David Mosier has become a household name in the custom tactical knife crowd, with very usable designs meant to be carried, used and even abused. He makes both fixed blade and folders, and does a good job with both. I prefer his fixed blade designs generally, but his folders are nice as well. This one here is an older David Mosier folder named the Mini Reverence.

Blade
The 3.5″ blade is made from what I believe to be CPM-S30V, but since it isn’t marked, I can’t say for sure. As I’m sure most of you know, it is very common for custom makers not to mark their knives with blade steel. What the reason for this is, I am unsure. Either way, judging by the age of this folder, which is probably at least 5-6 years old, the blade steel is probably S30V, or possibly 154CM/ATS-34. I did not do any test cutting or sharpening to see if I could guess, but the blade is quite sharp and will shave hair.

David Mosier’s grind lines are crisp, straight and pleasing to look at. These are key attributes to a good custom knife, and Mosier has that down pat. The blade finish is satin with what appears to be hand rubbed flats. Thumbstud is ambidextrous, which is always a plus. I always prefer double thumbstuds because there are some times when I need to open my knife with my left hand.

Handle
My main gripe with this knife is mostly the handle. Its probably because this is an older Mosier knife so the knife handles aren’t fully contoured. Looking through his website and other photos online I have noticed his newer knives all have contoured handles. This one has flat handles that have been rounded on the edges, giving it a somewhat less professional looking finish, and is less comfortable in the hand.

The bolsters are carbon fiber and the handle scales are canvas micarta, which is a great combination. Good grip combined with lightweight feel. The pocket clip is standard profile and mounted for tip-down right hand carry, which is fine with me.

Fit and Finish
Overall fit and finish is very good. No blade play and relatively thin washers used in the pivot all point to good mechanics and high tolerances. I wish the handles were fully contoured, but since this is an earlier example of Mosier’s work, I understand that his techniques have improved. The blade finish and grind are very good, which shows really well and is really the heart of the knife. David Mosier does good work and I look foward to owning one of his newer pieces in the future.

Chris Smith is the son of John W. Smith, who is an amazing knifemaker and has been building dress and tactical folders for two decades. While Chris’ work doesn’t command the same prices, his tactical stuff is very similar to his Father’s tactical work.

Blade
The blade features a long, narrow droppoint design, very much in the style of his father, JW Smith. The finish is of the hand-rubbed variety, and done quite well. I would have liked a bit crisper grind lines, but its fine the way it is. Opening is done via an ambidexterous thumb disk, which works well and is easily accessible.

Handle
The handle is done very well, with the G10 insert fitting perfectly in the slot. The entire handle is beadblasted, and there is a full backspacer. Ergonomics are very good, especially for a knife as narrow as this one. The trend seems to be towards fatter blades, which is definately not the style of this knife. The G10 inserts have sort of a checkered finish to them, giving the user some extra grip.

Lock
The lock is interesting.. while it looks like a linerlock, and most would even call it a linerlock, it is not. Its an “insert” lock. The handles are full slabs of Titanium, with a titanium lock bar that is cut and fitted into a machined slot inside the handle. The operation and function are more or less identical to a linerlock, but the final look is a bit cleaner.

Fit and Finish
The fit and finish on this example of Chris’ work is fabulous. I have heard some say that his workmanship is not quite as good as his father’s, but in this example, I could not see any defficiencies. This is a perfectly executed folder in terms of fit and finish.

Overall a very satisfying piece of kit, with a very high level of fit and finish from what I would consider a very talented knifemaker. While I don’t think Chris is still making knives (please let me know if I am wrong!), perhaps his father would be willing to service some of his previous knives if the situation were to arise.

Blade: Satin S30V
Knife Handle Material: Titanium With Black and Blue G10 insert
Blade Length: 3 1/4″
Overall Length: 8″

Video Review:

Kirby Lambert’s awesome Custom Orion MGT Damascus.. it seems all I ever talk about is Kirby Lambert when it comes to Custom knives… that’s not entirely true, but he is one of the finest Canadian Knifemakers in the tactical market and (I know I say this every time) this is my favourite piece to come out of his shop.

Mike Norris’ Hornets Nest is composed of 19C27 Swedish Stainless and 302 Stainless, with a D2 steel core, considered by many to be one of the best performing stainless damascus steels on the market. As usual, Kirby has ground this one perfectly.

Handle:
The Orion has a very multi-purpose use handle, featuring one finger choil and a slight hump on the back. The handle scales are fully contoured and feel great in the hand. The Handle slabs are Lightning Strike Carbon Fiber, which is Carbon Fiber with copper wires run through it. Looks pretty awesome, especially paired with the gold annodized titanium bolsters.

Kirby also inlaid Moonglow dots on the handle, thumbstuds and on the tail end of the fileworked backspacer. The titanium backspacer is inlaid with ball bearings, which is a Lambert signature, and a personal favourite feature of mine.

Lock and Action:
Perfect lockup as usual from Kirby, with annodized titanium spacer and lock bar. The action is flawless with absolutely no blade play in the locked or open positions. The IKBS makes the action smoother and improves the fit, allowing you to flick the knife open if you want. I’m really happy to see IKBS on most of Kirby’s knives now, but even his non-IKBS knives are built beautifully.

Kirby has used a special “alien pivot” on this Orion folder at my request. It looks very cool and probably is a bit stronger than a regular pivot screw. It does however use a spanner screwdriver to tighten so may be more difficult to maintain if you’re the type that likes to disassemble his knives.

Overall:
Its no surprise that I love this knife from Kirby. Its an amazing piece of kit, and while it seems impossible, Kirby just seems to keep on improving in little ways that make the end product more impressive. Little features like the moonglow inlays in the thumbstud, alien pivot and multi-grind blade just add a bit more complexity to the knife and an extra level of polish making the final product just a bit more impressive. This is a spectacular knife and I love it!

Specs:
Closed Length: 4 1/2″
Blade Length: 3 1/2″
Overall Length: 7 7/8″
Blade Steel: Mike Norris Hornets Nest Damascus
Handle: Lightning Strike Carbon Fiber
Bolsters: Titanium
Liners: Titanium
Backspacer: Titanium

Afrankart’s DFK double knuckles are a relatively new addition to the world of knucks, but they have a very cool look and feel that make them worthy of a review. Afrankart is a member on Jerzeedevil forums where I’m a member and it is also where I purchased this knuckle duster/paperweight.

It feels super comfortable in the middle and fourth figure as I am wearing it in the third photograph, and my hands are are a glove size 8. Fingers are approximately size 9 in ring sizing, to give you an idea. I tested the knuckle on my cutting board and it did not hurt when I made contact with the board – a good sign.

The knuckles also have two lanyard or lightening holes in the base where you can attach your own lanyard. It would also be easy to have a Kydex sheath designed for the DFK knuckles to hang them around your neck for a self-defense situation. The G-10 models are lighter and probably more useful for this, though their stopping power is not as good as the aluminum or brass models.

The DFK’s also come in single configuration which is called the SFK but I have not tried those out. I wouldn’t mind picking up one of the brass models since they look pretty cool, though I think the DFK model is probably more effective. Both models have a sad face with X eyes as a sort of logo engraved on the base.

Overall the DFK’s are a very cool and satisfying knuckle duster and I really like the ones I bought. I feel that they are a good value and are prices competitively with other similar items on the market.

I just got my second Lightfoot, the HXT-Dog, in a trade with a fellow on the forums. I collect alot of Kirby Lambert knives, and since a lot of Kirby’s early inspiration was from his relationship with Greg Lightfoot, its easy to try and compare them. However, I’m going try very hard not to!

The blade is Sandvik 19c27, which is something like Sandvik’s version of 154CM. A very good performing steel, with a bit less of a common name, giving it a little something special. Do not confuse 19c27 with the inferior 12c27, however, 19c27 is a good solid high-end steel.

The 3 3/4″ blade has Greg’s signature finished hollow grind, with the strong brush lines. I’ve always liked that about his blades. The swedge on the spine is interesting and is only one one side, giving it a pretty cool look, if not being useful in any other way. But hey, half of the reason we buy these knives is because of how cool they look, right? The blade edge is super sharp, and shaves hair easily.

Even though the knife is called the HXT-Dog, it looks more like a Shark to me… Greg’s got this way of making all his knives look like sharks it seems. The 5″ handle has Carbon Fiber bolsters and Foliage G-10 Handles. The black pocket clip is mounted for Right-handed Tip up carry. I have a bit of a beef with the pocket clip as it looks like he just grabbed whatever clip was handy and put it on. I would have preferred a clip that matches the location better. That clip looks like it belongs around the pivot for tip-down carry.

The handles are contoured slightly, though I personally would have preferred slightly more contouring. Greg does go through the extra effort of radiusing the edges of the handles, however, which gives the knife a great feel. Liners are thick and bead blasted, with the lock engaging nice and early, leaving lots of room for wear. The lock also sticks very nicely, giving me confidence that the lock is going to stay put.

Overall this is one of my favourite Lightfoot designs, especially with the curves and contouring on the handle. I really enjoy feeling the knife in my hand and it feels natural to cut with it, giving me confidence when I use it. Great job with the HXT-Dog, Greg! I can see this being a fantastic No-Nonsense EDC Blade for anyone that the aesthetics appeals to.

Specs:
Blade Length: 3 3/4″
Overall Length: 8 3/4″
Handle Length: 5″
Blade Steel: Sandvik 19c27
Handle Material: G-10
Bolsters: Carbon Fiber

Video Review:

I love Japanese inspired blades. I always have, and when I see them, I often can’t help myself from buying them. This was a similar case with this David Dempsey fixed blade. I received it in a trade along with a few other blades, and was quite impressed with the quality of the knife when it arrived. David makes a lot of Japanese style blades, and does a very good job with the grinds and the handle wrap.

The wrap is also epoxied, and done very well, without any of the epoxy visible from the diamonds. The wrap is also quite well done with symmetrical diamonds and great feel. Many knifemakers that don’t know how to wrap handles well end up with lopsided diamonds on the wrap, its a good thing for me David is not one of those makers. Having made many of these types of knives, he obviously has tons of experience wrapping handles.

The carbon steel blade is double hollow ground, with a beautiful long curved grind that goes straight to the tip. The blade is also quite wide, giving it a very substantial feel in the hand, and what feels like great control in a slicing motion. The blade is razor sharp out of the box, and slices through paper like nothing.

The hand rubbed flats are also very attractive, and meet the grind line in a perfect crisp straight line. Its a very satisfying blade to hold and appreciate. I would feel very comfortable having this knife in a self-defense situation as the wrapped handle provides exceptional grip. The knife is equally grippy with tactical gloves and the diamonds provide nice divots for your fingers when holding the knife.

The sheath is a Kydex one, with the retention friction applied to the turks head knot portion of the blade. The Sheath has a belt loop attached for horizontal carry. The sheath is very good at not marring the finish of the blade, which tends to happen with Kydex sheaths.

Overall a great custom knife for a very reasonable price. I’m not sure if David Dempsey is making too many knives anymore as his site appears to have closed down, and not many new blades are showing up from this maker. Its a shame since he makes some fantastic blades.

Specs:
Blade Length: 4 9/16″
Overall Length: 9 5/16″
Blade Steel: 1095 Carbon Steel
Handle: Lizard Skin Wrapped

Warren Osborne is one of the great legends of knifemaking, his designs forever permeating the lives of custom and production knife collectors with his extensive number of collaborations with Benchmade. I’ve collected his Benchmade pieces for quite a while, and have just had the opportunity to pick up one of his custom pieces.

The knife shares the identical shape as the Benchmade 923 Switchback which Warren created along with the production team at Benchmade. The custom police folder does have two major differences however: No rear slipjoint blade, and Top Lock instead of Axis Lock.

This Police folder from Warren Osborne features brushed titanium bolsters and semi-polished Green and Black G-10 Scales. The construction interestingly is mostly pinned and now screwed together. This is Warren’s style, as he likes to keep things as smooth as possible, and is a very nice feature especially with his high-end interframe folders.

The top lock locks up great, and resembles a Spyderco Compression lock, except on the other side of the knife. Warren starting using this lock before Spyderco did.

The blade on this one is ATS-34, and bead blasted. Nicely ground with a very keen edge and super slim blade profile. It feels good in the hand and I really like how the knife is so thin, it almost disappears in the pocket.

Specs:
Blade Length: 3 1/4″
Overall Length: 7 3/4″
Blade Steel: ATS-34
Handle Material: G-10
Bolster Material: Titanium

Todd Begg’s Glimpse folder has been one of my Grail knives for quite some time, but I’ve never wanted to spend the money on the new IKBS version. I came across one of his earlier pieces before he starting using IKBS, and snatched it up. Let me tell you, the quality of this piece and the precision with which it was made is outstanding…

This piece has the Micarta handles with two-tone Micarta insert in Burgundy, all of it bead-blasted. The knife has the signature machined accent holes and central groove, which enhances the look and style of the knife nicely.

Blade is very sharp, and hollow ground. The satin hand-rubbed finish is nice, but I think perhaps over-rubbed, at least on this example, dulling the grind lines just a bit too much for my liking. However, this does not detract much from my enjoyment of the knife.

Blade Steel is 154CM, and the overall shape of the knife reminds me a bit of Steve Ryan’s work. Even without the IKBS this blade flicks very efficiently and out to an open position without too much effort. The washers on either side of the blade are very thin, and there is NO blade play in the closed position. A very finely craft knife indeed.

Todd Begg uses extensive CNC machining in his work, and this is evidenced by the massive machine that he and his wife feature on their website. This is probably what allows him to create the elaborate work that he does. I’m not sure if this peice is made prior to the extensive CNC machining or after, however.

When I received the Glimpse, it was a lot larger and thicker than I imagined from looking at photos online. The 3 3/4″ blade is a decent size, and the handles are chunky, giving the knife good purchase. The custom machined titanium pocket clip is also a beautiful piece of work, perfectly matching up to the contours of the knife.

Overall an outstanding blade, and one that I will likely always love.

Closed Length: 5 1/8″
Blade Length: 3 3/4″
Overall Length: 8 13/16″
Handle Material: Micarta
Blade Material: 154CM Stainless Steel

Yet another Mike Obenauf folder review here, with some new perspective possibly since its been a while since I have reviewed one. This model 2 larger framelock folder is basically the large version of the Small Model 2 Framelock that I reviewed in 2007.

While Mike Obenauf might not be the most stand-up guy around, his knives do have a certain appeal and quality to them that is quite exceptional for the price point. This Large Model 2 is impeccably finished and a joy to use. The styling is familiar to those that have seen Kit Carson’s knives.

Overall, Obie’s knives are still a great buy, but you’ll have to find someone else to maintain them and sharpen them when the time comes, since Mike isn’t really around anymore and not really someone you’d want to send your knives to anyway. The Large Model 2 Framelock is an excellent example of his ability, and a great collectible that won’t be made anymore.

Specs:
Blade Length: 3 1/2″
Overall Length: 8 3/8″
Blade Steel: S30V
Blade finish: Handrubbed Satin
Handle: Titanium
Lock: Titanium Frame Lock
Backspacer: G-10

This striking orange G-10 friction folder from Jared Ryan is a joy to use and fun to look at. The textured G-10 handles give good purchase for the hand and the satin hollow ground finished blade is very sharp. Jared Ryan is a small custom maker from the US and at the time of purchase, this was his only model.

The hardware on the knife is all bead blasted, which serves up a nice contrast to the satin finish blade. The knife is a friction folder, which, for those of you that do not know, is a knife that does not really lock, but uses pressure from your hand and friction to keep the knife open. So the knife really isn’t for hard use, more of a utility knife for quick cuts.

The blade is a modified sheepsfoot style with a slight curve to it. It cuts nicely and has a wicked sharp edge. While a non-locking blade isn’t for everyone, this is one of the better friction folders out there. The wide blade gives it more cutting power than most slipjoints, and the lanyard hole and design allow it to be stowed easily in the pocket, though the lack of a ball detent would probably make that a bit dangerous. If a ball detent were somehow added in order to at least keep the knife closed, I think this would be a substantially better knife. Otherwise, still an awesome and very cool looking knife!

Specs:
Blade Length: 2 1/4″
Handle Length: 3 1/4″
Overall Length: 5 1/2″
Blade Steel: Sandvik 13C26 Stainless Steel
Handle Material: G-10

Video: