(Blade Show presented by KnifeCenter) Hey everyone, David C. Andersen from the KnifeCenter
losing my voice a little bit, but I'm coming at you from the blade show. We're here to meet
ArtisanCutlery and CJRB. With Russell. Hello, how are you, my friend to see in person? Yeah,
absolutely, it's been, it's been a little bit. You got a nice concise set of offerings today.
To go through.
I'll leave,
I'll leave it Let it be to you.
Alright, so let's start off with something that we just got out just a few weeks ago. This is
the titanium version of the Orean full Ti scales nice with a mic rolling on here, we actually be
blasting the blade a little bit to give it a just a little bit of extra kind of nice, even
coloring. And this is just as good as the micarta version. I love this as a flicking knife
feels great in hand, the extra weight brings us to a 4.5 ounce size versus the 3.5 ounces of
micarta, which for some people is like Oh, that's a little hefty. It's a little heavier,
but I think it's just about right for the size. It was with that 3.75 inch blade, the size and
weight work really well. Yeah, I like that just tiny bit of backway. It's got a slightly heavier
back end and it feels a bit more balanced in the hand if you like something that kind of has a
lighter feeling blade and a slightly heavier handle. I like it. Personally, I love the
micarta version. But this one kind of has gotten my heart because I'm actually carrying one on me
right now. And this is just it's such a good night. That's the profiles array. It's
such a good working shape to the way the titanium feels. It feels more right it is
somehow like with this design, it feels more It's very nice. It's very clean. And that's
kind of our theme this year with what we have is clean. It's just a nice shape a nice functional,
I think with the full tie, it kind of brings together that kind of like normalized high end
knife feel. But it's not a bad thing. It's great. I love it. I absolutely love this and I
love that we were finally able to get this out. Chris has been really happy with it. We also
have a od green micarta version available with the be blasted blade and then the standard
double coral micarta with the satin finish plate all of which are pretty sweet.
Yeah, I was like great working profile to the blade, you got plenty of belly for slicing, you
got the acute tip. And a nice handle is going to fit just about every gets awesome. Now it's
very cool. So that is out now that is currently available as of like two weeks ago. So just in
time for blade show. Next, we have a modification to something you saw previously. So
you saw the original Silax one from Dillon Mallory wonderful fixed blade, great camp
kitchen knife, we did a little tweaking to it. We wanted to get it done for blade show, but we
figured we might as well do it right before you know just putting out in its current
configuration because it had a few minor flaws that some people didn't like. So if you wanted
to just it was so quick a little we did a little bit of alteration to it. This is the current
version of the Silax, we dropped the blade down a bit give it a bit more belly a bit more
curvature widen the choice up a little bit just because you know Dylan's got tiny hands and the
average human being like you does not slightly larger than that we've heard that a few times.
But this is just it's just such a nice camp night. Oh, and one more important thing we have
switched this over from the artisan brand to the CJRB brand. It's going to be about the same
price give or take maybe a few dollars less hopefully. But that's mostly just kind of to
spread it out across the brands because CJRB does not have a fixed blade yet we figured this
is a good entry point. So give that one a handle because I'm sure you'll feel the difference more
than see it
I remember the prototype and it didn't have a ton of clearance either and yes is better. Yes.
That's that's kind of just enough to to do the cutting board work a little more a little more
better, as they say. But yeah, so we got that aggressive tip. Camp sushi knife
will say that Yeah, sure. And since that is an AR RPM nine. I actually been using mine in the
kitchen for six months. I've actually dipped it in vinegar. I've rubbed it out with lemon juice.
I've been cutting meat and potatoes and all sorts of things that would normally leave a
really nasty patina on carbon steel knives or even some of the more I will say lower carbon
stainless knives. The RPM nine is held up really well granted my hands scratch the hell beat up
and I think I dropped it on the floor so I chipped the tip but you know what? It still
works right? Also my ground out really easily. I will say that the sharpening It has been a
breeze.
One thing I noticed as well versus the one I saw previously is you mentioned the belly is a
little more curvature. Yes. But importantly here at the heel. Yes. Which as as a kitchen guy as a
kitchen knife fan, one of the things I always look for is that rock right there. The garlic
chopping. Yeah. So I mean, you have just enough clearance and just enough belly to pull it off
not as you're the one you're going to do every day. But you can do it.
Yeah, yeah, at the same time. This is still a perfectly good backpacking knife. If you like
the profile, you want a longer blade that is lower profile. This is a great option. Take
camping, even if you're not going to do cooking, you get something that has a lot of blade. It's
relatively thin light. It's not going to be something that's going to be your heavy hardcore
like wood splitting alternate It's not you know, a big a. BK 2 Yeah, but this is a cutter. Yeah.
And if you need that option for traveling, or backpacking or camping, this is cool. And as a
kitchen knife, okay, yeah, yeah, it works perfectly well. kydex sheath for this. Yes,
we're getting that kydex done and hopefully we should have these out soon. Excellent.
Very nice. I it's those those tiny little details that take something from pretty good to
very good and this I really liked the improvements.
It's a nice change. It is a very welcome change. And I think it just made something that was
already a really good night and something that is distinctive and great, ya know, very well
done. Alright, more Mallory's of more Dillon Mallory's up. So this one is an oddball. This is
the small centros. This has been in the works for a while, because it's just been kind of a
hard one to get out there. Because, well, the regular centralis is already good seller. It's
been a great knife. A lot of people love the size. But Dylan really wanted a small version.
And you know what, this is just a perfect size. And I'm not a lot of guys come by who have like
big old big old maintenance. And there's like part of this can be like, Oh, that's comfortable
because it's got this dump this got a tubing controller there, you know, it's I got plenty of
space right there. By of, you know, medium size hands. This is really comfortable. On top of
that we want to lose in Dylan's preferred color method. So black blade, black micarta tie clip
that's micarta. Not surprisingly, yes, it's actually very nicely polished out, we finally
finished and then a tie a tie pivot color. And we're going to change the screws here to black
to kind of match everything else. But it really has a very distinctive color scheme. And with
the size, it's so small, it's the same blade size as the Ria, but it doesn't feel like it. It
feels like a much more, I can't say more capable knife, but it really locks into the hand a lot
better. Well,
speaking of the Ria, specifically, the main difference here is you actually have that
finger. In this case, which does change the feel of the knife significantly gives you a little
more feeling security, yes, if you're going to take your small knife and you need to push it a
little harder and a little bit bigger than you would normally gives you that but
it feels really good. And I just love the way that the profile this really is. It's such it's
a Dylan design to Dylan Mallory design. It's very distinctive. And I think the small version
is more than the big one really is like it's this is a classy carry. Yeah, this makes
something that is already a fairly like classy cool knife if you will begin doing genuinely
gentlemen knife that can work in a multitude of situations.
I think the same thing about the big and small versions of the Archaeo. Yeah, small versions
where it's at? Oh, yeah, for me. They're like, kind of my version. But the small because yeah,
version. Like the design works in even better
Yeah. So yeah, that was a small Centros We'll see how that works out for us. But we're pretty
happy with that turnout. I know Dylan's really happy with a few
different colors will come out I'm sure. Oh, yeah. Yeah. If you're not a fan, but this is.
This is the Dylan Mallory colorway. It wasn't what
he wanted. Yeah, no, it looks very nice. It's just a little bit of tie there. A little bit of
grain. Nice.
Someone's gonna really want to annodize that. I know, someone's the first time this comes out.
Someone's gonna be like, this blue. It's like that looks amazing. I know. We're looking
amazing. Anyway. Yeah, absolutely. All right. So let's go into something a little wild color. A
little wild looking without wild design. I think this is probably my favorite thing so far this
year. I am very excited about this. I think I would agree with you. Yeah, this is so cool. All
right. Once you pick that one up, this is the scoria we have a few versions here. We're kind
of freaking out what we want to do what they want to do contour GFN and wants to go the
carbon fiber, we want to do this crazy looking micarta. But this is a Alright, so in pictures,
I don't think this is really going to demonstrate how cool it is. Because this thing
is insanely thin and light. Let me just let me just do a profile shot. This thing is super
thin. And it just melts into the hand. Also, we put a full size finger in a real human size
frame control on this guy. I kind of want to widen it a little bit. It's a little tight for
my bit on the fat side. But this is just such a great user because it has everything on it. I
almost like think of it as a data driven knife. This is everything that people say they want on
a folder you got them says you got a flipper, you gotta choil I mean we put our front flipper
on every be covered for everything. And it's got this nice condo handle, it's got a lot of like
this I like I like to say I like G10 big bucks. And I cannot lie because this has a lot of grip
in the back end and it gives you a very solid secure purchase even though this is a very thin
candle. And thin link stock is like a like an everyday slicer. I mean, you know I love that
point. Oh yeah. And I love a thin drop point on the the medium size knives. It's so
thin. It's so thin and so slicey but I liked it we kept the tip kind of teardrop shapes. I
thought really, really needle thin. But it's still plenty of point. Oh yeah. And it's got
just a good middle like it's just got more curvature. So I was expecting this to come out
with a lot M4 kind of like a fine point to it that kind of makes sense that this profile is
meant to be thin and light and easy to carry. It's like no, no, we put plenty of light on
here. It's a great slicer. And I also love this green accent. It shows a bit of a bit better on
the carbon fiber. Yeah, with that green accent. We haven't used that color before. And honestly,
I was sitting there going kind of polarizing know people love it.
And I have to say the contoured version. This is while this one, the flat not so much. But the
content is like as soon as you hold it, you have that feeling where you go. Yes. melts. Yeah.
I love knives that have good handles, I love good air goes this, I actually prefer knives
with less choice, like less contouring to the handle even fewer oils. I am going to make an
exception to this because it really just it's in the hand. It's secure. It's comfortable. And
it's just like, it's a tool that just feels like an extension to the body. Yeah.
And with a shape like this to any hand size. Exactly. Because you're going to be able to tail
off the back end exactly easily. It's good. It's good. Feel on it is great. You get a contoured,
comfortable handle without it being bulky. And you get that nice thin blade. It's so good.
Yeah, no, that's a real winner for sure.
Also, we didn't make sure. So I mentioned you earlier the story of this type of rock, that
it's a volcanic rock that Cool's in the air upon entry back onto the surface of the planet. So it
develops a lot of holes in it and it becomes very light sometimes light enough to float in
water. So in the theme that we have drilled the heck out of the inside of this thing. So it is
super lightweight. Yeah, there's almost nothing to that.
Yes. So I don't have a good palm scale. Yeah, going on. But what's the weight you think on
this? Two point something? It's
it's a very comfortably lightweight. I wish I had a scale here too. I'm just guessing. Yeah.
Because I just saw those yesterday. Like I feel
a feel on the contoured version especially is so good, dude, money. That's fantastic. Very nice.
All right. All right. So now we go on to the cool one. This one is a This one's a project we
have we've been working on for a bit this is I'm sure you can just you can tell the desert who
the designer is on this one. Oh, shoot. Oh, yeah. Now the Ray Laconaco. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Ray
has been very happy with us and Tari. We've been very happy to work with him. He is a fantastic
he is a really fun guy to talk to. He's just like, he loves his designs. And we really like
working with him. Because if he makes something, it's very well thought out. It's just like,
rakin just draws on the like, Oh, that's perfect, right? Like I know, like, Okay, cool.
Yeah, pretty much. So he's really, he's really cool. He's really cool. I'm not had the
pleasure. So anyway, we're still running, he's buying for the final production, we made two
versions of this night. This is the serious, and we want to do something a little bit different
than the Centauri a little bit more gentlemanly, a bit more sleek. And this is kind of going to
be another. Well, it's another really conical front flipper. And I think we kind of have a
lock on the conical front flippers with a Centauri. But this has some slick action to it
really great. photofile has that that signature little chamfer groove in there, clean tie clip,
blind screwed in. So all you really get is just that that little bit of the clip. Yeah, very
clean welcome. And this very, just, it's an elegant blade, just swedge on top grounds, then,
oh, we're going a little jimping right here and on the back. Just make sure you have a nice
solid grip while you're holding up here. So kind of that pinch grip up top
muscle like to say that's always good, too. If you're not looking at the knife, you have that
feel for the indexing, you know, you're not getting too close,
especially because it's a very like clean angled knife. So just straight angles. Yeah, but we did
two versions. Now we're trying to kind of get a feel for what people like here. So we have a
version that is a micarta liner lock. So this one is a liner lock, steel liners, double sided
micarta tie clip, and an RPM nine blade, or possibly in a certified depending on production.
We'll see. We'll see. We'll talk to Ray and this one has a thumb stud. So this way you get that
nice flicking action and the front flipper. And then we have the hyper clean version in full tie
full on micromill tie with just the front flipper. Yeah, keep the blade a little cleaner
looking. Yeah, frame lock on the back. It's a nice one and I'll say it's a lot of people seem
to like the thumb son. I know Ray's been talking about this because he wanted something that's a
bit more budget friendly. But other people that like the Ti one are very vehemently about this
all Ti super clean, no extra things. No Frills. Yeah. And it is again with the theme of this
year clean. This is clean, it's elegant. It's straightforward. It really has a nice like you
look at that. It's like that's what Conoco. Yeah, that's Ray Laconaco. That is his design,
and it just hits right there. This one that that thumbs done is something he really wanted, and I
think it worked out really well. But I think it's just like it's it's a lot more utility. And
I think so far this seems to be the winner of what people seem to like but you know, I keep
coming back to this here. Let's let's look at the cleanliness and the clothes. supposition
especially is Oh, nice looking. It's just very elegant. Yeah, but once again, re knocks it out
of the park. It's an amazing design. And hopefully we have these out fairly soon. Yeah,
I'm really excited to get these out because this is this is something to add to our line that is
just going to just add a bit more class. Once again, the Centauri added some class, I was
going to add a bit more.
Yeah. And I love this Centauri, oh, yeah, got some good projects in the works really? Well.
Sleeping Pokemon. So excited. Yeah. But no, this if I were to pick a winner today, it still acts
and the story Yeah. Fair enough like that. The concert scores. So contour. So good. Yeah,
gotcha. Gotcha. That is a fantastic. Excellent. That's all the time we've got for you all the
knives we've got time to show you today. As he said, a lot of things are protos some of these
are just hitting our shelves. So we'll leave a link below to our ArtisanCutlery and CJRB pages
if you want to check out what's available now. And keep sticking around for more blade show
coverage. Russell, dude, thank you so much. It was a pleasure.