WE Knife Inmate: A Conviction in Knife Design Excellence
BANG! Knife review “experts”. You see them all over YouTube, droning on and on, typically doing tabletop videos with disembodied hands, gleefully showing off their massive collections of knives that the rest of us will never be able to afford. There are other, self-proclaimed “experts” who hang out for hours and hours every day in […]
Poikilo Blade Orca: Gorgeous Wolf of the Pocketknife Sea
Author’s note: The knife used in this review was purchased by me at full retail price. I only call this out because – Spoiler Alert! – I really like this knife and the review is positive. Now on with the show. Have you ever found The One? You know. The One! The One that, at […]
Benchmade Mini Crooked River: On the Hunt for Sadly Absent Value
Imagine this. It’s a beautiful, crisp autumn afternoon and you are out in the wooded foothills of the western Cascade Mountains for a week-long, solo hunting/fishing/camping trip during which you plan to live off the land. You are out for the 1st hunt, excited to be carrying your new Browning X-Bolt 2 bolt-action hunting rifle […]
Vosteed Porcupine: Cute, Little Budget Knife That Can Be a Little Bit Prickly
There comes a time in many a pocketknife enthusiast’s life when, due to continuous exposure to higher and higher end products, one’s taste grows to enjoy those finer things in life. For example, let’s say you started your journey with a cheapo knife that uses a piece of a wooden broom handle and a thin […]
FengHua TC21 S110V: A Beautiful But Enigmatic Knife with a Steep Surprise
The Chinese pocketknife brand, FengHua, is a new brand to me. There’s not much information about them online, however. Extremely little, in fact. From my understanding, FengHua appears to be the premium sub-brand of a group of brands. WIN+, another member brand I am also unfamiliar with, sells the budget-end knives of the group. Dreamtech, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Spyderco Native Chief: Anatomy of a Counterfeit Knife
We have a problem. Follow me on this. Imagine that you are a fantastic and creative home cook, especially with making delicious barbeque. You have a passion for making people happy and satisfied with the dishes you make. You are so talented with your combination of creative art and technical craft that you decide to […]