Maybe survival knives in the good old days conjured up the idea of a big ass knife on
the belt, or fighting some other dude you had a blade forums OR YOUTUBE beef with on
the sandbar.
“I SAID HOLLOW GRINDS WERE SUPURIOR THAN FLAT FOR CUTTIN TWINE YA HORNEYTOAD.
NO EUGENE THE LOCKBAR FLEXES IN THE DIRECTION OF THE STOP PIN, RATHER THAN THE ORTHOGONAL
DIRECTION IE TOWARD/AWAY FROM THE BROAD FACES OF THE HANDLE SCALES.
NOW PLEASE KILL ME, BECASUE WE ARGUEING ABOUT $400 POCKET KNIVES.
But nowadays in the new Golden Age of Disease as long as it breaks down cardboard from the
headache suitcase then- it’s a survival knife.
Presently not letting the trash build up inside your house counts as a survival skill.
As does not getting alcohol poisoning.
The Civivi Asticus, hope I’m pronouncing that last vowel right… is it a U? is it
an I? who can really know… the ASTICUS is an excellent $55 larger lightweight folding
knife, with a hollow grind and great looks.
So let’s take a look at the dimensions like the overall length and weight.
You practicing any survival skills right now?
Blade size and cutting edge.
Like paying rent and utilities.
Shouldn’t a bought another knife.
Handle size and grip area.
Practicing safe fire starting in the comfort of your living room with ferro rods and feather
sticks.
Spine thickness and handle thickness.
Identifying which house plants have the most gentle leaves for wiping.
Tallnesses.
How about, holding your breath as you pass people in the beer aisle.
It goes nearly unsaid that You’re a knife expert if you’re watching this video, so
these next few sentences aren’t for you.
If you don’t know Civivi is We knife Companies budget line of knives.
They are are a Chinese company and the knives are made with less opulent materials and blade
steels, but come with the same fit and finish and quality control We is known for.
I don’t mean the royal We, I have no quality control- like for example the review up until
this sentence.
Ok experts it’s safe to listen again.
The Asticus knife features a large hollow ground blade, made from the China D2 steel.
Civivi has been upping their game, and giving you the D too in addition to the CR.
The Asticus is pretty thin behind the edge and is a pretty good slicer.
D2 isn’t a super steel and is a little more likely to rust than other stainless steels,
but it gives a bit more time between sharpens than the 9CR.
And allows reviewers like myself to waste your time by saying things like "Not only
is Civiv giving you the Astisus but also the D too."
instead of offering any real valuable information.
Thats what happens when you spend too much of lockdown on the hub.
You think I know shit about lock bar flex?
Deployment and lock up.
The Asticus is a flipper.
Therefore as such you hit that tab and you get what’s known in technical terms as the
pechow.
Smooth and consistent because it’s on bearings.
The detent is fairly strong too, you can’t fling it downward and open it gravity knife
style- even if you’ve really been getting those wrist and forearm reps in for your dominant
hand.
Tab has some jimping, and a little uncomfortable for sustained lockdown flipping.
No owie finger pinching between scales and liner like the Massdrop Orca, because the
liner isn’t flush with the scales like on that knife.
The handle is big and comfortable, you have chamfering and tumbled edges everywhere- see
it can happen on a knife less than $100.
I mean even $20 Ganzos can do it.
The grip is nice and big with a very generous neutral area.
Mmm… very generous neutral area.
I know my audience.
The handle is made up of jade or natural G10 scales over liners.
The G10 isn’t super aggressive and comparable to other Civivi releases- smooth friction
if that makes any sense.
The liners inside are skeletonized, which contributes to the weight saving considerations.
But also great lint and goo traps, so in a few months maybe it’ll have that nice, dead
bug in light fixture look.
Of course other weight saving areas are the tapered spine on the blade, and the overall
thinness of the handle.
The handle is still a touch thicker than the Para Military 2, but not much.
The large choil up front is friendly for a sexy choke grip or sharpening.
Also at the back you have a backspacer and a lanyard area.
A lanyardless knife is gonna really crap up a good IG pocket dump, especially since the
pry bar has it.
The pocket clip.
The pocket clip is kinda the needs improvement section.
It’s not terrible, but there’s a few things I’d prefer- so I’ll bore you with them
know.
First off, wish that it matched the rest of the knife.
Should look decent as the paint begins to rub off.
The slight of hand by adding the black pivot screw is a good effort though- see it matches!.
It’s fairly springy and holds tight, but it does seem a little thin.
Also the end of the clip has a sorta steep rise to it and you can feel it in the center
of your palm if you squeeze hard.
It is deep carry though, so that might make up for it’s transgressions.
Would it have been hard to just bead blast some steel?
Comparisons.
First the Asticus.
Civivi makes great knives and this is no exception.
I don’t own or review all of their knives, but I bought this one because of it’s looks,
and it’s good size knife with an excellent blade to weight ratio.
I have some minor issues with the flipper being a touch uncomfortable and the pocket
clip being kinda ugly, but I had to go looking for some subjective takes because it’s a
really good knife.
The Para Military 2 now.
A nearly perfect knife.
Very similar in size, and although the handle is thinner it feels like a thicker knife in
the hand.
The pocket clip on the Para Military 2 is less intrusive to my grip, ever so slightly
than the asticus.
Plus the Para Military 2 wins fidget points.
Now the Para 3, just mainly here for a size comparison and because of the jade G10 scales.
I prefer the sizes of the Asticus and Para Military 2 for every day carry.
I like jade scales on knives, thought you should know.
Now the Cold Steel Broken skull, larger blade, better steel only a little more expensive,
not as fidget able though.
The pocket clip is a little stronger than I’d like too.
It’s thin in the hand and light weight.
Great weight to large blade ratio.
Now the Civiv Backlash, this is a pretty good knife too.
I guess it would come down to styling, as to what one prefers.
I like that Civivi has minimal branding on the blades too.
Are we done- I hope this is your favorite part too.
NO WHAT ABOUT THE PRAXIS, I KNOW YOU GOT THE PRAXIS.
Yeah I got the Praxis.
Guess you might want that other Civivi.
I like the styling on this one too.
Ok I think were done.
Ok now a shot with all three.
Ok stock southern voice, here’s all three.
Now I haven’t been buying as many knives this year in prior years.
At least more budget friendly blades.
If you’ve seen my Instagram feed, you’ve think I’ve come into some money.
But the Asticus was one I saw and immediately wanted.
So I bought it- you’re welcome.
It’s a very easy recommendation as a functional mid 3 inch folding knife.
Quality and fit and finish is on par with knives up to $200 or even more.
It uses sort of a boring steel, but there’s nothing wrong with that.
No edge rolling or chipping for cardboard based foes.
I mean lets be honest people buy expensive knives with high end blade steel to look at,
and they use their cheap steel beaters to do the work anyway.
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