish first. It’s a dark tumbled finish. I’m not going to pretend that I know how they achieved the finish that they did, but it appears to be a “smoother” tumbled finish than I’ve seen – it will, however, repel wear well. I want to point one element of criticism that I’ve heard: I’ve heard people comment on the coarseness of the handle finish. By this I mean you can see some of the tumble marks from the media. This isn’t a problem or even unattractive in my eyes; tumbling after all is just a collection of repetitive scratching. I just wanted to comment on it.

Ergonomically, the Ne0n is just so great. I wear a large glove and this knife sits perfectly in my hand. The handle tapers right behind the pivot then flares back out as it moves into your hand. The edges are all either radiused or chamfered, there are no sharp edges on this handle. It’s super comfy.

The Ne0n’s pocket clip is really interesting. It’s milled from titanium and built using a hidden screw construction. It works great, if you turn and look at the bit that contacts the knife scale you’ll notice that it doesn’t touch the lock bar at all. So provided that you keep your fingers on the clip when deploying you won’t run into any “failures to launch,” due to lock bar pressure.

To round this section out I wanted to touch on a couple of key features that Shirogorov incorporated into this knife. If you look inside of the handle you can see that there is a channel milled out of the backspacer to accommodate the blade. The blade is slightly longer than the handle scales themselves, so the tip and edge sit inside the backspacer. Next, I wanted to point out the milled relief near the flipper tab, this allows you to get a solid press when you’re opening the knife. I think this particular detail adds to this knife’s excellent action.

The lanyard attachment point is equally cool to see. There’s a milled relief towards the rear of the handle that opens up the area around the backspacer to allow for a paracord lanyard to pass through the loop on the backspacer itself. This shows an extra level of detail simply due to the fact that what Shirogorov could have done is allow the backspacer to extend past the scales, but instead of increasing the overall profile of the knife, Shirogorov came up with this clever solution. I can only guess that this along with some of the other elements they’ve folded into this knife increased the cost of production, but it shows the quality of their design. At least that’s my opinion.

Deployment and Lock

The lock on the Shirogorov Neon is a pretty straightforward frame lock with a steel insert. It’s nice to see a steel insert included on this knife, it should prevent any undo lock wear and extend the lifetime of that framelock.

The real special sauce on this knife, however, is the MRBS employed. MRBS stands for Multi-Row Bearing System, the name pretty much describes what this is but I also think a picture on Bladeforums is worth a thousand words. There’s a lot of debate out there as to whether the MRBS is really better than a Single-Row Bearing System (SRBS). I’m not sure how you could actually “prove” that this system is better. In my mind having more bearings would mean that there is a larger bearing surface for the blade to move on, that seems positive. Based on my experience, the knife is incredibly smooth and fires like a rocket, for these reasons MRBS gets a solid thumbs up from me.

Shirogorov Ne0n Review – Final Thoughts

To conclude I don’t think I have hidden my opinion on the Shirogorov Neon Zero at all. I love this knife. It’s well made, capable, and looks extremely cool. If there was any critical flaw it’s simply that this is an expensive knife. They weigh in at $715, this puts them into the realm of a decent custom build or other high-end production brands like Rockstead. Is it worth it? Well, that’s going to be an individual determination. I feel like it is. Between the quality of manufacture and attention to detail, I can see the money in it. As with all things, your mileage may vary.

Shirogorov F3
From: BladeHQ

Occasionally Shirogorov knives find their way to BladeHQ, and I recommend purchasing them there. They aren’t available on Amazon.

Civivi Mckenna Review

by Clayton Walker 2 Comments

Ever been accused of going about something bass-ackwards? Behold the Civivi Mckenna: one of the new breed of “front flippers” that has quietly been developing a following of… well, I wouldn’t say devotees, but definitely a contingent of pleasantly bemused knife flippers who will always give a quirky design a day in court.

Buy the Civivi Mckenna at BladeHQ
Buy on Amazon

If you’re not familiar with Civivi, it’s a brand extension of the We Knife Company, a Chinese firm founded back in 2000 with a mission of competing on the same quality level with American knife stalwarts like Spyderco and Benchmade (instead of, say, the kind of knives you’d find at a gas station). Civivi specializes in striking a balance of fit, finish, and respectable materials with the intent of higher-volume production.

Note that most people describe Civivi as the “budget” wing of We Knife. I think that’s stretching it a bit, as a shipped price of about seventy bucks here isn’t really “budget” in my book. It’s also questionable to use that term given that this wouldn’t really be anyone’s choice for a rough-and-tumble, tackle the weekend chore list, bet your life on it if you had to kind of knife. The Mckenna is an indulgence through and through, but that’s hardly a bad thing.

General Dimensions and Blade Details

The Mckenna is an Elijah Isham design. If you’re not familiar with his work, it exists in a continuum ranging from angular to extremely angular. Isham’s Arrakis design for We Knife looks essentially like the kind of knife you’d find in the medical wing of a UFO. His Eschaton (also for We Knife) looks like a bunch of scalpel blades fused together to make a larger knife. I think they’re neat, but they’re not for everyone.

You can find that design lineage here on the Mckenna if you go looking for it, but thankfully Isham has dialed it back. The Mckenna has an intriguing combination of curves and geometric lines, and when deployed the knife has an subtle, angular “S” shape that’s somewhat reminiscent of a lightning bolt.

First and foremost: the Mckenna is not a large knife by any stretch of the imagination. At just under 3 and 7/8” closed and about four tenths of an inch wide, the knife edges pretty close to “pack of gum” sizing. This will absolutely disappear in a pocket and you’ll be hard-pressed to notice the length, but size-wise it may feel more toy than tool.

The near 3” knife blade can best be described somewhere between a wharncliffe, sheepsfoot, and a reverse tanto. Functionally, I think it’s more wharncliffe than anything, with the spine of the blade breaking at a sharper arc in the last inch or so to meet the tip of a mostly straight blade. There is just a very, very small amount of upswell from the sharpening choil to the end of the blade. Put all of these qualities together, and you get a little more tip strength than you might with a typical wharncliffe, but tends to be a better poker than a traditional sheepsfoot.

Like a lot of Civivi knives over the $50 price point, the blade steel is D2. This is a nice upgrade over the typical 8Cr13MoV / AUS 8 normally used within this quality tier thanks to better edge retention, but it does come with the drawbacks of being harder to sharpen and having a little more tendency to rust. Those in wetter and more humid climates might want to keep a bottle of gun or knife oil handy and reapply it every now and again.

As it came from the factory, the blade sharpness was only middling. However, about ten minutes on a Work Sharp Angle Set sharpener and the knife had a razor edge that was surprisingly resilient. The spine of the blade is only about a tenth of an inch wide, which means that the Mckenna is a great slicer. With a pinch grip allowing the index finger to sit halfway up the spine of the blade, the knife allows for extremely precise cuts and excels at scoring. Anyone looking for a classier replacement for an X-acto knife would be well served with this knife.

Handle, Ergonomics, and Pocket Clip

The Mckenna features G10 construction with stainless steel liners. This surprised me; from handling alone I would have sworn it was nylon. This is all to say that the G10 on the Mckenna is not going to be as grippy as you’re probably used to, but it’s well-textured and not slippery by any means. There’s about a quarter inch of jimping on the top and rear of the flipper that allows for a good purchase, and the liner lock is nicely scalloped and only slightly proud of the scales. No complaints here. This isn’t a knife you’re going to need to bear down on.

The pocket clip is fine, if underwhelming. The Mckenna has a provision for left or right tip-up carry, but no holes are drilled near the pivot of the knife. That makes tip-down carry is a no-go if that’s your preference. The clip is not deep carry, but there’s only about a half-inch triangle of handle that protrudes from the pocket.

Frankly, I ditched my clip. The detent is strong enough to give me confidence that the blade will stay closed in a pocket, and the small dimensions ensure that I’m not going to be constantly preoccupied about how this sits loose. Additionally, the action of the knife seems to work best pressed flat between the meat of the thumb and tips of the fingers. For that reason, nixing the pocket clip gives me a substantial real estate upgrade when it comes to getting a comfortable purchase.

Onward to what I’d say is the clearest flaw of the knife (or at least in my hands and given the usage I subject it to): the hot spots. The top rear corners of the Mckenna meet at a near 90-degree angle and aren’t particularly rounded. Given the small dimensions of the knife, almost invariably those corners are going to rub against the tenderest part of the palm along the center-line of the hand during use. Note that this isn’t a dealbreaker by any means, but given the knife’s positioning as being a fidget-friendly knife par excellence, these corners become all the more conspicuous.

Deployment and Lockup

If the ergos and size were a bit of a downside, we’re getting to the “good news” part of the review. As expected, the Mckenna is a whole lot of goofy, stupid fun to play with.

If you’ve never used a front flipper, you basically want to cradle the thing in your hand like a bic lighter, only imagine that you’re flicking the exposed nub backwards as opposed to downwards. With a quick snap of the thumb, you should be able to get your digit out of the path of the blade’s spine, and momentum will carry the blade into full lockup. It is weird, but gratifying.

Hard-nosed, serious business types will ask, “Is there any benefit to this over a tried-and-true flipper tab, or a good thumb stud?” The answer to this is an unqualified “no.” Front flippers, in my opinion, are attempting to reinvent the wheel. In direct comparison to deployment methods that are now the industry standard, I don’t envision any serious context where they become a superior choice.

But is it fun? Oh, you betcha. There’s certainly a learning curve to the front flipping function, and even though I think I’ve gotten the hang of it there’s still a 5% chance I screw something up. However, the knife is just as easily deployed using what I’d call a “three point turn” approach, where you use the thumb to present the blade 90 degrees to the handle, then push down on the jimping on the flipper with the index finger to reach full lock-up. This is also a good deployment method if you’re not looking to spook your co-workers.

The pivot is running on stainless bearings and everything clicks open and shut with quiet authority. Build quality is excellent here: the blade is nicely centered, there’s no squeaking or rattling, and the liner finds the center of the blade with the measliest amount of pressure. There are no hitches in the action, and the blade moves smoothly and evenly. It is extremely, extremely satisfying to work.

Civivi Mckenna Review – Final Thoughts

As a knife, the Civivi Mckenna is a lot like a good bottle of scotch: hardly essential, pricey enough that it’s outside the realm of an impulse purchase, but a great way to treat yourself if you’re feeling a little indulgent.

Again, I don’t think front flippers are going to become a new paradigm in the world of knives anytime soon. Pair that action with the small size, and the Mckenna feels even more like a novelty. But in the same breath: let’s be honest with ourselves: 95% of people could buy a Benchmade Griptilian or Spyderco Paramilitary 2 and not need to own another knife for the rest of their lives. Considering you’re spending your free time reading a review on a knife website, that probably doesn’t describe you.

Civivi Knives McKenna Folding Knife - Small Pocket Knife with Satin Blade -One Hand Open Knife for Everyday Outdoor Carry - C905C(Black)

✅【Designed by Elijah Isham and Precision Engineered by We Knife】Folding knife with unique shape features a razor sharp well-built centered D2 2.92” blade,smooth action and nice edge retention pocket knife
✅【Slim Build and Solid G-10Handle】Knife with G10 scales make this folding hunting knife comfortable enough that brings you a nice camping and outdoor knife used experience
✅【Lightweight Carry Knife】Weight 1.76oz with ease carry in your pocket,ideal knife for men and women,a pocket clip for easy and safe carry
✅【Always Ready Utility Knife】Ball bearing pivot offers quick blade deployment, knife art to your collection or as a gift to husband,dad or friends
✅【Civivi Care】Civivi is a subset brand of We Knife Co.,Ltd,limited lifetime warranty covers any defects in materials or workmanship, see official site for details

Editor: I recommend purchasing the Civivi Mckenna at BladeHQ or Amazon. Thank you for reading.

Also, please join me in welcoming Clayton Walker to the website. Clayton some good stuff in the pipeline so stay tuned for more from him.

Protech Newport Review

by Aaron Shapiro Leave a Comment

Pro-Tech isn’t always the first brand that comes to mind when knife collectors start talking about automatic knives. We often default to Microtech or perhaps Kershaw. This makes sense, both of these brands have a large market share in the industry. They also possess a large social media presence and are very conspicuous at the tradeshows.

Buy the Microtech Dirac at BladeHQ

However, I think any true knife enthusiast would be sorely remiss to not spend some time looking at Pro-Tech. I’ve owned several knives from Protech over the years, they are one of the few swing-blade automatic manufacturers that make lefty dedicated versions of their knives. (Note to knife brands: I’ll literally throw money at you if you make lefty dedicated versions of your knives. I always support lefty manufacturers.)

Pro-Tech is a US-based knife company based out of Southern California. Their knives are all made in small runs in order to give the company the time to put human hands on each knife going out of their doors. They have done some great collaborations with Strider, Emerson, and Les George to name a few. They primarily focus on automatics but do have several “normal opening” knives in their catalog. Protech is also known for its (with a grain of sand) custom knives. These generally take the form of an existing production model made with premium materials. Check out this custom they made for Nick Shabazz a couple of years back.

The ProTech Newport is what’s up for discussion today, let’s touch on some specs:

(All Measurements are my personal measurements and may differ from manufacturers specs)

Blade: 2.75”
Overall Length: 7”
Thickness: .62” with the clip
Blade Thickness: .1”
Steel: S35VN
Weight: 2.2oz
Lock: Button Lock Automatic

Blade Steel

First things first, the business end of any knife is the blade. The Protech Newport has a very aggressive drop point blade made out of thin S35VN. When considering this particular knife I think it’s important to keep in mind the intended use-case here. This is a gentleman’s folder, not a hard use EDC blade. You want this knife to be ground thin and constantly sharp so that it’ll sing through the envelopes on your desk; that is what Protech has achieved here. With my calipers I’m seeing a blade stock that’s just under a tenth of an inch thick. Once ground down to the edge this knife becomes a lightsaber. My secret plan is to see if I can get this blade reground even thinner, to a zero-edge after the review. I like my knives to scare me by simply existing.

The steel Protech chose for the Newport is Crucible legendary S35VN. There has been plenty written about S35VN over the years. Suffice to say that this is a good choice for a knife like this. It retains an edge well, resists rust and corrosion, and is easy to sharpen when needed.

Handle, Ergonomics, and Pocket Clip

The handle of the Newport is where it makes its intended purpose known. The slabs are made of anodized aluminum. The anodization has a “satin-y” texture to it providing the only grip surfaces on the knife. This just confirms in my mind that this is a more, “desk knife” than something you’d put into a hard use or tactical application. You’re going to open letters and packages with this knife.

Ergonomically the Newport sits well in hand. Protech has added a small palm swell in the handle that sits between my ring and pinky finger. This gives you a little bit more purchase on the knife when you’re working with it. The one thing to take into consideration is the size of the knife in general, I wear an L size glove and my hand occupies the entire handle. This combined with the lack of gimping would make me think twice about using this knife for any type of aggressive piercing tasks. I’d hate to run my hand onto that blade. As I said above, however; I think you’ll most likely be grabbing this knife for some pretty small jobs, so I wouldn’t sweat that too much.

The clip is excellent. It’s a deep carry clip with the fold terminating at the very end of the handle. What that means for you is the entire body the knife will sit inside your pocket. The Newport, being slim in profile already, is a good candidate for this. Plus, with it being an auto you may not want to draw attention to the knife in your pocket.

Speaking of which, here’s a shot of the Newport in the pocket:

Deployment and Lockup

The Newport is a traditional swing blade automatic. Protech describes it as having a “smooth and fast coil spring action.” To translate this, the knife fires hard and fast. You’ll want to brace your fingers against the clip and nestle the end of the handle into your palm when you activate it otherwise you may send this sucker flying. It kicks like a tiny little mule. This is a good thing, and it’s a ton of fun to play with, but when you hand the knife to your bud just make sure he knows what’s coming too.

Using the lock is simple: Press the button and close the blade. You’ll be pushing against the spring that fires the knife, so I always use two hands to close this one. The knife is solid in the open and closed position though, no play to be hand in the mechanism.

Competitive Options

There are a couple of other options that come to mind if maybe the Newport doesn’t tickle your fancy:

The first one that I can think of is the Boker Kalashnikov. More of a heavy-duty knife with the Boker’s spear point blade. MUCH cheaper, but with that costs savings will come quality differences.

Next, you might consider Kershaw Launch 1. It’s a little larger, a tiny bit cheaper, and totally different styling. Kershaw doesn’t make a dedicated lefty version but it does have a reversible clip. You’ll still have black aluminum handles and a push-button lock. This could be a good option for you.

The last option that pops into my head is the Hogue Knives EX-AO1. These knives are a little bigger overall but roughly the same price as the Newport. You may just want something that fills your hand better and Hogue makes an excellent auto.

Protech Newport Review – Final Thoughts

So to wrap up… I love Protech’s offerings, they are a US company that does all their small-batch manufacturing in southern California. Their knives are quality and have their own style to them that’s undeniably Protech. The Newport specifically fits the bill for a “gentleman’s auto,” or a “light duty desk knife” for me. It’s also an EXCELLENT fidget toy when I’m working at my desk. If you keep the intended use of a knife like this in mind I don’t think you’ll be displeased with the Newport.

The Protech Newport is available in several different handle configurations, coated and uncoated blades, and a couple of really premium options that involve inlays. You should be able to find something that suits your taste in their catalog.

Pro-Tech Newport – From $164.95
From: BladeHQ

Editor: I recommend purchasing the Protech Newport at BladeHQ. Thank you for reading.

Gerber Ayako Review

by Travis Pike 2 Comments

I’m a sucker for cool-looking knives. Not impractical fantasy knives, but practical knives that have a cool look to them. That’s why knives like the Gerber Flatiron and now the Ayako. I’m a sucker for budget-friendly knives that have a unique style and grace to them. The Ayako, as the name implies, has a Japanese styling to it. Not to sound like a weeb, but the katana like inspiration makes this an eye-catching knife.

Buy the Gerber Tri Tip at BladeHQ
Buy on Amazon

The swept-back blade with a forward-positioned belly makes this look like some form of mini katana. Call it the influence of Ghosts of Tsushima, but I really dig the vibe of the Ayako, and that’s what caught my eye at my local Academy Sports and Outdoors. I’ve been carrying the 30ish dollar knife for about two weeks now, and while it won’t be my main go-to for an EDC knife, I appreciate a budget-friendly option.

It’s easy to get lost in the snobbery when you carry a Hoback or a Micro-Tech. Budget-friendly blades have a rightful place and are the most bought blades, so they deserve some love when they can deliver performance above their price tag.

General Dimensions and Blade Details

The Ayako has a 3.5-inch long blade with a 3.625-inch cutting edge. That rounded edge near the tip of the blade gives you a little more cutting edge than the blade’s length offers. The handle is 4.625 inches long, and the blade has an overall length of 8.1 inches. The Ayako weighs 3.8 ounces, so it’s relatively light and comfortable for daily carry.

The blade seems to be half tanto half sheep’s foot tip. It’s not exceptionally pointy like a tanto, but it’s not as tip reduced as a sheep‘s foot. The belly like area near the tip of the blade gives good traction if you want to go deep on your initial cut. For a sword, that’s probably a great trait when you have to fight a Khan invader. On a knife, it allows me to cut through tomatoes quite quickly and dig into thick materials efficiently.

The slightly swept-back blade is only slightly curved and seems to follow the tip into deep cuts rather well. The blade is made from the pain in the butt to type 7Cr17MoV stainless steel. 7Cr is a Chinese made stainless steel that is relatively cheap.

The corrosion resistance is high, which is excellent, and as stainless steel, this is one of the more defining features of 7Cr. 7Cr is also an easy to sharpen steel, and that’s important because you’ll be sharpening it a fair bit as the edge dulls quickly. In my two weeks or so of use, it hasn’t be pressed into hard service by any means. I’ve cut up a lot of cardboard as I disposed of a ton of Amazon boxes during the Christmas rush and put it towards most of my daily knife tasks.

Gerber barely seems to sharpen it before it heads out the door, and it seems to dull rather quickly. It’s low-end steel, but I’ve had low-end steels hold a better edge than this. The edge itself can get decently sharp with a whetstone. Sharp enough to slice and dice cardboard, zip ties, chicken, tomatoes, and even an onion or two with relative ease. It hangs up a bit with cardboard but will still make it through when pressed.

I wish it had more to the tip, especially when cutting the zip ties that held the portions of a bike in a box. It worked, eventually, but more of a point would help with basic tasks.

Handle, Ergonomics, and Carry

One side of the handle is an aluminum scale, and the other is a stainless steel scale. Both are checkered and marked, but it’s not overt checkering. It’s subdued and likely wouldn’t cling tight to your hand under stress. The knife has never slipped in my grip, but the checkering is nowhere near what something like G10 offers. You can grip it tight and still pull it out of your hand with little resistance.

The handle is plenty comfortable, and it does allow you to cling to it without much discomfort. The grip is nice and long and seems to fit my big hands well. It’s thin but functional and comfortable. The shape is well done and allows for intuitive blade manipulation.

The grip is thin, and my main complaint about it would be the pocket clip location. It’s a big clip on a svelte design. I almost wish the knife didn’t have a pocket clip; it feels like it ruins the smooth lines of the grip.

You can remove the pocket clip, but you can’t move its location. You are stuck with the blade in a tip-down carry position with the clip on the right-hand side of the knife. It clings tightly to your pocket though and doesn’t budge when you move.

Deployment and Lockup

The Ayako has two means to deploy the blade. The first is via a flipper that extends past the body of the blade and is part of the blade. The second is a thumb hole in the blade. Neither is a means to quickly deploy the blade. The flipper allows for one-handed manipulations, but it’s not going to fly out in a hurry and takes a deliberate motion to deploy the blade.

The thumb hole is nearly useless and very small when the blade is closed. It’s such a small little slot that my monkey fingers have a hard time reaching into it and using it. If my nails are trimmed, it’s useless.

Once deployed, the stainless steel liner lock seems to do a good job of pinning the blade open. The liner lock is part of the rear grip scale, so your own grip keeps the blade pinned open. Once the liner lock is engaged, the Ayako’s blade is locked in place and seemingly won’t move or budge even a bit. A cut in the front grip scale makes it easy to depress the liner lock and close the blade with ease.

Gerber Ayako Review – Final Thoughts

The Ayako is a little bit more than a pretty face. It’s a decent little EDC knife. The solid lockup and decent blade design make it well suited for EDC tasks. If the knife was more expensive, I’d be more critical of the 7Cr steel and how fast it dulls. Knives like the Flatiron are about the same price but featured a much worse grind than the Ayako.

The Ayako is a solid little knife for the money. It won’t win any awards, and it’s not exceptional in any way. The most redeeming qualities are its price and attractive appearance. Behind the pretty face is a knife that cuts and claws as it should, but it doesn’t do much else. I don’t regret my purchase, but I’m betting the Ayako is a knife I put in my knife box for a long stay or eventually give away. Speaking of, with Christmas around the corner, its a great budget based gift, especially for a young man or woman in need of a knife they can abuse, break or lose.

Gerber Gear Ayako Pocket Knife, Fine Edge EDC Folding Knife with 3.5 inch Blade, Silver [31-003729]

The Ayako pocket knife is modern take on a classic Japanese designed friction folder EDC
The knife features dual deployment options: a nail nick hole, as well as an extended tang front flip
Featuring a fully fine edge 3.5 Inch, Japanese style tanto blade of 7Cr17MoV
Frame Lock for easy one-hand closing
Handle scales of coined aluminum, and stainless steel with Frame Lock for easy one-hand closing

Editor: I recommend purchasing the Gerber Ayako at BladeHQ or Amazon. Thank you for reading.

We Knife Co. Mini Buster Review

by John Burridge Leave a Comment

Snecx! If you haven’t heard of him yet, Snecx Tan is a Malaysian knife and tool maker who is, in my opinion, currently the most mechanically innovative knife designer in the world. His Instagram profile says “Just a hobbyist working on knives. Not a knifemaker.” That’s a bit of an understatement for someone who recently held an auction on Instagram for the one-of-a-kind prototype of his upcoming “Vision S” knife. It sold for $18,900.00 USD. That’s a pretty well-funded hobby.

Buy the Mini Buster at BladeHQ or GP Knives

There are a lot of knife enthusiasts like myself who have been eager to get our hands on a reasonably priced Snecx knife, and WE Knife Co. has delivered with the Mini Buster, which goes for $289. I’ve been using it every day for the last month, and here’s what I’ve learned: it’s a nearly perfect large-ish EDC knife with one major design flaw.

General Dimensions and Blade Details

The Mini Buster is 4.5” (115 mm) closed, 7.8” (198 mm) open, and has a 3.4” (86 mm) blade made of CPM-20CV steel. The blade stock is 4 mm thick at its widest point, and the handle is about half an inch thick (13 mm) not counting the clip, which adds another 4.5 mm. So it’s no slim little Brad Zinker disappear-in-your-pocket folder, but it’s also no Cold Steel supersized monster knife either.

The blade is a very slightly curved sheepsfoot style, which I consider to be the ideal do-everything EDC blade shape. Its tip is pointy enough to pierce tough materials, and the blade is wide enough to use as a butter knife. I prefer the ergonomics of a
sheepsfoot (or wharncliffe) blade over a traditional drop point blade because, when holding the knife with my index finger on the spine of the blade to open a box, the low tip of the sheepsfoot blade keeps my wrist and arm at a more comfortable angle than when using a drop point blade.

The picture above illustrates how the Mini Buster’s sheepsfoot blade tip can cut while nearly parallel to a surface, while the drop point blade on the RealSteel Rokot needs to be at a much higher angle to utilize the tip of the blade.

The WE Mini Buster’s blade stock is Crucible CPM-20CV steel, which is a premium American-made blade steel with extremely high hardness and above-average toughness. To avoid taking an unnecessarily deep dive into metallurgy, I will just say the Mini Buster’s blade has excellent edge retention, but is more likely to chip than bend.

CPM-20CV is nearly identical to the European-made Bohler M390 steel, and these powdered-metallurgy “super steels” are THE go-to blade steels for high-end knives lately. In fact, of the 14 folding knife reviews BladeReviews.com has published so far in 2020, 35% of them had CPM-20CV or M390 blades. They’re great knife steels, and I’ve noticed that I need to sharpen my D2, CPM-154, and RWL34 knives more often than my harder steel M390 or 20CV knives.

Over the past month, I’ve been hacking away at everything in my vicinity that can be hacked at, including thick plastic packing straps, cardboard, annoying clamshell packaging, stray tangerine tree branches, and, when trying to cut a piece of baklava in half, I sliced up a metal catering pan. Despite all that, I have yet to scratch the blade’s black DLC coating or the handle’s anodizing. That’s quite impressive considering that I normally scratch my DLC coated steel blades and anodized titanium handles almost immediately.

The blade’s primary grind angle is known as a “flat” grind, which looks like a narrow symmetrical “V”.

In the kitchen, the blade’s uninterrupted “V” shape had no contours or additional angles to disrupt its slicing path through a bunch of tomatoes and cucumbers. As with nearly every folding knife, the Buster’s blade/handle configuration doesn’t allow food dicing without rapping my knuckles on the cutting board with every downstroke. Snecx tested the durability of his original Buster knife by slashing the tops off of green coconuts- I think the Mini Buster could handle that task, but it would definitely be easier with a non-Mini Buster…

I’m a pretty frugal guy, but I’m impulsive when it comes to my steel and/or gunpowder-related hobbies. It also usually takes me making the same mistake two or three times before I learn my lesson. For example, I’ve watched myself compulsively click the “buy” button on some limited-edition knives that I thought looked cool: a Dervish Knives Alchemy midtech ($395) and a Prometheus Design Werx/Strider Knives SMF “Frogskin” ($635). But my biggest impulse buy of all was in 2018 when I bought a Snecx/Jake Hoback Knives collaboration Buster ($775), which is the most I have ever spent (or ever will spend) on a knife.

Like my first marriage, I always knew I was making a mistake but went ahead with it anyway. I immediately regretted my decision- I didn’t really like them, I wanted to sell them (the marriage analogy definitely no longer applies from this point on), and so I never carried or even enjoyed them. I managed to sell the Dervish and the Strider at a loss, and I’ve tried to sell the Snecx/Hoback Buster twice with no takers. In early 2020 I saw one in the BladeHQ closeout section for $499. Maddening! I’m done with buying expensive knives.

A brief history of the Snecx/Jake Hoback Knives Buster: Snecx is indeed a knifemaker (despite his claims to the contrary) but is not a knife manufacturer, so in 2018 he launched two collaboration projects. The first was the Custom Knife Factory Terra, and the second was the Hoback Buster. According to what I’ve read on Snecx’s Instagram and Hoback’s website, Snecx’s core visual design was minimally modified, but a lot of details were changed, most notably the addition of a honeycomb pattern in the handle.

I definitely appreciate innovation and unique aesthetics, but (sorry Mr. Hoback!) I think it ended up looking like a mashup of two contrasting, not complimentary, design styles. Plus it’s huge. I give zero fucks about what the general public considers an “office-friendly” or non-scary looking knife, but the Hoback Buster is so big and heavy that it’s unwieldy.

I was surprised to see that the Hoback Buster isn’t much bigger or heavier than my Chris Reeve Knives Large Sebenza 21 (an expensive knife that I’ve never regretted buying) but in the hand, the Hoback Buster is a big manly beast knife. OK- out of the shame spiral and back to the review.

Handle, Ergonomics, and Pocket Clip

The Mini Buster feels great in use, even though I can’t quite get a full four-finger grip with my medium-large hands. The handle is long enough overall, but the upswept end of the bottom of the handle (see arrow in picture above) removes some finger gripping space. The pad of my pinky finger ends up on the handle screw near the lanyard loop, and that’s enough for me to achieve a secure grip with all four fingers.

When held in a regular grip with my thumb on the spine, my thumb naturally rests in a little indentation where the backspacer ends above the pivot, but I can also comfortably shift my thumb forward onto a section of jimping on the blade spine if I want more precise control of the blade.

The jimping ends in a stylish little dip for the tip of my thumb, which is one of four places (see arrows in picture above) on the Mini Buster where Snecx used this dip-in-a-straight(ish)-line design cue.

The Mini Buster also has a number of subtle angular details, which are definitely accentuated by the artificial edge wear of the “antique bronze” finish version I bought. There are almost no straight lines on this knife. There’s an almost subliminal curve to every part of the Mini Buster, including the blade, which has a very slight belly. Another interesting design choice on the WE Mini Buster is how the angular front tip of the handle crosses the plunge line of the blade. This is a carryover from the original Snecx Buster design.

According to Snecx, he allowed Jake Hoback to “fix” the handle angle and plunge line so they’re parallel. You can see this difference between the two knives in the picture above. But when WE Knife Co. did the same “fix” to an early Mini Buster prototype, Snecx made them retain his original Buster handle/plunge line design.

Deployment and Lockup

The Mini Buster is a framelock with a unique Snecx twist: the H.D.P.S. system. That stands for Hybrid Detent Pin System, and my admittedly limited understanding of it boils down to this: the shiny round steel pin on the lockbar (see picture below) acts as both the stop pin, which keeps the blade locked into its open position, and as the detent ball, which keeps the blade in place in its closed position.

I can’t be sure if this is a function of the HDPS system, but the Mini Buster does a far better job than most other knives of easily opening while there’s pressure on the detent. I can squeeze the lockbar section of the handle (the part attached to the aforementioned shiny round steel pin) pretty hard without hampering my ability to flip open the knife. Snecx, however, isn’t the only recent innovator on this front. Zero Tolerance Knives recently released the 0707 framelock, featuring their new Tuned Detent System, which is designed to address the same problem, but using a different mechanical approach. I watched a video review of the 0707, and although it does an admirable job of opening irregardless of pressure on the lockbar, it does not smoothly swing shut like the Mini Buster.

I only have one criticism of this knife, and this is the major design flaw I alluded to at the beginning of this review: the little tiny nubby flipper tab becomes completely inoperable if your finger is even slightly wet or slippery.

Why? The face of the flipper tab is completely smooth, without any machined texturing like most flipper-actuated knives have. That in itself isn’t necessarily a problem, but it’s also so small there’s barely any surface area for your fingertip, so a single drop of water will defeat any attempt to flip open this knife. In my wet and slippery kitchen and gardening adventures with this knife, I found that the only way to open the Mini Buster was to pinch the spine of the conveniently “V” shaped blade and manually pull it open.

Snecx is known to be an absolute perfectionist, so I don’t understand how there could be such an obvious problem like this. According to what I saw in Snecx’s Instagram posts about the WE Mini Buster, he seemed quite pleased with it, so my theory is this: the lack of flipper leverage (a conscious design choice) was deliberately compensated for by using a somewhat weak detent. The detent, which in this context is the wall of force that my index finger on the flipper tab must overcome to deploy the blade, isn’t quite strong enough to guarantee the knife completely opening every time. I suspect that the detent was made as strong as was possible given the limited leverage on the flipper tab. That’s not a huge deal, but it does require more concentration and effort to deploy the blade than is required for most knives in this price range. I’m probably overthinking all of this, but I have seen several other people mention their knives have a weak detent, so it’s possible I’m right.

Nonetheless, once the blade gets going, the ceramic ball bearings surrounding the pivot give it a smooth and easy action. It locks open with a confidence-inspiring snap, and in use it feels as solid as a fixed blade knife.

We Knife Co. Mini Buster Review – Final Thoughts

Even with it’s flipper design issues, I stand by my initial claim that this is a nearly perfect large-ish EDC knife. According to Snecx, it’s also his final framelock design. He’s moved on to his “Vision” knife, for which he has invented two new technologies: the Superlock locking system, and the Zero Flex Pivot. It became very obvious to me that Snecx was onto something special when heavy-hitter designers like Ostap Hel, Rotten Design, and Tashi Bharucha all publicly commented on the same Instagram post about Snecx’s Zero Flex Pivot. Tashi B’s comment just said “Perfection”. The Vision looks amazing, but that doesn’t matter to me at all, because as I said, I’m absolutely done with buying expensive knives.

UPDATE: I bought a $160 titanium COVID tool.

It’s a very limited edition (only 15 pieces) handmade by one of my favorite knife designers, Tashi Bharucha, in partnership with his frequent collaborator Thierry Savidan. It’s part of a series called “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly”. I bought “The Good” (pictured above), but did not get “The Bad”, which is the same design but with three knuckle spikes. Both versions came with a little COVID-19 shaped lanyard bead engraved with the words “THE UGLY”.

Like my Hoback Buster, it’s huge and expensive, especially compared to my $17 Civivi copper COVID tool also pictured. Unlike my Hoback Buster, however, I have NO regrets about buying this thing- it’s awesome and I smile every time I whip it out to open a door or punch in my PIN number.

Finally, the Hoback Buster that I’ve been whining about for the entire review is still for sale! Hit me up in the comments or on Instagram if you want to make this “As seen on BladeReviews.com” Hoback Buster all yours…

Thank you to Sara O’Neil for the use of her painting.

We Knives Mini Buster – From $272.00
From: BladeHQ

Editor: I recommend purchasing the We Knives Mini Buster at BladeHQ or GP Knives. Thank you very much.

Spyderco Rhino Review

by Grayson Parker 1 Comment

Expectations are a terrible thing to shake. As gear geeks, hopping onto the hype train is all too easy, especially because most of us are passionate about our hobbies. We see something cool – either the newest catalog or the latest teaser on Instagram – and start forming our own idea of what the end product will be like. All too often, those expectations proceed to get in the way of enjoying the product for it is.

Buy the Spyderco Rhino at BladeHQ
Buy on Amazon

Enter the Spyderco Rhino. When it was first teased (long enough ago that I can’t remember the date), it was slated to be a refreshing new entry to Spyderco’s line-up, sporting G10 scales, BD1 steel, and a compression lock in a reasonably sized package. What’s more, its original street price was going to fall right around $50.00. That was a hell of a steal at the time, and honestly would still be a great buy today, even with the recent price drops in premium steels.

Unfortunately, that version of the Rhino never made it beyond the trade show demonstration booth. Apparently that package was too much of an ask for the factory, and the project was put on hiatus. The next time we caught a glimpse of the Rhino, it was a radically different product: the steel was upgraded to CTS-XHP, the handle scales were upgraded to carbon fiber, and the street price was upgraded all the way up to $140.00.

That’s the point I lost interest in the Rhino. It had morphed from a product that would challenge the market to yet another overpriced and oddly designed Spyderco, destined to hang out in the inventories of cutlery purveyors across the world.

In the months that followed its debut, I started to see it pop up online. Folks that I follow on Instagram (whose taste I respect) started including the Rhino in their daily updates. After seeing it a few more times, my curiosity was once again piqued. That’s when I started to realize that on paper, it was still a good product: high-end steel, carbon fiber*, a great lock, and the perfect size for everyday chores. It didn’t take too much speculation along those lines before I picked one up. I’m glad I did, but you’ll need to read on to learn why.

General Dimensions and Blade Details

The Spyderco Rhino is considered part of the “little-big-knife” family, a design ethos that seeks to pack the maximum amount of cutting power into a compact package. Other standouts include the much-acclaimed Techno as well as the Dragonfly 2. Like its cousins, the dimensions of the Rhino aren’t great on paper. Its 2.37” blade is housed in a 3.57” handle, and the overall package weighs in at 2.27 oz. Taken together, neither the blade to handle or blade to weight ratio is very compelling. Much like its cousins, however, these numbers don’t speak to the whole truth.

My tastes are depressingly pedestrian when it comes to blade shapes. Give me a nice drop point or modified wharncliffe and I’ll be happy; give me more than one angle to worry about when resharpening and I won’t. The Rhino’s trailing point walks a very thin line between being interesting and being a hassle, and – in my case at least – the jury is still out. When grappling with a clamshell package, it’s great: the refined tip and thin grind make short work of that modern headache. When it comes to spreading peanut butter or condiments (essential picnic tasks, in my view), the trailing point is uniquely unqualified. If that isn’t a concern for you, there are few downsides to this blade shape. The exaggerated belly also means that the cutting edge is longer than the listed blade length.

As expected, the grind that the fine folks at Taichung put on the Rhino is impeccable. The stock starts at .118” thick and is brought down to a very keen edge by a full flat grind. Between the stock and grind, the Rhino makes for a very mean cutter, passing the apple test with ease. If there’s a complaint to be made, it’s that the satin finish is slightly tacky and seems to attract gunk. Regular cleaning and a bit of extra vigilance is probably required.

This is actually my first experience with Carpenter’s CTS-XHP steel. If rumors hold true, it was designed to have the upsides of D2 (great edge retention and toughness) while mitigating D2’s chief drawback (poor rust resistance). My experiences with the Rhino generally reflect that: the edge rarely needs touching up, and it’s warded off rust handily, ever after I inadvertently stored it with fruit juice on the blade. Unfortunately, most users report that it can be a pain to sharpen, so I’ve been proactive with my strop, and actual resharpening hasn’t been necessary.

Handle, Ergonomics, and Carry

Unfortunately, the handle breaks two of my cardinal rules when it comes to knives: avoid finger scallops and Spyderco’s carbon fiber/G10 composite scales. The former rule is rooted in ergonomics; the latter in priggish snobbery. My experience with the Rhino has made me reevaluate both – to an extent. The composite scales are reinforced by a skeletonized and recessed steel liner, and have endured everyday wear and tear without showing it. Moreover, they don’t have the glossy, too-light quality I’ve felt in other knives with carbon fiber scales.

The composite scales are well-suited to the role. There is enough texture that your fingers don’t slide around, but not the rough kind of texture you’d expect from Spyderco’s normal G10 treatment. Additionally, the edges and corners of the scales have been chamfered to the point that they are very nearly contoured. I’m very glad they went the extra mile in the finishing process; otherwise the Rhino would be an ergonomic flop, and that’s entirely due to the finger scallops. Apart from those problematic little curves, the Rhino is really quite good in the hand. The dip in the spine of the blade is a perfect place to put your thumb when you need more control, and the organic curve of the handle means that the Rhino can be gripped in a number of ways.

To be frank: finger scallops should be avoided as a rule. They force the user to hold the knife in a set grip, despite the fact that all of our muscular and skeletal structure varies wildly person to person. They do not actually improve our grip on a knife’s handle, according to hand surgeon and knifemaker Kyle Ver Steeg; in fact, by forcing our fingers farther apart, it weakens our grip instead. Finally, why on earth were finger scallops “necessary” on a knife this size? The Rhino isn’t going to be someone’s last ditch boot knife, or stowed in a bugout bag. It’s going to be toted around in some gear geek’s chinos, broken out to to open packages and trim loose threads. The Rhino’s saving grace is that the finger scallops have been chamfered to the point that I hardly notice them.

The Rhino is equipped with Spyderco’s classic spoon-shaped clip. It’s a classic design for a reason: it doesn’t cause ergonomic issues, it keeps the knife in the pocket without shredding your pants, and it’s only a little bit of a paint scraper.

Deployment and Lock-Up

At this point, there’s not a whole lot that can be said about Spyderco’s trademark thumb hole. Even as flippers reign supreme, the thumb hole stands out: it’s simple, versatile, and only there when you need it. The Rhino has at least as much fidget factor as any of my flippers, in part due to the phosphor bronze washers the blade rides on and the excellent detente. Absolutely no complaints in this regard.

In keeping with the “quintessentially Spyderco” theme, the Rhino utilizes the compression lock, an in-house design that’s strong, simple, and lightweight. By using a locking leaf that wedges between the blade tang and the stop pin, the compression lock blends the convenience and strength of an axis-style lock with the snappy action and simplicity of a liner lock. Unfortunately, compression locks do tend to have a bit of vertical blade play, and the Rhino is no exception. It doesn’t register visually or audibly, but you can feel it if you wiggle the blade around.

Spyderco Rhino Review – Final Thoughts

Ultimately, the Rhino is a fine addition to both Spyderco’s catalog and my collection. Part of me still wishes that the original version would have made it to market, but to be honest, the extra finishing on the handle scales probably wouldn’t be feasible at a sub-$50 price point, and the finger scallops would go from a theoretical pet peeve to a very literal pain to deal with. That aside, there’s a lot to recommend here. The blade uses some of the best steel on the market and is ground to be a lean cutter; the handle is remarkably comfortable, in and out of the pocket; and the deployment method and lock are some of the most reliable and convenient available.

As mentioned above, the street price for the Rhino falls around $140. That’s nothing to sneeze at; most of the major production knife companies have strong entries at this price point, from Benchmade’s upgraded Griptilian line to a veritable dragon’s hoard of Kizer offerings. While the competition is fierce, I think the Rhino holds its own. The blade – from the steel to the grind – makes the Rhino stand out in its own way, especially if you like the funky design aesthetic.

There are some people who should pay special attention to the Rhino, and a few who should actively avoid it. The Rhino is especially well-suited to modern office workers: opening packages, breaking down cardboard boxes, and maybe peeling an orange at lunch. If you have more specific needs (like frequent food prep or a knife suited to harder use), look elsewhere, as the Rhino was clearly not designed with those tasks in mind.

Spyderco Reinhold Rhino Specialty Folding Knife with 2.37" CTS XHP Premium Stainless Steel Blade and Black Carbon Fiber Handle - PlainEdge - C210CFP

PLAINEDGE BLADE - This knife has a sharpened blade with no serrations or teeth sometimes referred to as a smooth blade.
CARBON FIBER HANDLE - Graphic fibers (the size of a human hair) woven together then fused with epoxy resin. Lightweight with a high level of tensile strength it is three dimensional in appearance.
FULL-FLAT GRIND - This knife features a blade ground with flat bevels that extend from the spine all the way to the cutting edge. This grind reduces drag during cutting and decreases overall weight.
COMPRESSION LOCK - Developed and patented by Spyderco, the compression lock mechanism uses a leaf-like spring from a split liner in the handle to wedge laterally between a ramp on the blade tang and the stop pin (or anvil pin).
SPECIFICATIONS - Closed Length (Inches): 3.6, Overall Length (Inches): 5.95, Blade Length (Inches):2.35, Blade Steel: CTS XHP, Grind: Full-Flat

Editor: I recommend purchasing the Spyderco Rhino at BladeHQ or Amazon. Thank you for reading.