Terrain 365 is a new brand for us, coming to us from custom knifemaker Michael Vagnino and founder of Prometheus Design Werx, Patrick Ma. The two have teamed up to introduce a line of knives made in the USA with Terravantium dendritic cobalt blades. Technically not a steel, Terravantium is a completely rustproof, non-magnetic cast cobalt alloy that contains ultra-hard carbides to provide a long-lasting edge.
You'd never guess the high-tech metallurgy that went into the blade of the Otter slipjoint, which is a complement its unpretentious looks and practical design make it suitable for carry just about anywhere. Unlike traditional slipjoints with rust-prone carbon steels, the blade of the Terrain 365 Otter is built to tackle adventures off trail and come back unscathed.
The all-new Asada is a follow-up to Gerber's smash hit Flatiron design. It features the same cool straight razor-inspired blade shape and frame lock construction, but features manual flipper deployment and a pocket friendly 3” blade size! Available now with red or gray aluminum scales, the Asada is sure to be another hit with those who want a sturdy, affordable everyday carry knife with style to spare.
When you think of a hard-use bushcraft knife, the name L.T. Wright Knives should be at the top of your list. Handcrafted in Ohio, they have built a reputation of making a quality tool that just won't quit, turning out both classic and modern patterns that come with a lifetime warranty just in case. We recently received a new batch that you'll want to see, including the beautiful new GP Medium with desert ironwood scales and orange liners pictured above.
If you don't have a Leatherman multi-tool in both your survival and go-bags, you're doing yourself a disservice. Nothing gives you as much functionality in such a compact package, and we think the Signal is one of their best full-size models for the bushcrafter or outdoorsman. It's outfitted with an array of tools and additional goodies - like safety whistle, ferro rod, and diamond sharpener - that allow it to shine out in the bush.
Inspired by traditional Scandinavian knife patterns, the American-made Benchmade Leuku represents a heck of a bargain. Featuring premium 3V steel, it has an ideal combination of toughness and edge retention that is perfect for an outdoor knife. The Santoprene handles molded over the full tang are executed nicely as well. They are contoured perfectly, keep your hands from touching bare metal, and provide gobs of grip when conditions get cold or wet. The bushcraft sheath that is included perfectly rounds out the package with classic leather looks and multiple carry options.
The Selkirk isn't your typical-looking Buck Knife, and they are built for rugged survival conditions and available as a fixed blade or folder, each in two sizes. Take them into the woods or wilderness and the drop point blades are perfect for any task you can think of. Our favorite part is the heavily contoured Micarta handle scales (yes, even on the folders!) that make these knives very comfortable to use hard. Bonus: the larger sized fixed blade and folder even feature a heavy-duty Kydex sheath with a combination fire starter and safety whistle.
Swiss Army Knives don't get much more Swiss than this new limited edition Explorer! Not only do the scales boast scenes from the Swiss alpine, but they also contain goodies like a sewing pin and pressurized pen in addition to the usual toothpick and tweezers. Beyond that, the Explorer model has the perfect blend of tools to navigate both daily life and your adventures on the weekend, including dual blades, scissors, even a magnifying glass, and more.
Sometimes, you don't need something too fancy with extra features that get in the way. Instead you need a tool that is built for purpose and just plain works. That is where this hatchet from Marble's comes in - the distillation of the camp axe form that is ready to chop, split, hammer, and carve its way through your next adventure. Made in El Salvador with an American hickory handle, it is the perfect combination of performance and affordability.
The HEST folder is a hard-use, survival, tactical tank of a pocket knife: tough enough for demanding work but small enough to carry every day. The beefy blade incorporates a cap lifter/pocket deployer and wire breakers to add extra grunt, and the Italian-made models even incorporate a RotoBlock to bolster the strength of the already tough framelock. For even more strength you can get the fixed blade version which is made in the USA by Rowen (the same folks who make ESEE Knives) so you can be confident they are built to last!
A huge wave of new knives washed into the KnifeCenter last week, and the best of them are here in our weekly round-up. We've got a unique everyday carry fixed blade from Viper Knives, the tiniest Benchmade knife you've ever seen, a small-batch tactical knife with an exotic steel, and a high-value design worth paying attention to from Kizer. Let's take a look!
The Viper Berus is a compact, utilitarian fixed blade that is designed to be carried clipped to a pocket instead of buckled to your belt. It's a great way to bridge the gap between folders and fixed blades; you get the low-impact carry of a folder, but the durability and reliability of a fixed blade. It also helps that the Berus is quite stylish, thanks to a refined design by Tommaso Rumici.
The M390 sheepsfoot blade with its subtle negative angle would make it a perfect work knife, but it's also available with a drop point blade shape for better general utility. The handle is thoughtfully shaped to provide reassuring grip without a lot of extra bulk, and the UltiClip keeps the sheath anchored to the inside of your pocket or waistband. If you want an easy-to-carry fixed blade that can still handle cutting tasks that require force and control, you'll want to consider the Berus. Plus, it comes in 8 variants to suit any taste, featuring Micarta, G10, and carbon fiber handles.
Designed by Jared Oeser, the Benchmade Tengu Tool is a premium pocket companion: one part multitool, one part gentleman's friction folder. When the blade is closed, the extended tang works as a pry tool and bottle opener; when the blade is open it's a mini tanto utility knife made from CPM-20CV steel.
Sure, the knife is tiny, but in terms of utility per ounce the Tengu Tool is on top. It weighs just an ounce, and is small enough to slip into your watch pocket and forget about until you need it. Dressed to the nines in stark black and white G10, the Tengu Tool has the look of a traditional knife but a whole lot of unique personality and modern construction and blade steel, to boot.
Meet the Strix, the latest bold design from VDK Knives. The flipping action has a fluid, free-dropping feel that makes the knife nigh impossible to put down. And when it's time to put it to work, the contoured titanium handles and 3.75” M398 blade are more than up to the task.
No, that's not a typo the blade on this Strix is made from M398 steel, an exotic new alloy that truly pushes the limits of edge retention for a stainless steel. By taking M390 and adding a bit more carbon and nearly double the amount of vanadium, M398 significantly increases the wear resistance of an already famously hard-wearing steel.
Designed by Justin Lundquist, the compact Kizer Contrail is made to work and feel like a much bigger knife. The two-inch blade length is made from 154CM steel — a great balance of value and performance — and the handle is wide and thoughtfully shaped to fill the hand despite its short length.
The competition at the ~$60 price point is fierce, but the Contrail hangs with the best of them, especially if you need a smaller knife that can handle big work. This go-everywhere locking folder is ready for action, and available in green, black, or gray.

Most of the world's top class pocket, hunting and different kinds of speciality knives are manufactured by German companies. Though many German knife manufacturers have subcontracted some of the models to other countries, it's quite difficult to exactly pin down the reasons for which top quality German knives have been fascinating the world since their inception. One thing that every German knife user will probably agree on is the precise, careful craftsmanship of the top German knife manufacturers, resulting in knives which are distinctive and perhaps almost completely flawless. For instance, consider a fixed blade German knife with glimmering stag or perfect wood handle scales seamlessly fitted, without any gap between the tang and scales, or a brass or nickel silver finger guard perfectly shaped and greatly polished with no filing, sanding or grinding marks visible, coupled with a pristine Solingen steel blade for a precise shave that has no accidental score visible anywhere on it. And this is not a deceiving extension of the truth. It's actually what you'll experience when you pick up a top quality German knife in your hands. An elite quality German knife is actually a work of art, manufactured by adept professionals who feel extremely proud of the work they perform and the knives they develop. The famous Solingen city in Germany boasts of the longest history associated with the production of top class knives and cutlery. Choosing knives is perhaps one of the most crucial decisions that an avid chef needs to make. Knives are among the most utilised tools in a kitchen and thus a wrong decision can easily make the life of the buyer quite miserable. Because when it comes to knives, price isn't always synonymous with quality. Here, we've outlined a detailed list of expert tips that would help you to get educated about what sets German knives apart from their counterparts and why they're recommended by renowned chefs across the world.
Stainless steel

Stainless steel is a widely preferred material used for knives' blades due to its corrosion resistance ability and easy maintenance. However, it's not impermeable to rust or corrosion. A steel must have a minimum 13% of chromium content to be considered as stainless steel. The key principle of stainless steel remains in the fact that the oxide (chromium, nickel and other metal oxides) has to be stable in an oxidizing chemical environment and in a reducing (lack of oxygen) environment, one metal has to be stable, at the least. Here're the key stainless steels used to manufacture the blades of German knives.

CPM SxxV series: The SxxV series stainless steels are produced by using CPM process. The categories of this series are CPM S30V, CPM S35VN, CPM S60V, CPM S90V, CPM S110V and CPM S125V.
DSR series: This series is used for producing scissors and kitchen knives. The categories include DSR1K6, DSR7F, DSR1K7, DSR1K8, DSR1K9, DSR10UA and DSR1K11.

Carbon steel

Carbon steel is another popular choice for knives that are subject to a rough use. This steel is usually much more durable, much tougher and easier to sharpen compared to stainless steel. However, they lack the chromium content available in their stainless steel counterparts, making them prone to corrosion. Though carbon steels contain less amount of carbon than general stainless steels, the alloy element remains much higher. They're more similar to other types of high alloy and stainless steels and consist of carbide in a very small quantity in the iron. Due to more hardness of the bulk material, carbon steels are capable of holding more acute and sharper edge without bending over when coming in contact with tough materials. However, carbon steels are more susceptible to abrasion. Here're the major types of carbon steels used in German knives.

10xx series: This series is very durable and most sought after choice for manufacturing German knives. The categories of the series include 1095, 1084, 1070, 1060 and 1055.
Kigami/Yellow series: This series is used in mid/low class kitchen knives and other high-end tools.

CPM process

CPM or Crucible Particle Metallurgy steels are specialty steels manufactured by Crucible Industries – an American company that manufactures stainless and tools steels for cutlery, machine tools, automotive and aerospace industries. The company has been producing high-end steels since its inception in 1900 when 13 crucible steel companies merged to form a single company.

Traditional CPM steel making process starts with smelting ore into steel with the help of electric arc furnaces. Then it gets refined by eliminating some amount of carbon and sulphur. Further refining process may include use of argon oxygen decarburization which is an implementation of the powder metallurgy. The conventional process includes distribution and pouring of steel into ingot molds. Then the steel solidifies slowly, allowing the components to isolate into non-uniform structures at microscopic level.

The CPM process pushes molten steel via a tiny nozzle. Then high-pressure gas is applied to atomize the liquid into a spray that quickly cools down the steel, making it a uniform powder. Then the powder goes into high-pressure containers and is heated using forged temperatures to squeeze the powder into ingots – this process is called HIP or hot isostatic pressing, which leads to the production of uniform metal.

Hot or cold rolling processes is used in both methods to toughen the steel and granulate it into the final products.
Alloying elements

An alloy is an amalgamation of metals or a merger of metal and another element. It may be a single solution of metal elements or an amalgamation of two or more metallic solutions. Alloys are utilized in a diverse range of applications. In some cases, a merger of metals may lower the overall price of a material while preserving the key properties. In other cases, the merger of metals transmits synergistic characteristics to the constituent elements such as mechanical strength or corrosion resistance. Here's a list of widely used alloying elements.

Meteoric iron: Meteoric iron was the first and a naturally developing alloy of iron and nickel. It was used to manufacture objects such as weapons, tools and nails.
Bronze and brass: This is another alloy of the ancient times that goes back to around 2500 BC. Ancient civilization took the mixture of copper and zinc to develop brass because of its various characteristics like toughness, melting point, among others.
Amalgams: Amalgams, which is an alloy in liquid or soft paste form, were produced by dissolving metals like gold, silver, tin etc with the help of mercury.
Precious-metal alloys: In ancient times, precious-metal alloys were produced solely for aesthetic purposes. One instance could be alloying gold with copper to manufacture red-gold.
Pewter: This term entails a variety of alloys that primarily consist of tin. The resulting metals were usually antimony, lead, copper or bismuth.
Steel and pig iron: Mangalloy or manganese steel, which was one of the first alloy steels, were produced by alloying manganese and steel to provide the resulting element with extreme toughness. Pig iron is an alloy of carbon and iron.
Precipitation-hardening alloys: These are heat-treatable alloys that become softened when cooled quickly and harden over time. Some instances of these alloys include aluminum, copper and titanium.