There are times in the world when a visionary person has new ideas that inspire us to take new roads, and that changes everything.
Architectural designer Frank Lloyd Wright created organic structural designs that harmonized human habitation buildings with their natural surroundings, integrating architecture projects as part of the landscape. His work was not just natural camouflage, though. His work was always human-centric, creating spaces to be comfortable and immanently livable. He revolutionized floor plans away from compartmentalized rooms to become continuous, open, flowing spaces.
Hedy Lamarr, who is better known for her work in motion pictures in the 1940s and 50s, was also an inventor who significantly contributed to wireless radio engineering technology. She first conceived and was co-inventor of wireless radio spectrum frequency-hopping, a technology intended for use in World War II as a means to help allied wireless security efforts resist radio jamming and interception, specifically for radio-controlled torpedoes. While it was never implemented by the US during wartime, her invention became the basis of modern radio spectrum technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and cellular communications.
Such visionary people are not common. In the world of pocketknives, there have been only a few who have had a significant impact.
Chris Reeve invented the frame lock (originally known as the Reeve Integral Lock) in 1987, which has become a staple blade locking system for the entire pocketknife industry. He also collaborated with Crucible in the early 2000s to invent CPM S30V, one of the few steels to be originally designed for use in pocketknives. That led to another collaboration in 2009 to refine S30V steel, resulting in CPM S35VN, a premium steel widely in use today. He also was a pioneer in the use of titanium as knife handles.
Andrew Demko is the knife engineer who invented several types of pocketknife lock mechanisms that are both very secure and easy to use. He invented both the Tri-Ad Lock (2006) and the Scorpion Lock (2016) during his tenure with Cold Steel. He then went independent and refined the security of the Tri-Ad lock to be even more user friendly with the invention of the Shark Lock (2020).
Larrin Thomas, a renowned metallurgist and prolific author, is the inventor of CPM MagnaCut, a new, highly balanced stainless steel specially designed for use in pocketknives. MagnaCut is widely regarded as the ultimate super-premium steel on the market today, as it has the highest-rated trio of balanced scores across all the 3 key properties of knife steel: Toughness, Edge Retention and Corrosion Resistance. Larrin is also the founder and author of the authoritative blade steel blog, KnifeSteelNerds.com as well as the industry-influential book, Knife Engineering: Steel, Heat Treating, and Geometry. He’s also the co-inventor of another knife steel, the high-carbon steel, ApexUltra (2021), a blade steel highlighting high hardness and very good toughness featured in thin, acute blade geometry grinds, such as the culinary knife market.
But this post is not about any of these amazing folks. There is another amazing guy whose confluence of high engineering prowess and a very strong, consistent design language distinguishes his pocketknives from all others. I am talking about Bryan Winters and his company, Winterblade (not Winterbladeco, but Winterblade! And yes, I confirmed with Bryan directly that while the logo shows WINTERBLADE, the name of his company is correctly written in Sentence caps form, just like BENCHMADE and Benchmade! Come on, people – get this detail straight!). In this post, I will be reviewing my latest acquisition, the Winterblade Severn, and I’ll include discussions on both the engineering and the design considerations used in this iteration of Bryan’s continually thoughtful, creative work.
TL;DR
The Winterblade Severn is a wonderful example of a powerful design language combined with clever, innovate engineering. These are consistent qualities coming out of the workshop of Bryan Winters, the mastermind behind Winterblade. I acquired what I later learned to be a prototype version (as identified by Bryan, I believe for Batch 1) of the Severn. It’s furnished with a nicely hardened (60-62 HRc), angular, stonewashed, crazy sharp modified sheepsfoot M390 blade; a pair of thick, black, bead-blasted titanium scales and matching milled pocket clip; a captured steel pivot running on slick, caged ceramic bearings; and the icing on the cake, the highly secure and strong, coil-spring-loaded, dual-action Stealth Lock as invented by Bryan. The knife can be opened with either a push against the single, easily reversible, puck-style thumb stud consisting of a tiny, steel shoulder dowel pin that sits inside a super strong ring magnet, or a finger flick in the blade’s long, angular opening slot hole (reverse flicking is total bliss). The pivot action is super smooth and the blade locks up tight.
Suffice it to say that I am really impressed with the Severn. Is it perfect? No, and we’ll talk about that. But is it impressive? Hells yeah. Let’s get into it.
Note: Do remember that I am reviewing my knife, which is a prototype of a version in the Batch 1 release. One or more of the issues I bring up may (or may not) have been resolved in final production or in the Batch 2 release. If I am aware of any such circumstances, I will make note of that.
Pros
- Dual-action Stealth Lock. That alone makes the Severn a genuine classic knife.
- Chonky titanium scales with long cut-outs on both scales for easy access to blade’s thumb stud & long opening hole slot
- Matching, wide, ambi, titanium pocket clip
- Tall, well-hardened, flat-ground, factory-super-sharp M390 blade
- Ambi, magnetic thumb stud, along with long & wide opening hole, make blade deployment ridiculously fast, easy & fun for all
- Very distinctive aesthetic design that screams “Winterblade”!
- Larger, hand-filling size compared to the earlier, smaller Winterblade Factor
- Did I mention the huge amount of titanium used for the scales?
- Big choil ensures thumb stud is behind cutting path, makes choke-up grip easy and provides for long sharpening life
Cons
- No blade spine jimping. None.
- No backspacer
- Very few decorative accent features (although the “laser wave” version helps with that)
- Blade’s distinctive aesthetic design is not anything like grampa’s old Barlow, and may stray too far from the norm for some people’s tastes
- Knife weight is pretty hefty for some (for others, that’s actually a Pro!)
- Similar to other non-ball-detent knives, detent is fairly weak
- Scales are flat and have (almost) no texture
- Big choil wastes a huge amount (up to 18.26 mm / 0.72”) of cutting-edge length
Tech Specs
The Winterblade Story
Bryan Winters and his company, Winterblade, seems to have come out of nowhere when the phenomenal Winterblade Factor was released in 2023, but this is not true.
Bryan began working on what he calls his “crazy garage projects” at many years ago. Then in 2019, he started posting some of his custom work projects on Instagram, including an early version of what ultimately evolved into the Winterblade Factor. Those posts ignited quite a bit of public interest in his creative folding knife designs.
When people started asking where they could buy the Factor, Bryan began accepting custom orders. Much to his delight, demand for the Factor exploded, which led him to begin working with renowned OEM knifemaker, Bestech, which enabled him to fulfill all the new orders coming in. And when demand remained so high for his work, he made the decision to do his knife design work full-time, and Winterblade was born!
Working with Bestech on the manufacturing work enabled Bryan to devote more of his precious time to his primary passion: knife design. He spends a large portion of his time these days designing, building and refining new mechanism prototypes. As he told me, this business model makes him very happy! While his knives are well-known for their clear and consistent aesthetic design (when you see one of his knives, you immediately know it’s a Winterblade knife), he’s even more interested in the mechanical engineering side of knife design.
With every new model release, he strives to add new, innovative and functional mechanism features, such as blade locks, detent mechanisms, and deployment methods. Because of his ingenious, magnetic detent and opening/lock mechanism (the M-Lock) on the Factor, and his subsequent knife models that also used magnets in different, inventive and sophisticated ways, some people call him Dr. Magnet (at least, that’s what I think he should be called!).
Luckily, he’s not constrained by any mandate requiring he use magnets in every one of his designs. Of his latest 3 releases from October 2024, the both M-Fire and the Factor 8ight use magnets as detents and in their blade deployment mechanisms. However, the Veyron, with its new J-Lock, is magnet-free, and it’s incredibly popular with customers (all versions quickly sold out).
Despite the significant impact of Winterblade upon the world of pocketknives, the company is still quite small. It’s just Bryan and his daughter (who’s studied aircraft mechanics and engineering), who works for him part time. And when he has new releases to ship, he also hires friends and family to help get his orders quickly shipped to his eagerly awaiting customers.
Bryan told me that he loves his work, and he’s delighted and grateful that his work makes other people as happy as he is! He keenly understands that no one truly needs to buy an expensive, designer knife. But he sees the products he creates for Winterblade as a source of fun and joy for his customers (they tell him as much). He’s gratified that his creative, mechanical designs he invents make so many people happy as well.
And I can honestly say that in working with Bryan in the development of this post, he’s one of the nicest people I’ve encountered among the wonderful people in this community, if anywhere. He cares about people and ensures they are happy. Thank you, Dr. Magnet!
Introducing the Winterblade Severn
The Winterblade Severn Batch 1 was first released in November 2023, to wide acclaim. And no wonder. It’s a bigger version of the incredibly popular but smallish Factor, albeit with a few different features:
| Metric | Factor | Severn |
|---|---|---|
| Overall blade length | 3.0” | 3.25” |
| Blade edge length | 2.5” | 2.75” |
| Handle length | 4.25” | 4.5” |
| Overall knife length | 7.125” | 7.75” |
| Max width when open | 1.313” | 1.25” |
| Max width when closed | 1.625” | 1.5” |
| Thickness | 0.375” | 0.44” |
| Weight | 3.2 oz. | 4.6 oz. |
| Detent mechanism | Magnet | Coil spring in Stealth Lock |
| Opening mechanism | Spine-mounted, magnetic Flip Lever | Single, magnetic thumb stud & long slot opening hole |
| Blade lock mechanism | Magnetic M- Lock | Coil spring, dual access crossbar & recessed spine tab Stealth lock |
Over the 2 batches released, the Severn has come out in several configurations:
| Release | Blade Steel | Blade Finish | Scale Material | Scale Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batch 1 | M390 | Laser Bacon | Titanium | Green |
| Batch 1 | M390 | Laser Bacon | Titanium | Natural |
| Batch 1 | M390 | Stonewash | Titanium | Black |
| Batch 1 | M390 | Black PVD | 7075 Aluminum | Pink |
| Batch 1 | M390 | Black PVD | 7075 Aluminum | Green |
| Batch 1 | M390 | Black PVD | 7075 Aluminum | Blue |
| Batch 1 | M390 | Black PVD | 7075 Aluminum | Orange |
| Batch 1 | M390 | Black PVD | G10 | White |
| Batch 1 | 14C28N | Black PVD | G10 | White |
| Batch 1 | MagnaCut | Stonewash | 7075 Aluminum | Orange Laser Wave |
| Batch 1 | MagnaCut | Stonewash | 7075 Aluminum | Blue Laser Wave |
| Batch 1 | MagnaCut | Stonewash | 7075 Aluminum | Green Laser Wave |
| Batch 2 | M390 | Laser Bacon | Titanium | Green |
| Batch 2 | M390 | Laser Bacon | Titanium | Natural |
| Batch 2 | 14C28N | Black PVD | G10 | White |
| Batch 2 | MagnaCut | Stonewash | 7075 Aluminum | Orange Laser Wave |
I was fortunate enough to have an opportunity to acquire a used, Stonewashed M390 and black titanium Severn.
The image above was for the Batch 1 release, but Bryan told me that my knife is actually a pre-Batch 1 prototype! I see no differences between my prototype knife and the Severn Batch 1 release, as my knife looks exactly looks like the one above.
Let’s dig into the details of this striking knife.
Details and Specs
The Winterblade Severn is a special knife. The engineering of the unique Stealth Lock, the stunning design of the blade shape and its opening hole slot, the copious amount of titanium used in the scales, and the full-size, 4-finger handle make this knife a compelling acquisition for collectors, knife enthusiasts, and regular users alike. Is it perfect? I’d say not, and we’ll discuss this below, but I can tell you that this extremely fidget-friendly knife has risen to become my favorite in my growing collection.
Blade
The Severn knife blade is the most visually conspicuous design component of the knife. Winterblade knives have been employing their signature, deeply angular version of a heavily modified sheepsfoot blade shape (although Bryan himself refers to the wharncliffe shape in a blade show 2024 video) ever since the Factor was released. Some will love it, and others will hate it, but it will elicit a reaction, no matter what. To be honest, my preference has long been toward softer shapes and forms, which is why I love the crowned blade spine, crowned backspacer, the curved flipper tab, and the gorgeous, curvy (can I even say sexy?) shape of the modified sheepsfoot blade on my Viper Knives Moon. But the Winterblade’s blade shape is very compelling visually, and it’s definitely growing on me (perhaps I am just realizing I have been a fan of sheepsfoot blades all along!).
Also, to date, I had never much of a fan of blades with opening holes. I always thought it ridiculous to intentionally remove so much of the blade steel’s intrinsic strength for the sake of aesthetics. I don’t own any Spyderco knives (my article on the counterfeit Native Chief knife was written with a borrowed knife), and I just don’t care for the big, Spidey hole look (although the leaf-style blades on the Shaman, Manix and Bodacious knives are slowly growing on me, so much so that I wouldn’t turn my back if one came my way). But I have to say, due to the Severn, with regard to opening holes, I have finally seen the light and am a converted old gal! Say it with me, people! Hallelujah!
The Severn’s opening hole slot, which is technically a very long, angular, semi-teardrop slot, is more than just an aesthetic addition. In fact, because it works so well to open the blade (it’s very reverse-flick friendly) thanks to the glassy-smooth, ceramic bearings-equipped pivot, I believe that it’s first and foremost a functional opening mechanism, and an aesthetic feature second. And given Bryan’s propensity to prioritize engineering first, I’m betting this is true.
The blade material is Bohler M390 (aka M390 MICROCLEAN), an ultra-premium, martensitic, 3rd generation particle metallurgy steel first released in 1989 for creating industrial injection molding molds, is currently manufactured in Kapfenberg, Austria. The Severn blade is ground in a tall, full-flat grind and presents a very large choil that allows for an easy, choke-up grip as well as innumerable iterations of sharpening sessions (the choil is so big that, when you finally run out of room to sharpen, you’ve basically run out of knife!).
This huge choil is both good and bad. In addition to the good features stated above, the blade’s cutting edge is not impeded by the thumb stud. The bad is that 1. you lose quite of bit of blade edge as a result, and 2. the material being cut can could easily slide into the choil area and abruptly stop the cutting process. The huge choil is a key part of the distinctive Winterblade design aesthetic, which some will like, and others won’t. It’s hard to be apathetic on this issue.
The Severn blade has no swedge, no fuller, no crowning, and most noteworthy, no jimping on the blade. I do wish that there was some well-done, fine jimping, like I have on my Viper Moon, that would span all the way down the length of the opening hole slot. This would really add functional value to those who use the Severn for draw cuts.
At least the Severn’s spine edges are comfortably chamfered so as to not have absurdly sharp, skin-scraping edges (looking at you with eyes wide open, Spyderco!).
Even though I bought my Severn second-hand, the sharpness of what is clearly still the blade’s factory edge is fantastically slicey. I’m super happy with that. The blade edge angle is a mere 3° and the primary bevel was measured at 23°.
The blade markings are very limited. The show side is completely and beautifully blank; there’s nothing there to disrupt the blade’s design aesthetic. The clip side sports the company name engraved underneath the opening hole slot, but depending upon the angle of the lighting where you are, that text can be all but invisible! Very nice! The steel name, at least on my prototype knife, is shown on the back of the blade tang and is only visible when you disassemble the knife. Given the quality of the steel used, I’m surprised it was not made more visible. Perhaps engraving that info on the back slope of the spine edge where it would only be visible when the knife is closed could be a bit more of a visible marketing boast for the knife’s quality.
M390 TECHE
When I can get the ratings for the knife steels I review (I will primarily gather the data from the authoritative KnifeSteelNerds.com as available), I will be adding a new section that I call TECHE data (with all but Hardness are based on a scale from 0-10). What does that mean? Well, just look below.
* Hardness Range data was gathered from the Bohler website.
** Ease of Sharpening data is not a rating produced on KSN.
Blade Dimensions
The blade is 84.92 mm (3.343″) in length but has a cutting edge of 69.30 mm (2.729″). That’s a difference of 15.62 mm (0.614”) due to the very roomy choil. At least your index finger will be comfy! The blade height was measured to be 35.27 mm (1.3885″) with a spine thickness of 3.18 mm (0.125″). Per my calipers, the main bevel edge thickness came in at 0.51 mm (0.02″). For folks interested in the thumb stud span, that was 7.14 mm (0.2815″) for the combined width of the single stud and blade thickness.
HRc Rating
Winterblade claims the hardness of its M390 blade to be HRc 60-62. Given that my knife blade is just stonewashed, not coated (the application of some coatings can hit temperatures hot enough to affect the blade’s hardness, depending upon the temperature at which the blade was tempered), this is an excellent hardness for M390 (although if the hardness is actually up at 62, that could compromise the toughness integrity of an already somewhat brittle steel (M390 is comprised of coarse microstructures and a high density of carbides), so don’t use the Severn blade as a screwdriver, a pry bar, or a can opener if you don’t want it to chip, crack or break).
Opening Mechanisms
This is an area where the Severn shines. As mentioned earlier, the long, opening hole slot is fantastic for fidget-factor, reverse-flick aficionados. There’s also a single, reversible, magnetic (toolless removal) thumb stud. It consists of a steel shoulder dowel pin inserted into a super strong ring magnet, and then the lower cylinder of the pin is inserted into a tiny hole in the blade steel. This means the Severn uses magnetism (yay!). But more importantly, it means that the comfy and effective thumb stud apparatus can be placed on the show side, the clip side, or on no side (i.e. removed from the blade). You might need a tool to push the toolless pin out of the blade hole, but we’re still calling this toolless as there are no Torx screws to remove or threadlocker to contend with. To poke it out, just use the toothpick that’s in your mouth 24x7x365, Bubba.
You can also, of course, disengage the Stealth Lock and flick your wrist to open the knife. Easy, peasy. But there’s more! Because of the weak, spring-based detent, you can also do the “Spyderco Shake and Flip” method by giving the blade-down knife a quick, sharp shake down and up again, which will deploy the blade. You can also do the “Spyderco Drop” method of tightly pinching the back of the opening hole between your index finger and thumb, then shake the knife down. As you can imagine, these special, fun methods are commonly used with not only Spyderco knives, but many others as well. I’m not sure that these were intended as hidden, Easter Egg features, but it you still get them with no additional charge.
A feature that I really enjoy is when you open the knife blade fast and hard, you get a really satisfying, metal-to-metal ping instead of a dull clunk. It’s not a Herman knife singing ping, but it’s still there. I can only assume this is an intended feature!
Locking Mechanism
This is the key feature of the Severn. The blade lock is a patent-pending mechanism called the Stealth Lock. It’s like what would happen if the Snecx Superlock had a mechanical knife baby with both the Benchmade Axis lock and the Demko Shark Lock (okay, a 3-way, knife-based, mechanical baby is a really weird thought).
Like the Axis Lock, the Stealth Lock has a perpendicular crossbar-lock-like pin that is pushed by a spring into notches of the rounded tang to secure the blade when it’s either opened or closed.
However, the Stealth Lock doesn’t use the Axis Lock’s feeble omega spring design (thank goodness!). Instead, like the Superlock, it uses a better coil spring system to apply its detent pressure. And sort of similar to the Superlock, the Stealth lock has a spine-mounted tab that can be used to open and close the knife.
However, unlike the Superlock, which uses a lock bar so long that it serves double duty as a backspacer, the Stealth Lock uses a small, steel cassette in which the coil spring resides and can be activated by the tab on the spine, sort of like the Demko Shark Lock.
However, what makes the Winterblade design so interesting is that, unlike either the Superlock or the Shark Lock, the Stealth Lock’s spine tab is not permanently protruding out from the spine (and into the palm of your hand). It’s connected to a pivot pin that, due to pressure from the cassette’s coil spring, causes the tab to lie very close to flat along the spine. But when you want to access the Stealth Lock’s tab, its jimped tab can be easily pulled up by just by running the tip of your finger down the top of the spine. The tab is connected to the cassette, and your finger pull retracts the crossbar lock out of the blade tang notch to allow the blade to retract freely. And, of course, you can also directly pull back on the crossbar lock pin studs to release the lock, since the spine tab and the crossbar lock are both connected to the Stealth Lock cassette.
This is the ingenious elegance of the Stealth Lock. Bryan loves to create redundant functioning systems, and the Stealth lock accomplishes that extremely well, just like that 3-way mechanical knife baby would.
On top of all that, I can report that there is no lock stick, blade play, or lock rock on the Severn. The Stealth Lock provides a solid, confidence-inspiring blade lock-up.
Knife Body & Scales
My Winterblade Severn is outfitted with a pair of hefty, matte black titanium scales – with only a set of small, cassette-style, 31.11 mm (1.23”)-length steel liners to support the smooth operation of the Stealth Lock. I was going to report that the flat scales had no texturing on them, and it honestly looks to be the case, but a scrape of the ole fingernail against them reveals a micro-texturing that does help with the handle grip (must be from the bead-blasting). It’s definitely not slick at all. Is this a prototype feature on my knife or standard fare on the Severn? What are you asking me for? I only have the prototype, so I have no clue! Sheesh!
Along the spine, the scales have a decorative line from which a distinct slope of ~12.5° is cut which adds to the overall angular appearance. On the bottom, folded blade side of the scales is a 43.75 mm (1.72”), indented cutout that I clumsily measured to be ~35° which spans nearly the entire length of the thumb stud and opening hole slot to help the user gain good access to both opening mechanisms. Despite the angularity of the handle design, the edges of the scales are lightly chamfered to make the knife more comfortable to hold.
The handle hosts a beefy, externally-fastened, 4 mm (0.15”) blade opening stop pin in the expected location, and uses the Stealth Lock’s crossbar as the closing stop pin, which hits the blade at the top of the choil, where the blade is at full thickness. Winterblade etched the knife model name, Severn, at the bottom rear of the show side scale.
The knife is assembled with a captured, decoratively engraved, stainless-steel pivot with a T8 socket on the clip side. Inside are a pair of smooth, caged ceramic ball bearings. The Severn doesn’t come with a backspacer (?!), which would have been a nice addition to the package. Instead, there is just 1 standoff, a very plain, cylindrical post made from stainless-steel, positioned at the rear of the knife. As there is no other feature to be used for a lanyard, the last 3 guys left in the world who still actually use one, Jordan, Kent, and Owen, can use that standoff for their beloved lanyard (but be sure to bedazzle it, boys, with a “really cool” bead)!
Handle Dimensions
I measured the thickness of the scales at 3.54 mm (0.1395″), and the handle length was 116.65 mm (4.593″), giving the knife a blade-to-handle ratio of 0.73 (big handle, short blade). The closed handle height came back as 38.36 mm (1.5105″), and the handle thickness is 10.91 mm (0.4295″).
The Pivot-Center-to-Thumb-Stud distance measurement (where higher numbers can indicate less leverage for easy, fast opening) was 21.33 mm (0.8395″), and the Thumb-Stud-Angle-from-Vertical-Center when closed was 41.5°. I also measured the Thumb-Stud-Tip-to-Scale-Edge-Clearance to be a decent 1.15 mm (0.0455″), enabling easy, comfortable access, and the Pivot-Center-to-Open-Knife-Fulcrum-Balance-Point (where 0.0 is balanced at pivot) is back down the handle at 16.23 mm (0.639″), making the knife slightly butt-heavy.
Hardware
To complement the scales, the Severn comes with a milled, matte black, medium-depth, low-profile, titanium pocket clip that is wider than typical knives to go with the larger, wider mass of the Ti scales. The clip looks like an organic match to the knife as opposed to an after-thought addition, which is great. The pocket clip is ambidextrous, as the scales provide traditional tip-up fastener holes on both scales. The clip measured 52.28 mm (2.0585″) long, with a Clip-Length-to-Handle-Length %, where < 50% is commonly preferred, is 44.70%. The clip contact patch technically doesn’t rest on top of a flat spot on the scales, but because of the micro-texturing on the scales, it’s simply not needed.
One of the best features of the Severn is the simplicity of its disassembly. The scales have 3, black-coated, steel T8 screws per side, including one of the pocket clip screws. Since the pivot is captured, the Severn is a breeze to reassemble.
The only caution you should take is, like the crazy coil spring in the Civivi Vision FG that jumped out of the Superlock when I disassembled mine and it traveled to another dimension of space, never to be found again, the Stealth Lock has a similar spring setup.
This time I was quite cautious when I disassembled the Severn and its Stealth Lock. Bryan’s excellent lock design must have some sort of tiny, squared-off optimization where the spring is located, as it never even tried to escape and join its Civivi sister’s spring in the Interstellar space-time continuum. Still, yours might, so if you want to keep your Severn working after you disassemble it, Mind the Gap where the spring is set or your spring will be sprung.
Ergonomics
We’ve already discussed the good and bad of the massive choil on the Severn. We’ve also covered the welcomed cutouts easing access to the blade opening mechanisms, as well as the minor but very much appreciated chamfering around all the edges of the scales, including along the blade spine. The grip feels quite good, but not great. The chonky flat scales would be more comfortable with some texturing and contouring, but that is both expensive to do with titanium and it would break the angular aesthetic design language Winterblade has been successfully using for many of the most recent knife releases. But that said, with the recessed Stealth Lock tab and the low-profile pocket clip, the Severn’s grip feel is far better than you’d imagine it would be. It’s surprisingly good.
And, of course, the opening options on the Severn are outstanding. You have many methods, both official and unofficial, to open the knife and each one is fun. This is frankly a fun, fidget-friendly folder.
Weight
Thanks to the weight-saving milling done on the backsides of those brawny Ti scales, the weight of the Severn comes in at a sturdy 130.48 g (4.60 oz.). Now I don’t mind a bit of heft on my knives – I like the confidence-inspiring feel of a robust folding knife. Besides, I still love my stock Viper Moon with its MagnaCut blade and Fatcarbon scales, and that sexy, little beast comes in at 148.33 g (5.23 oz.). Is the Severn too heavy? Not a chance. I love it.
Original Packaging
Winterblade sends out its divine creations inside of a nice, custom double-hinged, labeled, black plastic box with a latch lock that measures 165.1 mm (6.5”) x 76.2 mm (3”) x 38.1 mm (1.5”).
Inside, it includes a foam-lined lid, and the knife comes wrapped in a nice 311.15 mm (12.25”) square green microfiber cloth emblazoned with the Winterblade company logo. Sweet! If there were any additional materials included in the box when new, though, it didn’t make it to me as a second-hand purchaser. Your mileage may vary.
Knife Karen Nitpicks
If it’s not already clear, I like the Winterblade Severn. I like it a lot! In fact, it’s probably replaced my Viper Moon as my favorite knife in my modest, little collection. But it’s not perfect – nothing is, right? I only have a couple of nit-picks. A couple of small complaints, really. Although some of them kind of bother me. You know, when I think about it, it gets me angry! Hey, I need to speak to the manager, right NOW!
- Missing jimping. The only jimping on the Severn is on the Stealth Lock release tab on the spine. It’s all of 2 cuts! Hey, man, can we get a few more jimping cuts in here? Adding them along the rear of the blade spine would be much appreciated!
- Missing backspacer. The backspacer must have fallen out before it was shipped. Surely there’s a Severn backspacer, right? Right?
- Missing decorations. There are pretty much no decorations on the knife, aside from 2 engraved lines on the pivot. Yes, the Laser Wave versions of the Severn equipped with MagnaCut blades have cool, colorful handles with beautiful, engraved swirl patterns. But I don’t have a Laser Wave. Waaaaa!
- Missing detent strength. The lightweight, spring-based detent allows me to include the famous Spyderco Shake and Flip method of blade deployment! I’m sure Sal Glesser is proud to count Winterblade among his peers!
- Missing some blade edge. The huge choil, while good for fat-fingered fools who flail while fileting a friggin’ folded sheet of paper, the rest of us lose more than ½” of usable blade edge. Waaaaa!
I trust Bryan knows that I am a real kidder! Right? An over-the-top, jocular jester, a wisecrackin’ wag, a fancy farceur with a ferocious facetiousness that frequently fails to foster funny feelgoods. You do know that, don’t you? Oh, crap!
Price
Well, isn’t this a conundrum. I bought my Winterblade Severn as a used knife. The price I paid reflected that fact, so it’s irrelevant here. But thanks to Archive.org, I can see that both the Batch 1 and Batch 2 versions of the Winterblade Severn ranged in price from $189 to $369, depending upon the materials of the style ordered. The model I have, the Severn with Black Titanium scales & Stonewashed M390 blade, when it was new, went for $349. All of Winterblade’s releases sell out, and do so very quickly. I consider myself lucky to have gotten a used one!
Bryan’s knives are not the sort of thing that you can casually wake up one morning and think, “I want to buy a Winterblade pocketknife today.” Well, not a new one, anyway. For old or used stock (or the occasional new in box, flipped stock at a steep markup), you can check out sites like BladeBinge or Arizona Custom Knives. But for the real, new stock, you should join the email list on the Winterblade website AND follow Bryan Winters for news and announcements on Instagram. He’s got a solid presence there, and you’ll learn when he’s going to do another knife drop.
Verdict
Bryan Winters, the founder of Winterblade, is one of the pocketknife industry’s leading figures today. He’s transforming the way we think about, build and operate pocketknives. He has created one of the most distinct and consistent knife aesthetic design languages in the industry, while at the same time is constantly creating new and modifying existing mechanisms by which we use our knives. He has invented numerous folding pocketknife lock designs , including the M-Lock, M-Lock Plus, I-Lock, J-Lock and for the subject of this post, the Severn, the patent-pending, dual-action Stealth Lock. He’s also one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. We are fortunate to have Bryan and his innovate mind working for the benefit and joy of all knife enthusiasts!
The Winterblade Severn, a knife first released in November 2023, adheres to Winterblade form and function. My model, a Batch 1 prototype (who knew?), offers a deeply angular, modified sheepsfoot, well-hardened (HRc 60-62), stonewashed M390 blade, delivered with a hair-whittlingly sharp factory edge and a pair of stout, full length angularly cut, bead-blasted, matte black titanium scales and a matching ambi Ti , low-profile, milled pocket clip. The blade offers both a long, opening hole slot as well as an impressively comfortable, toolless-removal, magnetically-retained, single thumb stud that can be placed on left or right, or removed altogether. Size-wise, it’s nearly big enough to be called a full-length knife at 7.8” overall length, which means a solid, 4-finger grip.
The design screams Winterblade. You see it and if you are familiar with the pocketknife world at all, you just know it’s a Bryan Winters design. However, it’s visually very distinctive (aka completely non-traditional). It’s so modern that it’s futuristic, despite it being contemporary. It’s definitely not grampa’s old & rusty, dull-as-a butterknife Barlow! And for that reason, it’s going to be loved by many, but not everyone is ready for Winterblade designs. I personally acquired mine despite the blade design. I wanted to get my hands on the ingenious Stealth Lock! But now it’s grown on me and I appreciate it.
The Stealth Lock is a hybridized, dual-function lock. It’s as if the Benchmade Axis Lock, the Snecx Superlock, and the Demko Shark Lock had a 3-way mechanical knife baby (that’s a disturbing image that you won’t get out of your head, isn’t it?). The Stealth Lock has specific features similar to all 3 (a crossbar pin, a cassette-based coil spring mechanism, and a release tab on the spine), but it has a collective feature set, including an innovative new feature, that none of those 3 have. From just a user perspective, it’s a fantastically fun, freakishly fidget-friendly, fastening fixture form for fabulous, first-rate pocketknife blades. You can quote me on that.
Is the Severn perfect? Close, but not quite. If I had my way (and goodness knows I should!), I’d add fine jimping on the blade spine for the length of the opening hole slot. I’d add a bit of texture pattern to the flat, smooth scales. I’d add a backspacer. I’d add some decorative touches, such as a pivot collar. Lastly (but not leastly – is that even a word?), consider reducing the size of the huge choil so the blade-length-to-cutting-edge-length ratio of .82 is closer to 1, while still retaining the original Winterblade aesthetic design.
All in all, I love my Winterblade Severn. The Stealth Lock is everything I hoped it was. It’s so fidgety, so easy to engage/disengage, and so fun to use. The multiple blade deployment options are so enjoyable to use, reverse flicking is so ridiculously satisfying to do, and the blade lock-up makes a pleasing ping when opened. The chonky Ti scales add a delightful heft when holding the knife.
The Severn is truly a feelgood pocketknife that’s a joy to own. It’s displaced my beloved my Viper Moon as my favorite knife in my little but growing collection. I wholeheartedly recommend the Winterblade Severn to any pocketknife collector or enthusiast, if you are lucky enough to get one. Bryan’s knives sell out every time he has a release, and when he takes pre-orders, those sell out as well. But I can say without question that if my Severn is representative of all Winterblade knives, you will be delighted when you get yours. Enjoy! 
