Hey everyone, David C. Andersen here coming at you from the KnifeCenter.
We hope you all are staying safe out there.
In the meantime, I've actually got some of the coolest new knives that have hit our shelves
here at the KnifeCenter in the past week and right now we are still shipping.
So let's check them out.
[New Knives of the Week]
The first thing I want to show you, isn't actually a knife.
It's actually a trainer from Squid Industries, This is their Nautilus balisong or butterfly
knife trainer, given the way a lot of us are forced to stay at home right now, this is
actually something that'd be really great to help pass the time learning how to flip
a butterfly knife and with something like this you're going to get high quality without
having to having to worry about a live edge so you're not going to have to worry about
cutting yourself, even though it does kind of look like this, has a combo edge because
you have some things here that look kind of like serrations but they're just decorative.
This is however a nicely weighted tool.
We've got some really tight pivots here.
When I say tight I mean that in a good way they're definitely free floating, but there's
no slop in them at all.
This really is something that's put together at a very high standard.
So you can really practice with something that's as good as a full fledged full nicely
flipping butterfly knife.
The action is quite good even for someone like me who's far from an expert, but what
I really like about this one is the construction, you can see we've got some black g 10 with
red anodized frames.
But what's cool, in addition to just, it looks really cool is the construction method itself
that aluminum there is actually an integral handle.
You can see where it's milled out to create a pocket for that blade single piece of aluminum
with the G 10 bolted to the outside creates a really cool look, it's definitely a premium
feature that type of construction, and it kind of goes a little ways towards explaining
the price of this we come in at about 230 bucks on this Nautilus that's actually in
the range and some of the mid tier really good butterfly knives out there, because even
though it doesn't have the live blade everything else is constructed to a similar high standard.
So you really should expect to pay that kind of money for similar performance to the live
bladed versions, but it's a really cool piece made right here in the USA, there's really
never been a better time to start learning to flip a butterfly knife.
I probably the biggest news this week is the return of Al Mar.
Now of course, Al Mar the brand if you haven't been following along, was actually acquired
recently maybe a bit over a year ago something like that.
And now they're made in China, they're not made in Japan anymore.
The new owners are having them built there, and you trade out some of that really high
end Japanese quality for a more affordable price tag, and they're still put together
quite well.
This is the new SERE 2020 knife or this particular one actually is the 40th anniversary SERE
it's a little bit different from the base models.
They all come with frn handles this one has an interesting little texture on it to differentiate
it from the others, but there's a few different colors available just like the old g 10 you
can get black, green and I believe coyote Tana from remembering correctly.
So you've got those options, but it's the same great shape that you know from before
now just a little more, a little more affordable 40th anniversary one has a nice little golden
shield right here it's not actual gold, and I'm just checking here the prices on these
depending on which version you get you've got three inch and three and a half inch versions.
They go from about $64 up to about $112, because those more expensive ones I actually I forgot
you actually can get g 10 still on some of the versions if you want that course the big
change you see here versus the older SERE models, is this is an assisted opening flipper.
They've got nice repeatable action, but you still have that really cool blade shape that
classic SERE blade shape available in D2 or 8Cr13MoV if you prefer a stainless option.
This knife still feels very nice in the hand it fills it up, you've got a nice ramp here
to index when you're using it if you need to pierce this or pierce, with this blade
for anything.
And to that end, we've got a nice swedge here with the saber height flat grind makes it
very efficient as a piercer even though it's going to be a nice strong blade if you need
to kind of put it through the wringer a little bit more got mostly open back to construction
strong Backspacer a strong end spacer, I should say, and a deep carry clip, which is mounted
from the back of the knife itself I really like it when companies do this buck is another
one who who does this on their Vantage series, because it's reversible and it really does
carry nice and deep into pockets and keep it out of the way, kind of keep it.
I don't want to say keep it hidden from anyone but you can keep it out of the way in your
pocket until you need to use other Al Mar classics like the Hawk, the Eagle and the
Falcon are back, and I've got the ultralight Eagle flipper here, this new version is a
titanium frame lock flipper it's a really cool update I think to this classic design
price on this one comes in at 188.
We've got a thin titanium frame, about four inch blade almost four inch blade D2 steel
in this case, kind of a similar profile or a similar type of style, in terms of the grind
as the SERE knife there, but the blade itself, a little bit thinner so it should cut a little
more efficiently.
And with this long tapered or this long narrow blade and a narrow frame as well this really
fits in well with the, the executive knife category.
The flipping action is definitely good we've got ball bearings in the pivot gives it a
pretty good action, and it's just overall it's a classic piece.
If you prefer something a little more traditional looking we do have the slip joint versions
and the, the honey jig bone versions of these knives also available now pricing on those
I don't have those in front of me but you can find those at the website, we'll make
sure to leave links to those in the description below.
So I've got one more Al Mar to show you today, we do have more new models than just these,
but I'm not going to show them all to you right now.
I love this design.
This is called the stinger.
And it's a really cool key chain knife.
That really is very unobtrusive it doesn't look at all like a knife when it's on your
keychain it just looks like a big key fob almost like you could unlock your car with
it but of course you can't press a little button there all you want, you know, there's,
you're not gonna hear any beeps for the from the doors unlocking price on these comes in,
or come in at 24 bucks there's a blue, red and black option, but you just push this little
tab down.
And you can pull that small blade out right there.
It's about 1.3 inches in length D2 blade steel which is quite nice.
And even though it has what looks like a finger or index finger groove here.
What finger groove, oil, whatever you want to call it.
I mean it's it's pretty small you're not really going to be gripping the knife like this I
don't think for me the way this really feels nice.
Do a pinch grip right there, and then you can use your middle fingers kind of support.
You can do like open your boxes, it's going to have no problem kind of pulling through
opening up tape.
You can then reverse it if you want to cut away from yourself just a nice little utility
piece.
It's flat ground it's got a nice wedge here on the back but this is single edge only that
top edge is not sharpened.
it's just like I said, a really nice utility piece.
And it's very incognito on your keychain itself it's not going to raise any, any eyebrows
whatsoever.
Unless someone happens to see Al Mar and then actually knows what Al Mar is.
But then, if they do, it's probably a knife person too, you probably want to talk to them
so there you go let your freak flag fly with a little, little Al Mar Stinger it's pretty
darn cool I think.
All right, next we've got a couple of new variants from one of my favorite guys in the
knife industry L.T. Wright, we've got a new version of the Patriot in stock right now.
It's comes in about 85 bucks, with brown burlap micarta handles and A2 blade steel with a
flat grind is a really cool everyday carry piece comes with a nice small leather sheath.
So if you can carry a belt sheath but you still just want something small this is a
great option.
Being an L.T. Wright the handles are shaped by hand and there's no hotspots whatsoever.
I myself get a nice three finger grip, and then my pinky kind of catches a little bit
there on the end or offer a little bit of extra support blade length about 2.6 inches.
Just a really solid drop point blade for your everyday cutting needs.
I really like it.
And this is not the only patriot we have but this is the coolest new one that we've got
right now.
The same goes for the L.T. Wright northern hunter series we've got new versions in both
large and small sizes with a polished black Micarta with orange G10 liners blade steel
is AEB-L stainless nice and tough, certainly holds an edge very well to blade length on
the large is about four and three eighths or there abouts about 160 bucks for this option,
and the small version comes in, about 140 and that one has a blade about three and a
half inches long, tip to scale measurement, both are AEB-L both have this really cool
handle material going on.
And even though it's not really hunting season right now the reason that this is a good time.
I think to pick one of these up the large version of this is actually really great in
the kitchen.
In addition to your camp chores and your hunting needs, and the small version I actually really
liked that one for everyday carry too.
It's a solid design with some cool new materials, so I thought you might want to see them.
So even though neither of those two L.T.
Wrights were really bushcraft knives per se L.T. Wright as a company is certainly very
well known for their bushcraft knives.
And now we're going to go to another company that makes some cool bushcraft stuff.
LionSteel with their new B35 Bushcraft fixed blade.
I really liked their B40 which has about a four inch blade.
This is very similar that knife just scaled down a little bit.
We've got about three and a half inches of sleeping or steel going on here, it's flat
ground we've got a nice crown spine for comfort, definitely makes it a little bit easier to
push down on.
But if you still want to have the ability to strike a fire steel with your knife we've
got a little bit of a protruding tang here at the back, and the edges are crisp enough
that they should strike a ferro rod, no problem.
It's also going to provide a nice little place if you need to thump on anything you've got
that tang sticking out, so you're not going to damage your handles if you need to do that.
Speaking of handles I've got the green micarta version here, there's a couple different colors
of micarta available as well as some exotic woods some of the, the Mediterranean stuff
we usually see a lot of olive wood coming out of Italy and we've got that here as well.
They're a little bit on the narrower side they're not a super hand filling grip, but
they're contoured very nicely so that they're still going to Nestle into the hand quite
well without raising any kind of real hot spots as you're working great for bush crafters
even better for hikers if you still want a really solid fixed blade or looking to not
carry too much with you.
This is a good overall size going to be nice and controllable and easy to carry for long
periods of time.
Good for EDC too if you're if you're a fixed blade EDC type of person.
It's just a solid design and its price pretty darn well to all of these knives, no matter
which of the handle options you choose come in at about $130.
Next up, another new line steel we actually have a new version of the Bestman folder now
available with this drop point blade.
The blade steel is M390 got a full flat grind with a nice wedge there out near the tip.
Good everyday carry shape I must say, but the clip point version is still available
as well as the two blade version with a clip point and a wharncliffe if you want something
a little bit different and you like what you see here.
Crown spine again just like the fixed blade we just saw, and even the back spring on the
slip joint mechanism itself is crowned as well nice little touch that a nice little
Italian touch it really holds things together, good half stop good walk and talk, nothing
to complain about.
And a duel long pole and I'm not quite a long pull but a dual pull on each side not quite
a nail Nick either.
That way easy for lefties or righties no problem.
The handles we've got titanium bolsters and I've got the natural Canvas McCarter version
right here comes in about 130, about the same price as that fixed blade actually, but there
are just like that fixed blade a few different options including some, some olive wood and
other wood options as well as a carbon fiber version that one's a little more expensive
I think at about 140.
It's just a really cool modern slip joint.
you've got the classic good looks, especially with one of the wood options with, you know,
modern super steel performance M390 steel I don't know if I mentioned that before you
really can't go wrong.
Now on the opposite end of the spectrum, we've got a big combat fixed blade definitely a
lot different from a you know a surreptitious and elegant gentleman's knife, but this is
the new D2 Extreme fixed blade from KA-BAR's combat utility series or their their fighting
utility series coming in at about $130 for right now.
It's the same overall profile as the classic KA-BAR knife the mark two fighting knife,
the KA-BAR the USMC fighter, no matter what you want to call it, it's all the same knife.
D2 blade steel as the name suggests, seven inches, it's got the same flat ground Sabre
geometry, with a nice fuller on both sides, and a switch clip point shake the handle mixes
things up a little bit though, instead of stacked lead him we'd have krayton which is
a you know grippy rubber essentially, and the guard and the pommel are a little bit
different.
Also, the rear guard or the rear facing side of the guard is not as prominent as on the
standard knife.
And I really like what they've done to kind of smooth over some of these edges, this isn't
just like a flat folded piece of metal.
This winds up being a little bit more comfortable I think, than some of those flat versions
of the hilts that you'd see on the stack two other versions, the pommel also is a little
bit oversized it's not just the, the simple circle there.
Got a little bit sticking out, it's going to give you a nice place a nice big flat surface
if you do need to hammer on this with anything.
It's a really cool knife, good updated classic, maybe a little bit more high performance depending
on what kinds of uses you're looking to put it through KA-BAR D2 Extreme fixed blade right
now made in the USA.
So speaking of KA-BAR.
We've got a new Spartan.
Yes, that's right.
Essentially KA-BAR and Spartan blades kind of teamed up.
I guess last year they announced this to form Pineland cutlery, which is not actually going
to be a brand name appearing on any of the knives it's more of a holding company, but
what that gets you is a Spartan blades knife made at a KA-BAR price point.
You get there great design sensibilities this new model.
They've been calling it the Silver Line, or professional grade is actually what the boxes
say and that's how you're going to find them on our website if you search Spartan blades
professional grade.
This and a couple other knives are going to come up.
This is the devices are damaged this I'm not quite sure how it's pronounced.
But what it is, we've got about a five and a half inch blade 1095CV carbon steel because
this is a KA-BAR made blade really solid shape I like the drop point profile, it's going
to be, I think would make a really good outdoor knife, even though overall I think this is
more intended to be sort of a tactically inspired design.
And part of that comes down to the handles.
They are green micarta, they're a little bit on the flatter side but they have a really
heavy checkering pattern on there.
Well, it's not going to be as comfortable as let's say a Becker knife, which of course
cave are also makes those, it is going to have a really solid hold in the hand, especially
if you're wearing combat gloves or work gloves, there's a lot there to provide a little bit
of extra traction to help you maintain your hole.
But if you don't like those scales, I think, just like those Becker's since these are bolt
on handle material.
This is going to be a really good platform for user modification if you want to create
your own, or have something made, that's a little thicker, you can do that, or even if
you just want to add some liners for yourself, that'd be very easy to do.
But the handle shape itself there's plenty of length there.
I've got, I wear about a size large work glove most of the time, I've still got enough length
here and we've got a nice full size finger, oil here to choke up on if you need a little
more length or you want to control the blade, a little more easily.
Let's talk a little bit more about that blade itself we're about three sixteenths of an
inch thick black powder coating to help keep rust at bay and it is a smooth powder coat,
which is quite nice, flat ground geometry, it's just a really solid American made knife
and it comes in right now at $195.
All right, gonna round things out with a couple of folders and both of these are going to
be American made as well.
We've got the new mini Presidio II from benchmade.
Of course we had the full size video I think last month is when they came out.
And this follows the same formula as that new version only now in the mini size which
has a 3.2 inch blade of S30V blade steel.
Nice drop point shape good for general purpose stuff, flat ground with a swedge.
Actually a lot of flat ground drop points with swedges here on the table today, must
be useful.
These makers must know something.
But anyway, the real story of these are the new versions of the videos the switch from
aluminum handle material to something they're calling CF Elite, the CF stands for carbon
fiber, and instead of this being a glass reinforced nylon This is a carbon fiber reinforced nylon.
And for that reason the color comes off as sort of a graphite, it's not quite black,
and it has almost a papery quality to it and I really like there's, it's not a flat gray
color there's a little bit of sheen or shimmer going on.
As you move it around, and it just feels really nice comes with a deep carry pocket clip as
well.
Let's say you're looking for an upgrade or something in between the benchmade Griptilian,
and the, the smaller mini Griptillian.
I think this knife, especially it's a really good size.
The price is really good too.
It comes in about $123 for this small version, solid American made EDC with a really cool
handle material.
I really like these knives.
Alright.
Lastly, I've got a box for you.
This box is going to cost you $280 that's because of what's inside the box and I'm not
actually going to open this fully because of the way it's packaged, but the new limited
edition copper handle Buck Sprint's are now in stock.
Now the box itself isn't serialized but you can see we've got some, some laser engraved
markings here on the outside showing you the knife, as well as some specs, nice rubber
band to hold things close says limited edition, that's a limited edition rubber band Don't
you know, but you can see as I slide the box open here can see how it's packaged and that's
one reason why I don't want to kind of get in there and unpack this but also with a copper
handle I don't want to get my fingerprints on it, and and kind of ruin it.
But the reason for that is, there's only 100 of these out there so if you want one of these,
you're not going to want to wait.
These are definitely going to be very collectible I think in the future.
It's a really cool knife design on top of that, if you've seen any of the sprint knives
before it's bucks first use of ball bearings in their flippers on a production level.
It's got action that's nice and smooth.
They've upgraded this one, even further with those really cool copper handles as well as
cerakoted S35VN blade steel it's just a really solid piece, whether you want to collect it
or use it.
It's really cool and like I said only 100 so don't wait too long.
So that's all I've got to show you right now in terms of what really I think are my personal
standouts in terms of the best new knives that have hit our shelves in the last week.
If you want to get your hands on any of these we'll leave links in the description below.
It'll take you over to the Knifecenter.com.
And fortunately, we are taking all the necessary precautions with our staff and our crew but
we are still able to be shipping orders out to you right now, and we're very thankful
for that.
And while you're over there on our website, make sure you're signed up for a knife rewards
program while you're there, because the only thing better than a new knife is free money
to spend on your next one.
In the meantime, let me know what you liked out of the knives he saw here in front of
me, and hope you guys are all staying safe sane and sanitary out there.
I'm David C. Andersen from the KnifeCenter signing off.
See you next time.
[KnifeCenter.com]