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I appreciate knife companies that not only do in house designs but work with other knife makers to create some beautiful blades. When I think of collaborations, I immediately think of Columbia River Knife and a Tool. Founded by two guys in '94 that use to work at Kershaw, they have shaken up with industry time and time again. CRKT's commitment to design, craftsmanship, and functionality show in their incredible library of products. Over the decades they've released a dizzying array of knives and tools, and it's allowed the average Joe to enjoy incredible designs at an affordable price.
The folks at Vosteed are always working on new designs, and they have some clever names to go with them. The latest one they've released is called the Corsair. The name didn't click at first and I had to go a Google search to jog my memory what the name means, Corsair is another name for a pirate or privateer. Unfortunately this knife didn't come with any booty, but it does cut like a cutlass. Let's take a look at the new Corsair.
Rive is a fairly new company who's trying to assert themselves in a very competitive industry. Rive's mission statement is to make tools that are innovative with cutting edge components. On their site they say, "Inspired by the renegades, rebels, and rogues." That's cute considering today we're checking out the companies only offering at the moment, the Rogue Mini.
Andrew Demko has been a knife maker since the 80's and his passion for engineering and attention to detail got the attention of Cold Steel. Working with Cold Steel, Andrew designed some of the most innovative, strongest locking mechanisms in the industry. The legendary Tri-Ad Lock, the Scorpion Lock, and most recently, The Shark-Lock. Since the purchase of Cold Steel, Andrew has grown his business to include his brother John Demko. Demko Knives has been on the scene since 2021 and it's making waves with its production version of the famous AD20.
Vosteed Knives have such a huge assortment of styles and options available. Like any good company who diversifies themselves, they have knives that come in various blade steels, opening methods, and handle options. One popular knife that the company decided to expand on is their workhorse, the Gator.
Case knives have been an America staple for over a century, they have stuck to what they know best, traditional knives. They did dabble in modern tactical knives back in 2012 with the TechX line. These knives were designed to provide the "ultimate utility knife for a wide range of applications, whether it is everyday tasks around the house, camping or field dressing in the outdoors." These knives were imported and had specs similar with what we see out of Camillus today.
The Shilin Cutter is a Taiwanese knife that was first made in the mid-19th century by a cutler named Kuo He. By the 1960s, there were more than 20 knifesmiths making the cutter in northern Taipei. The Shilin Cutter is a slip joint with a san mai blade shaped like a bamboo leaf, and an eggplant-shaped handle made out of horn. It was a common knife in Taiwan and Japan, and was used by market vendors, mechanics, fishermen, and even carried by bureaucrats.
Lynch Northwest was started by a man with a dream. Casey Lynch had a Para 2 and felt it deserved a better pocket clip. He didn't like the prices on titanium clips at the time and set out to make his own. The idea to build a better pocket clip cascaded into many projects, including titanium prybars. Lynch in the community is synonymous with quality and his pry bars are high prized. Today we are taking a look at the All-Access Pass v2.7x.
Today Leatherman released a email to everyone announcing their 40th Anniversary. In that email was a link to a video on their YouTube channel, towards the tail end of the video we get a glimpse of the new Leatherman Arc. I'm hearing that there's going to be a 40th Anniversary tool to be released as well as the new Arc. No details yet on a release date for either item, we will keep you posted as we hear more. I've included a link to the video below.
The sheer number of knife companies and blades available is insane, and makes shopping even harder. There are some companies that have been under our nose the whole time, and we simply overlooked them. One knife brand that I never thought to give a try was QSP Knives. I've always been a Buck, Kershaw, Gerber, etc kind of guy. Always stuck to the mainstream and didn't dabble too much, mainly because of the unknown.
QSP Knives has been around for more than a decade and have been an OEM for other companies. It wasn't until 2017 that the company started producing knives under its own name. The company's name is an acronym for what they stand for, Quality, Service, and Price. I love a company who's pride and dedication is part of their name.
FOX Knives is introducing a new Swiss Army style multitool line called Vulpis. The Maniago maker is trying to take some market dominated by Victorinox. Fox refers to them as "knife-based multitools" and that is their primary function. The Vulpis models feature a modified sheepsfoot blade with either N960 or M390 steel, the latter being paired with higher end handle materials. Some of the implements the new line comes with are, wood saw, scissors, bottle opener, can opener, and screw drivers. Handle materials will range from aluminum on the N960 models to carbon fiber or titanium on the M390 models.
There's a lot that goes on at Blade Show every year, but one thing that people really look forward to are the Blade Show Awards. These are the awards given for makers and knives in different categories. These are the 11 different categories for production knives.
The big winners this year was Giant Mouse, they took home Overall Knife of the Year in the production category for their GMX folder. Also, a new company RoseCraft Blades got their first Blade Show Award, Import Knife of the Year for their Clinch River Swayback. Here's a list of all the awards that were given out in the production category:
Overall Knife of the Year: Giant Mouse GMX
American-Made Knife of the Year: Benchmade Narrows
Imported Knife of the Year: RoseCraft Blades Clinch River Swayback
Most Innovative American Knife: Buck 590 Paradigm
Most Innovative Import Knife: Maserin W-Lock
Manufacturing Quality: Spartan Blades Limited Edition Spartan-Harsey Folder
Best Collaboration: We Knife Co. Solid (collaboration with Gustavo T. Cecchini)
Best Investor Knife: Shirogorov Knives Mini Quantum CD
Best Kitchen Knife: MKM Prima
Best Buy: Kershaw Iridium
Accessory of the Year: Work Sharp Professional Precision Adjust
Vosteed believes in giving folks the best bang for buck and giving you amazing quality. They set out to create a highly affordable and reliable EDC, and the result is the Racoon. No, not some cute trash panda waking you up at 3am. That noise you hear is these guys making a heck of a noise in the knife industry.
The Racoon features a ergonomic micarta handle with a button lock. For the blade we have a 14C28N Sandvik steel that's has a high flat grind and a satin finish. All this for $60, quite a bargain, how does it stack up?
What kind of people would write collect and review multitools? Quite simple really- we are designers and do-ers, outdoors types and indoor types, mechanics, doctors, problem solvers and problem makers. As such, we have, as a world spanning community, put every type, size and version of multitool, multifunction knife, pocket knife and all related products to every test we could manage in as many places and environments as there are.