Named at this past weekend’s 2012 BLADE Show (www.bladeshow.com) at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, Georgia, the Blade Magazine 2012 Knife-Of-The-Year® Awards went to the finest production knives the world has to offer.
KAI USA and its knife divisions of Kershaw, Zero Tolerance and Shun dominated the awards, taking home four of the honors: Overall, Best Buy, Knife Collaboration and Kitchen Knife. DPx Gear was a first-time winner, and Chris Reeve Knives and William Henry Studio continued their long-term dominance in the respective categories of Manufacturing Quality and Investor/Collector Knife. Other winners included Microtech, Columbia River Knife & Tool, Spyderco and Wicked Edge. Knife Rights and the American Knife & Tool Institute each won Industry Achievement Awards for their diligence in working to have pro-knife legislation passed in a number of states this year.
The winners by category:
Blade Magazine 2012 Overall Knife Of The Year®: ZT 0888 by Zero Tolerance/KAI USA (pictured at top)
Blade Magazine 2012 American-Made Knife Of The Year®: Socom Delta by Microtech
Blade Magazine 2012 Imported Knife Of The Year®: Onion Foresight by Columbia River Knife & Tool
Blade Magazine 2012 Most Innovative American Design®: Autonomy by Spyderco
Blade Magazine 2012 Most Innovative Imported Design®: DPx HEST T3
Blade Magazine 2012 Manufacturing Quality Award: Chris Reeve Knives
Blade Magazine 2012 Best Buy Of The Year®: Cryo by Kershaw/KAI USA
Blade Magazine 2012 Knife Collaboration Of The Year®: ZT 0600, a collaboration between Zero Tolerance/KAI USA and R.J. Martin
Blade Magazine 2012 Investor/Collector Knife Of The Year®: B12 Freedom by William Henry Studio
Blade Magazine 2012 Kitchen Knife Of The Year®: Taiyo by Shun/KAI USA
Blade Magazine 2012 Accessory Of The Year®: Precision Sharpener Pro-Dash II by Wicked Edge
Blade Magazine 2012 Industry Achievement Awards®: Knife Rights and American Knife & Tool Institute
For the complete story on the winners and the knives, see the November BLADE®.
Read About Previous Winners in BLADE Magazine Back Issue Bundle
Read all about previous Knife-Of-The-Year® winners in the History of BLADE Magazine bundle. It contains DVD-ROMs for your computer to read all BLADE issues from 1973 to 2008.
Click to order this digital BLADE back issue bundle for just $60 (normally $100).
NEXT STEP: Download Your Free KNIFE GUIDE Issue of BLADE Magazine
BLADE’s annual Knife Guide Issue features the newest knives and sharpeners, plus knife and axe reviews, knife sheaths, kit knives and a Knife Industry Directory.Get your FREE digital PDF instant download of the annual Knife Guide. No, really! We will email it to you right now when you subscribe to the BLADE email newsletter.