Benchmade Shootout: An OTF in the Back of the Pack
Out-the-front (OTF) automatic pocketknives have a mystique about them. They are members of the switchblade family, and switchblades have been the subject of controversy and legislation for ¾ of a century now. Because of the bad boy taboo they (used to) represent, their association with lawlessness (whether or not it’s true), and the fear-inducing automatic […]
TuyaKnife Anzu: Excellent Action with a Funky Finish
TuyaKnife is not one of the major brands of popular pocketknives today, but it would be a mistake to ignore them. TuyaKnife is a small Chinese knifemaker (when I first heard the name, I thought they were a Russian knifemaker!) about which little is publicly known (and I’m here to fix that). Founded 8 years […]
Opinel No. 9 Carbone: A Knife of the Ancients
In the autumn of 2006, I had a lovely visit to the Avignon area in the south of France. One day, the group I was with went to the bustling, open-air, Friday market in Carpentras. There I came upon a man sitting alone in front of a little table. He was selling something I had […]
Harbor Freight Budget Knife Fight: Icon vs. Gordon
Budget knives. Purchased from hardware, auto parts and tools stores. They just gotta be friggin’ fantastic, right? These stores would never stoop to selling us utter crap knives, right? Riiiiiiiight. If you shop for your pocketknives at big box home, tools, and hardware stores like Home Despot, you’ll find a lot of low-cost options (mostly […]
Benchmade Mini Adamas: Anatomy of a Counterfeit Knife
Counterfeits. Who cares about counterfeit products? Who are they hurting? There’s a segment of people who either don’t care about counterfeits, and in some cases, actively pursue such products. Why? Well, there‘s a few reasons. Some folks simply can’t afford to buy the genuine product, so they believe a counterfeit might give them a taste […]
The Magnetic Attraction of the Winterblade Severn
There are times in the world when a visionary person has new ideas that inspire us to take new roads, and that changes everything. Courtesy of ContextGallery.com 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 […]
Budget Blade Round-Up ’24: Mediocre & Junk Steels (Part 3 of 3)
What would you do if you had a new C-note, a genuine Benjamin burning a hole in your pocket and you wanted to buy a new budget pocketknife? Would you know which to pick? Do you know what blade steel to get? In Part 1 of the 2024 Budget Blade Round-Up series, I discussed the […]
Budget Blade Round-Up ’24: Decent Steels (Part 2 of 3)
What would you do if you had a new C-note, a genuine Benjamin burning a hole in your pocket, and you wanted to buy a new budget pocketknife? Would you know which to pick? Do you know what blade steel to get? In Part 1 of this series, I discussed the methodology I used to […]
Budget Pocketknife Blade Steel Round-Up 2024: What’s Out There & Performance Factors (Part 1 of 3)
What would you do if you had a new C-note, a genuine Benjamin burning a hole in your pocket and you wanted to buy a new budget pocketknife? Would you know which to pick? Do you know what blade steel to get? Yes, buying a new knife can be a lot more complicated than a […]
Benchmade Mini Adamas: Mammoth MagnaCut at a Problematic Price
Early last year (2023), after reading so many posts on Larrin Thomas’ KnifeSteelNerds.com blog, I decided I wanted to see for myself what all the hype was about with MagnaCut steel. When I began looking, everyone’s favorite super steel wasn’t nearly as available as it is this year. Only a few brands had knives with […]
