Keep an eye out for the Alabama-based company at Shot Show 2024, because they showing up with batches of new designs under their Cutlery, Bear Edge, and Bear OPS categories.
(All available Jan 24?)
New Bear & Son Cutlery Knives
On the US-made side, Bear & Son is coming out with a couple of versions of their new Sideliner folder and two fixed blades.
The Sideliners
First up is the Rancher Sideliner. It’s a mid-sized flipper with 3.4-inch blade in D2 steel. The handle will available in G10, stag bone, Cocobola, and titanium,
The other folder is the Zytel Sideliner. It has a 3.75-inch blade in 440 steel and (of course) a Zytel handle. It also adds a thumbstud to the design, and before you snub your nose at the materials, you might want to take a look at the sub-$50 price tag, which isn’t common to see on the American-made side of things.
The Zytel Sideliner will be available with a plain edge or serrated blade.
The PRofessional Fixed Blades
On the outdoor side of things, they dropping a chopper and a boning knife. Both designs have 14C28N Sandvik steel and ABS plastic sheaths, and the handle options are smooth bone or Micarta with G10 bolsters.
The Professional Boning Knife 6.25-inch blade and a bit of a scimitar shape. No word on the rigidity, but it definitely looks like it’s on the stiffer side.
The Professional Chopper has 5-inch blade, and between the angling of the handle and the hieght of the blade it provides plenty of knuckle clearance for food prep.
Zytel Sideliner (liner lock flipper with 440 steel, 7.25″ overall, 3.25″ blade in plain edge or serrated, 4.5″ handle, has flipper tab and thumbstud)
New Bear Edge Knives
They’re releasing a new Sideliner in the imported side of things as well. The Bear Edge Sideliner has a 3.5-inch tanto blade in 440 steel with black G10 handle scales. It’s a little on the heavier side for its size at 4.9 oz, but it looks to be a robust EDC.
The Bear Edge Brisk 2.0 takes the Brisk 1.0 design down a little to a 3.5-inch blade. They’ve also reduced the length of the swedge and made the spine just a little thicker, but overall the 2.0 comes out lighter. It’s still a flipper with thumb-stud deployment in the budget hard-use category. The Zytel scales are available in a range of Realtree EDGE patterns, though, so there’s arguably more options for style here.
The Bear Edge 61135 represents the fixed blade front of the budget side. It has a 440 steel blade with a modified drop point, a Krayton handle with molded hand grooves, and an ABS plastic sheath. It’s designed for all around outdoor survival and good times.
New Bear Ops Knives
They’re continuing the Rancor series with the Bear OPS Mini Rancor IX. That will have a 2.3-inch drop blade in D2 steel, a tan or green Zytel handle, ambidextrious thumb studs or a flipper tab for deployment, and a slide lock. The blade comes in plain edge or partially serrated, and at 1.8 oz and an overall length of 6 inches, this should be the smallest Rancor model available at the moment.
They’re also introducing the Bear OPS OTF series. That will feature D2 steel blades in both drop point and tanto styles, G10 handles, and an opening mechanism running on ball bearings.
the Bear OPS AX-1900 Bold Action is a continuation of one of their automatic series that already features a pretty diverse range of designs. The AX-1900 will feature a D2 steel modified drop point blade, a recessed button for opening, and an aluminum handle with a flat grey finish and a pen-style pocket clip.
