Some might say this channel has reached the final stage in it’s metamorphosis
of complete knife collecting buttholery.
Expensive switchblades, customs, partaking in ruining the collecting of traditional knives,
and my beautiful hair. I mean I couldn’t even answer a question on my recent livestream-
FAVORITE KNIFE UNDER A HUNDRED. It should be easy- the Buck 110. Sorry everyone. The brimmed hats are
now a noddin’. But after a little introspection, maybe I like being part of the problem?
I mean are knives meant to be: used, a shameful thing you hoard, or toolery to show off to your
“internet buddies?” So now that I’m in my final stage as a beautiful butterfly, with little
connection to the basic concept of a “pocket knife” -this video should be of little surprise.
Last year, I went off the deep end and I purchased a Sharp By Design Void XL and the Deadlock.
The Void XL is made by a friendly man from beautiful New Jersey named Bryan,
and his shop full of expensive machines, all by himself. He and his machines are
known as Sharp By Design. Some people buy Yeezy’s to leave to their cats, others are
building a 5G blockers in their garage. Although make sure you put some money into a garage turret
for the lizard people. Or you know you’ve just bought a carbon fiber hood for your Challenger,
and upgrading your sprinkler system. Do people still do normal stuff with money? All I’m saying
is people buy all kinds of dumb shit, and are no damn good. So thankfully the Youtube servers are
here to capture all of our mediocrity, when we post about our boring lives and crappy hobbies.
Today’s mediocrity is a comparison and overview of a few of Bryans not Medicore customs,
and a production. The production Evo Typhoon I just got, my custom and purpled Void XL,
Levon from the Knifenut’s custom Chicane which is no longer made,
the new and about to be no longer made custom Tempest. The tempest being a prototype, which has
been revised slightly for the ones he sells to the sorts of people watching this knife video essay.
A good custom knife has a few components. There’s gotta be some scarcity to it. It has to be well
made. It needs to have some flair, and it’s gotta look good. And with any luck all these things
together will make collectors wreck the secondary, and prevent people from easily purchasing them.
Bryan’s designs appeal to me first and foremost because they look good. Since I look good my knife
has to, too. Which is why I chose the Void XL, and the Evo Typhoon. Although if we’re being wishful,
one of my favorite knife designs out there is the Arch Nemesis. That’s a little out of my bad
decisions price range, unless I start criming- but the flair he puts into the blade milling,
creative anodization, handle texture, in addition to it’s clean classic lines- is amazing.
But before we go any further let’s look at the dimensions of the 3 custom sharp by designs. I’ll
verbally Ley you know the Evo sizes since I got that weeks after I shot this. Like the overall
length and weight. The tempest is obviously the biggun. The prototype of the tempest, seen here
does not have the internal handle milling that brings the customs he is selling under 5oz.
He revised them. Evo is 8 and a quarter inches overall and 3.91 oz. Blade length and cutting
edge. The Tempest again, comes in different blade styles. Like a Bowie I think. Hope he
makes a bowie. Would hate for people to message him about the bowie, and he doesn’t make it.
Probably wouldn’t get to review another one. Evo 3.7 inches blade 3.36 cutting edge.
Handle size and grip area. The Void XL and the Chicane are the average guy sized here.
Evo is 4.56 handle and 4.05 grip. Light and large! Handle Thickness and spine thickness.
Notice I’m using a rubber mat. Wasn’t gonna chance the bricks I didn’t want to be murdered.
Evo is a hair over half an inch thick and 16 hundredth on the blade stock.
Tallnesses. Evo is 1 and 17 hundreds of an inch. While you look I’ll move on. Ok so about customs.
In my current mindset of collecting. There’s a small handful of knives I’d like.
However when buying custom knives, you’ll realize they take the place of other things
you really need. Like food, clothing for your children, and surround sound.
I think there’s about 3-4 other customs I’d like, that I don’t know if I’ll get around to buying.
Like say a Birdvis slipjoint, love those WAP wipe videos he does on Instagram.
Probably a Meades slip joint, those look good. A skiff, all my knife buddies love those. And
an arch nemesis, but one of the extravagant ones I could never justify buying.
The ones that are all the colors of the rainbow with the fancy texture on the blade.
But back to earth… The Void XL, the Chicane, and the Tempest. A good custom knife isn’t a bad
investment. Good custom knives that are in demand usually hold their value. My Hawks for example
are both worth more than when I purchased them. Those might fall in the small production category,
but still. What is a custom knife? I’d say you have to keep the definition simple,
but it is up for debate. In my head it’s a knife made one at a time by one or two people?
Mostly by machines or hands it doesn’t matter. And to be a good custom it also has to have a
reputation as a well made knife. Whats the fit and finish like? The attention to detail? Can you
order options on it? There are shit customs out there, that people pay a lot for, so be careful.
First the Void XL. I like purple, I think you know that by now, it’s the only color
of underwear I buy. I definitely didn’t request it because Brian doesn’t take orders-
but the purple is a nice shade and it contrasts nicely with the silver of the titanium.
The texture on the knife gives it an extra flair that just purple by itself couldn’t do.
There’s something about the simplicity and complexity within the gentle curves-
even if it sounds like poetry that a virgin might write to a popular girl and slip it into her
locker. MMM… The alternating textures. While you were going on dates, I was perfecting knife prose.
Don’t worry guys I turned my life around. I had sex once or twice and now I review knifes
on Youtube. There were different handle styles with different textures. He doesn’t keep too
much of an archive on his website so you kind of have to check his Instagram feed
or other places on IG. It feels great in the hand, and it’s extremely fidget-able.
You got the flipper, you have the hole flick. Is it a gap or a hole,
how do a make it sound not creepy. I guess you could call it a Spydie flick. Wharnies, spydies.
Ugghh. Pet names for nerdy things are gross. It’s kinda up there with my PM2, in the fidget factor.
The XL uses an atypical knub detent, which is part of the handle, and not a steel or ceramic ball.
Which sounds like a lot more to the tooling costs if you have to remove all that material!
You detent holds strong and my weak pasty arms can’t fling it hard enough to get it to open.
The blade is a hollow ground drop point made from Nitro V and bead blasted. He had 2 or
3 different styles of blades in this one- all close but differences in the swedge area. It’s
an extremely finely pointed blade and the hollow grind is ground impressively thin.
I use it, but I am always afraid or dropping in on the floor and messing up the milled texture
of the titanium. The pocket clip is a winner for me. It shares a similar design between
all four knives. The Evo Typhoon doesn’t have the extra milling or hidden hardware,
but retains the basic shape and style . I think this one
still is the easiest slide in and out of the pocket but with also great retention. The
clip is titanium. Between all four knives this one if the middle in size and weight.
Now the chicane. This is Levons knife and Knifenuts lore states it’s the only Sharp
By Design with a Timascus clip. I think I remember that correctly. This has long since been retired
but it’s still beautiful, like your grandmother. The venting in the handle lets the blade show
through when it’s closed, and reminds you that you’ve got damasteel kinda money. Damasteel
money means you buy a blade more to look at than to use. And then looking closer at the handle
you can see the titanium has an incredibly fine texture. The knife while a very smooth deployer,
you can see the improvement from the Chicane to the Void and then the Tempest which has a strong
detent and drops shut. Remember real knives are judged by the lack of wiggles. Ergonomics,
design, steel, attention to detail, literally all are behind the wiggles. The blade etching is
pretty amazing, and it’s thin behind the edge on the elegant persian style upswept blade.
I don’t normally do the squiggles, but I’d do these. Because he makes them one at a time,
and not a lot of them, these are out there on the secondary, but you’ll have to look because
they’re rare. I see some of his older knives pop up on r knife swap from time to time-
but I never have the money. His knives even the ones that aren’t as extravagant are mini technical
marvels. You look close and there’s all kinds of interesting details, like for example the fine
detail texture on the handle, which only you’ll notice because you’ll never trust a goddamn soul
to touch your knife. Sometimes customs don’t rival some of the finer production knives, but
not any of the Sharp By Designs I’ve handled. Not only are these pretty perfect, they have a flair a
production knife doesn’t. And many have textures and colors that are unique to only one knife.
Ok the Tempest. Brian’s first Big Ass front flipper, which start around $1000. While
he’s done the bigass, this is the first time he’s combined the bigass with a front flipper. The good
news is that: even if you’re a “Oh it’s a front flipper?” Type person he mades them in the regular
flipper style too. I’m a bit more in that second camp because I tend to drop front flippers when
I fidget with them. And who wants to fuck up the resale value by dropping a knife they might have
to sell because of a surprise medical bill. It takes a while for the go fund me insurance to kick
in. I’m a big fan of the checkering, or is it the knurling on the side. I’m about to get the Evo in
the mail, and I was slightly disappointed that the EVO didn’t have that this time around. The Tempest
is a blank canvas though, and so far he’s come up with all sorts of texture and color combos,
that keep his customs from all looking like one another. I’m a big fan of the horizontal
brushing on the blade, which takes literally a twist of the wrist to drop shut. Probably the
smoothest knife I’ve ever held. The grip is nice and neutral, and made for larger hands. I would
love to own one of these in the standard flipper version, but the consolation is there will be a
production coming sometime later this year- which I will definitely buy. My guess is if
it’s like his other Reate produced productions it’ll be a bit smaller and mostly colorless.
Anyone sticking around for the Evo? I wouldn’t. You might remember I’ve reviewed the Micro
Evo, and in the past I’ve kicked myself for not preordering the original EVO when it came out.
I didn’t have the money at the time ok. The micro was made for cuter littler
hands, but the full size is just right for me. The fact that Brian offered a
bowie clip point blade was great this time. Wish he would have done the diamond grip- but if you
look at me you realize that I’m probably used to disappointment by now- so it wasn’t a big deal.
What is it like to not have your dreams continually crushed? If I were you I’d simply
stop having dreams. That’s what I’ve learned. This cost about $340 and was a limited run,
so expect to pay more on the secondary because you were a chump and didn’t sign up for the wide open
preorders last year. I’ve been seeing them caught and released over on knife swap for 400ish. “Great
knife but not for me bruh” $340 is on my upper end any more of a production knife. The Deadlock and
the Void XL kind of killed expensive production knives for me. My Sebenza 21 has been my most
expensive production knife to date, and it’s good but doesn’t match the happiness some of my $80-350
knives bring me. You won’t see any more CRKs or Reates on the channel, unless it’s something
special like this. Maybe another Microtech auto somewhere down the road, but that’s it.
Ok a loaner, just to try. I just don’t see much value or use in productions above $300 any more.
The action is smooth, and not quite a drop shot, but close. The handle is big, comfortable, and
neutral, just how I like em. Mmm… neutral. It fits my hands well, and no sharp owie parts. The Evo
looks and feels like a sharp by design. However you’re missing all the texturing, the colors of
the rainbow, and flair of his customs. The clip mimics the custom clips, but is a little stiffer
without the extra fancy milling on it. How about some brief dimensions. You’ll notice for such a
large titanium production knife, the weight stays under 4 ounces. You’re gonna be hard pressed to
find a titanium handled knife, with a blade this big that’s lighter. The tab is jimp free, properly
chamfered too. A good tab doesn’t need any jimping and don’t care what your mom told you. Bryan does
perfect tabs. And as far as the pocket pecker crew. I generally only carry a knife in the pocket
especially real pretty ones like this, so there’s nothing to get snagged on.
Ok let’s wrap it up. Brian makes very good looking well made knives.
Even if he gets Reate to produce his knives for him, they’re built to exacting standards
and are among the finest production knives you can buy. His customs are legendary in
their attention to detail and perfection, and their use of color and texture. Luckily if you
look on the secondary you’ll see one pop up occasionally for a decent price, and it’s rare
that two are alike. Anyway thanks to Levon and Brian for the loaners. I was sad to see them go.
The consolation is that I have the Evo now, and I’ll probably buy the tempest production when it’s
announced. If you like this sort of video make sure you follow Sharp By Design on Instagram,
where he posts pictures and videos of all the customs he comes up with, and he sells them
there too. The best part is you can ask him all sorts of wiggle based questions, and have a chance
of being blocked. Think about buying a t-shirt or a sticker to support my channel. Subscribe,
say Hi to the patrons, like the video, click the bell, and leave a comment. Thanks for watching.
Ok are they gone? The squares? This is the part where the hip guys with mustaches
talk about smoking cigarettes and the naughty part of the sears catalog. I touched a boobs once. I
shot this and thought about not including it. I feel like Brian would be disappointed in me.
But like a lot of the bad ideas I have to follow through with them.
That’s how this channel came about. Anyway I didn’t damage the knife or hurt it, but you know I
remember when I was trying to earn the clicks from my Sebenza days, and I saw a comment on my Patron
exit interview that really hit home. So this one is for the fans, the devotees, stay golden.
It’s like the extended version of one of the Hobbit movie, and all that implies.