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 […]

Civivi Vision FG: A Superior Knife with a Superlock

For a special occasion, I was recently offered a gift knife by a dear friend. They had heard me talk about the Civivi Vision FG in Ultem a few times, and they asked if that was what I’d like. For a micro-second, I considered mentioning the Kizer Militaw in S45VN with a mirror DLC finish […]

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 […]

CMB Made Knives Revives the Legendary Fulcrum Knife

I somehow recently stumbled upon, totally by accident, one of the more interesting rarities of the pocketknife design world: an actual new fulcrum action folding knife. It’s the Equator, model CMB-01, from CMB Made Knives. Let me tell you about it. TL;DR The Equator is a very interesting knife. It employs a genuinely unique piece […]

Falling in Love with the Viper Moon

I recently purchased a new flipper knife from Viper Knives, a company that seems to be far below everyone’s radar. Let’s take a long look at this new Italian marvel. TL;DR The upshot is I adore this knife. The Viper Moon is endowed with a beautiful design, is marvelously curvaceous, sports premium materials, and offers […]