One company that's always grabbed my attention is Giant Mouse, formed by two Danish knife makers (Jens Ansø and Jesper Voxnaes (Vox), along with an American friend of theirs Jim Wirth, they decided to build a better mouse trap so to speak. Their goal was to create a knife brand that would have incredible designs, and amazing production quality while at a fair price.
When I think of those famous designs produced by the Danish duo, I see a knife like the Ace Grand. One look at it and you know who the designers are, and it's iconic in the industry. The name comes from a favorite hotel of the two designers, The Grand Hotel Nuremberg. It's an old hotel with a long history and a great name for a knife of this statue.
The handle is made of green canvas micarta and comes in at 4.5" (114.3mm). The Grand has one of the most comfortable handles I've come across and is sculpted in all the right places. Having average sized hands, I'm able to get all four fingers comfortably on the handle with my pinky wrapping around where the clip screw is at. The gentle arc of the handle is made so the heel of the knife rests in the palm of your hand. There's a lot of knives out there that feature pretty straight handles, and when held it sort of points the knife upward when gripped. Having a more natural and organic curve allows the knife stay straight without any adjustment with your wrist.
The handle features a titanium back spacer with some mild jimping on it, this give a little traction where the heel meets your palm. Speaking of jimping, it's an interesting design choice that the jimping on the blade is more forward that I've seen on other knives. Where my hand naturally rests there is no jimping, the designers decided to push that jimping further up the spine of the knife. Although minimalistic it gives a spot for your thumb when choking up on the blade for hard use. The handle doesn't feature a cutout for your index to rest or aid in unlock the blade. This nestled liner lock is still easy to disengage, I find it helps ensure that the lock is not accidentally moved during times when the blade is being used in a twisting motion, and firmly gripped.
The blade comes in at 3.3" (81.14mm) and is made of Elmax steel. This is my first time using a blade with Elmax, it appears to hold an edge well and sharpening wasn't difficult. On paper it's about the same as M390, which seems to be all the buzz lately. The choice of Elmax for their customers is a great one, it's probably a more affordable steel and might be a little easier to maintain. I really like the clip point shape of the blade, the slight arc of the spine, coming down to swedge is a nice touch. The Grand features a flat sabre grind, this is by far one of the best grinds you can put on a knife. The thin edge and high flat grind make it an excellent slicer for a variety of tasks.
Deploying the blade is done via a thumb hole, I like the sort of tapered oval design they used here. The detent is just right, so I can open the blade with a slow rotation or snap it open quickly. I'm still new to spydie flicking and I'm happy to pull it off on the Grand. The pivot is super smooth thanks to caged bearings, which seems to be all the rage these days.
The pocket clip is one of the wire variety, I personally don't mind wire clips. There's a lot of distaste in the community over them, I personally don't see any issue. It's a very stout clip that's ambitious for our lefties out there. I feel this wire clip is broad and angled enough that I don't feel it digging into my palm or creating any hot spots.
The Ace Grand's rounded canvas micarta scales, nestled liners, and liner lock, make it feel timeless, like a classic car. If I had to choose one knife for the rest of my life it would probably be this one, there's so much to like and Giant Mouse executes it beautifully.
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