BLADE Magazine

Collaboration Knives That Cut To The Quick

Spyderco Drunken

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Designers and companies join forces to help consumers win with these knife collaborations.

A collaboration knife is produced when a designer or knifemaker partners up with a knife company to produce a particular knife. And more often times than not, such models offer the best of both worlds. Designers able to focus purely on designing and not confined to the limits of their shop can shoot for the stars. While companies take the reigns of producing the knife to exacting specs and usually at a buyer’s price. In the end, the knife consumer wins. Here is a handful of the latest collaboration drops certain to get knife aficionados juices flowing.

Harlock Mini / Boker Plus

A blade only .11 inch at the thickest helps the Boker Plus Harlock Mini tip the scales at a scant 2.19 ounces. At about 2.87 inches closed and with a lean, sexy pocket clip, the Harlock Mini is made for executive wear. It comes with a nylon pouch.

If you’re looking for an elegant knife present for that special someone, you could do a lot worse than gift him or her the Boker Plus Harlock Mini designed by custom knifemaker Darriel Caston.

Designer: Darriel Caston
Knife type: Push-button automatic
Blade length: 2.05”
Blade steel: Black-coated 154 CM stainless
Blade grind: Convex
Handle material: Black-coated aluminum
Hardware: Brass
Knife to Know: A latching slide lock locks the blade closed and prevents accidental release
Closed length: 2.87”
Carry: Pocket clip and nylon pouch
Country of origin: USA
MSRP: $146


A.P.C. (Always. Pocket. Carry.) / CRKT

The A.P.C. is a two-hand opener, with the blade deploying via a traditional nail nick. The Fat Carbon Dark Matter handle material is strong and lightweight.

Unlike traditional slip joints, Steigerwalt’s new slip joint design for CRKT does not have a standard steel backspring. Instead, the slip joint springs from the liners and connects the liner springs with a hardened steel block that contacts the heel of the blade, eliminating the need for the backspring. Among other advantages, this reduces a fair amount of the weight a backspring would add, there is more space inside the handle to hold a wider blade, the position of the blade pivot pin can be changed and more.

Designer: Ken Steigerwalt
Knife type: Slip joint
Blade length: 2.88”
Blade steel: Bohler M390 stainless
Rockwell hardness: 59-61 HRC
Blade grind: Flat
Handle material: Fat Carbon Dark Matter
Weight: 1.7 ozs.
Closed length: 3.72”
Country of origin: Taiwan
MSRP: $175


The Sicilian / Fox Knives

The Sicilian is a reinterpretation of Fox’s model FX-525, and the name pays homage to the Sicilian roots of Bob Terzuola’s family. Changes from the FX-525 include the BECUT stainless blade steel, the OD green canvas Micarta® handle and the wire pocket clip.

According to Fox’s Athena Greta Barbieri, “Bob Terzuola conceived the Sicilian taking inspiration from traditional knives used by ordinary people for everyday activities such as eating or working in the fields. The idea for this knife evokes images of landscapes warmed by the Sicilian sun and simple meals eaten among olive trees and vineyards.”

Designer: BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame® member Bob Terzuola
Knife type: EDC folder
Blade length: 3.35”
Blade steel: BECUT stainless
Rockwell hardness: 58-60 HRC
Blade @ thickest: .12”
Blade finish: Stonewashed
Blade opener: Disc
Handle material: OD green canvas Micarta®
Spacer: Aluminum anodized orange
Pocket clip: Wire
Lock: Linerlock
Weight: 3.53 ozs.
Closed length: 4.52”
Country of origin: Italy
MSRP: $164


Prohen XR / SOG

The extremely strong G-10 handle is micro-textured for a secure, comfortable grip in wet or slippery conditions.

Designed by custom knifemaker Mikkel Willumsen for SOG, the beefy Prohen XR flipper folder is a mix of curves and angles that features the XR Lock, a sliding transverse bar that locks the blade in place and promotes ambidextrous one-hand operation.

Designer: Mikkel Willumsen
Knife type: Flipper folder
Blade length: 3.4”
Blade material: Cryo D2 tool steel
Blade @ thickest: .157”
Blade grind: Flat
Blade pattern: Drop point
Blade finish: TiNi
Blade opener: Flipper tab or thumb hole
Handle: G-10
Pocket clip: Reversible, low carry
Lock: XR Lock
Knife to know: The XR Lock can withstand 1,500 lbs. of force
Weight: 5.6 ozs.
Closed length: 4.8”
Country of origin: China
MSRP: $70


Dmitry Sinkevich / Spyderco

Drunken / Spyderco

The Spyderco knife’s handle includes a titanium scale on one side and a solid carbon fiber scale and nested stainless steel liner on the other. The titanium scale is “webbed” to reduce weight and forms the basis for the knife’s Reeve Integral Lock (R.I.L.) mechanism, which includes a long-wearing stainless steel interface. Both scales are meticulously machined with the intricate “drunken” texture that gives the knife its name, and are accented by a matching color-anodized backspacer, pivot assembly, and right-side, tip-up pocket clip.

Designer: Dmitry Sinkevich
Blade length: 3.45”
Blade steel: CPM S90V stainless
Blade grind: Full-flat
Blade @ thickest: .138”
Blade finish: Tumbled
Handle: Carbon fiber/ titanium
Pocket clip: Right-handed, blade tip up
Lock: R.I.L. (Reeve Integral Lock)
Weight: 3.8 ozs.
Closed length: 4.61”
Country of origin: Taiwan
MSRP: $770

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