Category: 2019 Knives (page 1 of 2)

It’s that time of the year again — the Spyderco Amsterdam Meet.

The Spyderco Meet in Amsterdam is a small event in which Eric Glesser brings about a 100 prototypes and concept models to discuss with the public. Many of the models never see the light of day or are too early in the design phase. But Spyderco typically allows a handful to be shared with the public.

The person who usually does the sharing is one Spydercollector.

In case you’re unfamiliar with Spydercollector, he is a diehard Spyderco collector and enthusiast who goes by the handle Mr Blonde on the forums. I did a two-part interview with him way back in 2011 (part 1 here and part 2 here), so check those out if you’re interested.

For the 2019 meet, which took place March 17, Spydercollector was able to photograph and reveal 10 prototypes. He gave us permission to share them with you here and use some of his images. I’ll link to his own blog which has far more images of these knives. I also highly recommend following Spydercollector on Instagram and YouTube.

Anyway, here are the 10 models from the 2019 Amsterdam Spyderco Meet. There is no info on availability but Spydercollector thinks these could be seen in upcoming reveals this year.

Spyderco Endela

First up is the Spyderco Endela — the missing link between the Endura and the Delica (I guess the name Delidura wasn’t good enough). The blade has a rough measurement of 3.38 inches. For comparison, the blade on the Endura is 3.75 inches and the blade on the Delica is 2.875 inches.

This is a happy medium that doesn’t reinvent the wheel but does fill a gap in the Endura/Delica lineup.

Spyderco Sage 5 LW

For followers of this blog, the Sage 5 Lightweight isn’t new. Eric Glesser gave a very early preview in a YouTube video a few weeks back. Take a look:

The Sage 5 is frequently called an excellent EDC design and this lighter weight version that should be a little more budget friendly further makes the case. Spydercollector weighed this in at around 1.86 ounces. Now that’s lightweight.

Spyderco Native Chief

From what we’ve seen at this meet, it looks like Spyderco is filling in missing parts of existing lines (as we’ll see later). We already have the regular G-10 Native and the Lil Native, so now we get its big brother in the Native Chief. The standard Native has a sub-3-inch blade, but the Native Chief has a roughly 4-inch blade.

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Think you can tough out the harshest conditions just like Bear Grylls — the star of various television survival series like Man vs. Wild? Before you try, make sure you have this great pocket knife in hand so you can tackle the elements with confidence.

A few years back, Gerber teamed up with Bear Grylls to bring a line of inexpensive but functional tools that could excel in the outdoors. If you think these knives are nothing but gimmicks, you’re sorely mistaken. One of the best-received models is the Gerber Bear Grylls Folding Sheath Knife.

The Folding Sheath Knife is a robust folder with a 3.6-inch blade made from high carbon stainless steel. A drop point blade with partial serrations makes this folder versatile for all types of situations. Ambidextrous thumb studs facilitate easy opening while the reliable back lock keeps the blade engaged through all types of abuse.

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I’ve been worried about Case for a few years.

Many of the iconic and classic knife companies have closed their doors. Imperial Schrade Company went under in 2004 (though it lives on in some form after its name has been bought and sold by a few other companies) and Queen Cutlery called it day in 2018 after nearly 100 years in operation.

While traditional knives have been seeing a resurgence, especially with places like Great Eastern Cutlery committed to keeping the past alive, Case has been around for a long, long time and have been making largely the same knives for more than a century.

That’s why I was encouraged when they made a leap into the 21st century with some new knives and modern designs — a move I likened to the time when Bob Dylan went electric.

2019 is still young, but Case has been active in announcing new projects and even recently released its 2019 catalog.

Interestingly, this year is full of a lot of reworked knives and classics that were brought back to please the audience. Case is still in full blown going electric mode and I love it.

Feel free to skip to the actual knives, but hear me out if you want more Dylan deep dives. 2019 Case is the live at “Royal Albert Hall” bootleg era — completely reworking classics, revisiting old stuff, and continuing with the new.

Let’s dive deeper.

Case Reworks the Shark Tooth Flipper

The is the Case Shark Tooth.

It used to be like that.

But now it goes like this.

In case you didn’t catch that (and why would you if you aren’t a Dylan fanatic), that’s a line from this:

Similar to the way Dylan completely transformed that song from its acoustic folksiness, Case strips the old Shark Tooth to its bones and rebuilds it into something modern and sleek.

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We’re still going through some of the new knives for 2019. KA-BAR is one of those companies that releases knives throughout the year, such as the later releases of the Jarosz Flippers last year.

But, KA-BAR recently pinpointed which knives it considers part of its 2019 lineup at SHOT Show. There are only a handful of models, but I expect the company to release more in the future.

KA-BAR Becker BK62 Kephart

The biggest new release is the KA-BAR Becker Kephart. This one was actually announced in October 2018 with limited quantities available the following months, but it wasn’t widely available until January.

It’s always great to get a new knife in the Becker series, which is probably the best series out of KA-BAR — besides the classic fighting knife lineup. What’s interesting is that the Kephart is based on an existing design. Noted outdoorsman Horace Kephart designed the knife in the late 19th century and early 20th century. There are a lot of Kephart-style knives out there, but Ethan Becker has a special bond to the knife.

The full details about Kephart and Becker are extolled in a recent Knife Magazine article, but essentially Becker obtained an original Kephart knife and even handled Kephart’s personal knife that now resides at a museum.

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It’s no secret that I am somewhat of a Hawk Head. That is I am a huge fan of the father and son knifemaking duo of Grant and Gavin Hawk.

Well, the Hawks — who are best known for making some of the most innovative and boundary-pushing knives on the market — are back with another production model called the Gearhead.

Check it out:

The aptly named Mantis Gearhead is a new design that uses a lever to turn gears to engage the knife. According to the Hawks, they made the design after noticing that people like to put gears on knives for decoration. They wanted to make a knife with functional gears.

The deployment method looks quick, reliable, and really fun to use.

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Leatherman is a true pioneer in the field of multitools.

Tim Leatherman wanted to make a knife with pliers because his regular tools were lacking. The result was the Pocket Survival Tool (PST), which would become one of the very first multitool pliers.

Leatherman dominated the market and although many companies have copied the overall aesthetics of the multitool, the Portland-based brand remains the top choice for plier multitools.

The company never stopped innovating, but finding new bents on a tool that has worked so well is quite difficult. In 2008, Leatherman released the Skeletool, which made an EDC version of the plier tool. It even won the 2008 Most Innovative American-Made Design at Blade Show.

They’ve had some other cool designs like the Tread Multi-Tool Bracelet, which is something you’d find around MacGyver’s wrist. But it looks like the brand may be onto a new technology that could change the Leatherman game — magnets.

So magnets aren’t anything new, but it looks like Leatherman has managed to use magnets in a way that allows a user to fully operate a Leatherman multitool with only one hand. You can access any of the individual tools with some pressure on a lever and close it securely. You also get an almost balisong-like opening and closing once the lock is disengaged.

It looks like Leatherman is betting big on this new technology as the brand decided to unveil a new logo to accompany the release of the Free series. Gone is the yellow swirling multitool and greetings to a gray multitool that forms an L.

You can tell Leatherman is going all in because it’s not just introducing one multitool with magnets but is releasing at least six different designs this year with the magnets.

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Kershaw hinted at the release of its 2019 catalog a few days ago, and it has finally arrived.

The knife company has announced 17 new (or updated) models to look forward to this year. Normally we’d just pick the 10 that excite us the most, but we thought it would be fun to write a few quick thoughts on all of them.

Kershaw Antic

Kershaw usually doubles down on its most popular knives, and this year is no different. The Antic is considered the next iteration of the Shuffle series. This diminutive knife has a keychain attachment as well as the bottle opener and other functions on the back of the handle. This honestly seems a little more useful with the screwdriver and mini prybar as well.

The blade is 1.75 inches and made from 8Cr13MoV steel.

MSRP: $29.99

Kershaw Boilermaker

This looks like one of those steampunk knives — a genre I really never understood. Designer Les George apparently took some inspiration from metalworkers and it shows through this design. It has a 3.3-inch assisted blade made from 8Cr13MoV steel with a brown PVD coating around the whole knife.

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The KA-BAR is one of the most iconic knives ever (as evidenced by its inclusion in our post on the 20 Most Iconic Knives). It has a very familiar look and feel, but KA-BAR decided to give it some upgrading in materials, a smaller size, and a fancy new blade.

The result was the KA-BAR Tanto Short Fighting Knife.

This knife has all the bones of the classic KA-BAR but in a more compact size. Instead of the massive 7-inch clip point blade, the Short Fighting Knife has a 5.25-inch tanto blade. The smaller size and tanto blade profile offer more versatility in finer tasks without being too small for work around the campsite.

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When Spyderco released its 2019 catalog a few months ago, it was somewhat shocking. The catalog did not feature any new knives.

Why? Spyderco announced it was moving to a different reveal process that would better match the release times of the models. I’m still waiting for that Smock revealed at the beginning of 2018!

We weren’t sure how it was going to happen, but Spyderco recently announced the first of several “reveal” supplements that have new knives we can expect to see within the next 90 to 120 days, according to Kristi Hunter of Spyderco. This allows us to focus on a few noteworthy models that we can see in the near future instead of wondering for more than a year about a model and forgetting about it.

Only a handful have been released so far, but here’s a deeper dive into the new models from Spyderco.

2019 Spyderco Reveal Volume 1

Spyderco Para 3 Lightweight

The highlight of the first reveal is an adaptation of an existing model. That sounds kind of boring until you see just what they did to the Para 3. They turned a condensed version of the iconic Paramilitary 2 into a virtual Delica killer. With its cheaper price tag and FRN handles, the Delica has long been a fan favorite and nearly perfect EDC.

The Para 3 LW addresses what was wrong with the original Para 3 and Delica to create an amazing knife. It uses FRN handle scales and open backed construction to cut the weight down to a smooth 2.4 ounces (an ounce less than the Delica). The pocket clip is a complaint on both the Para 3 and the Delica, and Spyderco corrects both by giving the LW a wire clip that’s essentially a deep carry clip (and moves that awkwardly placed Para 3 lanyard hole to a different location).

Then there is the Compression Lock. The Delica has a tried and true backlock that’s not the best for one-handed operation, so this is a definite upgrade over that. The only question mark is the CTS BD1N steel. It’s obviously no S30V steel, but it is comparable to VG-10.

I think this will be a huge hit.

MSRP: $140

Spyderco Gauntlet

Spyderco is returning to what put the brand on the map — sharpeners. The new Gauntlet is a simplified version of the Triangle Sharpmaker. It works in the same way but only allows for a 40 degree angle. The sharpener comes with ceramic rods or you can buy Cubic Boron Nitride rods.

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New knives are starting to come out from the big brands, and we should see more interesting new models at the upcoming Shot Show. Fortunately, we don’t have to wait as Cold Steel made its 2019 product lineup live on its website.

Cold Steel has been at the top of its game the last few years — going from mall ninja jokes to praises from all walks of the knife community. (Though they still have fun with their ridiculous videos.)

This year proves to be another promising one for the Ventura-based knife brand. We should also expect more to be released in the coming months.

Here are just some of the ones we’re most excited about. You can see all of them at the 2019 lineup page.

Cold Steel AD-15

I’m not going to beat about the bush and put the most exciting models at the end. By far the most intriguing new Cold Steel is the AD-15. This knife is based off of Andrew Demko’s AD-15. The Demko Knives version was a surprise hit that everyone seemed to love.

The highlight of the knife is the new Scorpion Lock that’s so simple yet so effective. It almost reminds me of the Strap Lock designed by the Hawks. This model will have a 3.5-inch S35VN blade and come in at a robust 6.5 ounces.

MSRP: $269.99

Cold Steel AD-10

Cold Steel also picked up a second design from Demko Knives in the AD-10. This model shares a lot of design cues with the fierce 4-Max (also designed by Demko) but it’s been toned down a bit. It has a 3.5-inch S35VN blade and G-10 handle scales.

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