Monthly Archives: January 2012

Shot Show 2012 – Day Three

Posted on by

Day Three at the Shot Show was our last day, and we stopped by just a few more booths before collapsing into a pile of mush at the end of the day.

Chris Reeve is always great to chat with, he is an industry legend. The Sebenza has always been one of my favorite knives. At his display, Chris had several of his unique graphic, and computer generated graphic Sebenzas available for us to drool over.

At the Italian booth where we met with Lion Steel. They are updating the steel that they use on the majority of their knives from 440C to D2. I personally think that this is a good move, and the knives will be only slightly more expensive because of the change. Lion Steel also showed us a new version of their Opera folding knife that has G-10 scales. The G-10 will come in four colors: black, green, sand, and orange. The orange handled version has a black blade. These Opera knives will be available in the small and larger versions.

Next to Lion Steel we met with the guys at Maserin. They have some nice looking knives, and I wanted to share a few pictures of what they are doing with you.

The Emerson Knives booth was very busy. This year they have introduced the Journeyman which is a 4.1″ folding knife that looks like it will be a real workhorse and a great all around knife. It was designed specifically to work well in almost every possible situation that you could use a knife.

 

Also this year, Emerson is releasing a smaller and a larger version of their popular Roadhouse folding knife.

 

Taylor Brands has some new Smith and Wesson knives for 2012. They have started making automatic knives in the USA and will be adding to that line this year. Taylor has also updated the look of their Viper line, which is a side opening assisted knife.

They have also updated the look of the Military and Police line.

 

Taylor has come out with a new version of their spring assisted out the front line as well.

We stopped by the Kershaw booth one more time to chat with Rick Hinderer. Rick makes some of the absolute best knives in the industry, and we were excited to hear what he had to say about his new Zero Tolerance line. Rick told us that he is upping his production capacity for knives this year, so you may see a few more of them in the market.

Condor has several new machetes available this year and it looks like they have really stepped up their game. My favorite knife at the booth was the Woodlaw fixed blade. This knife has a 4″ blade and a micarta handle. It feels great in the hand!

At the Surefire booth, they have a new push dagger that they will be releasing in April. It looks like Surefire will be developing a couple of new daggers that you will see come out in the next year or so.

Finally we stopped at Mantis knives to see what Jared is up to. While we were there we saw Mykel Hawke with a prototype of a proposed new knife line that will be made in conjunction with Smoky Mountain Knife Works. Jared had worked hard to get the prototypes made in time, and it looks like this knife line could yield some cool stuff. Myke is a nice guy and he told us that soon he would have a new survival show with his wife that would be a little bit easier on the family schedule.

Jared showed us some of the knives he has been working on with a steel bearing pivot system that opened really smoothly. The new system that he is using should really improve the action on all of his folding knives. He doesn’t know for sure what these new knives will be called, but look for them to be released soon.

Shot Show Recap – Day Two

Posted on by

Day two here at Shot Show and we have tons of updates from several more brands.

We started off at the ESEE knives booth. They have a new version of their Izula that is called the Candiru. Its smaller, but just as nasty. There will be tan and orange micarta scales available for the Candiru.

From ESEE’s facebook page, size comparison with the Izula:

Also very exciting, the ESEE Laser Strike is finally ready. For those of you who are not familiar with the Laser Strike, it is an older ESEE model that had been produced by TOPS Knives for a while. It will now be made by ESEE, and its a very cool knife. The micarta scales on the knife fit together to create a cavity that houses a firestarter. This is a nice design that is exciting to see back at ESEE.

There is also a brand new fire kit that will be coming out this year.

Spartan Blades has a couple of new knives this year. One is called the Phrike and it is a smaller, fixed blade with micarta inlays.

From Spartan Blades facebook page:

 

They also have a new Model 2, which is smaller than the Model 1. I personally have always felt that the Model 1 was a little too large for my hands, so I was very excited to see the smaller version.

Close to the Spartan Blades booth, we discovered a brand that I had not heard of called Medford Knife. They make big, bulky folders and fixed blades that kind of reminded me of some of the stuff Dwaine Carrillo makes. Most of his folders feature Digi Camo G-10 on one scale with a titanium frame lock on the other side. The blade style that are used are unique and I think that a lot of people will really like them.

We stopped by the Kershaw booth to check out the new stuff that they have coming out this year. I wasn’t sold on the Funxion series when I saw them in the catalog, but looking at them in person I like the smooth opening action of the knife. Each of the Funxions comes with a different multi-tool geared for different end uses.

I also was able to flip one of the Kershaw Cryos and this is an excellent knife for the price. It’s a Rick Hinderer design that won’t be too expensive.

Speaking of Rick Hinderer, we checked out several of his Zero Tolerance Knives while we were at the booth. The 560 and 561 both have great opening action, super smooth, and tight tolerances. I pestered one of the guys at the booth to let me see the 777, and I got my hands on one of the prototypes for a minute. This is going to be a very nice knife. It will feature the same folding mechanism that is on the 560.

After Kershaw we went to the Spyderco booth. Spyderco had tons of prototypes and concept models that were fun to look at. I was able to talk to Ed Schempp about some of his knives. Ed is a really nice guy and was fun to listen to. He showed me a concept model of the Equilibrium, which is a larger version of the Balance. There are tons of great new Spyderco knives coming out this year, and we will do a much more thorough post about them once we get back.

CRKT (Colombia River Knife and Tool) has some cool new models out this year as well. They have a smaller version of the popular Nirk Tighe that will be out this year.

A new aluminum version of the Ken Onion designed Ripple will be released this year.

Alan Folts has designed a new neck knife that they are calling the S.P.E.W.

My personal favorite knife at the CRKT booth was the Eraser. It is a new tactical folding knife designed by Liong Mah with a modified tanto blade. This one is going to be very nice.

Leatherman has a new multi-tool out called the Rebar, which is a smaller version of the Super Tool 300. There is also a version of the Style multi-tool called the Style PS that was designed to be TSA compliant.

We stopped by Camillus knives and I have never seen their booth so busy before. They just released a new line of Les Stroud survival knives that should be extremely popular. For those of you who don’t know, Les is the star of the hit “Survivorman” TV show. There are three knives and a machete that will be part of this line.

From the Camillus Home Page:

Bear and Son Cutlery has a brand new balisong that will be released early this year. It is called the Bear Song III and features micarta handles. I have handled a few of Bear’s butterfly knives and this one is going to be a pretty good flipper. The nice thing about the Bear line is that you don’t have to break the bank in order to purchase a decent balisong. Bear has really expanded their Bear Ops line of tactical folding knives and there are several new ones this year as well. Bear has also named most of their knives, which is nice because it makes the knives easier to keep track of.

Right next to Bear we discovered a custom knifemaker named Arno Bernard. Arno is from South Africa and carries on the tradition of great knifemakers from that country. His knives kind of look like bushcrafting fixed blades, and are all made with very nice handle materials. Things like giraffe bone, abalone, and several beautiful wood combinations. The fit and finish on these were superb.

Cheetah Model – Desert Ironwood

Meerkat Model – Giraffe Bone

We stopped by the Meyerco booth and saw Darrell Ralph. He showed us a bunch of balisongs that he had been working on as part of his DRT (Darrel Ralph Tactical) line. He also had several custom Gunhammers at the booth with damascus blades and bronze hardware. These are going to be a limited run of 30 and they look really cool. HTM has incorporated Darrell’s Maxx Glide opening technology into most of their knives now, and it seems like most of them open much smoother now. There is a brand new knife called the Bull Whip that looks like it will be a big success. Jeff Hall has teamed up with Meyerco to make a new line of assisted opening knives that look like they are going to be really popular as well.

SHOT Show 2012 Recap – Day One

Posted on by

It’s SHOT show time once again, and BladeHQ was kind enough to allow one of our bloggers to tag along with them this year. We were able to see tons of 2012 products for most of the major knife brands. We will have lots of pictures and updates coming in the next few months with all of the new stuff.

Our show started off quick at the Strider Booth. This is where I got my first chance to look at the SJ75, a relatively new titanium framelock mini folder. This is a stout little knife that would be ideal for almost any gentleman’s carry. Those guys who are big Strider fans, but generally like a smaller knife are going to love this one.

Ontario Knife Company is probably best known for making excellent survival fixed blades. They have had an affiliation with Randall’s Adventure and Training, which gives them an expertise working with survival knives.

The Blackbird SK-5 is a sturdy fixed blade knife that has won a couple of knife awards.

We also saw the DPx Gear HEST folder that Ontario is currently manufacturing. Lion Steel is making the majority of the HEST knives, but the Folder II is being produced by Ontario.

TOPS has several new knives they are rolling out this year. One of our favorites was the CUMA TAK-RI designed by Waysun Johnny Tsai. The CUMA TAK-RI is a fixed blade knife that features a kukri shaped blade. The knife is currently being featured in IDW Publishing’s G.I. JOE comic book series “Snake Eyes”. Snake Eyes can be seen slashing Cobra troops with the CUMA TAK-RI.

 

TOPS also has a number of fixed blade knives that will be coming out with stainless satin blades.

Hogue has a new folding knife called the EX02. This knife is thicker and rounder than the EXo1. The knife will come with a flipper and will also have a variation with no flipper. It should be available really soon.

Picture C/O and Copyright – Valerie Elishewitz

Hogue also had another prototype called the EX04 which will be coming later this year.

Ka-Bar has several new knives coming out in 2012. They have a brand new Zombie folding knife called the Zombie Mule, which is larger and thicker than the current Zombie folding knife.

This is the Desert Mule folder. The Zombie Mule will have the same look, but will feature a toxic green handle. It will be available in plain and serrated versions.

There is also a brand new Zombie Killing fixed blade knife called the “Chop Stick”. The Zombie line seems to be doing very well for Ka-Bar. There is also an exciting new set of Becker fixed blades called the “Tweeners”. These knives are shorter than the original Beckers and are very cool. The anticipated release date of the Becker Tweeners is March of this year.

Blackhawk has a new fixed blade knife coming out this year called the Gideon. It comes in tanto and drop point versions. We didn’t get to hold the knife, but it looks like it will fit nice in the hand.

Gerber is releasing several new Bear Grylls items this year. There are a few multi-tools, a new survival kit, a canteen, and a knife or two. Gerber has been listening to what people were saying and decided to come out with a plain version of the Ultimate knife. So if you were looking for a non-serrated version, then this is your chance. Gerber said that the plain version would be at your favorite knife store some time at the end of the first quarter this year. Gerber also has a couple of new multi-tools, including one that works as a tripod for your camera. I didn’t play with this multi-tool but it looks like Gerber is trying to do something a little bit more exciting with their multi-tool line.

Many of you will be familiar with Benchmade’s new offerings for the year. They had the model 62 at their booth for us to play with and it is super nice. I know that some guys have been concerned with the weight of the 62, since it is going to be stainless steel instead of titanium. After actually holding the knife in my hand, I can tell you that this is going to be an excellent flipper.

Also we saw the automatic version of the Adamas folding knife. This automatic fires hard and has a solid lock-up. The knife uses the Axis lock mechanism.

Some of you will be familiar with the Boker 715. It was an older knife that worked similarly to an Italian leverlock. Well, Boker has a new knife that is similar to the 715 that could be coming to market soon. There is a new titanium framelock folding knife called the Albatros that is very cool.

Protech had a prototype of the FlyFather butterfly knife at their booth. The FlyFather is going to be an extremely cool butterfly knife when it comes out into production.

They have a new fixed blade knife called the Spindrift which is an Allen Elishewitz design. The most unique thing about this knife was its handle. Each one is 3D machined and contoured G10 with a 154CM blade.

Protech is also releasing a new CA legal automatic knife this year that is thinner than the Runt. Its called the Sprint, and its thinner and more compact. Most people looking for a CA legal automatic knife who didn’t like the Runt felt like it was too thick. So, Protech has made a new knife for all of these people!

SOG has several new knives available this year. The one that is bound to get people talking is called the BladeLight. Its a knife that doubles as a flashlight. No, really. The concept sounded hokey to us at first too. Once we actually took a look at the knife and held it in our hands, we liked it much better than we thought that we would.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SOG is also releasing new satin versions of some of their tomahawks.

Buck Knives has a bunch of new folding knives designed specifically for females by a hunter named Haley Heath. These knives are part of an entire new line called the ErgoHunter Adrenaline series.

There are also several new colors that Buck is adding to the Vantage Force line. The tan looks really good on the Vantage force knives. There will be desert sand (pictured), OD green, and camo.

Ron Hood has also designed a new knife for Buck called the Punk. This knife is smaller than the Hoodlum, but I think it will be just as popular.