Demko Knives is a name well known in the industry, popular for designs such as the AD 10, 15, and 20. Andrew's innovative locks and style have made him a household name. Now that he's producing things in his own shop I feel he's able to quickly go from concept to reality. Late last year he released several new fixed blades, one of which is the Armiger 2.
The Armiger 2 is a compact and very carry friendly option of it's larger Armiger 4 model. With a thermoplastic rubber handle, 2 inch blade, and full tang construction it boats all the features of the companies full sized blades in a smaller form. With a two inch blade how useful will it be? Will it be a go to in my daily carry? Let's check it out.
I think first we need to take a look at this incredible handle. Modeled after it's larger brother (Armiger 4) the handle is that of a boot style knife with a double guard. While not super useful in this size a double guard is there to protect the users hand from sliding forward during a stab. I find the handle comfortable with it's tactile rubber grip. It's a two finger hold with my average sized hands and it feels good in the hand. The thermoplastic rubber is grippy but not overly so. The knife is full tang construction and you'll see that little bit of tang showing on the butt of the handle. I'm not much on tiny fixed blades but I get a good grip and can see someone using this quite a bit.
The knife comes in a variety of blade styles with serrations also being available. I've got a clip point and a serrated sharks foot so I could test the regular and non serrated models. At the time they were selling like hotcakes and I had to get what I could. The blades are made of 4034SS, I didn't know anything about this steel so I did some digging. It's a Japanese medium grade steel, it's maximum hardness is 54-55, and it's similar to 420J2 which is what Case uses. The two shapes had thier purpose during testing with the clip point being used more often. On the clip point I really enjoyed the blade shape, as it made penetration easy and had a little belly to it. The sharksfoot was used some daily but I found the serrations while sharp chewed things up pretty good. I put this blade shape to box duty at work and it excelled. The downward facing tip and serrations did well at opening and breaking down stuff. The serrations are closer together than on something much larger. As a result I noticed some binding and I had to be choose how much of the blade I was going to use, depending on the application. Both blades came extremely sharp and for a blade that's not intended to be a hard use one, I felt edge retention was decent. The steel appears to be pretty rust resistant because I left it wet many a time, just putting it back in the holster without wiping, and it's done fine.
The sheath for the Armiger 2 is a scratch resistant kydex and it's made so the blade can be inserted in either direction. Retention is done by two tabs that grab the rubber guards as you insert the knife into the sheath. The sheath covers with a heavy-duty clip which is good for a variety of applications. I've connected them to my keys or my belt loop, those seem to be good places. For others I suggest backpacks, purses, and other on the go carry options.
What's the final verdict? It's neat, I've honestly never seen such a cute fixed blade. It's strong for it's size and the full tang construction makes it overbuilt for it's intention I'm sure. Is it something I would carry everyday? No, it's smaller than what I like to carry and l don't see myself using it much. I think it's designed more as a emergency or backup knife, which makes perfect sense. What a better way to show your love for Demko Knives than to have a tiny fixed blade on your keychain?
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