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Featured Knives

Here are BLADE Magazine’s Featured Knives of the Week. Browse through these articles to find the best knives available from both custom knifemakers and factory knives.

Click here to browse through our list of Featured Knifemakers.

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CRKT And Hogue Announce New Knife-Making Partnership

BLADE Staff
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CRKT And Hogue Announce New Knife-Making Partnership

First Announced At SHOT Show 2023, CRKT And Hogue Knives Announced A New Manufacturing Partnership To Create The Next Generation Of CRKT Knives.

The collaboration between the brands launched at SHOT Show 2023 in Las Vegas with the release of two new American-made knives: the Definitive and LCBK. This new joint effort showcases CRKT’s eye for design, craftsmanship, and making purpose-driven products.

First announced at SHOT Show 2023, Columbia River Knife & Tool and Hogue Knives will join forces in a new manufacturing collaboration. The partnership blends the Oregon-based CRKT’s innovative and user-friendly ethos with Hogue’s long history of precision engineering and will focus on the next era of CRKT knives.

CRKT Definitive And LCBK

CRKT Definitive
The sleek CRKT Definitive has an MSRP of $215, the same as the LCBK.

The companies showcased their first two knives together at SHOT: the Definitive and LCBK. Both models are high-end folding EDC knives made from 154CM steel married to a G10 handle. Both are also among the first in the CRKT lineup to feature a crossbar lock, the ambidextrous, one-handed locking mechanism.

The Definitive is the bigger of the two knives with a 3.7-inch blade (vs a 3.48-inch blade on the LCBK), and it outweighs the LCBK 3 ounces to 2.8 ounces. The blade on the Definitive features a stonewashed finish while the LCBK has a bead blast finish.

Both knives have an MSRP of $215.

The Future Of The CRKT/Hogue Collaboration

LCBK knife
The LCBK has a bead blast finish and is a light 2.8 ounces.

These knives are meant to be the first launch in a long-term, wide-sweeping alliance between the two companies. Both have said they are excited to work together and learn from each other’s expertise.

“We’ve known the team at Hogue Knives for quite some time and their sterling reputation in the marketplace is well deserved,” said Doug Flagg, VP of Marketing & Innovation for CRKT. “As we looked towards partners in US manufacturing, they were an obvious fit in helping us develop top-notch American-made knives and we couldn’t be more pleased to be working with them.”

“This partnership with CRKT is a natural extension for our business,” said Jim Bruhns, President of Hogue Knives. “CRKT’s penchant for design and willingness to take risks and stand out fits right in with the ethos here at Hogue Knives and we’re excited for what the future holds for both brands.”

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SOG Tellus ATK: A Budget Outdoor Knife

Mike Ableson
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The New Tellus ATK From SOG Is Easy To Use And As Rugged As Can Be, And It Won’t Hit You Hard In The Wallet

Looking for an assisted-opening knife that won’t melt your wallet? SOG Knives might have you covered with its 2023 release–the Tellus ATK. The folder is marketed as an outdoor knife, making it a versatile EDC option. 

Interestingly, the Tellus is now the most affordable assisted-open knife SOG now offers. Previously, the Flare held this distinction–a button lock clip point that, at the time of writing, was pulled from the SOG assisted-open page.

Tellus ATK Blade

The blade on the Tellus ATK is made from Cryogenically treated 440C stainless steel. The cryogenic process brings the steel to its optimal hardness to resist wear to the corrosion-resistant steel. Overall, what has become a popular economy knife steel should prove hard enough to stand up to the abuses of outdoor and fairly impervious moisture. 

The clip-point blade comes in a stonewashed finish (a black oxide finish on the Squid Ink varietal), which–besides looking clean–hides scratches and nicks. The spine is thick at the handle and tapers to a fine tip. The small swedge adds to the taper. Furthermore, the blade features jimping on the spine to provide added grip, aiding in certain cutting tasks.

Add in a wide belly and a 3.5-inch length, and you get a multi-dimensional blade, strong enough to attack most jobs demanded of an EDC knife.

Additional Features

Sog Tellus ATK Squid Ink & Yellow
SOG Tellus ATK Squid Ink & Yellow

The knife comes in three colorways. The black & blaze orange is seen atop this article, and you can also purchase versions in olive drab & blaze orange as well as squid ink & yellow. All versions of the Tellus ATK feature a glass-reinforced nylon handle that is impact resistant and stable at high temperatures.

The one-handed nature of the knife is made even easier thanks to the assisted-opening mechanism that fires the blade open in a flash and keeps it securely in place. The Tellus ATK has two deployment options: a kick opener and a thumb stud. Both make it easy to open the knife in myriad situations and get to using it quickly. A frame lock keeps everything securely in place. 

At 4.5 ounces in weight, the piece isn’t too heavy, and it’s easy to carry in either pocket thanks to the reversible low-carry pocket clip. However, the real star of the show is the price with the knife boasting an MSRP of $40.

SOG Tellus ATK Specs

Overall Length: 7.4 inches

Closed Length: 4.8 inches

Blade Length: 3.5 inches

Blade Material: Cryo 440C

Handle Material: GRN

MSRP: $39.95

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Oknife Beagle Review: Does This Folder Pass Muster?

Msg Kim Breed (ret.)
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Oknife Beagle Review: Does This Folder Pass Muster?

High-Quality Folder Or Cheap Piece Of Metal? The Beagle From Oknife Gets Put Through Its Paces To Figure It Out.

The Beagle linerlock folder from Oknife feels good in the hand and rides quite well in a pants pocket. Action is very smooth with a positive lockup. When you close the knife, the detent ball grabs the harpoon-pattern blade securely. Balance is excellent. As for cutting performance, let’s see.

Edge Test

OKNIFE BEAGLE cutting bone
The Beagle whacked 22 times into the bone before breaking it. Afterward, the author detected a very small nick in the edge. Not bad at all!

First up: a check of the factory edge with a slice of 20-pound bond copy paper. Via a pull cut, the Beagle sliced very clean with no snagging. Cuts were controllable and smooth. 

Double-walled cardboard provided the next test medium. The blade cut neat and fluidly with a minimum of grab by the cardboard. The Beagle worked better using a push rather than a pull cut. I felt no snagging in the process. Control was a tad wobbly as more pressure was needed to part the thick cardboard.

Heavy-Duty Cutting With The Oknife Beagle

OKNIFE BEAGLE skiving leather
The folder made very fine slices and emitted a nice crunching sound during the skiving. The author used the blade belly mostly to keep the leather together instead of in a pile of pieces.

Plastic board was next. The Beagle cut effortlessly with hardly any wobble. The folder was controllable during the test with only a few zigs in the plastic board. I exerted medium pressure with a push cut.

I used quick, short push cuts in a strip of 8-ounce leather. The Beagle made extremely fine slices and emitted a nice crunching sound. It was very manageable during the skiving. I skived with the belly of the blade mostly to keep the leather together instead of in a pile of pieces.

Beagle Takes On Wood And Sisal Rope

OKNIFE BEAGLE cutting rope
Working on 3/8-inch sisal rope for the final medium, the edge made it to 98 clean crunching cuts. The author suffered no hotspots or pinches of his hand during all 98 cuts.

Grabbing some pine leftover from my fencing, I commenced to whittle. The 154CM stainless steel blade made some very nice curly-cues. It was controllable for the thin curly-cues and for the deeper bites, too. 

The handle felt good in my hand with no pinch spots during the heavier cuts. The Beagle finished four fire sticks with no issues. Whittling with it was a pleasure.

Next, the edge made it to 98 clean crunching cuts in 3/8-inch sisal rope. After that, the edge slowed down and crunching was not achieved throughout the full cut. My hand suffered no hotspots or pinches during all 98 cuts. The Beagle exhibits outstanding handle contouring.

Oknife Beagle Vs Bone

OKNIFE BEAGLE wood curly-qs
The 154CM stainless steel blade was manageable for the thin curly-cues and the deeper bites, too

For a possible destructive test, I clamped a piece of cow bone in the vise and slammed the edge into it repeatedly. The Beagle whacked 22 times into the bone before breaking it. I detected a very small nick by running a fingernail along the edge. Not bad at all!

Recommendations

I know that for production purposes the liners extend past the handle material. I prefer them to be flush. (Editor’s note: The action is very smooth and fast upon closing—so fast, in fact, take care when closing the blade one-handed that the edge does not nick the skin just below your thumbnail.)

Final Assessment Of The Oknife Beagle

The Beagle is a nice mid-size linerlock with a great handle and excellent edge retention. I would put this one in my pocket for daily carry anytime.

Oknife Beagle Knife Specs

BLADE LENGTH: 3.25 inches
BLADE STEEL: 154CM stainless
BLADE PATTERN: Harpoon
HANDLE: G-10
LOCK: Linerlock
LINERS: Stainless steel
WEIGHT: 3.25 ounces
CLOSED LENGTH: 4 ⅜ inches
EXTRAS: Includes a pouch w/fabric closure that contains a collector coin in a small pocket
MSRP: $79.95

More Knife Reviews

Kershaw Heist: An Ambidextrous EDC Option

Mike Ableson
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The Kershaw Heist Offers A Righty/Lefty-Friendly Option, Built Tough For Optimal EDC

Southpaws and righties can both rejoice! Kershaw has you covered with one of its newest additions to its extensive EDC lineup. Shake hands with the Heist.

While every knife—save examples like a traditional Nakiri—are ambidextrous sheerly by being a knife, Kershaw has tweaked the Heist to make it a bit more appealing to sinistral users. In particular, the knife’s bar lock with a release situated on both sides of the handle makes it a smidgen more user-friendly no matter the dominant hand.

Added to this, Kershaw has outfitted the Heist with a reversible deep-carry pocket clip, allowing for safe tip-up carry in any pants pocket, thus keeping it right at hand—left or right. Slightly protruding over the handle, the clip also puts the knife deep undercover when not in use, yet facilitates quick retrieval thanks to a flared end.

Kershaw Heist Blade

As to the makeup of the Kershaw Heist, the Oregon-based company appears to have put together a serious work tool. Sporting a 3.2-inch D2 steel blade, the knife should have respectable edge retention and excellent toughness—especially for a knife at its affordable price point. 

Furthermore, for tool steel, D2 has decent corrosion resistance, nice since Kershaw seems to aim it as a utilitarian option meant for hard use. But it’s still carbon steel at heart, thus requires maintenance to keep it in good shape and absolutely corrosion free. 

The blade has a clip-point profile with a long, wide belly, excellent for long slices. On this, the folder is outfitted with a decent-sized thumb stud. Little surprise here, as Kershaw has stayed true to the opening method, even as flippers have become more popular. And the company has applied a stonewash finish, which gives it a flat, blue-collar look that hides minor dings it’s sure to endure. 

Other Heist Features

The Heist boasts a glass-filled nylon handle, made to withstand a beating. Its Duralock opening system is outfitted with a brass washer, which aids in the knife’s fast and smooth opening. And if you need to tether the Heist to something or want to add a quick-retrieval lanyard, the handle comes with a lanyard hole.

Perhaps the Kershaw Heist’s most attractive asset is its price. With an MSRP $85, the knife falls within almost every buyer’s budget. And at this price point, it just begs for hard everyday use, without worrying about shedding tears if you happen to bust it up.

Kershaw Heist Specs

Overall Length: 7.6 inches

Blade Length: 3.2 inches

Blade Material: D2

Weight: 2.8 ounces

Handle Material: Glass-reinforced Nylon

MSRP: $67.99

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Case Marilla: A True Light Heavyweight

Msg Kim Breed (ret.)
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Case Marilla: A True Light Heavyweight

The BLADE Magazine 2021 American Made Knife Of The Year®, The Case Marilla More Than Pulls Its Weight.

The BLADE Magazine 2021 American Made Knife Of The Year®, the Marilla from W.R. Case & Sons is a drop-point-blade EDC folder made for slicing and fine work. Aluminum framelock construction and CPM S35VN stainless blade steel result in a lightweight folder that doesn’t weigh your pocket down.

The Marilla opens fluidly via a flipper and closes positively. I really like the fact that the knife does not interfere with your hand when you reach into your pocket. That said, the Marilla must slice and dice to be an effective EDC.

How Sharp Is The Case Marilla

First, I like to do a quick sharpness test with copy paper. In full blade-length slices, the Marilla zipped through the stationery smoothly and with nary a snag. I could have sliced faster if I could have moved my fingers faster. The edge cut in outstanding fashion!

Heavy Cutting With The Marilla

Next up: double-walled cardboard. I used a push cut for a full blade-length slice. The Marilla was very aggressive parting the medium. The handle shape was a plus in controlling cut widths. The minimum curl of the sliced pieces was great.

The Marilla bit very aggressively while skiving a scrap piece of 8-ounce leather. It was very controllable on the thinness of the slices.
The Marilla bit very aggressively while skiving a scrap piece of 8-ounce leather. It was very controllable on the thinness of the slices.

The Marilla bit very aggressively while skiving a scrap piece of 8-ounce leather. I could hear the crunching sound as the blade cut away. It was very controllable on the thinness of the slices and experienced no issues at all.

From there it was on to whittling firesticks. The edge made smooth cuts in the pine with a tight curl in the curly-cue. Thin curly-cues or thick, the Marilla kept the curls clean. The handle was very comfortable while making the deeper cuts, exhibiting no sharp edges in the wrong places to hurt my hand.

Marilla Edge Retention

To test edge holding, I like to use sisal rope. The Marilla crunched to 189 cuts before I felt the edge sliding a bit. Performance: excellent! The thumb notches helped in controlling the cuts. Again, the Marilla handle was comfortable even when I applied hard pressure to it.

Batonning The Marilla

To check the lock, I locked the knife open and batonned the blade into a piece of half-inch pine to make kindling. I hit the blade spine opposite the tip and middle and directly on top of the lock multiple times. The wood split with no problem and the lock stayed tight very well, maintaining 100 percent lockup throughout. There were no blade wobbles or looseness during opening, lockup or closing.

The final hurdle was the antler whack—wrist snapping the blade into an old whitetail deer horn to see if the edge would chip or roll. Thirty whacks later and the edge survived with no damage, indicating excellent heat treatment of the S35VN blade steel.
The final hurdle was the antler whack—wrist snapping the blade into an old whitetail deer horn to see if the edge would chip or roll. Thirty whacks later and the edge survived with no damage, indicating excellent heat treatment of the S35VN blade steel.

The final hurdle was the antler whack—wrist snapping the blade into an old whitetail deer horn to see if the edge would chip or roll. Thirty whacks later and the edge survived with no damage, indicating excellent heat treatment of the S35VN blade steel.

Report On The Case Marilla

The Marilla is an excellent EDC knife. It’s comfortable in the hand as well as the pocket. The blade stays sharp longer than most. It is a great choice for EDC.

I WOULD …

… prefer a hollow blade grind for keener slicing, though such a grind might compromise the blade steel.

As long as its knives are not abused, Case warrants them against defects. For more information, contact Case, attn: F. Feightner, Dept. BL2, 50 Owens Way, Bradford, PA 16701 800-523-6350 or 888-442-1932 [email protected], www.wrcase.com.

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First Look: Off-White/Victorinox Swiss Army Knife

Mike Ableson
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New Limited Edition Swiss Army Knife Comes As A Result Of A Collaboration Between Off-White And Victorinox.

The Italian-based premium lifestyle brand Off-White has collaborated with venerable Swiss knifemaker Victorinox to make a Swiss Army knife for the brand’s Equipment project done with Korean brand Post Archive Faction.

The knife is gorgeous thanks to the white Corian scales with black silhouettes of the tools included in the knife. The Corian material is a composite of acrylic and a mix of natural materials, the majority of which are derived from bauxite. The piece is modeled after the story of Adam and Eve, and the silhouettes of the tools can be positioned to look like the collaboration’s design motif which is a fig leaf.

The knife itself is a gem, and only 3,000 are being made. There are both small and large blades, two sizes of screwdriver, and a bottle opener among many other tools you’d expect to see on a SAK of this size.

The whole construction is just 2.9 ounces in weight, and it is packed with features big and small. However, get ready to pay big for this knife due to its small production run.

Off-White ℅ Victorinox Knife Specs

Length: 3.7 inches

Height: .7 inches

Width: 1.6 inches

Weight: 2.9 ounces

Tools: Reamer, punch, and sewing awl, corkscrew, bottle opener, wood saw, large blade, 6mm screwdriver, can opener, wire stripper, 3mm screwdriver, small blade, key ring

Handle Material: Corian

MSRP: $500

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First Look: Gerber Center-Drive Rescue

Mike Ableson
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The Center-Drive Rescue Is An Exciting, New Multi-Tool From Gerber. With 14 Tools, the CDR Is As Feature-Packed As It Gets.

Fun new toys should truly be fun, and the new Center-Drive Rescue from Gerber is as exciting as it gets for a multi-tool today. The CDR is packed tight with 14 tools ranging from a set of spring-loaded needlenose pliers to a file. One of the showpiece tools is the screwdriver with more than a dozen magnetic bits included when you buy the CDR.

There’s an included sheath as part of the package, and you can choose which one is best for you. You have the choice of a MOLLE-compatible sheath or a Berry-compliant sheath so you’ll be able to customize the CDR to fit your needs.

If there is a knock on the CDR it’s that it has been designed solely for the jobsite or campground. While many other multi-tools feature tools meant for the home like a nail file, tweezers, or toothpick, the CDR has been packed with tools to help you get your job done faster.

Overall, this is a well-constructed multi-tool that can take a beating and be your trusty sidekick for decades to come.

Center-Drive Rescue Tool Specs

Open Length: 6.6 inches

Closed Length: 4.7 inches

Weight: 9.5 ounces

Cutting Tools: Strap Cutter, Rotatable Carbide Wire Cutters & Strippers, 2.5-inch Partially Serrated Blade

Other Tools: Awl, File, Spring-Loaded Needlenose Pliers With X-Channel Rail System, Magnetic 3.2-inch Center-Axis Bit Driver, Pry Bar With Nail Puller & Bottle Opener, Magnetic Flathead & Phillips Bits, Bit Set

MSRP: $145

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