The ‘Maker Knife’ Launches on Kickstarter

There is a time and place for utility knives — those knives that use replaceable box cutter blades.

They’re cheap, easy to use, replaceable, and work well on simple tasks like cutting open boxes. The only problem is that the containers for most utility knives are pretty bad.

Enter the Maker Knife.

The Maker Knife is an everyday carry tool made for utility knives that’s designed to be carried and used almost like any ordinary pocket knife. The design was launched on crowdfunding site Kickstarter on June 9 with a goal of about $11,000 (translated from euros). Not only did it reach its goal on the first day, but it is currently funded at more than $105,000 by more than 1,400 backers.

That’s impressive.

The Maker Knife started brewing about two years ago when Giacomo Di Muro — known for his awesome YouTube channel Giaco Whatever — got a utility knife. He used it every day, but its design was bulky and not meant for EDC. One day he was visiting with designer David Windestål. After talking about the lack of good utility knives, the two decided to make their own.

The result is the Maker Knife — a tool designed to be used by “makers” and artists.

The core is made from stainless steel while the case is made from aluminum to keep it durable and lightweight. When closed, it is 108 mm (or 4.25 inches). When open with a blade, it is 140mm (5.5 inches). It is only 0.3 inches thin with flat edges that make it easy to use for projects. It weighs about 2.2 ounces.

One of the cool parts of the knife is the opening mechanism. It uses a spring that allows the user to slide the knife open from the handle but not to be closed from pressure against the blade. The spring is also adjustable.

Here’s more:

You see the Maker Knife is adjustable. You can choose from a range of “almost impossible to open” to “wrist flick to open”. Both offer great holding strength while retracted (no worrying about it opening in your pocket), and you can tune it to feel just the way you want it to feel.

It has a reversible pocket clip that can be taken off for simplicity.

One of my favorite parts about this project is the marketing. The video highlights the fact that it doesn’t open bottles — a dig at all those other knives that always manage to stick a bottle opener somewhere on the tool to squeeze what it can out of the design. I agree that not every tool (if any) needs a bottle opener.

Here’s what it’ll cost you.

• About $46 gets you the knife in black or silver with a pocket clip.
• About $64 gets you the knife and three ceramic blades.
• About $92 gets you two knives in black or silver with pocket clips.

Is the price a bit steep? I mean, you could get the adequate Gerber EAB Lite for about $15. Although the Maker Knife looks more thought-out and features a better design and construction (the ergonomics look a bit questionable). I always like supporting independent makers, so the price is up to you.

The project ends around July 12 with an estimated delivery around October 2018. This is the team’s first Kickstarter project, so beware of possible holdups.