Buck with another 110 Update, Case Knives Modernizes the Sod Buster, and Ontario Knife Company is Rebuilding.
There’s something about being ushered off the strip by tastefully bedazzled drag queens into a neon glow full of bars and two-story candy stores, then hustling underneath a giant Ferris wheel before a self-driving Tesla has the chance to run you down.
It’s the adrenaline and the scent of tobacco from the cigar tent you have to hike through before getting immersed in the beard-bristling chaos inside the Venetian Expo that tells you it’s gonna be a good show.
If that introduction wasn’t enough to shake your confidence, this is where we should remind you that we aren’t your source for comprehensive coverage. The Knife Center videos are usually a good place for that. DCA and the KC crew hustle their voices raw every year to get you that coverage. BladeHQ was pretty thorough this year, too.
We were walking through the show behind a thin veneer of Guinness and some kind of lemonade blessed with bourbon, which can color a man’s perception and make him miss things.
Demko Knives Goes Big In a Very Appropriate Way
Demko isn’t quick to put out new designs, exactly, but he’s always putting out new variations of his current stuff:
The Armiger is now available with a Camo Cerakote finish with green, black, and orange handles. The process for getting this finish right sounded labor intensive so it’s possible this will be a limited run.
Maybe more interesting were the production models of the AD-22. Previously this was a custom design that was difficult and expensive to get. They’re getting the mass production treatment this year, though. Details on that should be announced fairly soon.
The Shark Cub had on a new set of Camo Carbon scales, which seemed snazzy if you’re into that kind of thing. It’s also available in Peel Ply G10, with a texture that’s in between completely smooth and the unhinged aggression of the standard Demko G10 scales.
He did have a new-ish design on the table. When he told us the name of it, we asked if he was maybe at the wrong trade show, but it was kind of loud and he didn’t hear the joke, and when he asked what we said we didn’t want to admit that we knew another kind of show was going on it town, so we just said “nothing. This is a very nice knife, sir.”
Anyway, introducing the Demko XXX: It’s an AD-20 XL, technically, but with a quarter inch blade, which needed two more Xs in the name to contain the magnitude of it. It has titanium scales available with smooth or grooved texture, according to your pleasure.
We had also heard some things about the Joe Flowers collab, called the Harbinger. It’s basically the Armiger with a Peuko-style, scandi-grind blade. That wasn’t at the table, but we managed to chase down Joe Flowers for a little more info and picked up that the steel will be 14C28N. You can go see some prototypes being tested in a Knife Center video from earlier in January.
Ocaso is Working on a Fixed Blade EDC
We always love going to the Ocaso booth. Rick knows how to make someone feel like they’ve just been invited to an exclusive club. His knives feel like that too. Owning an Ocaso is sort of like owning a golden ticket, in some ways. You won’t get into a chocolate factory, but Rick will like you, and that’s its own, strangely enticing reward.
Front and center at the booth was the recently-announced Sovrano slip joint. This is an Italian made stunner with a 2.75-inch blade in Magnacut steel and you better believe the walk and talk felt as smooth and solid as the Ocaso brand itself.
The real stunner for us, though, was the Sevra.
The Sevra fixed-blade EDC will be made in the USA by Toor Knives. There were two versions at the booth with ironwood and G10 scales, and both had a bit of curvature that made the grip feel natural right away.
It sounded like those would be the final two options on release. It’ll come in a leather sheath with a pocket clip, although that will likely be a little different by the time the knife comes out. Rick said they were still workshopping the design to be a little more stylized and pocket-friendly.
ESEE is Coming Out with their First Cross Bar Lock Folder
They aren’t the kind of company to come out with new models every quarter, but they did have something interesting on the table.
The big surprise was the little folder with a crossbar lock. We’re not sure what the steel will be. Our guess is D2 or AUS-8 based on their other folders. The prototype was snappy and comfortable, though. The handle has a nice thickness that makes the grip feel strong even through it can only fit about 3 fingers. The knife world is saturated with snappy crossbar locks, but (and maybe it’s just because it’s ESEE) we’re actually kind of excited about this one.
Don’t overlook the sharpening tool, though (to be called, we suspect, the ESEE Sharpening Tool) that will have a sharpening stone on one side and a strop on the other that rides in a leather slip. All within about 2 inches of length. That should be coming out in March.
Condor is Where Scandi Grinds Thrive
There’s a whole new set at Condor. More than we can reasonably talk about given our current condition drifting in the fugue after the flow state of a good buzz and just before the hangover drops inside our heads.
A lot of new knives. Most of them on the larger side, including some additions to the Terra series by Joe Flowers: there’s now a Terra Camp machete and a Terra Bowie Machete, which should ensure that you can get just about any shape of machete you could possibly want from Condor’s line up.
A few other stand outs to us were the Mini Firewater, a little 2.9-inch scandi-grind thing with a Micarta handle coming as a tidy companion to the regular Firewater by Paul Lackey.
We were also happy to see more Jason Breeden designs. His new K-Knight knives (especially the K-Knight Bowie) are the kind of practical fun we love to see from Condor, although it’s a different vibe from Breeden’s Mountaineer Trail series that made us fans in the first place.
But maybe our favorite thing was the Leuku by Gora Mihajlovic. It has a 7.3-inch blade that keeps true to its name with a big scandi grind and rounded wood handle with a strategically flared pommel. This thing felt like a world-class chopper.
Condor currently has all of their new knives listed on their site if you want to learn more.
WE/Civivi was Easy to Find
They were the one knife company you could be absolutely sure was there because their logo was plastered all over the convention center. That was helpful for a couple of drunks who just blinked their way through the desert and couldn’t find the front door for half a day. Finally seeing that big green C on a pillar was like seeing the wavy outline of a palm tree after a week without water.
They also went big with designers.
It’s a kind of power move to not only get the biggest booth of any knife company at the show, but to roll in with names like Ben Petersen and Taylor Martin wearing your shirt.
As usual, they had a lot of new stuff, but we were still catching our breath, so we were choosy about what we shot.
The most visual offset was probably the cat-themed slip joint, called the Purr, designed by Ostap Hel, but there was a factor of shambling decision paralysis once confronted with the full spectacle of all their offerings lined up.
Here’s a broader look at the WE knife protyopes coming out. You should be seeing these in a more official capacity trickling out over the next six months.
W.R. Case is Mastering Modern Traditional
We knew about some of their new stuff coming into Shot Show, but this was the first time we got to handle the new Axe Handle and the Crossroads Sod Buster Jr. Both of which were highlights for us in their last press release.
These things are cool.
The Axe Handle is a Bill Ruple-designed slip joint with a handle meant to emulate an axe handle. It turns out the axe handle shape isn’t just for looks. It feels like it accommodates the fattest part of the hand, especially for someone who has a hand with a beer belly.
The Crossroads Sod Buster Jr is the same little slip joint with a sub-3-inch blade we all know and love, but with S30V steel and a range of updated handle options like Dymalux wood, Micarta, and Richlite in a range of colors and textures.
The Cheetah Cub is the Vault release this year (a program that they’ve been doing officially by name for about 20 years now). It’s a little guy with a swing guard. Two pieces of metal turn on a pin in the back of the blade’s ricasso and snap into place as a little hand guard when the knife is full deployed. It’s nifty, and fun, and honestly felt like it would be handy once we started fidgeting with it.
Case is looking like one of the most active legacy brands on the floor right now. They really seem to be finding their groove with the Crossroads designs, and after talking to them it’s clear they’re hungry to keep experimenting in that vein.
CRKT Had A lot Going On
It doesn’t how big a booth CRKT gets, they always seem to be crowded. That’s probably great for the company, but it’s awkward for taking pictures. you might spot us in someone else’s coverage as it turns out we’re very bad at staying out of the way.
Anyway, the M-16 with a crossbar lock felt like the headline release to us. We haven’t messed around with this model in general, but this new one felt solid and snappy.
We thought we knew what to expect heading into the CRKT booth. We’d gone over their recent release and were excited to try out the Sero by Richard Rogers.
The Counterpart by Ken Onion was another interesting pull for us. By the pictures it looked similar to a Benchmade Bugout, but it’s a little bigger and heavier than that. It is fantastically snappy, though.
Also, is the Orochi as weird in the hand as it looks? Yes. But not necessarily in a bad way. It also has butter smooth action.
CRKT was one of the few knife companies at SHOT Show who already had their new releases available on their website.
Ontario Knife Company is Rebuilding
Imagine our surprise at seeing an OKC booth with some shiny new models at the table. We’ve spent some time in the dark since hearing the Olean factory was being shut down back in 2023, then held our breath as their name and inventory was bought up by Blue Ridge, dreading the day there were no more Rat 2s or Old Hickory’s being made.
But here they are, fully loaded with a new kind of Old Hickory design with red Micarta scales and a black coating called the Ontario XL Hunter. These had a moderately dry, grippy feeling that we liked pretty much right away.
The Micarta Old Hickory’s are being made by TOPS Knives. You can still get the walnut handle versions, and while we didn’t get a name on who exactly is making those, they did tell us they’re still being made in America.
We pestered them a little bit about where they were being made, and what models would stay in production. They didn’t have set-in-stone answers for everything, but they assure us that their fixed blade models that had been made in the US would continue to be made here. Everything is in motion for them right now, but they’re building up and moving forward.
Buck Knives
The big news from Buck lately has been the 110 and 112 Slim Heritage with Magnacut steel, Ebony wood scales with brass bolsters, a pocket clip and a slimmer profile.
They told us some percentage about how much thinner, like “30%” or in that ball park, but we had just sprinted across a bridge through eight different packs of plaid-clad bow hunters to get to their booth and couldn’t hear them right over the sound of blood pumping in our ears and a low-key fear that we triggered someone’s tracking instincts by running.
Anyway, let’s say the knife is at least 30% thinner, and we think it looks pretty good.
Buck also introduced a new version of their Alpha series called the Backcountry that features a bronze Cerakote blade finish.
Iron Ethos/Seamartec
This is a really, totally brand new company that is officially launching this April.
Iron Ethos is sort of a conglomerate of designers working through a company that’s been manufacturing knives in China for over twenty years, and who brought in a few established names to jump start two different companies: Iron Ethos and Seamartec.
The designers in the line up right now are:
- Vince Corinth of VC Edge Knives;
- Frank Grissom of Grissom Knife & Tool;
- Jason Breeden who we know pretty well from Condor’s line up;
- Michael Jarvis of Auxiliary Manufacturing, who might be a familiar name to fans of Big I Design after the release of the Ti Pocket Bowie.
Iron Ethos seems to be more tactical/modern-EDC oriented.
Some of their knives, like the Blitz, are sporting a steel called Nanocorr. We hadn’t heard of it before, but apparently it’s low carbon and geared toward corrosion resistance. We don’t know the make up, but it sounds like a similar thing to LC200N.
Seamartec looked a lot more outdoor specialized, and was flush with Breeden designs. The most striking was probably the Orion, which won the Top Brass award from Recoil magazine.
They’re trying hard to make a big splash, and have some keen designers behind them, so it’ll be interesting to see what they do throughout the year.
Spartan Blades
We were excited to see the first knives out of the new Czech Republic factory after they established European Blade Worx with Ka-Bar. First out of the gate is the Harsey Nessmuk. The specifications are the same, but a big difference is the crowned spine.
Curtis Iovito mentioned that might be the hallmark from the European factory. He seemed to like the idea that you could know where it was made by feeling the spine.
There were new designs on the table, too. They had a lot of new knives made in collaboration with Tu Lam of Ronin Tactics. There was also the Spartan-Ronin F/S Dagger, an all-steel homage to the Fairebarnes-Sykes dagger with a Magnacut blade and an all-steel handle.
Also new from the regular Spartan design team (Iovito in particular) is the Pandia. A curvy frame lock flipper with a titanium handle and a spear point Magnacut blade.
That’s It, but Let’s Keep in Touch
We’ve overstayed our welcome, but we should hang out again. Keep an eye on our News & Events page; sometimes we remember to post news there outside the bounds of trade shows. You could sign up for the newsletters too, which is even more inconsistent, but we try to give it the same pungent charm you saw here today.
Otherwise, we’ll see you next year.
