Blade Show 2024 is in the books. We loved seeing the booths, knife fans, and new sharp and pointy tools across the industry. The culminating event of every blade show is the awards ceremony, and this year was special. Blade Show split most awards into Fixed Blade and Folding Knife categories. We also got an exciting new automatic knife category! So, without further ado, let’s break down the winners!
Blade Show Overall Knife of the Year – Spartan Blades Clandestina
Spartan Blades is renowned for their tactical fixed blades, and once again they teamed up with tactical knifemaking legend Bill Harsey to make a top-of-the-line combat knife. Both Spartan Blades and Harsey have extensive collections of Blade Show Awards, and I think they earned this addition fair and square. Bill Harsey is known for his unrivaled understanding of ergonomics, which is hard to get right on tactical knives. You want a neutral enough grip to accommodate a variety of grips, but enough contouring to ensure you don’t slide around on the handle. The Clandestina nails this balance and couples its perfect handle with a MagnaCut blade and a Kydex sheath, all made in the USA. Well done Spartan Blades, and well done Bill Harsey!
American-Made Fixed Blade of the Year – McNees Knives Ridge Runner
Jonathan McNees designed the Ridge Runner as the perfect complement to his lifestyle. He’s an avid hunter and outdoorsman and knows from experience what makes a good outdoor knife. The first thing I noticed about the Ridge Runner is how light it is, tipping the scales at just under 5 ounces. That’s impressive, considering its 3.7” full-tang blade and full-length handle. It manages that super lightweight because of its thin blade, which is only 0.13” thick. This gives the knife a thin, slicey edge, and the ultra-tough CPM 3V blade ensures that the blade will stand up to some abuse as well.
American-Made Folding Knife of the Year – Pro-Tech TR-3 Integrity Manual Button Lock
A long time ago, Pro-Tech released the TR-3, and it’s been popular ever since. It’s just the right size, has a usable design, and lends itself to cutting jobs both tactical and practical. At one point a manual version with a titanium frame lock came out, but we haven’t seen that one in years. Now, Pro-Tech has put their best-in-class manual button lock action from the Malibu and Mordax to work on this iconic knife, bringing to market the TR-3 Integrity! Not only does that make it more legal in more places, but it enables users to open and close one-handed. We’re excited to see this one hit the shelves!
Most Innovative American Design – Spyderco Para Military 2 Salt
This was the year that the iconic Para Military 2 joined the Spyderco Salt series, designed for use in corrosive environments like the ocean. From the surface, it looks an awful lot like a PM2, but there’s a bit more going on here. First, the blade is made of CPM MagnaCut steel, which offers stellar corrosion resistance. Second, both the blade and liners are coated for added protection and lubricity. Lastly, the G-10 handle has a new texture milled into it, providing an extra level of grip retention and shaving off a little weight.
Imported Fixed Blade of the Year – GiantMouse GMF1-XL
The GiantMouse GMF1 has been out for a long time, and it’s known for being small. That made it easy to carry and great for small EDC cutting jobs, but when the work got bigger, people reached for bigger blades. The GMF1XL is bigger, but don’t be fooled by the XL in the name. It’s only got a 3” blade, and with the addition of handle scales, it just barely allows me a four-finger grip. It’s still a great EDC knife, but I’d feel more comfortable putting this to work around camp.
Imported Folding Knife of the Year – LionSteel Skinny
LionSteel came out swinging this year with the integrals. Integral knives trade the traditional handle construction of screws and spacers for a single handle piece with a channel milled in the middle to accept the blade. This is simpler, more durable, and provides a cleaner look, but it’s much harder to manufacture. Most integral knives are fairly large to make assembly easier, but not the Skinny. This knife is small and slim like an EDC knife should be. I can’t imagine how much work it is to make this knife, but the results speak for themselves!
Most Innovative Imported Design – CRKT Fial
In 2021, Princeton Wong of Prince Customs won the Best New Maker award with his Fion custom. It had a beautifully machined handle that cleverly hid a corkscrew with a proper fulcrum. I remember creating a posting for it at BladeHQ.com, and I was struck by its quality. Well, now that model has gone production with the CRKT Fial, which can be had for significantly less than the custom!
Best Buy of the Year – CIVIVI Yonder
My buddy Zac Whitmore lives an interesting lifestyle. He loves scrappy ingenuity, bargain hunting, and searching for stories on the open road. It was only a matter of time before Zac in the Wild made a knife, and his Yonder is about the most Zac thing I’ve ever seen. It’s a simple, compact, and usable knife, but it doesn’t just want to go to work. It wants to MacGyver its way into jobs it has no business doing and beyond. Best of all, this knife is within just about anyone’s budget.
Kitchen Knife of the Year – QSP Mulan Kiritsuke
The QSP Mulan series of kitchen knives is truly impressive. The Kiritsuke that won the award has a beautiful stainless Damascus blade, a desert ironwood handle with a hidden tang, and a leather sheath, all for $176.95. The standard versions have 14C28N blades and ebony wood handles for much less. These knives are incredibly thin, hair-splitting sharp, and affordable to the average Joe. QSP is doing some incredible things!
Knife Collaboration of the Year – Karbon Buck Horn
I love it when knifemakers get together and do amazing things, and Hall-of-Famer Ken Onion and the world-class manufacturers at Ketuo USA did not disappoint. Ketuo USA owns and operates the factories in China that manufacture Rike Knife, and designers worldwide are lined up for their manufacturing services. To see Ketuo thrust into the limelight alongside knifemaking legend Ken Onion with the Buck Horn just makes me happy. This team made an incredible knife. My favorite part is the textural contrasts of the handle, something that takes an expert to design and a master to machine.
Manufacturing Quality Award – LionSteel Twain
LionSteel has won this award multiple times, and I think that’s because they’re so good at integrals. Making them is hard enough as it is! But they do it all the time, do it well, and do it for reasonable money. The knife that tipped the scales for them this year is the Twain, which is, for lack of a better term, a double integral. The titanium frame is milled from one piece and captures the blade, and instead of a frame lock, you get the more complicated button lock. Then, just to show off, they machined a backstrap out of a single piece of micarta that screws into the titanium frame. I told Andrea at the LionSteel booth that I would have been impressed if they just did the button lock integral, but they had to take it to the next level. Well played, LionSteel. Well played.
Investor/Collector Knife of the Year – Pro-Tech Ultimate Custom Oligarch
The Oligarch is the newest addition to the Pro-Tech automatic lineup, and the Ultimate Custom version is perhaps the most gangster thing I’ve ever laid eyes on. First, Dmitry Sinkevich designed it to walk the line between gentleman and tactical. Then, Pro-Tech treated it to a gorgeous Damascus blade, a diamond-inlaid button, a ton of hand engraving, and more gold leafing than you can shake a stick at. This knife was engraved by Gabriel Keeling, an up-and-coming engraver who started out as a tattoo artist. You get a taste of that inspiration in the engraved lion with gold eyes and gold teeth. It’s gorgeous, and it’s worth three times as much as my car!
Automatic Knife of the Year – Kershaw Livewire
Although the Livewire came out last year, this is the first year we have an automatic category in the Blade Show awards. We all knew the Livewire was a contender for it. The Kershaw design team worked long and hard to nail down the action. They did a good job, it’s one of the smoothest OTF’s I’ve ever held. Best of all, in classic Kershaw fashion, they priced it lower than almost all of the competition. This knife is very new, but it’s already one of the most popular autos at Blade HQ!
What’s Next?
I just hit my five year anniversary at Blade HQ, and looking back, a lot has changed. Upgraded materials, improved mechanisms, new makers and more have kept the industry marching forward. This year, everyone brought their A-Game to Blade Show, but if I know the knife industry, this is just the beginning. If you like knives, stay tuned! Next year will be even better!
