TL;DR
- It’s a well-made, classically-styled dog leg slip joint,
- Action has a stronger than average pull (Maybe about a 6)
- The S-shape handle fits the hand nicely.
- The cutting edge is okay and tends to shave wood more than bite in.
This is a Good Example of a Well-Done Modern Tradition Folding Knife
Some knives you use because they’re functional and portable, and some you use because they’re just nice to use. Then there’s knives like the K9 that seem at first like something not really made for the pocket, and not necessarily the best cutter, but its collective parts add up to a walk and talk that keeps charming me into taking it outside every now and then.
I know there’s a dog analogy just sitting somewhere right there, but I don’t really know breeds well enough to make an effective comparison, and, frankly, I don’t want to hang on the name too much. So let’s just say this is a good knife. The handle fits my hand, it has a good pull, the blade is a good size and shape for lots of different tasks, and it just looks neat. The experience of opening and closing the K9 makes cutting up junk mail feel like a matter of executive importance.
It’s a shame that it’s an awkward knife to actually carry. My solution to that has been twofold: add it to the line of tools on my desk (because it turns out I keep collecting things that are neat, well-made tools, but are difficult to carry around), or I just drop the knife it into my pocket anyway and put up with the awkward feeling of a heavy knife floating in my pants all day because I just like taking the K9 out that much.
Specifications
| Overall Length: | 6.62” |
| Blade Length: | 2.84” |
| Blade Steel: | 154CM |
| Open System: | Nail nick |
| Blade Thickness: | 0.12” |
| Blade Shape: | Spear point |
| Blade Grind: | Hollow |
| Handle Length: | 3.78” |
| Handle Material: | Richlite |
| Lock Type: | Slip joint w/ half stop |
| Weight: | 3.25 oz |
| Designer: | Benjamin Belkin |
| Made in: | China |
| What I Liked | What I Didn’t Like |
|---|---|
| Medium strong pull | The edge feels like it needs a little refining |
| Handle is a great size and shape for solid grip | Not optimized for carrying |
| Just looks good overall |
It’s an Elegant, if Slow Slicer
This has a nice hollow grind that just looks pretty in a way that matches well with the overall curvature of the knife. As elegant as it looks to me, though, it’s kind of a heavy knife for the size, and it cuts in a heavy way, despite the hollow grind.
I feel like I have a lot of control over my cuts, though. Something about the knife has a feeling of plodding along, slowly but surely. When I test cut paper, I can feel a certain resistance that’s typical in a thick blade, but the paper almost never tears, and I found I could change the angle mid-slice without tearing most of the time.
Its cutting style really shows up in carving wood. I found it was more prone to shaving than taking out chunks. I had to really dig in deep to get a point onto a stick (thankfully the handle works well in a chest lever). But that makes a great whittling knife for me, because it makes you take your time. Sit down next to a campfire with this thing and a little block, and you’ll have yourself a grand time.
So it might not be a laser (without some additional sharpening and stropping), but it still has a nice edge that leans into a slower, more methodical way of doing things.
The Pull is as Strong as I Would Want
The pull feels just about perfect for me. I want to say it’s a six, but I’ve handled slip joints that someone told me were a six pull and felt like I needed to put my hand in ice and get a fingernail transplant when I finally got the thing open.
What I’ve learned over the years is that I’m not suited to serious slip joint collecting, because the people who do that seem to have nails made of iron and thumbs that could push a dent into a tank. So when I say “strong pull” it seems to mean something vastly different from when a proper expert says “strong pull”.
But the pull on the K9 Jack feels strong in a way that’s still easy to actually open for me but I can feel the spring giving me a stiff hug on the way out. It has an authoritative snap when it fully deploys that makes it sound like I’m about to do something serious.
The Handle has Big Hand Ergos
The S handle plays well with my hand most of the time, and the overall size of the knife lends to that. I get an easy, full-handed grip that has a nice little spot for the meatiest parts of my hand to nest into. The corners can be a little harsh in a tightened grip, but they don’t bite, and they do help control the angle of the blade.
At first I didn’t like the way the ricasso looked, because it juts out at a hard angle on a knife that otherwise has a sinuous shape. I still don’t like the way it looks, but I’ve discovered it’s useful as a tactile warning that my index finger is close to the cutting edge.
Besides that, though, I love the way the K9 looks, and that’s mostly because of the handle. The shape and color of the Richlite scales are a winning combo for me. That paired with how well it fits my hand are a big part of the charm that keeps getting this thing into the pocket.
The Dog Leg Part
The K9 is a serpentine jack knife pattern. There’s a subset of that pattern called dog leg that one would think the K9 was meant to fit into, and if the handle tapered into the pommel it would be definitely be a classic dog leg pattern.
It doesn’t, though, and I’m fine with that. My point in bringing this up is mostly to say this isn’t strictly an original design. It’s a call back to a type of knife made all through last century, so all my cooing about how much I love the shape and blade style is a little silly. Somewhere out there is a dedicated slip joint collector who would likely tell me I was talking about something that’s true of all serpentine acks.
Maybe so. I don’t own any others. But I can tell you as someone who has handled a fair amount of knives of every kind that this one has been done well.
The Price is Maybe the Thing
I’ve been dancing around Jack Wolf Knives for years. I’ve always loved the look of the designs, and I’ve handled enough of their stuff at various Blade Shows to get a sense for how meticulous they can be with their manufacturing.
I also deeply appreciate the way they’ve been a big part of “modernizing” slip joints, taking old designs, updating them with new materials and packaging them in highly stylized boxes that feel like cardboard Delorians dragging me back to the era of Bionicles.
But I’ve never picked one up because, as cool and nice as their knives are, they’ve usually been priced in the $300 and up bracket, and even for a semi-professional knife reviewer that’s a tough thing to justify.
So it was a big deal for me when they announced a budget line. Everyone has their line that makes that finger slam the buy button, and apparently, mine is around $150.
Alternatives and The Desk Knife Form Factor
If you’re into the whole modern traditional thing, the Case Crossroads Barlow gives you old school vibes with newer materials in a smaller form factor. It doesn’t have the same big, solid grip as the K9, but I personally found the toothy edge to be a perfect match for its size.
For something in the same size range and (in my experience) a better edge, the LionSteel Gitano is a fantastic carry with a pocket clip. The only catch is that the spring might give you a little trouble in closing, because they made that thing strong.
On the budget side, the regular, full-sized Case Sod Buster usually runs in the $50 range, and while it doesn’t sport the same modern steel and handle material, it’s still a comfortable, hard-working knife.
The slip joint version of the CJRB Pyrite is also a neat EDC pick up in the $50 range. It has a nice, tall, clip point blade and an easy pull, and maybe best of all it has a pocket clip.
We put together a long list of slip joint knives that make us happy and called it an article. It may be worth browsing.
The K9 is Useful Decor
I’d say if you need a mid-sized knife and have some space on your desk or dresser, the Jack Wolf K9 is just about perfect. In fact, I would even encourage people who don’t have a desk or dresser knife to get one, and to give this thing a look while you’re at it.
I’m tempted to say it would be a good knife to throw into your camping bag, but I know myself, and if I did that I would almost certainly lose it inside one of the extradimensional pockets that hide your things for a year, and even when you’ve emptied and used the bag multiple times since losing a particular item, it somehow doesn’t show up until you’ve already bought a replacement. Bag companies never tell you about those pockets.
But since I enjoyed using the K9 on campsite-related activities like carving and slicing apples and cutting rope, I have to admit it would be a decent camping knife if you’re the kind of person who knows how to keep track of things that aren’t fastened to your person in some way.
But all of that goes out the window before the pure charisma of the K9. It talks you into carrying and using it even when it maybe isn’t the best decision. Some days it lounges on my desk next to my Higo no Kami friction folder, but inevitably the day comes when it slinks into my hand, and before I know it I’m taking it for a walk.
Is that enough dog analogy for this review? The knife is cool and I like being outside with it. Can we leave it at that?
