Kansept Knives Korvid M and Mini Korvid

[Grant Lamontagne]

I was recently approached about reviewing some knives from a company called Kansept- and if you haven't heard of them, you may want to consider looking into them.  They use a similar model to CRKT in that they collaborate with different designers and produce the results.  They were nice enough to send me a few versions of their Korvid knives, designed by Justin Koch of Koch Tools.

Before I get started, I want to send Kansept a shout out for the great packaging.  The box is beautiful, and well suited to a higher end product.  And, while these knives may have been made in China, I think we all know that phrase is no longer a buzzword (phrase?) for terrible products.  What follows is just my initial impressions, with full reviews to follow after I have managed to put some mileage on each of these- and I guarantee there will be some mileage as I am really digging these ones.

But I'm getting ahead of myself....

These three knives are all variations of the same knife and are small, folding cleaver type knives.  The Korvid M mdels also include pocket clips and are opened either with the ambidextrous thumb studs or the flipper, while the Mini Korvid lacks a pocket clip and thumstuds, meaning it can only be opened with the flipper.

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

I say they are opened with the flippers or thumb studs, but in reality, so much of this blade sticks out when closed (the spine of the blade, not the dangerous bit!) that when drawing, the spine of the blade functions very much like the Emerson Wave, catching your pocket on the way out and opening the blade for you.

This is a great feature, provided that you know it is there- I found out the hard way and almost gave myself a home made appendectomy.  I do not recommend this.

Starting with the bright green version, with the catchy name of T2030A8 this knife has some very nice attributes.

The black coated blade is stonewashed, and is actually TiNi, and so shouldn't scratch very easily.  The steel underneath is 154cm and comes wicked sharp.  While 154cm may not be the latest and/or greatest super steel, it has been around long enough to prove itself as a versatile steel that does the job. 

Keeping up the nice materials, the handle is bright green G-10 and is textured for a very secure feeling grip.

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

The thumb stud is a bit too recessed to get a good purchase on for opening the knife, but it can be done with a little effort.  Because of this, I usually opt for the flipper for snapping the blade open. 

And, once open, the liner lock snaps into place securely, and I have yet to detect any play in it.  Bear in mind, it's also brand new still, and hasn't seen much action, so I will reserve judgement for a little while at least!

As mentioned, the fuller on the blade can also act as a Wave, opening it automatically when drawn, although this is something you may want to practice with for a bit before actually relying on.

This one seems like a really nice knife- initial impressions are good- it feels nice, it opens nice, it locks nice, and I really do love the color.  The stonewashed blade is also very nice, if you are into the aesthetics of blades and not just the functionability- hear me Instagram people?  This would look lovely in your feed next to your caramel latte!   

Def

[SteveC]

Pocket cleavers   

Not my idea of a useful or practical knife. 

[Grant Lamontagne]

Pocket cleavers   

Not my idea of a useful or practical knife.

Agreed, but they do have their place....

Like on Instagram, for example!   

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

Moving on to the Mini Korvid T3030A2, which is designed, I believe, as a keychain knife.

Like it's bigger brother it has a black TiNi coated 154cm blade and G10 handle scales, but, as I mentioned above, it lacks the pocket clip and thumb stud.  This is probably because the pocket clip would take up a full 50% of the knife, and there wouldn't be much leverage to use the studs.

In fact, I would say this one snaps open and locks maybe two out of every three times, because it is pretty small.  I am sure with practice I could bring that up to 100% of the time, but in my initial fiddling (and remember, this is just my initial impressions- a full review will come later) it is either too awkward because of it's size or it just doesn't have the mass to open as smoothly as the Korvid M above.

That having been said, for  a small blade (VERY small blade!) it does feel remarkably sturdy, which is no surprise given there is so much of it.

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

It is  cute little thing and I feel like the quality is there (again, time will tell!) but I am not sure it would replace a small Opinel on my keys.  At least, that's how I feel now- I have been wrong before (so wrong, so many times) and I am willing to do it again.

It is a nice little knife to be sure, and I feel like it would definitely do any job required of it, even though due to the style of blade it is, there is only a 1 inch (25mm ish) cutting surface.

In fact, this brings up a thought I have had for a while, looking at many popular knives of today.

In the old days knife designers used to design as much blade as they could get to fit inside the handle, while nowadays the trend seems to be fitting an ungodly, massive blade into a handle just big enough to cover the cutting edge and no more.

I don't really have anything against this new look at knives, but it is kind f a col thing to talk about, and, well, this is a forum after all.

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

Last up is the Korvid M 2030A1 which is basically the same as the first one, but with different scales (bi-color G10) and the blade isn't stonewashed.

The different color scales really make this one stand out I think, and the all black hardware coupled with olive and black scales will delight your inner ninja in ways that you never considered before.

As there is nothing functionally to say about this one that wasn't said above, I am going to get to some observations about these knives.

I like these- they do feel like very good knives and they function very nicely.  I am looking forward to using these a lot more and seeing if they are really up to the standard set by companies like Cold Steel, CRKT, Benchmade and Spyderco.  Given the price of these knives ($65 for the M knives and $60 for the Mini), I will be very impressed if they can hold up.

That said, I have small hands, and the Korvid M is a three finger knife at best.  There is a larger version, called the Korvid XL, but I don't have one of those to try.  If you have larger hands, you may want to avoid the Korvid M and/or the Mini Korvid and try the XL.

I would also point out that the small finger choil between the flipper and blade should be considered for decorative purposes only- I can get a finger in there (barely) when I choke up on the blade, but the pivot end of the cutting edge is dangerously close to letting the pretty red stuff out of my fingers.  You can do it, or at least I can with my dainty digits, but I wouldn't recommend it.  If it was something I was going to do a lot I would consider grinding away that point just a little bit- enough to get my finger in there safely, but not enough to make it easy for my fingers to slip into the business area.

Def

[David Bowen]

Great write up and initial thoughts on the Korvid models. They look like a really good take on a cleaver style knife and look forward to seeing how they perform.

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[Tasky]

Well, these certainly look to be somewhat on the stable side of mad - Not utterly insane, but neither quite right in the head... I feel like I ought to like them.
I might be a little more enthused if they didn't have the lurid green colour that usually denotes a 'Zombie Knife'... although the darker green with black accents looks like it could be a gardening tool from a reputable brand, almost.

[nate j]

Pocket cleavers   

Not my idea of a useful or practical knife.

I’m with Steve here.

But, cool of them to send some samples for review, and great initial write-up Def!

[nate j]

I might be a little more enthused if they didn't have the lurid green colour that usually denotes a 'Zombie Knife'... although the darker green with black accents looks like it could be a gardening tool from a reputable brand, almost.

I might be in the minority, but I prefer bright colors like this green.  Makes the knife easier to find if dropped.

[dks]

I do have some Kansept knives and they make other models too. They also do various "grades" in the same model.
Pocket cleavers have been in fashion for a couple of years with several companies offering various models in various sizes. It is more of a look, rather than an attempt to replace an actual cleaver. (I have one or two and have tried to use them as cleavers     )  That fashion seems to be wearing off, with more thin, normal style blades being offered.

During the past few years there has been an industry wide acceptance/introduction of ball bearings and there have been several  new /old companies producing really smooth opening and interesting knives. Usually they are made in China or Italy or the US. Some are sub-brands of the same family and some will make certain models for other companies.

CJRB, Khizer, We, Civivi, Lionsteel, Viper, MKM and many others produce many internal designs as well as collaborations with various designers.

Titanium frames or scales, as well as Carbon Fiber and even Timascus are common offerings, amongst the other more common materials.
The Chinese manufacturers will commonly start their model lines with D2 type steel or some decent stainless, at around 50 Euro, and proceed to exotic steels. The Italians are usually starting with M390, so even their budget offerings will be about 100+ Euro.

Plenty of choice for all.

[David Bowen]

It's cool that Kansept and other manufacturers are doing"tiers" of different knife, offers a little something for everyone. Budget offerings from Chinese manufacturers have seriously come a long way, quality, steels, etc. I'm blown away by all of the Chinese stuff I've reviewed lately, China has become quite the manufacturing giant. I know they've always been, but it went from developing something as cheap as they can and the quality being poop to really pushing quality and an acceptable price to boot.

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[Grant Lamontagne]

I might be in the minority, but I prefer bright colors like this green.  Makes the knife easier to find if dropped.

Well, these certainly look to be somewhat on the stable side of mad - Not utterly insane, but neither quite right in the head... I feel like I ought to like them.
I might be a little more enthused if they didn't have the lurid green colour that usually denotes a 'Zombie Knife'... although the darker green with black accents looks like it could be a gardening tool from a reputable brand, almost.

I agree with both of these statements.  I like the bright color because it is easier to find, but I also think this green is somewhat overused by the Zombie Killer crowd.  It was iconic when Ka-Bar did it, but it has definitely been done to death since then.  Still, you can't argue with the ability to see it at a distance, in the woods etc.

I did think that the stonewashed blade would fit better in the olive version though, and the non stonewashed blade looks like it would fit better with the bright green.  If I was the vain type (and sometimes I am) I would give serious thought to disassembling both and swapping the blades.

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

Some new pics of the Mini Korvid from the MTO Social Media accounts, for your viewing pleasure!

Def

[David Bowen]

I've got two Kansept knives I'm going to be reviewing soon. The Raikiri and Model 6, you folks want any photos?

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