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
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
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.”
Few Blades Are As Historic As The Bayonet. The Knife Has Evolved Into An All-Rounder Still Issued By The Marines.
Oddly enough, the history of the bayonet likely began in the hunting field, not the battlefield. By at least one account, the edged weapon was a tool of the French boar hunter in the 1500s. Tusks and a bad attitude, it’s understandable why these gents strapped their hunting knives to the muzzles of their muskets.
Soon after some enterprising soldier figured the invention–in original French baïonnette–might prove useful in warfare, and the iconic edged weapon was off to the races for the next four centuries. Presently, bayonets have essentially become military relics, if employed generally only as a training tool to acclimate soldiers to close-quarters combat.
Despite this, these fairly antiquated edged weapons still stir the imagination of military heroics of yore. Not to mention, in nearly all their versions, bayonets remain one of the coolest and most accessible historic edged weapons to collect.
In the article, we’ll look at some of the major styles of these modified edged tools, how the implement has evolved and who actually continues to make them. So gird your loins, we’re charging forward on bayonets.
Major Bayonet Styles
A bayonet is so much more than just that. There were, and still are, several different designs of the implement, most mirroring the technology and ethos of war fighting of its particular era.
Plug Bayonet
The plug bayonet is the earliest known bayonet and dates back to the 1500s or 1600s. The idea is rather simple. if you couldn’t use your gun to shoot or simply don’t have time to reload you turned to the knife. In this case, typically a double-edged dagger with a rounded handle that affixed the implatment directly in the muzzle of a musket barrel.
These earliest bayonets were really fully-fledged daggers in their own right. They lacked a proper pommel as can be imagined, but they could be used exactly like any other dagger. Most in this era were used in a manner of last resort. If a soldier found himself out of ammunition or facing a fast-moving enemy, he would likely want to put in his bayonet and hope for the best.
The bayonet at this time was the product of changing warfare. While firearms were becoming more prevalent on the battlefield, they were slow to load. Additionally, the close-quarters combat of the medieval era still reigned supreme. In turn, soldiers required an option to hold off infantry and cavalry charges once their one shot was spent.
Offset (Socket) Bayonet
While it may surprise some, the classic socket bayonet most think of during the flintlock era of warfare was not in full use by 1700. Attempts had been made prior to developing an offset bayonet allowing the soldier to load and fire with it attached. But it wasn’t until several critical battles in the late 1600s that evolution took hold. In particular, the battle of Killiecrankie in 1689. HereScottish Protestant forces were thoroughly defeated by Jacobite Scottish Highlanders, who charged and destroyed their enemy with broadswords and targes.
This defeat came in part due to the plug bayonets the Protestants utilized. In what would be a rather ironic turn, the Scottish Jacobites would eventually meet their end and the end of their cause at the tip of the bayonet. Outfitted with socket bayonets at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, the British were able to let loose a point-blank volley on the charging Highlanders, then finish the rest with their bayonets. The British had even devised tactical doctrine for the use of the weapon, training to a charging man to their side, instead of in front to strike beneath his raised sword arm.
History Of The American Bayonet
The M7 is a legendary American bayonet that is still manufactured today.
Americans were somewhat slow to adopt the bayonet in warfare, giving the British somewhat an edge in the early days of the Revolutionary War. Of course deadly in charges, attached to the British Pattern 1769 Short Land musket–or Brown Bess–the implement also was somewhat a psychological weapon. Said to be the most feared weapon of the British arsenal, the Red Coats mass assaults with a long, gleaming triangular knife at the end of their muskets made all but the most disciplined break.
The Continental Army proved a quick study once trained with the bayonet by Maj. Gen. Baron von Steuben at Valley Forge in 1773. By the end of the war, there were even strokes of genius with the American use of the bayonet, such as when American Lt. Col. Alexander Hamilton (also the first Secretary of the Treasury) led a bayonet-only assault on redoubt 10 during the last days of the Battle of Yorktown.
Early on, the Continental Army utilized a triangular socket bayonet similar to the British, however on the French Charleville Musket. But its use spread and the wicked device was eventually found on the Brown Bess–the most used arm of the Continental Army.
The bayonets in American service were standard European-style socket-mounted with triangular blades. This remains so through several iterations, including the Harper’s Ferry 1801 pattern, 1807 and 1810 Springfield patterns, M1816, and M1855.
The M1855 served through the Civil War, where it saw extensive use on the Springfield rifle muskets. The .58 caliber rifle muskets loaded the same way as old muskets and could fire quickly and were very accurate and had substantial range. The bullets used in these guns had a hollow base that expanded into the rifling when it was fired, thus imparting spin. The war was devastating, and there were many bayonet charges, most with mixed results and high casualties.
More accurate firearms and the introduction of repeating arms mitigated the effectiveness of the bayonet during the Civil War. It is estimated, only around 1 percent of all casualties were a result of bayonet wounds.
Sword Bayonet
Pattern 1907 Bayonet. (Source: CC by 4.0)
Despite the effectiveness of “cold steel” assaults waning in the face of technological advancement, the bayonet persisted, though evolved to remain relevant.
A more interesting detour around the time of the American Civil War, was the multi-purpose sword bayonet used by the British. The British Infantry Rifle of 1800–1840–later known as the Baker Rifle–utilized this style. The idea, essentially, was to give soldiers the ability to stave off cavalry charges when used as a bayonet, but also outfit them with a side arm–a short sword–for close-quarters combat. These sword bayonets had knife handles mated to exceedingly long blades, sometimes over 20 inches.
Surprisingly, this style of bayonet was used all the way into World War I, despite little evidence the elongated blade provided any advantage. Perhaps the most famous final rendition was the Pattern 1907 Sword Bayonet, found on the British Short Magazine Lee Enfield rifle in the Great War.
The American bayonets of the pre-WW1 era were a bit more well-designed. The bayonet designed for the American Krag rifle (the M1892), for example, had an 11.7-inch blade and could serve as a camp tool as well for daily chores. The Americans ended up following the Europeans’ lead in World War I a bit with the M1905 bayonet, which sported a 16-inch blade. Additionally, there were 17-inch versions used on the trench shotguns and backup rifles like the M1917 Enfield.
Knife Bayonet
The M9 bayonet works as a traditional bayonet but is more commonly used as a fighting/camp knife.
After WWI, most militaries of the world focused on making the bayonet in the form of a camp knife, something that was worth it to carry for general use that had more than one regular use. The time leading to WW2 produced the highly functional and realistically-sized M1 bayonet for the M1 rifle. The M1 carbine was also set up to use one, and it had its own small setup in the M4 bayonet knife. These knife-style bayonets eventually ran through several iterations leading up to the M7 bayonet for the M16 rifle in the late 1950s.
As a regular tool, the knife bayonet is great and doesn’t remove any of the function in either role. It can be used for all sorts of tasks and also be mounted on the gun. The later M9 became a full-on utility and fighting knife for the M16 series. It is a large, Bowie-style knife that closely resembles the Ka-Bar. It added some additional utility features like serrations for cutting straps and rope and a wire cutter. Later on, the OKC-3S knife bayonet was adopted by the USMC. These remain standard today.
Bayonet Realities
The reality of the bayonet is that it is not a principle fighting weapon. Today we are seeing most rifles fitted with a mountain of accessories, from variable power optics, lasers, suppressors, and bipods.
The bayonet has, for most of its history, been a weapon of intimidation. Very few times did any two armies charge each other with bayonets, usually one side fled first. Even in our modern era there have been bayonet charges, but again to no effect other than to scatter the enemy.
Edged weapons do have a role in modern warfare; everyone needs a good knife at minimum. If your rifle has no provision to attach one or you’re using a suppressor, there is no real need to carry a bayonet specifically as opposed to a dedicated knife that serves your purposes.
Bayonets will always be a curiosity not because of how they were used, but rather why they were used well beyond their abilities. While it is certainly a dangerous thing and absolutely lethal, getting that close to your enemies means you’re having an exceedingly bad day. But, as history has shown, a man with a sharp stick and nothing to lose can sometimes win the day.
BLADE Show West 2022 Was A Smashing Success In Its New Home Of Salt Lake City.
So you’re having BLADE Show West in Salt Lake City,” the man began, interjecting a pregnant pause before continuing. “In Utah? Isn’t that kind of a gamble?”
Of course, any change in a knife show venue is a gamble, and so it was with the switch of BLADE Show West from Long Beach, California, in 2021 to Salt Lake City this past October. But the gamble paid off as BLADE Show West ’22 in the plush Salt Palace Convention Center met with banner reviews.
Makers Loved BLADE Show West
Grant (left) and Gavin (right) Hawk of Hawk Knives were two of the many makers displaying their knives in Salt Lake City.
The main concerns of any knife show—attendance, the venue and easy accessibility both to it and to the surrounding hotels and restaurants, and, most importantly, the number of knife buyers and how many knives they bought—were all addressed in fine fashion. The fact that the weather was sunny and in the 70s on a beautiful fall weekend didn’t hurt, either.
“The show surpassed our expectations,” observed Spyderco’s Joyce Laituri. “Not knowing what to expect in Salt Lake City, we were amazed.”
“The crowd was way more than I expected,” echoed BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame® member Bill Ruple. “I’d say it was close to BLADE Show Texas this past March in terms of attendance.” And those numbers were very good.
“It was extremely busy,” wrote knifemaker Mike Tyre. “Both days were non-stop people.” Chimed in knifemaker Duane Dwyer, “The show was full for both days and that’s all we as exhibitors can possibly ask for. I had a great show and met a good group of new people.”
“Numbers seemed good for the venue size,” wrote knifemaker Princeton Wong. “The traffic stopping by [our] table was more consistent than even at the BLADE Show in Atlanta.”
Not only knives but bodaciously long swords had show-goers agog in Utah.
As for the all-important issue of knife sales, a goodly number of makers came away very pleased.
“Sales were great. I sold all my high-end fixed blades and several folders,” wrote Tyre. “There were a lot of serious buyers at the show.”
“Most everyone I talked to had really good sales,” Ruple stated. “I saw a lot of the same buyers but also sold to some local folks. I took 10 knives and sold all of them.”
Knifemaker Tim Robertson said he brought seven knives and sold six. “We brought 11 knives,” ABS master smith Steven Koster wrote. “I only sold four but they were in the medium price range, and took two orders: one fixed blade and one folder.”
Wong indicated there seemed to be plenty of buyers for the custom folder and balisong markets, and he did a healthy business with some knife purveyors in attendance. “I had dealers requesting between five and 100 pieces,” he observed, “and had approximately 10 buyers from the show waiting on book spots.”
The Salt Palace Was A Star
The factory booth section was a beehive of activity.
As for the venue and the accessibility to it and nearby hotels and restaurants, the Salt Palace Convention Center met with high marks from almost everyone.
“The venue was excellent. My hotel was really upscale with great parking and a free breakfast that was good,” Tyre noted. “The show was a short walk across the street. The convention center was a great place.”
“The venue was good, we liked it and the city was good, also,” Koster observed. “The hotel and food were very convenient and easy to get to.” Added Wong, “The show venue was nice and easy to access. It’s relatively close to hotels and the weather was good for the short walk. We had surprisingly great meals.”
Awards & Seminars
In the seminar Let the Pros Critique Your Knife, from left, Steve Schwarzer, Lucas Burnley, Bill Ruple, Enrique Pena, and Will Stelter explained to show attendees what they did and did not like about attendees’ knives submitted for their inspection, and how to improve them.
Some outstanding knives won awards in both the factory and custom knife judging competitions*. Highlights in the custom category included Trevor Morgan winning both Best in Show and Best Kitchen Knife for his damascus chef’s knife and Shayne Carter taking home Best Hunter and Best Bowie.
WE Knives was the big winner in the factory judging, capturing Best Folder and Best in Show for the Peter Carey Nitro Mini and Best EDC for the Shakan. All of the winners were announced and presented trophies at the show’s After Party sponsored by Black Rifle Coffee at the company’s facility Friday night.
The show hosted a state-of-the-art slate of seminars, among others including 3D Printing for Canister Patterns conducted by ABS master smith Steve Schwarzer and Ron Hardman, Let the Pros Critique Your Knife with Schwarzer, Enrique Pena, Bill Ruple, Will Stelter and Lucas Burnley, and the 3rd Annual West Coast Flipping Championships hosted by Squid Industries.
BLADE Show West 2023
Next year’s show will return to the Salt Palace Convention Center Oct. 13-14. Plan to attend now. Many already have. “We’re in for the next two years,” Spyderco’s Joyce Laituri wrote, “and our employees are already arguing over who gets to work the show next year.”
For more information on BLADE Show West ’23, visit bladeshowwest.com or email [email protected]. For more on BLADE Show Texas ’23, visit bladeshowtexas.com, and for more on BLADE Show ’23 visit bladeshow.com.
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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.
Are these the best American knives? Maybe, maybe not. One thing is for sure, these are some of the blades folk most associated most closely with the good ol’ USA.
If the knife isn’t man’s oldest tool, it’s probably a close second. It has been around in some form since time began. Styles, looks, form and function have steadily evolved, and even though the basics of a particular type may have originated somewhere else, there are those that are associated most closely with the good ol’ USA.
These are knife styles that the buying public, the collector, the factory, and the custom maker would probably associate with the United States more closely than any other country.
“You have to start with the time period when knives actually became ‘American,’” explained BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall of Fame® member Bruce Voyles. “From the first settlers, the Spanish in Florida or the Vikings, every knife they brought to this country was made and came from somewhere else.”
American Designs Come Into Their Own
Voyles points to the truly American knife and says that the history of the country allows for a nod to the J. Russell Green River Works in the 1830s—the mountain man period when skinning knives were pretty much an enhanced version of the butcher knife—the epic sandbar fight that brought the bowie knife to the forefront, George Schrade and the introduction of the switchblade, and other examples of knives that are associated with America.
“Everything changed, and the cutlery world was turned on its ear when Jim Bowie got into a duel and that turned into a melee in 1827,” Voyles commented. “This happened across the river from Natchez, Mississippi, and you didn’t have good roads in those days. The rivers were the highways and when this happens, soon the story is heard in other river cities—New Orleans, Memphis, St. Louis and Cincinnati. Everybody hears this amazing story. Everybody wants a knife like Jim Bowie used, Bowie’s knife and then the bowie knife.”
Voyles related the story of George Schrade and the New York City patent office. “A guy comes in with something that looks like an automatic,” Bruce smiled. “George Schrade tinkers with it and invents the switchblade knife. He is the one that made it a production knife that people could afford. There were others around, but he got the patent on that style knife. Schrade kept tinkering with it, and he brought his brothers in and started Schrade Cutlery Company to produce George Schrade’s switchblades. So, now the modern American switchblade is truly an American knife, though the government banned it in 1958.”
In addition to his participating in the famous Sandbar Fight after which his knife became a sensation on both sides of the Atlantic, Jim Bowie also fought and died in the Battle of the Alamo.
There is, of course, with every innovation in cutlery or other endeavors, a ripple effect. And Schrade Cutlery is a great example as its knife production expanded and the brand became one of the most recognized in the world.
While folding hunters have been out there seemingly forever, Voyles categorically asserts that the Buck 110, which took the knife world by storm almost 60 years ago, is an American knife that deserves to be categorized all by itself.
“Nothing else looked like that knife when Al Buck made it,” Voyles reasoned. “The other lockback folding hunters looked like pocketknives, but I defy you to show me a look like the Buck 110 that existed any earlier. It’s an American style of its own because everybody copied it. The Buck 110 had different construction and sturdiness, and it was so distinctly different that everybody else copied it. The design was so different, and that is attested to by the number of people who copied it.”
According to Bruce Voyles, when Al Buck made the Buck 110 in the mid-1960s, nothing else looked quite like it.
Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer Dan Delavan of plazacutlery.com adds, “Americans have introduced a lot of different blades in the past, including the bowie, KA-BAR combat knife, the hollow-handle survival knife, as well as the basic Boy Scout knife. Each knife served a very basic function, from war to camp and basic scouting activities.
“I think the Spyderco hole is all American,” Delavan opined. “Sal and Gail Glesser came into my shop [the old Plaza Cutlery retail knife store in Costa Mesa, California] back at the very beginning with their folder with the pocket clip and the hole in the blade. They were doing county fairs at that time with their sharpener and introducing their knives. We bought on the spot and have been a lifelong dealer ever since. That has led to a lot of different openings for folders and remains a mainstay in the industry.”
While many may think serrations when they think Spyderco—and they would be correct—the most significant Spyderco innovations are the hole in the blade and the pocket clip. The Worker was the first Spyderco knife with those features, and it was reproduced in 2017 as seen here in one of the company’s sprint production runs.
Quintessential American Knives
Bowie
Historical or modern, vintage or recent, knives with that American flair are identifiable and recognized at home and abroad. Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer Goldie Russell of A.G. Russell Knives sees the bowie as iconic.
“The bowie knife is the quintessential American knife,” she noted. “It is believed that the first was made for Jim Bowie in the blacksmith shop of James Black* in south Arkansas. [Bowie knives] became so popular that they were manufactured by Sheffield cutlery factories for the American market.”
Fixed Blade Hunting Knives
Russell goes on to raise the work of Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer Bob Loveless and his fixed-blade hunting knives to the top as well. “Bob Loveless forever changed the style of the hunting knife with his drop-point, semi-skinner and utility blade shapes, with the drop-point hunter being the most popular,” she continued. “The influence these knives have had on the world knife market includes not just the blade shapes, but also the shaping of the handles to better fit the hand. These models have clearly influenced the shapes, look and feel of knives made by generations of knifemakers, and will continue to do so for decades to come.”
Bill Moran’s Mark
Bill Moran’s statuesque ST-24 not only paved the way for knives of carbon damascus in the 1970s and beyond, but subsequent models in mosaic and stainless damascus as well. (Dave Ellis image)
Also influencing generations of knifemakers were the many camp knives, bowies, fighters and other fixed blades forged from the damascus steel reintroduced by Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer Bill Moran in the early 1970s. Moran’s damascus knives set the stage not only for a plethora of standard carbon damascus knives but also later for stainless damascus and mosaic damascus knives.
Multi-Tool
Tim Leatherman holds the multi-tool that started it all: the original Leatherman tool, the PST (Pocket Survival Tool).
Then, there are the variations on a theme. The multi-tool, for some a knife and for others something totally separate, has nonetheless influenced the cutlery market and is among those chiefly American styles.
“Tim Leatherman’s inspiration in the design of the first Leatherman tool created an entire category in the world of knives,” Goldie Russell explained, “but also in the tool industry. Most construction workers, farmers, carpenters, forestry workers and many other segments of our society carry a multi-tool every day. Those who are not carrying one will usually have one in their toolbox.”
American Knife Innovation
Linerlock
Inventiveness, in itself, is not uniquely American. However, at times the original has the potential for improvement, and just as Schrade improved the switchblade, Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer Michael Walker revolutionized what would become the linerlock.
Cattaraugus made a pocketknife with a brass spring/lever that helped prop the blade in the open position. “Walker changed the design so that when the lever locked it kept the long, clean lines of the knife,” Voyles observed. “The bottom side of the blade is blocked, and the big bump there has got something to hold onto. Walker’s lock does not block the bottom of the blade. It blocks the butt end of the tang. Michael didn’t patent it†, and every major manufacturer in the world has knocked it off. Nobody thought it would have such an impact. However, any knife with a locking liner is an American knife because it was an American innovation that did it.”
Russell echoes the sentiment that Walker’s linerlock was revolutionary and an American innovation. “Michael Walker’s genius of replacing the slip-joint spring with the ball detent spawned the entire generation of modern EDC knives,” she added. “His innovation allowed a portion of the liner to be utilized as a locking device. The idea caught on quickly with handmade knifemakers and has now become an integral part of the manufacturing process for almost every manufacturer of knives. This method of creating a locking folder has made knifemaking much simpler, with much less skill necessary to make an excellent functioning knife.”
Tactical Folder
One result of Kit Carson’s popularization of the flipper folder is his long-running series of M16 flipper folders for CRKT. Among the latest iterations is the M16-02DB. In addition to being a flipper folder, the original M16 also was among the earlier top factory tactical folders.
The tactical folder took the world of knives by storm in the mid-to-late 1990s, offering a one-hand folder—usually black—with a non-glare stainless steel blade, a synthetic handle, a linerlock and a pocket clip. While some called it more a marketing approach than a knife, the fact that the folder dominated the market for at least a decade if not longer cannot be denied.
Flipper Folder
Searching her memory and experience, Goldie Russell also identifies the flipper folder popularized by Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer Kit Carson and the SpeedSafe assisted opener by Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer Ken Onion as innovative, influential styles that the world associates with the United States. “When combined with the Walker linerlock, the Carson flipper adds the ability to open the knife as fast, or faster, than a switchblade knife,” she remarked. “It’s a clear improvement over the stud or hole in the blade for the purpose of one-hand opening. The use of the flipper as an opening device has become prevalent throughout knifemaking across the world.
“Then, Ken Onion’s addition of a spring to launch the blade open** is another American innovation that has changed the landscape of the knife industry,” she concluded. “Nearly every American brand utilizes some variation of Ken’s way of using a spring to open a blade quickly. The genius was the bias toward closure that kept a folder from being deemed an automatic.”
Rambo’s Influence
Jimmy Lile’s Rambo knives started the hollow-handle-survival-knife craze that dominated the 1980s and beyond. (from the Randy Rousseau collection)
As the Rambo film franchise grew in popularity during the 1980s, the work of Cutlery Hall-Of-Famers Jimmy Lile and later Gil Hibben made the knives in those motion pictures stars in themselves, rivaling Sylvester Stallone for worldwide acclaim. Voyles insists that the Rambo knife is an American phenomenon that still impacts the knife market today.
“The Rambo knife is uniquely American for two reasons,” Bruce said. “Jimmy Lile designed it and made the knives for the first two movies, and it ignited a boom in survival knives that exists today. Then, the other historical tie-in is that in the 1980s every boy who could walk had a survival knife with a big, round compass on the end and a hollow handle. Even today, those boys are adults and they love the nostalgia of that handmade Rambo knife. Indirectly, Jimmy Lile created all this, and the Rambo knife is uniquely American in that regard.”
Final Cut
Considering the knives closely associated with the United States, their impact is obvious. Those styles associated with the good ol’ USA still resonate across the market and in the inventive minds of those who brought them into being.
*Editor’s note: While many do indeed believe that James Black made a knife for Jim Bowie in Black’s shop, such a knife has never been definitively proved to be as such because Black did not mark his knives.
†Though unable to obtain a patent on the linerlock, Walker was able to obtain a trademark on the name linerlock, a trademark that has since elapsed.
**Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer Blackie Collins also made one of the first versions of an assisted opener.
