Take it from me, the late stage knife collecting doldrums are very real, and can affect even
the most handsome and smartest and talented of the knife bros.
You’ve bought knives you’ve sold knives.
You’ve bought ones you’ve sold.
You’ve sold yourself to buy them.
As time wears on, only certain knives and 4 steel reserves a day can scratch the itch-
and unfortunately only one of these two types of things you can steal from a gas station.
I’ve seen the guys who have been happily buying new Ganzos for years and I want what
they have!
Who doesn’t love a new cleaver in an orange handle?
Maybe they’ll surprise us with FRN on the next drop!
It’s like they’ve taken on a new lover.
Or how abut that Endela?
The Endura was too big, and the Delica is too small.
But the Endela is just fucking right.
Very Bold design.
Heck I’d even be happy if an ugly $400 production Reate would ease the cravings.
It looks like it was designed by 8 different people, which is a helluva deal especially
when you sell it for your usual $80 above what you paid wholesale.
I guess you can call me a Hawk fanboy now.
I have two of them I bought with money I earned just like everyone else- the generous allowance
from the trust fund, and the earnings from the real estate my grandfather left me.
You know hard work.
And If you’re looking for me to not just drink the Koolaid, you’re sorely mistaken.
You take the slurry from under the grinder in the Hawks workshop and suspend it in a
semi-clear red fluid- I’ll gladly piss out shards.
Objectivity on this channel went the way of Benchmades 2021 lineup.
And while we figure out where that lineup went, and if we’re days away from an exciting
announcement of a micro or XL Bugout, let look at the dimensions.
Nothing gets me more exciting on the endless reworking of a companies most popular knife.
How about those sheepdogs.
If you know me you know that getting my hands on MUDDs and Deadlocks we’re always long
term goals for me, even when self improvement wasn’t.
Yeah for a guy that looks like me checking out pocket knives is a goal.
T The Hawks have been making interesting designs for years, and their deadlock, and MUDD are
perfect combinations of their design language with attention to detail, and technically
mastery.
I don’t know why I love these knives so much but I do.
If I was say a big time drug dealer or villain in a high-rise with slicked back hair and
an overly large cell phone one of my kind of non evil collections of things would be
to own a lot of Deadlocks.
The deadlocks would look good next to my ear collection, one of the evil ones, that were
cut from the heads of all the people who fell behind on rent because of economic hardship.
I’d have one of my henchmen with a scar do it because cutting them off sounds real
icky.
The original Deadlock, at least the model B, so I guess that’s not the original but
the Deadlocks before the C are these small batch well made contraptions.
I mean also the C too.
Levon you know the Knifenuts Levon, called it a contraption way back when and it stuck
with me.
Anyway the Hawk’s newest contraption, the Model C has been slimmed down, refined, and
a major material switch was made from titanium to aluminum.
From an ergonomics, weight, functionality perspective it’s a leap forward.
It’d be like if my videos started getting good, and they were any good to begin with.
It uses the original as an inspiration, but is basically a whole new beast.
Let’s start with the blade.
Now you can get the Deadlock model B in a single edge, however that to me clashes with
the very symmetrical design of the deadlock.
And with all due respect you should have your ear cut off if you got it in that configuration.
I think currently the Model Cs are only going to be daggers- although I’m sure one jerk
out there will ask for one in a single edge.
It’ll make me mad, but then I realize I’m only in control of myself.
Microtechs with side switches that are asymmetrical look just fine, but I don’t think the deadlock
looks right like that.
Deadlock blades feature 20CV super steel and all of them are hand ground blades by Gavin
Hawk.
20 CV steel is a long wearing stainless steel.
I mean in Deadlock caliber knives, the super steel is there because it has to be, and not
because you want it to hold an edge all day as you strip carpet out of a house your renovating.
I think there are different options available, but the one you seen here has a black DLC.
Currently not an available option, so I guess I’m hot shit for having it.
It’s so so sharp and pointy, and like is famous with the Deadlock there is no blade
wobble and the opening tolerances are tight.
There’s literally no other OTF like it.
I mean you know that right?
The patent written on the side is because of it’s unique among Out the Fronts, because
it’s the only one without the blade play.
The actuation.
Good OTFs are expensive, of course so are some name brand OTFs that aren’t so good.
The cheap imports are fun, and are honestly are not far off in actuation refinement and
rattle from the few nicer ones I’ve owned.
But Deadlocks are a whole other league.
There is no rattle, button play is minimal to non existent, they’re smoother, easier
to fire, and have an almost reverse sucking sound but in the good way.
The original Deadlock has a very nice switch and it’s easier to fire than other OTF,
but the Hawks refined the button and made it easier and quicker to fire just by changing
the texture.
It’s the least fatiguing OTF I own and the switch to an assymetical top to bottom switch
layout yields a much quicker action.
Although I love the look and the texture of the jimping on the original.
The handle.
The big news here is the switch from titanium and titanium carbon fiber to a 7075 aluminum
body with black anodization.
Gavin explained this in an interview why they switched, and even though I’m a dumb as
rocks Youtuber- all his reasoning seemed sound.
Instead of a three piece handle design it’s now down to two with refined internals, and
it’s lowered in price I think by $200.
The inlay, clip, and button are all DLC coated titanium on my model.
But I think on the standard model are uncoated.
I do not have the all titanium deadlock, which is a hint for Christmas, but my carbon fiber
and titanium model B deadlock is about a 2/10ths of an ounce heavier.
I would assume the all titanium deadlock model B to be significantly heavier.
The Model C has a slimmed down and refined look, that carries smaller in the pocket.
And feels nice in the hand.
It’s all been chamfered and all harshness gone, and it just feels like a dream in the
hand.
There has never been a harsh edge on any of my Hawks, in case that needed to be said.
Hawks usually are perfect when you get them, even as we the owners are imperfect scum some
of us who even post on Youtube.
I think it’s impossible for the C to feel bad in your hands.
Maybe if you had bigguns, but here the knife fits in my nice average guy hands and the
clip is so smooth and rounded it disappears.
The pocket clip.
Big upgrade here.
The clip, while still employing the chip clip technology, its spring loaded- its been slimmed
down, sculpted, and grips nicely.
The original Deadlock and MUDD do not carry well in the pocket with your lesser, pedestrian
bullshit.
Like if you’re carrying an expensive as shit knife in the pocket, which ass is like
well it doesn’t carry well with my fucking car keys.
Normally I let my challenge coin, prybar and my keys tumble around in my pocket with my
knife, so it trashes it but I can’t do that with my Hawks and it’s disappointing.
The Model C carries in the pocket very nicely and smaller then the B. The clip isn’t low
profile or a deep, and if you wanted those things then you don’t want a Deadlock.
Do you know how much I like Hawks?
When I carry my hawks and play with them I often take off my wedding ring.
I was about to say that came out wrong, but I think I’ll leave that last sentence as
is.
Comparisons.
This has been a mostly between the B and the C. The B is wonderful and I love it, But it
has picked up some clip wear.
I cut corners close in the house, and sometimes crawl around on the garage floor.
Playing nightcrawlers of course.
It’s picked up a little wear over the course of a year and half.
Ok I thought this was going somewhere but it wasn’t.
Sometimes a man has a hard time communicating his feeling about real good switchblades.
Modern knife people know that the right inlays can make the knife, and the deadlock with
it’s large inlay areas give a lot of cool options for the future.
In fact those inlays will really give the deadlock some more pop than was possible with
the B. The refinement of the footprint, without making it small, and the clip and button improvement
are great.
I do not think the switch to aluminum has hurt it in anyway.
What were you doing with your original deadlock anyway where the titanium gave the knife a
structural advantage.
7075 is pretty strong anyway.
Now the Bounty Hunter.
This is an all aluminum knife.
It’s lightweight, and I love the color.
This is one of my all time favorite knives.
It’s temperamental.
You have to put Rem Oil down in it every few months so it fires correctly.
It rattles, and it isn’t the easiest to fire.
But the idea of it, and the tinge of nostalgia it gives me when I look at it.
It’s Love.
It’s a 350 knife though, and the Deadlock makes it feel like a gas station knife in
comparison.
Speaking of a gas station knife how about the painted AKC F-15.
You can hear the spring ring when it fires.
The paint chips easy, the inlay fell off once.
But it’s a $50 knife.
It’s no $20 Ganzo auto though.
These things are amazingly good if you can find them for $25?
How about the MUDD?
How I love thee.
I get offers a few times a year for people to buy this.
Sorry Tough shit everyone.
One of my all time favorite knife designs.
This cost $390 new, who knows if they’ll ever be made again.
Maybe Hawk can work with someone to make them again.
And the Protech Don, all of these have reviews on the channel.
So you can go watch those.
The Don doesn’t have a pocket clip, but it is close to a $300 knife.
You have that classy green and white together.
It doesn’t look like a gas station knife.
One person on my Instagram, said my hawks looked like gas station knives.
Ok?
I’m not mad.
Wrapping it up.
The Hawks make their legendary Deadlocks in Idaho.
You won’t find many people say anything negative about the deadlock, it’s just that
good.
And if you hear some shit, don’t trust them.
They are a very small company, with a small staff and Grant and Gavin have been plugging
away like mad geniuses for years.
In a way I’m a little like them (laughing), ok no I’m not.
Sure no one needs a switchblade that costs around $1000.
But also no one needs a switchblade either.
The Deadlocks are a small luxury tool anyway.
Toolry.
Remember from my other Deadlock video- I’m pretty clever I tell myself Like why do people
need luxury cars, watches, or any jewelry at all.
What do they do?
When you purchase something like a Deadlock, you’re buying an impeccably made luxury
item much like you would buy a nice watch.
The Deadlock is ultimately a well made durable functional tool too, and you’re literally
buying the best out the front when you buy one.
And it holds it’s value extremely well too.
When you buy one, and you receive it- it is automatically worth more.
Anyway if you like this sort of video, check out the link below the video for Hawks Deadlock
Newsletter, it’ll give you all the info I forgot.
Like telling you when the next drop is gonna happen.
Their current run I believe is 1000 if I remember from the most recent knifenuts podcast.
All out of their shop in Idaho.
Anyway, If you thought you were going to get some real criticisms of the Deadlock on this
channel, who is the one with the problem buddy?
It’s literally perfect.
The only thing that’s better is another Deadlock.
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Yes I am living the Hawk lifestyle, and remember you’re the one with the damn problem.
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