I’m so glad to see this. I’ve had one in my wishlist for a while. The pink one, of course, for the reasons you so aptly stated.
While I don’t agree with Civivi’s “50 new models every quarter” approach to business, the fact that they make all of their knives with this level of quality is amazing. They’re constantly in the top of my list when someone asks “what should be my first knife.”

G10 will take Rit synthetic dye very well. Just sayin'... 😄

Woah! You have been busy! That Humbolt is a heck of a chopper. Given the amount of batoning we do around these parts, it's very tempting

It appears, from the photos online, that what is holding the knife together is the pivot screw at the front (which you said you can take out) and 2 sets of screws at the back. One set right by the glass breaker and one set right behind the belt cutter. You may need to have 2 torx bit screw drivers, one on each side of the pair of screws turning in opposite directions. Likely there is a barrel with threads on both ends in between the two sets of screws and the barrel is free to spin internally. So you have to leverage one screw driver against the other to loosen them.

This knife is an assisted open knife, so perhaps the spring mechanism inside has figured out how to wiggle itself free (or whatever was holding the spring in place has broken). It might be challenging to put it all back together if you can sort out what might be happening.

If you don't have additional torx bits and a driver, the cost of those is going to be some good percentage of an exact replacement. Certainly there's value in learning how this thing is put together, but it might not be repairable in a cost-effective way.

What a great write-up. I stand in awe again. :)

My two local Walmart stores continue to dissapoint when it comes to knives. The whole outdoors area has been made smaller and all the knives are now inside a glass storage cabinet behind a counter or at least behind a retracting stantion. Neither had the holiday specials out yet either.

I did sort think they were going for a combo Bugout/Bailout look with this one. The Bailout "Crater Blue" edition for example: https://www.benchmade.com/products/537fe-02 for the colorway and the blade shape, with a more Bugout-esc handle.

Still though, for $20 this is a rather astounding bargain. Even the button lock green one at $25 is a good deal.

Really amazing at how far they've brough the line since that first $6 crossbar lock .

Well shoot. A chonky boy but also serial #1...

Seriously though, having one for sale is very cool. Hopefully many more to come!

what did that knife ever do to you to deserve that?! 🫠

It occurs to me that somebody with a 3D printer and a huge predilection for cutlery related nerdery could probably make custom replacement lock toggles for these pretty easily. Now there's something to think about.

Indeed. I mean the printer is likely just sitting there waiting for another new project to be worked into the queue, right?

Nice write-up and it's good to hear it's so easy to take apart (and hopefully all their glyde locks are like this).

The Penguin was my first QSP purchase, in 2021. They had a pretty good hit on their hands and were putting out decent varients. I think only the liner lock version was avaialble then. I held out for one with green micarta scales. The micarta is fairly smooth and at first I thought it was going to be slippery but that's not proved to be an issue.

About a year ago I got the mini Penguin in the green micarta. It's been a great little 5th pocket carry. Not sure if it was based on feedback or just they decided to change it up but the micarta was not as smooth and much more to my liking (especially for a smaller knife).

Most recently (May) I got one of their 4" paring knives in 14C28N. Very thin and slicey blade and the edge retention has been excellent. (As an aside, they list it as a Kiritsuke but it's double-beveled so I think technically it's not a Kiritsuke? I'm not a kitchen knife person so I don't know.)

Edit: they do also make a slip-joint version of the Penguin which is supposed to be excellent. QSP is the OEM for others. In particular I know they made the Stump Lifter and the upcoming Stump Fish for Advanced Knife Bro.

The one nice thing about having 2 sets of torx drivers is that now you have 2 sets of torx drivers! 😁 One can wander off into some hidden area of a junk drawer or a forgotten tool box or something and you'll have a backup!

In all seriousness, if you do get it apart, snap a couple pictures and post a follow-up. There's good info in a tear-down, even if someone never buys the same knife, it's good to see how things work.

And if you get to the point where you would like any recommendations for a replacement, post that as well. :)

I would be remiss if I did not point out that the corkscrew is an excellent tool for undoing tightly bound knots of cordage and rope.

Great review as always. I appreciate your gut taking one for the community with that MRE.

This knife is weird in how not-weird it turned out to be. Something something book covers etc.

Hell yeah. This is great. Congrats on the first of many new knives. Can't wait for you to setup shop for orders. 😀

This is the Kershaw Launch Iridium (for those who may not know). This is an automatic version of the already very popular Kershaw Iridium which can be had with either a crossbar lock in both a sub-3" blade (Mini Iridium) and 3.25" blade versions or a manual button lock.

I recently started carrying a Yonder as well. I was going to make a post here about it. It's excellent. The action is very smooth and the thin blade geometry is proving even better than my previous EDC, the CJRB Maximal. The crossbar lock, like all crossbar locks, is perfectly usable in left or right hand (and the pocket clip, as you know, is reversible).

I'd use a spray lacquer but only after the paint has been drying for 48 hours. You should do very very light coats many times. Too much and you'll probably ruin the paint job. The lacquer layering will also take a while as you have to let it dry before applying more.

It's very easy to get "lost" in the myriad of steel choices, handle material, blade shapes, locking mechanisms. I have tried to buy things I find interesting, but end up using only a few of them. I have discovered that, for folding knives, I'd rather have a few inexpensive ones with different uses than a single knife that is more expensive (and probably built better). But for fixed blade knives, I want to buy from custom designers and small makers.

As for your utility knife, you might have already discovered that knife companies are making fun and interesting folding utility knives now using the same razor blades you get at the hardware store. I just picked up the Knafs Yuti and for about a year I've had the CJRB Boxer. The Boxer I think is the best because it does not require a tool to replace the blade.

See @[email protected] 's post below. I am not aware of any knife company (this is different than a retailer) marketing knives as ambidextrous that are not so.

If you're looking for a left-hand only, Spyderco makes a couple. Example:

https://spyderco.com/products/para-military%C2%AE-2-left-handed

I saw it coming and I still laughed. :)

Yes, pressing the button fully releases the blade and the action is very smooth. So it's very easy to wrist-flick open and drop closed. Very little actually wrist movement needed. If you aim the knife down, it'll fall open easily with the button pressed. Same for closing if you hold it upward.

The usual answer is either a heat gun or a soldering iron tip to heat the threadlocker that is probably in there. But @[email protected] is not a usual person 😂