Made in China

Gerber Jukebox Review

If you hadn’t heard: the war between form and function continues to rage. Sure, in a perfect world we’d end up with tools that look fantastic and work great. That said, the reality of the knife world is that most of us end up with pug-ugly blades we don’t mind hammering on, and a lot of drawer queens that we feel wrong about putting to hard use.

Buy the Gerber Jukebox at BladeHQ
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The Gerber Jukebox has oddly fallen right into the middle of that continuum for me. Like most of the knife’s buyers, I originally saw the retro-cool looks and unique operation and found I couldn’t say no. However, after getting the piece in hand, I encountered a few clear drawbacks that prevented me from absolutely falling in love with the design.

Now here’s the ironic part of it all: the fact that I didn’t initially love it caused me to beat on the thing and push it a little harder than I would have ordinarily. As a result, it’s one of the few knives I own that’s both a neat showpiece and gets a frequent nod when there’s a job to be done.

General Dimensions and Blade Details

The Gerber Jukebox mates a 2.75” blade into a 3 7/8” long handle. Much of the retro appeal comes from a 7/8” broad sheepsfoot blade with a very steep descent between spine and tip. So much so it really resembles a straight razor more than a sheepsfoot. I find this blade shape to be well-suited to most blue collar cutting tasks.

Compared to the usual suspects of the Spyderco PM2 and the Ontario Rat II, the Jukebox is small, but squat. Closed, the knife is a hair under a half-inch thick (not counting the clip) and sits about an inch and a quarter at its widest point. Overall, the knife is weighty without feeling cumbersome at 3.8 ounces on my digital scale.

Now for the negative: the Gerber Jukebox uses a 7Cr17MoV steel. This was a new one on me, and required some Googling: apparently it’s even more budget than the Chinese standard bearer of 8Cr13MoV. Roughly equivalent to 440a, expect it to have slightly less edge retention than 8Cr but be even easier to sharpen. Considering that just about every knife these days from a quality manufacturer has landed on 8Cr as the bare minimum in steel quality, and given the $35 to $40 price point of the Jukebox, this seems an odd choice from Gerber.

What I can forgive less than the steel was the absolutely atrocious factory grind, which was not only dull but completely asymmetrical. One side looks like a flat grind, the other a hollow grind, and there’s a visible difference in terms of where the grinds start from the spine of the blade. At one point I might have accepted this as what one could expect from a “budget” knife, but competition is stiff these days. The sloppiness becomes even less excusable for a company trying to woo the enthusiast market segment.

You’ll notice my knife doesn’t have a perfectly straight edge and has a slightly rounded tip. That’s on me, not Gerber. In putting an edge on the knife, I turned to the Work Sharp company’s WSKTS-W model. Yeah: the electric-powered one. Maybe I was a little too aggressive in my first outing with the device and was a little heavy-handed with the coarse grit belt. Maybe my lack of finesse was an especially bad fit with the softer 7Cr steel. Live and learn. In my defense, it gave the Jukebox a razor-sharp edge for the first time in its life, and as the kids say, you only YOLO once.

Handle, Ergonomics, and Pocket Clip

Undoubtedly the biggest draw of the Gerber Jukebox past the straight-razor aesthetic is the tortoiseshell treatment on the acrylic handles. These are just awesome, and I hope this catches on. A lot of us gravitate to a single cool feature of a knife as reason enough to buy it for a collection, and this was the golden ticket that allowed the Jukebox entry to my shopping cart.

The ergos aren’t too bad when it comes to the Jukebox. It’s very nicely rounded and dehorned, making it virtually hotspot free. The stainless hardware is nicely polished, and the acrylic panels are nicely fitted to the frame. The knife has a satisfying weight in the hand, and the handle is right-sized to permit a four-finger grip without feeling bulky.

One issue made itself known in a way I’m glad didn’t amount to much. I realized that while the Jukebox feels good in the hand, its symmetric nature makes it harder to tell the orientation of the knife if you pick it up in the dark. I was breaking down some boxes at about 10pm when I realized I’d picked the knife up ass-backwards. One would think the flipper tab and pocket clip would’ve served as significant tactile clues as to which way the sharp end is pointing, but somehow I found a way to misorient the knife, so be careful.

The Jukebox’s pocket clip is deep carry in a non-ambidextrous, tip down orientation. Neither should be a dealbreaker: the knife is easily opened and deployed with the left hand, and I don’t think this is built to be opened at speed (more on this in the next section) or designed around a self-defense role. That said, we’d be remiss not to talk about the flipper. Some of the benefits of deep carry are slightly negated by a half-inch metallic protuberance. I didn’t get prodded by the flipper as some other online reviewers have mentioned, but it does make the knife a little conspicuous in the pocket.

Deployment and Lockup

I’m going to upgrade my original assessment of the Jukebox’s deployment from “awkward” to a new verdict of “unexpectedly gratifying.”

First, you might see the upward extension on the blade in the closed position and assume that this is a fidget-friendly front flipper. It is not. The blade is under stiff enough tension that you can’t easily flick this into deployment. Even if you did try to build up momentum with a wrist snap, the way you’d be gripping the knife would mean that you’d probably just end up pinning your index finger between the handle and the extension before the liner had a chance to engage.

If you make peace with the fact that your deployment won’t be instantaneous, you can still have some fun here. The Jukebox does indeed open one-handed quite easily. The thumb can roll the blade out to a ninety degree position, at which point the index finger can hook over the back of the tab and click the blade into lockup. It might not be as fast as most EDC deployment methods, but after a small learning curve the process becomes very smooth. While the action is a little heavy for my liking, it’s free of grit or any hitches.

Lockup is decent if unexceptional. My Jukebox has a little lateral wiggle if I apply a bit of force, but it’s nothing that bugs me. The liner is a little thin, but it consistently finds the middle of the blade even with light pressure. I wouldn’t hammer on it, but this would be fine for light to moderate use.

Gerber Jukebox Review – Final Thoughts

As you might have gathered, the blade steel, action, and ergonomics all add up to a knife that I like, but don’t love. In considering what Gerber’s trying to do these days, the Fastball (and Gerber’s custom knife program) is more representative of the company’s potential, and something that moves my personal needle a little more than the Jukebox.

But indulge me in a baseball analogy. If I look at my knives the same way a manager does with pitchers, my Benchmade Bugout is one of my starting “aces.” It will give me a lot of output, look good doing it, and is a good choice for most situations. Oppositely, something like the ESEE Junglas works as a “closer.” It won’t be an everyday sight—much to the contrary, it’s a specialized tool that gets brought in when a specific problem needs to be solved decisively.

The Gerber Jukebox, then, is that relief pitcher who’s brought into the middle of the game when your team has a commanding lead. Granted, it might not be as flashy or as effective as another option, but often the job that needs to be done won’t be meaningfully impacted by the limitations of the tool. Additionally, by relying on that tool, you save aces and closers alike from unnecessary wear and tear.

My point is that there’s a place in every bullpen for a pitcher of this sort, and there’s a place in a lot of knife drawers for the Gerber Jukebox. It’s not a perfect knife, but it is striking, and it can certainly put in work.

Sale

GERBER Jukebox, EDC Pocket Knife with Straight Edge Blade Flipper, Tortoise Shell [31-003761]

The Jukebox is reminiscent of a knife that could be found in an old school barber shop, a polished gentleman's knife that can be easily carried in pocket.
An extended tang finger flipper is uniquely designed for easy deployment without sacrificing design.
A fully fine edge, modern sheep foot blade is not only on trend, but offers practical utility for everyday tasks.
The Liner Lock safety feature provides confidence during use and easy one-handed closing, and pocket clip to keep it secure when stored.
The Jukebox features a 2.7 Inch satin finished fine edge blade, with acrylic handle scales available in two unique colorways.

Editor: I recommend purchasing the Gerber Jukebox 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.

Bestech Marukka Review

by John Burridge Leave a Comment

Kombou is on fire lately! In the last few years, Bestech Knives has released 8 knives that he’s designed, including the Marukka reviewed here. I bought the Marukka the day it was released, and as I write this review 60 days later, two more Bestech/Kombou knives are starting to hit stores: the Wibra and the Irida.

Buy the Bestech Marukka at BladeHQ
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Kombou is the nom de couteau of Grzegorz Grabarski of Siedlce, Poland. I’m the kind of guy that notices and appreciates the evolution of an artist’s work, and I’ve been keeping an eye on Kombou for a couple of years now. I reviewed his Bestech Knives Fanga knife (see pic below) here on Blade Reviews in August 2019, and I found it be be a great knife and a good value for the money.

I’ve been stalking the Marukka on Instagram since I first saw it teased by Kombou in June of 2019. When it was finally released in April 2020, it easily passed all my stringent knife buying requirements:

Is it made of quality materials? Yes, titanium and M390 steel.

Is it reasonably priced for what it is? Yes, $272.

Is it like a big bio-mechanical stabbing machine? Yes!

I’ve been carrying the Bestech Marukka for the last 60 days. Here’s what I’ve discovered:

General Dimensions and Blade Details

The handle is 5” (127 mm), and when opened, the blade adds another 3.75” (95 mm) for an impressive overall length of 8.75” (203 mm). It’s tough to tell from the pictures, but this is a pretty big knife.

The blade steel is Bohler M390, which is an excellent powder metallurgy “super steel” with above average toughness (basically the ability to bend instead of breaking) and extremely high hardness (basically the ability to hold an edge.) M390’s bias of hardness over toughness is great for people like me who don’t sharpen their knives regularly. M390 steel or its contemporaries (like Crucible 20CV, Carpenter 204P, or Uddeholm Elmax) are generally expected in a premium production knife like the Marukka, and I’ve yet to be disappointed with the edge-holding performance any of those steels.

The blade has a substantial spine, starting out at 3.85 mm thick, but tapering to a quite thin .45 mm near the blade’s tip. The design of the Marukka’s blade appears to be simple, but there are a lot of subtle details I really like. It’s a Persian style blade, and the spine has a slight downward recurve before rising to the tip.

There’s a decorative fuller that looks straight but actually shares the slight recurve of the spine. The ricasso (the unsharpened portion of the blade between the handle and the primary sharpening bevel) is stonewashed, but the rest of the blade has a shinier satin finish, which is a cool touch in my opinion. It’s also quite difficult to show in a photograph, since it’s mainly just a difference in reflectivity.

The titanium pocket clip, pivot collar, and backspacer are anodized a brass-y/champagne-y color, and they were also hard for me to due justice to in pictures because the color is pretty subtle. There are currently two other color variants of the Marukka available, both with black stonewashed blades, but they don’t have the dual-finish blade treatment.

I’m kookoo for stabby-looking knives, but I’m also well aware of their limited usefulness in my life. My favorite knife of all time is my Microtech Ultratech signature version with a copper handle.

I don’t know what specific use the Ultratech was originally designed for, but I’m guessing it was murder. Mine even happens to be serial number 187, which is police code for… murder! I mainly use mine to murder boxes and loose threads on my clothes. The Ultatech’s blade is so thin and pointy that I can’t use it to scrape or pry anything for fear of snapping off the tip. I’m sure If I ever tried to clean under my fingernails with it, I’d be typing this with only nine fingers. Furthermore, its copper handle is so heavy that grabbing the tip of the blade between thumb and fingers to do detail work is like trying to tap in a nail with the handle of a hammer- the heavy head is at the far end, throwing off your balance. So I obviously don’t care about logic (or California switchblade knife laws), and love my impractical, stabby Ultratech.

The Marukka is far more practical and well-balanced. Its thin blade slices fruit and vegetables really well for a folding knife, and the combination of the blade’s low belly and the handle’s high arch let me dice onions without rapping my knuckles on the cutting board with every chop. It’s no kitchen knife, but it’ll do nicely in a pinch. Speaking of alternate knife uses, I always open my mail with the unsharpened spine of whatever knife is in my pocket- unless it’s the Marukka. The tip of this thing is so thin and sharp that I just know I’m going to end up slicing open my hand along with my electric bill. For me it’s usually “Oh shit, did I cut myself? There’s no blood- oh there it comes, so much blood!!!”

Placing my irrational fear aside for a moment, I think if I were to use this knife as hard as I’ve used my DPX Gear HEST/F or my Chris Reeve Knives Sebenza, then I would be a little worried about snapping off the Marukka’s tip.

The HEST/F knife (above, left) has a tip that’s protected against snapping off due to its absurdly thick blade stock, and the Sebenza’s tip is thin but is protected by geometry. My Sebenza (above, right) has the Insingo blade option, which is a sheepsfoot style blade. One of the reasons I like sheepsfoot blades is that their spines abruptly plummet down to the tip, resulting in a little more thick steel near the tip compared to the Marukka’s Persian style blade.

Handle, Ergonomics, and Pocket Clip

To test my weak tip assumption, I attacked a huge stack of industrial-sized extra thick cardboard boxes held together with large copper staples. After ten minutes of hacking them into recycling bin size (and running the blade right over the staples) I can say that the handle is comfortable and I didn’t worry once about breaking the Marukka’s tip. The balance point of this surprisingly light knife (4.02 oz / 114.4 g) is just behind the index finger groove in the handle, and it was easy to manipulate with and without gloves. The milled pocket clip added to my grip retention.

I’ve found that pocket clips often create hot spots and interfere with either a standard or overhanded grip. In fact, the DPX HEST/F (the green handled knife from a couple of pictures ago) has perhaps my least ergonomically-friendly clip of anything I own. But the Marukka’s clip is rounded and contoured, and pushed my ring and pinky fingers into an ideal grip when flipping it open. It’s obvious to me that Kombou didn’t just put the clip on as an afterthought, but thoroughly integrated it into the design.

In my months of everyday carry, the Marukka never accidentally slipped out of my pocket, but it would ride up to the tip of the clip if I’d been lying down with it clipped to my pocket. That also happens with almost every other single knife I own except my precious Microtech Ultratech, which has a “double dip” clip that keeps it snug in the bottom of my pocket.

The handle of the Marukka has 4” (102 mm) of usable gripping space, which allows me a full four finger grip with room to spare. Visually, it’s a mixture of organic curves and machine-like lines and angles. It’s like a dagger made from the Terminator’s wrist bone. The word that leaps out at me is bio-mechanical, probably because I just finished reading all five books in the “Murderbot Diaries” series of science fiction novels by Martha Wells. The main character (who calls itself Murderbot) is a human/robot hybrid, and I imagine Murderbot would appreciate the Marukka’s design aesthetic, even though it wouldn’t admit that to a human. The books are super fun, have great action interspersed with dry humor, and have won just about every sci-fi award available, including the Hugo, Nebula, Alex, and Locus Awards. Sorry- I know this is a knife review, not a book review, so back to the knife.

There are several mechanical-style details on the Marukka’s handle. The pivot screw, for example, has the look of a spinning turbine, and the machined line that travels from the pivot screw to the end of the handle looks to me like either a gear or a circuit board. The cut on the lock side that forms the framelock follows that crenelated line to some extent. That’s pretty unique, since the framelock cut is more or less a straight line on about 90% of framelock knives ever since Chris Reeve invented the framelock in the late 1980’s.

The “bio” part of the bio-mechanical theme is most evident in the shape and angles of the handle, particularly on the top of the spine.

There’s a little flat-ish area where the handle meets the blade, which is obviously designed as a comfortable thumb shelf when holding the knife in a regular grip. Behind that is another swoopy indentation, which, along with the thin milled stripes behind it, is purely decorative as far as I can tell. In matters of design, I’m a huge fan of unexpected lines and angles, and Kombou could have just kept the spine going in one long curving line like he did in the Bestech Fanga (2nd picture from the top of the article) but instead he gave us an organic, multi-angled flourish. It’s clear to me that his design style is evolving, and I enjoy noticing the steps he takes along the way.

Deployment and Lockup

The Marukka is a flipper-opening framelock, and the action is light and snappy. The blade pivots on ceramic ball bearings, and the titanium framelock has a steel insert where it meets the blade.

This theoretically replaceable insert prevents titanium on steel friction, which can sometimes result in the knife getting stuck open. This used to happen with my previously mentioned DPX Gear HEST/F, which did not have a steel lockbar insert. I realize that I’ve used it as a bad example twice now, but the HEST/F was quite technologically advanced in 2012 when I bought it- which goes to show how rapidly the knife world has advanced in the last decade.

The detent of a flipper knife controls how much force must be applied to the flipper tab to snap the blade out of its closed position. A weak detent may result in the blade not fully opening, and a detent that’s too strong just kinda sucks. The Marukka’s detent is perfect, as is the detent on the two other Bestech Knives I own. The lockup is solid and there’s no blade play either opened or closed. Actually, I can’t even think of a single modern framelock knife I’ve handled that has any blade play… well, except for my HEST/F (oh no- not again! Sorry DPX Gear!) but its blade wiggle is the direct result of it being my favorite beater knife for almost a decade.

Bestech Marukka Review – Final Thoughts

I pay a lot of attention to details, and I had to dig deep into the details to find anything negative to say about the Marukka. This is all I could come up with: the steel lockbar insert is pretty sharp, and can scratch my thumb if I hold it too far forward when closing the blade. That’s it- I have no other complaints. It’s not cheap, but neither is the the unique and precise machining that went into this big, futuristic-looking, bio-mechanical stabbing machine. Like Martha Wells’ Murderbot, the Marukka is fascinating and dangerous, but smooth around the edges. I recommend it.

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

Bestech Marukka – From $272.00
From: BladeHQ

Marukka Framelock Gray BTKT2002A

$286.49
Buy on Amazon

Editor: I recommend purchasing the Bestech Marukka at BladeHQ and Amazon. Thank you very much.

Kershaw Shuffle 2 Review

by Travis Pike 2 Comments

I’m on a mission. A mission to find the best, budget-priced EDC knives. Many people carry budget knives for a variety of reasons, one being they often lose them. I’ve been there and done that, so I see the logic. One budget knife brand that seems to garner some respect is Kershaw, and with that in mind, I grabbed a Kershaw Shuffle 2.

Buy the Kershaw Shuffle 2 at BladeHQ
Buy on Amazon

The Kershaw Shuffle 2 costs a mere 20 bucks, and that’s a reasonable price for a budget based knife. The Shuffle 2 is more significant than the original Shuffle but keeps its multifunction design. It also has several different features that distinguish it from the Shuffle and make it more than just a slightly modified variant.

General Dimensions and Blade Details

The Kershaw Shuffle 2 sports a 2.6-inch long blade that is 0.106 inches thick. The handle is a hair under 4 inches long and is .4 inches thick. When closed, the knife is 4 inches long, and when opened, the overall length is 6.3 inches. The knife weighs just a mere 3 ounces, and that’s super light. The blade does a decent job of being efficient in both size and weight.

The Shuffle 2’s blade is an American Tanto design, so it packs a little wallop for such a small knife. The cutting edge is rather short due to the lack of any real belly to the knife. The American Tanto tip gives you a nice corner edge, and that does allow for good cuts into thicker, less friendly materials. The Shuffle 2 cuts effortlessly through heavy cardboard, clamshell packaging, several layers of duct tape, and even thicker fabrics

The blade itself is made from 8Cr13MoV, a pain-to-type, but not a bad budget steel. It’s an affordable option for discerning customers. The blade can get quite sharp and seems to hold the edge well for cheap steel. It’s not as lovely as 154CM steel, but the edge seems to last for a couple weeks’ worth of EDC tasks. The Blackwash finish is one that I’ve always been a fan of. It looks very nice and protects your knife from visible scratches and stains.

For a twenty-dollar knife, I find the 8Cr13MoV to be more than adequate. For a pocket knife, the steel is well suited for daily tasks and cuts well while looking good.

The Shuffle 2 has a big choil that your finger fits into easily and prevents the blade from closing should the lock fail. The choil is quite comfortable and is a natural extension of the grip. Not using it to hold the knife would be silly. The knife blade lacks any jimping at the top of the blade for driving it with your thumb.

The Shuffle 2 has a nice swedge for cutting through thicker materials. It does glide through things like tomatoes and allows the wide and flat blade to do its job.

Handle, Ergonomics, and Pocket Clip

The handle is an exciting design that has a gradual curve to it. The handle is designed built-in finger grooves that feel generous and conforms to your hand and does not force your hand to adjust to it.

The grip itself is made from glass-filled nylon and comes in various colors. Mine is a lovely olive green, and I honestly enjoy the look of it. The grip is also textured with an odd wave-like design that clings to the hand without being overly uncomfortable.

The grip design also fits all four of my massive fingers on it. I wear XL gloves, and my hand fits on the knife very well. The knife gives you a fantastic degree of control over the knife. The mix of a short blade and a long handle makes it very easy to handle. You can put a lot of pressure on this little blade, and it can take it.

On the bottom end of the handle is where the multifunction nature of the Shuffle 2 comes into play. The sizeable looking lanyard loop is a lanyard loop and a bottom opener, and the tip is even a flat head screwdriver. As a flat head screwdriver, you can also use it as a pry bar. These are neat, but to be honest, I’ll never use the rear of this knife for anything other than a bottle opener.

The pocket clip is skinny, but the knife is light, so it’s not a big deal. The pocket clip is reversible for either side, but you can only carry tip-up. I prefer tip down, but it’s not a deal-breaker.

Deployment and Lock-Up

Opening the knife is easy enough, and it has ambidextrous thumb studs. You can easily open the knife with one hand, and the blade does glide out of the handle very smoothly. Those thumb studs are rather small, so you can’t sling it open rapidly like most knives. I think a rear thumb flipper would be a better option. If you want to use two hands for whatever reason, you can comfortably grip the swedge and pull it open with little resistance.

The blade uses a simple nested liner lock that clicks loudly in place and delivers both an audible and tactile feedback. The Shuffle 2 does lock up very tightly and feels very solid overall. I have not noticed any movement, play, or feel like the blade is going to come loose on me. The choil also ensures the blade isn’t going to close on you as well.

The liner lock is rather small and tougher for me to reach with my fat thumb. It’s easier for me to use my index finger to hit the liner and close the lock. The Shuffle 2 is a compact knife, so I guess this is one sacrifice you have to make.

Kershaw Shuffle 2 Review – Final Thoughts

The Shuffle 2 is a rather impressive blade for the money. Color me impressed. I plan to keep seeking out budget knives, and I’m pleased the search has started so well. The Shuffle 2 is a worthwhile budget blade that is a great EDC tool. It’s not one you’d take as a survival blade, a self-defense weapon, or on deployment, but it’s a great choice for everyday carry. The Shuffle 2 offers a lot of knife for a low price.

Kershaw Shuffle II Folding Pocket Knife, Small, Lightweight Utility and Multi-Function Knife, Multiple Styles

Buy on Amazon

Editor: I recommend purchasing the Kershaw Shuffle 2 at BladeHQ or Amazon. Thank you for reading.

WE Knife Co. Scoppio Review

by John Burridge 2 Comments

I’m writing this review at my work-at-home desk during the 2020 COVID lockdown, and ironically the first translation Google gives me for “scoppio” is “outbreak.” The second translation (from Italian) is explosion, which is more likely what WE Scoppio designer Toni N. Tietzel had in mind. The German designer’s logo is his initials on a little stick of dynamite. The star of this show is the blade’s unique (explosive?) compound grind. I’ve never seen anything quite like it, and as soon as I saw it, I knew I was going to buy this knife.

Buy the Scoppio at BladeHQ or GP Knives

Back in the olden times when I actually physically worked in a building that wasn’t my house, I showed the Scoppio to my two knife-lovin’ co-workers, and I noticed something interesting: several non-knife people wanted to touch it. It’s generally been my experience that most… how do I say this nicely? Most… indoor-oriented people act like if they pick up a folding knife it’s going to bite them like a rattlesnake.

But the Scoppio, which is not small or meek looking, elicited an unprecedented amount of interest. They were drawn to its unusual-looking handle design, its unexpectedly heavy weight in the hand, and definitely by its rich, sparkly blue stonewashed color. My appreciation of this knife goes significantly deeper than that, and it starts with the basic specs:

General Dimensions and Blade Details

The Scoppio has a 3.6” (92 mm) long drop point blade that’s .16” (4 mm) thick, and has a deep stonewash finish. Mine has blue titanium handle scales and a gray blade, but there are black, bronze, and gray handled versions available, some with black stonewashed blades. The open length is 8.18” (208 mm) and my medium-large hands can get a comfortable four-finger grip on the Scoppio when open. All versions run around $259.00 online.

The blade is CPM-20CV stainless steel, which is the sort of premium knife steel that’s expected in this price range. According to smart people who understand steel, CPM-20CV is virtually identical to the more well-known Bohler M390 steel. The main difference is M390 is made in Austria, and CPM-20CV is made in America.

So the Scoppio was designed by a German, the name is Italian, the blade steel is American, and the whole thing is assembled in Yangjiang, China. If I may digress for a moment, the city of Yangjiang is home to a remarkable number of knife companies. Higher-end makers include Reate, Kizer, Bestech, Rike, and Artisan Cutlery, in addition to WE and it’s less fancy sister company, Civivi. It’s like a Chinese version of European knife-producing cities like Solingen, Germany or Maniago, Italy, but undoubtedly a thousand times larger. End of digression.

CPM-20CV has a Rockwell Hardness (HRC) rating between 59 and 61, which is excellent in terms of edge retention, AKA hardness. The tradeoff of a high hardness rating is usually a lower “toughness” rating, meaning that if you whack the cutting edge of the blade with a hammer, the blade is more likely to chip than dent. That’s a tradeoff I’m happy to live with, since I would rather take the risk of a chipped blade over having to sharpen it more often, like I would have to with a less hard steel with a higher toughness rating. CPM-20CV’s 59-61 HRC is nothing compared to Sandrin Knives tungsten carbide blades which reach 71 HRC, but again, the tradeoff of that much hardness means a brittle blade.

The Scoppio’s blade has a lot going on design-wise, starting with it’s overall shape.

It’s a drop point with an unusually big belly that dips a little lower in the middle than at its base. The Scoppio’s belly is one of the many small, unconventional touches that make this knife so fascinating to me. The spine of the blade, for example, is neither a straight line nor a gentle, unbroken curve like on most knives. From tail to tip, it constantly changes angles and thicknesses. And the grind on the flat of the blade is bonkers. The multi-angled grind reminds me of the work of knife design genius Geoff Blauvelt of TuffKnives. He often does interesting 3-D grinds, and Strider Knives has what they call the “Nightmare Grind”, but both strike me as kind of aggressive-looking and seem designed to draw my eye towards the blade tip. The Scoppio’s grind just looks weird. Good weird for sure, but weird.

The unique grind doesn’t seem to impede cutting, but it is a thick blade. Slicing through a crisp apple, the thick top of the blade stock eventually ends up splitting the apple open like a wedge. The Scoppio was my only food prep tool at the 2020 SHOT Show, and I used it daily as a bread slicer, vegetable chopper, and Vegan-aise spreader. By the way, I can tell you from personal experience that it’s virtually impossible to find vegan food at the Shooting Hunting Outdoors Trade show. The Scoppio performed hotel room kitchen duties a little better than a typical flipper-opening knife due to the blade’s belly, but the flipper tab extends well below the blade, so dicing and chopping required a rocking motion, which is less than ideal. Next year I’m bringing a real kitchen knife and a cutting board.

Handle, Ergonomics, and Pocket Clip

The show side of the handle, like the blade, has a standout feature: no visible screws. The “WE” logo hides the knife’s pivot, and it’s flush with the handle scales so the knife has zero wobble when laid flat- a nice touch.

At first glance, it looks rather plain, but upon closer inspection it’s full of subtle curves and unexpected angles. My favorite example of this on the Scoppio are the side-by-side vertices (basically the corners) at the butt end of the handle.

The rearmost vertex (1) follows a logical, normal path by having its corner centered at the apex of the curve. It’s symmetrical and looks “correct” to the eye. The vertex right next to it, however, (2) goes off at a weird angle.

The eye expects vertex 2 to go in the direction the orange arrow is pointing, but instead of being normal looking, its corner angle veers off to the right. I think the design principle this violates is called isometric angle symmetry, but I don’t know anyone who can answer obscure geometry questions. The robust, milled pocket clip’s shape is a (hopefully) easier to grasp example of the strangeness of the Scoppio’s design.

The clip, starting near the tip, is a uniform width. It goes along a predictable curve, as illustrated by the orange lines. Then it gets to the screws, where it looks like it got bent and sliced off with a razor blade. The eye expected it to finish its nice curve, but designer Toni M. Tietzel said no! to that expectation. The entire knife has interesting curvy lines and strange angles, and I absolutely love how unique it is.

I mentioned at the top of the review that non-knife people showed a lot of interest in this knife, and I think one of the factors was that it feels much heavier than you’d expect for something this size. Everyone immediately tossed it up and down in their hand and remarked on the weight. The Scoppio’s bladestock and titanium handle scales are each 4 mm thick on the sides, and where the two pieces meet on the top to form a closed-back design, it’s a total of 13 mm across. The heft of this knife made me aware that titanium isn’t nearly as light as I thought it was. I have other knives that weigh more than the Scoppio’s 4.6 oz (131 gm) but this knife just feels heavier than it looks.

I think the Scoppio’s ergonomics are good- the clip is comfortable against my hand in any grip, the edges of its smooth handle scales are all nicely chamfered so there are no noticeable hot spots, and it’s long and wide enough for me be able to wrap my fingers around it, resulting in a solid grip. It gets slippery when my hands are wet, but I find most folding knives to be hard to hang onto with wet hands.

I’ve noticed that, when dry, smooth titanium feels grippier than smooth aluminum, and that textured G10 and micarta are grippy by nature. I assumed good wet knife retention to be a function of the handle material or how much traction is milled into the handles. I take the thoroughness of my reviews somewhat seriously, so I brought 10 of my folding knives over to the kitchen sink and opened, closed, and manipulated them all with wet hands. I had handles made of machined carbon fiber, machined G10, textured G10, aluminum, copper, smooth titanium, and heavily machined titanium. Surprisingly, the slippery-hands knife retention winner was my GiantMouse Knives GM1.

The GM1 (center of picture) is the smoothest, flattest titanium knife I own, but it also has the most pronounced index finger groove. It turns out that finger grooves work really well with wet hands. The finger groove kept my hand from sliding back and forth, and slipperiness barely affected my grip. The Scoppio’s flipper tab kept my index finger from sliding forward onto the blade, but there’s not much in the handle shape to keep the knife from slipping out of my hand in the other direction should I ever have to hack open an old-fashioned gallon can of olive oil.

Deployment and Lockup

The Scoppio didn’t win the wet knife handle contest, but it definitely wins the best lock engagement sound award. It’s a superbly satisfying steel-on-steel clack, and I’ve never heard its equal in the flipper knife world. I don’t know if it was by accident or design, but WE Knife Co. got the harmonics just right with the Scoppio. It may be connected to the fact that the designer ignored the modern trend of milling weight-reducing pockets into the inside of the thick titanium handles. But whatever the cause, the overall result is a meaty snap when the Scoppio is flipped open on its ceramic bearings.

I have a huge, stainless steel 44 Magnum revolver that weighs 3-1/2 pounds, and the sound of quickly thumb-cocking it is the closest parallel I can think of to snapping open the Scoppio.

The flipping action is smooth and very well-balanced, and the small flipper tab has a little jimping on the front to give my index finger some traction. Lockup on mine is at 30%, which I would usually think of as inadequate, but there’s no arguing with the clack- it’s locked open tight. One contributing factor to the tight lockup may be the blade-mounted stop pin pictured below.

A stop pin (as I understand it) is a typically cylindrical piece of steel inside a folding knife’s handle that the butt end of the blade rests on when it’s open. Its function is basically to keep the blade from opening too far, and to keep the blade in the exact right place when it’s open. On most of my knives, the stop pin is mounted inside the knife between the handles. On the Scoppio, the stop pin is attached to the blade, and it rides in little grooves machined into the handles. I read online that blade-mounted stop pins like this can help reduce side-to-side blade wiggle. I don’t know if that’s true, or if one kind of stop pin system is superior, but frankly it’s too boring for me to investigate further.

WE Knife Co. Scoppio Review – Final Thoughts

This has been a thoroughly positive review up to this point, but according to the sacred code of the reviewer, I have to find something negative to say…OK, I wish the pocket clip screwed into the handle from the inside so the screws wouldn’t be visible, giving the Scoppio an even cleaner look.

And speaking of clean looks, the Scoppio has quite a noticeable seam where the two sides meet. I’m not saying that the Scoppio isn’t well made, but look at where the two halves of the handle meet on the Reate Knives Starboy pictured above- now that’s a seamless seam.

That’s all the negativity I can muster. I love this knife. Its lines and angles are strange and unpredictable, yet it’s not some unusable art piece. The three knives pictured below are by three different designers, but what they all have in common is weird contours and shapes that I find fascinating.

The bottom knife is the Microtech Cypher, designed by Deryk “D.C.” Munroe. It’s like a piece of petrified wood with a huge knife blade that shoots out the front. Everything about it is a little wrong, and I find it endlessly fascinating. On top is the Bestech Marukka, designed by Grzegorz “Kombou” Grabarski. There are so many neat bio-mechanical twists and turns on this brand-new knife that I had to bump it to the top of my BladeReviews review queue. The WE Scoppio, along with the other knives in the picture, are functional art. At the risk of sounding sappy, these three have inspired me to take a stab at designing knives. It’s finally time to turn the sketches and notes I’ve been collecting for years into something in SolidWorks. The Scoppio is both inspired and inspiring, and I highly recommend it.

We Knives Scoppio – $259.25
From: BladeHQ

I recommend purchasing the We Knives 605J at BladeHQ and GP Knives. Purchasing anything through any of the links on this site helps support BladeReviews, and keep this review train running. As always, any and all support is greatly appreciated.

Begg Knives Steelcraft Kwaiken (3/4) Review

by Dan Jackson 4 Comments

I really enjoy Blade Magazine. I’ve subscribed for years, and smile when their magazine finds its way into my mailbox each month. Part of what I enjoy is how they write articles I could never write. Deep dives into the history of custom knife making, coverage of high end customs pieces, and interesting commentary on the intersection of industry, law, collecting, and commerce as it relates to knives.

Buy the Begg Knives Streelcraft Kwaiken at BladeHQ

Sure it isn’t a perfect publication, but Blade Magazine is a treasure trove of sorts, and that magazine combined with the BLADE Show often feels like the glue that binds this whole knife thing together.

Blade Magazine also offers knife reviews, which I also enjoy for obvious reasons. Usually they grab a trio of lower end knives and put them to work. The reviews are genuine and focused on real world applications. The writers are straightforward guys with an obvious passion for the products. I enjoy these reviews for what they are.

However, it’s rare for them to review an expensive production knife. Seems their reviews hit between the $20-$100 range. That’s great, as that’s the price range for a lot of user knives, but we don’t see much on the higher end. That’s where I think BladeReviews and other online “media outlets” can offer something. We can cover the high end.

Which brings me to this Begg Knives Steelcraft Kwaiken. This knife is somewhat ridiculous and expensive, yet undeniably cool pocket knife. As I sat down to write this review, I thought “Why am I even reviewing this?” Because I can and it’s what I enjoy doing. Plus, who else will do it? I don’t see much on this knife if you are looking for a long form written review. Plenty of YouTube videos and forum posts, but that’s about it.

Not that I do this out of any sense of duty. Frankly I enjoy exploring these higher end knives in addition to the more practical stuff. A knife like this would never kick my Para 3 out of my pocket, but they celebrate what’s possible in the world of production folders. I reviewed the Steelcraft Bodega a few years ago and enjoyed it. And I recall handling the pre-production prototypes of the Steelcraft Kwaiken years ago at a Blade Show. This is technically the 3/4 “Sun Tzu Kwaiken”. Time to check one out.

General Dimensions and Blade Details

The Kwaiken has an overall length of 8.37″, a 3.5″ blade, weighs 4.5 ounces, and is made in China by Reate for Begg Knives. As I mentioned, this is actually the “3/4” or “mini” version of Begg’s original Kwaiken, but it’s still a large knife and I’ll simply refer to it as the Kwaiken throughout this review. The full size Kwaiken is no longer for sale as of the time I am writing this article, but it came with a 4″ blade and weighed just under 5 ounces. Too much pocket knife for my purposes.

Here is a size comparison with the Endura and Delica:

This Kwaiken is cold to the touch and it feels heavy. “Dense” may be the better word. It could make for an expensive paperweight if you aren’t careful, and it occasionally serves that purpose in my office. The balance point is back maybe an inch behind the pivot. This is due in part to the heavy titanium backspacer. While I will never consider this to be a heavy duty user, I have carried and used this knife quite a bit.

The blade on the Kwaiken is a large sweeping trailing point. Trailing points are sometimes referred to as a “Persian” style blade due to the exotic look. This is a little different from what is often associated with a Kwaiken, which is inspired by a traditional Japanese short sword. This blade reminds me much more of the Benchmade Bedlam than the Boker Kwaiken.

That said, the blade of the Steelcraft Kwaiken is much more detailed than either the Bedlam or Boker Kwaiken. There are 3 clean grinds on each side. The primary grind is hollow ground, and then there is a long swedge on top. In between those grinds is another faceted grind. Then you have the flat with a deep fuller. Everything has been left with a gleaming satin finish. It has been meticulously ground. The grinds are all crisp, but edges of the quillions have been relieved slightly. So there is nothing sharp on your hand. It’s a thing of beauty.

Begg went with S35VN steel for the blade. If you have an interest in a high end pocket knife like this, S35VN will need no introduction. It has been discussed ad nauseum here on the site and is a staple for makers of high end knives.

But to be thorough, S35VN is a stainless steel developed by Chris Reeve and Crucible Industries especially for blade steel. It’s a successor to S30V, and I have found it to be an improvement over its predecessor. What’s great about S35VN is that it still achieves high hardness (approximately 61HRc) and excellent edge retention, but it’s noticeably easier to sharpen over S30V. It is also corrosion resistant and takes a beautiful finish as you can see.

In practice I found the blade of the Steelcraft Kwaiken to be as functional as it is beautiful. That trailing point tip can be a little awkward for things like coupon clipping and other fine tasks involving the point, but the long curving edge provides lots of leverage and is highly effective at larger tasks like carving long peels of wood off a 2 x 4, and breaking down cardboard boxes.

Blade stock on this piece is relatively stout at nearly 4mm. That thick blade combined with the partial flat grind means this knife doesn’t produce translucent slices of apple, and it tends to “pop” materials open at the shoulder of the blade, but this is a larger knife. If you don’t mind potentially marring the delicate finishes, then you could accomplish significant tasks with it.

Handle, Ergonomics, and Pocket Clip

While there is a lot going on with the blade, it pales in comparison to the handle. The handle is where you can really show off, and here the Kwaiken has been richly detailed. This is a full titanium handle, but the eye is immediately drawn to the millwork and carbon fiber inlays. These have been executed brilliantly. Running the pads of my fingers over them, I can feel where the carbon fiber ends and the titanium begins, but they are pretty damn flush.

And the entire handle has been fully contoured. This is what I was referring to when I recently reviewed the Gerber Fastball. Here you have a fully 3-D machined handle that has been executed brilliantly. It’s hard not to be impressed.

In addition you have details like a chunky high polished titanium backspacer with integrated lanyard loop, and custom pivot. The body screws are beautiful machined screws and the holes in the titanium have been slightly countersunk and given a high polish. It’s hard to find fault with the material selection, fit, or finish in this handle. My only complaint is that all this glitz adds heft to the knife. Especially that backspacer.

The ergonomics of the Kwaiken are simple yet satisfying. The handle is long and mostly straight. Plenty of room for all 4 fingers. The two guards or quillions encourage you to hold back on the handle rather than choke up. You can rest your thumb on top of the guard like I did for the photo, but it’s not particularly comfortable. Choking back coincides with the balance point, and suggests to me that the Kwaiken was designed to be more of a tactical knife than a utility knife.

There is little texture save for the geared backspacer and the signature groove running laterally down the handle. Still, I don’t find myself wanting for much more texture. This handle works and easily stays in the hand. If you would like you can choke up on the blade, and there is even a large choil, but it’s not quite large enough to safely accommodate my index finger. I think it’s more for looks and sharpening.

The pocket clip is definitely different. Fans of Begg Knives will instantly recognize it, but the uninitated will no doubt marvel at the milled titanium and oversized ball bearing. It’s a ceramic bearing, but is almost opalescent in it’s reflectivity. It’s a unique detail that you can easily get sidetracked with.

Here is your in the pocket shot:

But how does it work as a pocket clip? Actually, surprisingly well. There is excellent spring rentention and the clip holds the knife securely in the pocket. It’s also a deep carry clip, burying 98% of the handle in your pocket. Only the base of the clip, a couple gears, and that lanyard hole peek out from your pocket. This is a heavy knife, and the bearing does a decent job of holding the knife in place. It shifts a little over time, but doesn’t slide around freely.

Deployment and Lockup

The Steelcraft Kwaiken is a bearing equipped framelock flipper. The generously sized flipper tab is easy to get a grip on. The detent is good, and helps pop the blade out quickly. I’d say the action is around a “7” out of 10. It’s good, but it won’t blow your hair back like a Shirogorov or something. The action is smooth thanks in part to the caged bearing system.

The framelock is excellent. There is a stainless steel lockbar insert, and the lock engages early and is rock solid. There is absolutely no blade play in any direction. There are a couple small thumb reliefs on the inside of the lock bar and frame, that allow your thumb to easily access the frame and release the lock. There is not lock stick or funkiness of any kind. This is how a titanium frame lock should be.

Here is a parting size comparison with the Para 2 and Benchmade Griptilian:

Begg Knives Steelcraft Kwaiken 3/4 Review – Final Thoughts

The Steelcraft Kwaiken isn’t cheap, but at least you get a lot of well made knife for your money. You also get something unique. Begg’s designs strike me as a “like it, or leave it” proposition. You will either immediately gravitate towards the ornate designs, or it will remind you too much of True Religion jeans and Affliction T-shirts. Personally, I like the unique look, and I can’t argue with the execution. If they didn’t make it well, the Kwaiken would seem like costume jewlery. But the fit and finish is outstanding on this knife.

And while there is a heavy emphasis on the artistry, the Kwaiken doesn’t suffer for lack of utility. At the end of the day, this is a well made and fully functional knife. It’s comfortable, cuts well, and carries nicely for what it is. I think the full size would simply be too much for my style of daily carry, but I EDC’d this 3/4 version and was surprised with how well the Kwaiken worked. It’s more than mere pocket frosting, but the design and build quality is what sets it apart.

Will it replace my lightweight knives from Spyderco and Benchmade? No. But, if you have been wanting to check out one of Todd Begg’s designs this Kwaiken is beautifully made and has a lot to offer.

Begg Knives Steelcraft Kwaiken – From $399.00
From: BladeHQ

I recommend purchasing the Steelcraft Kwaiken at BladeHQ or Amazon. Thanks for checking out the review.