Civivi Cogent Review: How Versatile Is This Flipper?

The Cogent Flipper Folder From Civivi Is Ready To Cut Through Pretty Much Anything

The Cogent button-lock folder from Civivi is well put together. It has a great feel and a classy blackened stainless steel damascus blade. 

Civivi uses 10Cr15CoMoV and 9Cr18MoV stainless steels in the damascus mix. The blade has a full flat grind designed to slim the edge geometry down for efficient slicing.

Testing The Civivi Cogent

First up on the test agenda: 20-pound bond copy paper. The Cogent zipped through it without hesitation. The blade was super smooth during slicing. I used a push cut for a full slice. The knife most definitely has a fine edge.

Staying with a push cut, I used the Cogent to effortlessly slice single-walled cardboard to shreds. The edge never stalled in dispatching the medium. Man, this thing is wicked sharp! There was no twisting of cuts, just straight slices. In fact, it sliced so quickly I had to really watch my fingers to avoid cutting them.

I took it up a notch by slicing plastic board. It was like there was no variation at all in the speed and control of cutting. The only difference was the absence of the zipping noise emitted by the cutting of the cardboard. It was nice, quiet slicing with no hang ups.

There was some 6-ounce leather on the bench for skiving. I decided to slice just a part of it up first. Talk about aggressive cutting! I could easily hear the crunching from every skive. The Cogent sounded like it was actually taking a bite out of the leather—which I guess it was. I did some skiving on another piece of leather with similar results. This knife is a wicked sharp cutter.

Wood & Rope

It was time for some firestick making. Utilizing the fine edge, I whittled some curly-cues in a pine stick. I did some very fine curly-cues and some thicker ones. The Cogent was excellent controlling curly-cue thickness. The thumb notches were very comfortable during the deeper bites. The handle was quite comfy.

For some splitting action to test the lockup, I batonned the Cogent into a half-inch-thick board. It split the wood very quickly with no smears on the blade. The button lock stayed at 100 percent lockup. No wiggle here!

The last challenge was the 3/8-inch sisal rope. The Cogent worked its way to 214 crunching cuts before I got tired. The edge would still shave hair from my arm*. The blade boasts excellent heat treatment. I didn’t find one hot spot on the handle and the knife was very comfortable for heavy cutting.

Civivi Cogent: Final Thoughts

I would carry this knife every day. It holds a sharp edge longer than most. The second-best thing is the comfortable handle. It is made for using. The Cogent is an excellent folder. I’d maybe add more handle color options. I love everything else.

*Editor’s note: BLADE® does not recommend shaving arm hair to test blade cutting ability. It can result in injury or worse.

Civivi Cogent Knife Specs

Blade length: 3.47”
Blade material: Blackened stainless damascus
Blade thickness at the thickest: 1/8 of an inch at ricasso and tapers to the tip
Rockwell hardness: 58-60 HRC
Handle: Green Micarta®
Liners: Stainless steel
Opening: Flipper
Lock: Manual button lock
Knife to know: Open-handle construction for easy cleaning; handle textured; thumb notches on base of blade spine
Country of origin: China
Weight: 4 ounces
Closed length: 4.25 inches
MSRP: $115

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