Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1150145
buckle – in a belt or a rucksack (we would replace our standard buckle with the one featuring a multi-tool). This year, the company presented an extension of the Sync series, meaning two new buckle multi-tools, black and without blades. The series is called Sync Traveler and, generally, it is intended for travelers who travel by plane, so people who cannot carry a blade. It is an interesting solution to be able to carry a multi-tool with you even on the deck of a plane (when we e.g. replace one of the buckles in our hand baggage or the buckle in our trousers with a large multi-tool – we take out the multi-tool and the buckle will still hold our belt and trousers in place). What is peculiar, the size of the stand is not always proportional to the size of the company or the prices of its knives. Sometimes, small stands would include companies that are very famous in this industry. They would present their knives with almost ascetic touch, without any marketing gadgets, catalogues, or even leaflets. Just like Microtech, which has an established position, so the company does not have to bother with advertisement. There were not too many novelties, rather refreshed variations around the classic models, such as Trodont, Halo VI, or the immortal Socom. I did not manage, however, to take any photos of Sypher – a new knife that is said to be John Wick's weapon in the third movie. A company that was interesting in terms of visibility and marketing was Medford Knives & Tools founded by Greg Medford. Greg an ex-Marine and a well-known and prize- winning instructor of close combat and, of course, knife combat. He is also a patriot who loves his country, which is visible on almost any knife and gadget made by his company. Knives are produced at a small factory and made of the best materials, while the finishing is clearly of the highest quality. It is definitely a higher tier. I would describe the design of the knives as "tactical and patriotic". However, do not think that, as a part of its product patriotism, Greg just put a flag and a text saying "made in USA" on the knife. The showcased model featured a shape of half of the new US president's face on one side and engraved parts of the constitution on the other. Knives were presented on pads with an American flag and on cloth with similar patriotic patterns.Each year, a large part of the show is occupied by Chinese companies that either conquer the market or aspire to do that. We need to add here that their activities end up with various results. Let us skip the topic of cheap low-quality knives made of debatable materials and stolen projects. What is interesting, there are not too many Chinese companies from the medium range. Many companies offer knives made of truly top-quality materials, very often at a very high level. However, it very often seems that although they know how to use a CNC machine, they are way behind when it comes to knife designers and designs. At some stands, it was clearly noticeable that the finishing was excellent, the materials were top-quality, but the knives were dull and uncreative. Here and there, one would see sheets of paper saying that a particular company was searching for knife designers. However, two Chinese companies clearly stand out in a very positive way. The first company is called WE and each year it surprises with a huge amount of novelties, new improvements, and surface finishing. The offer is so extensive and varied, it is difficult to point out all the novelties. The same story is with Bestech, a company that within a year grow from a small company with a tiny stand and just several knife designs into a large undertaking with a far bigger stand, better marketing, a high number of truly amazing designs and top- quality materials. What is interesting, both companies started a cooperation with Polish knife designers. WE Knives showed a mass-produced model of a knife called Wasabi designed by Rafał Brzeski who has already become globally known as BrrKnives (another project is being curr ently negotiated). Bestech, on the other hand, is already working on several knife designs by Grzegorz Grabarski who is known as Kombou and who for years has been taking one of the most characteristic pictures of knives on Instagram. Recently, he has become a great professional knife designer. The true record-holder in this matter is Real Steel. A Polish knifemaker, known as Poltergeist Works, has already created seven knives for them (as of the date of this article but the cooperation goes on so this number will become higher). In the case of Real Steel, the highest number of already mass- produced designs was prepared by Ostap Hel. A dozen of those knives are already produced globally (Ostap Hel admits that he is no longer able to name all the models from memory nor even remember their exact number). KNIFE