New stuff inbound from Kizer soon, including the Smolt, a rugged, high-performance fixed blade with a compact form factor. There’s no arguing with the Smolt’s drop point blade shape: it’s just a pure, classic interpretation of the most ubiquitous, intuitive blade profile. Coming in at 2.93 inches, this is not an enormous knife, but it’s still a full-featured, multifunctional one. You’ve got the capacity to handle day-to-day stuff, of course, but lots of backup/campsite outdoors utility as well. The blade steel, 3V, is a semi-stainless that even today, years after its first appearance in the pr ..read more

Knife maker Peter Carey partnered up again with WE Knife Co., this time to release a full-size production model of his Nitro custom. The Nitro OG, as they’re calling it, brings out a version of the knife with its full dimensions after testing the waters with the Nitro Mini some time ago. It was with that smaller version of the Nitro that Carey first hopped aboard the WE train in 2022; in the intervening time, he drew up the Gordo for the company’s Civivi brand; the Nitro OG marks the first time he’s with WE proper since the Mini. As the name implies, the Nitro OG matches Carey’s custom origin ..read more

Don’t let April close out without taking a peek at this new, limited edition Becker fixed blade from KA-BAR and its custom shop arm, State & Union. The BK76 is not only a high-quality fixie, it is also the first KA-BAR knife to be made from (you guessed it) MagnaCut steel. It looks like the BK76’s nearest relation in the production KA-BAR catalog would be the BK16. The blade profiles – handsome, broad, flat ground drop points – are nearly identical, although the 76 is a bit longer, running out to 4.88 inches. The shape and length make this one an obvious choice for all-purpose outdoors fix ..read more

James Brand’s latest project should please the general gear enthusiasts out there. It’s called the Warrick, a keychain-sized driver tool with an emphasis on quality components and a compact, sleek form factor. Not all knife enthusiasts get enthused about the tools they use to maintain their tools – but, those who do take an interest in the maintenance side of the hobby quickly learn that, just as there are central, influential knife brands, so too are there “heavy hitters” for general tool manufacturers. And, in that world, Wiha is one of those central brands. Their bits are hardened like a b ..read more

The traditional blades just keep coming over there at RoseCraft. Company GM and designer Andy Armstrong dropped another historically-minded jack knife, called the Nolichucky Jack, which sold through its first run double-fast. Compared to the last RoseCraft traditional we talked about, the Briarpatch Jack, the Nolichucky simplifies things a bit. It reverts to a single blade, in this case one with a spear point profile. RoseCraft traditionals tend to run a tad larger than comparable designs from, say, Case, and the Nolichucky falls right in line with that trend, with a blade length of 3 inches ..read more

Boker looks like it will continue to offer modern tributes to traditional knife designs this year. They’ve already lavished plenty of attention on the Barlow, and now the Trapper pattern is a renovation of its own called the Modern Trapper Uno. The Trapper pattern hasn’t crossed into the mainstream knife fan’s consciousness to the degree that the Barlow has. However, amongst the traditional cognoscenti, the Trapper sits in the pantheon of great patterns. In its more, well, traditional incarnation, a Trapper typically has two blades, but unlike many other multiblade models, these blades are th ..read more

Civivi just revealed a fresh variant of their evergreen Elementum model; no surprise there. What is surprising is just what form this latest version takes: it melds the Elementum form with a traditional, replaceable blade utility knife. Meet the Civivi Elementum Utility. A smash hit for Civivi and their most instantly-recognizable model, the Elementum’s success lead to quite the corral of sequels and spin-offs. It’s been sized up, shrunk down, turned into a tanto, formed into a fixed blade – it even jumped from the budget-oriented Civivi catalog into the premium We Knife lineup. And on top of ..read more

Presented by: KnivesShipFree It’s April 15th which, here in the U.S., means it is the dreaded Tax Day, deadline for filing our annual taxes. But this year Spyderco is helping to soften the blow with a one day only Tax Day Sale, layering additional discounts onto a tasteful selection of models. So it’s obviously a good day to add another Spydie or two to your collection. If you need some guidance on what to look at, here are five selections that caught our eye in particular. Military 2 It would take a stronger will than ours to resist mentioning the Military 2 as a sale highlight. This is the ..read more

CRKT has just unveiled a new, US-made fixed blade to celebrate thirty years in the knife business. This is the Soldotna, an all-purpose outdoors blade designed by longtime CRKT collaborator Russ Kommer. Certainly one of the coolest things about being friends with a custom knife maker is the chance that they may eventually make you a bespoke knife for a special occasion. The Soldotna can trace its origins to just such an occurrence: Kommer made a custom fixed blade for CRKT founder Rod Bremer, who intended to give it to his grandson for an upcoming hunting trip. And you can definitely see the ..read more

Earlier this week we talked about a limited edition version of the Zero Tolerance 0450, a slim, slick EDC-style design from Dmitry Sinkevich. There’s a second limited release on the way from ZT, a Factory Special Series 0308 with different steel and handle scale than the standard versions. In our piece on the aforementioned 0450 limited edition, we talked about the ways in which ZT expanded its design capabilities beyond the super stout, overbuilt folders that defined its early output. Well, the ZT 0308, released in 2020, is an homage to that earlier design philosophy. It’s a big boy that wei ..read more