Writing this blog over the last six years has been a ton of fun, mostly because I get to interact with you, the reader. But in that time I have also had the chance to make contacts in the industry. Thomas, from KAI, has been super nice. Folks at CRKT are really incredible and generous. Leatherman, as you would expect from a quality outfit, has been nothing but great. But often, it is the behind-the-scenes input from makers and production folks that is the most helpful. When the podcast crew had questions about AG Russell's "Featherlight Steel" I reached out to AG who responded personally and answered those questions. And this is the way it has been with lots of folks--when I have questions I have been lucky enough to have really knowledgeable people to go to and often I don't have the ability to thank them publicly so you the read might not have any idea that I have talked to them.

One of those people is someone very well-regarded in the industry and he has been a great source of information for a long time. I am not beholden to anyone or any company so I have been critical when I felt it was necessary, but nevertheless he has been pretty cool. We have recently been discussing an upcoming product, one that will release at Blade this year, and he has given me permission to share it before the show (I know, I know the timing is terrible given the date, but I thought it would be best to share it as soon as I got it, rather than hold it). Here it is:

The output from our friend here has been less than innovative over the past two years and I have been a vocal critic. Every time, though, I was assured that innovation is coming. And while I am not sure that a flipper version of your most famous and best selling knife is exactly innovative, the internals are. We all know that flicking open the knife was something that could void your warranty, as silly as that is, and so in order to compensate for the wear associated with a flipper, the guts have been entirely redesigned (note the internal stop pin!). I am not the world's best when it comes to mechanical engineering, but there are things in and around the pivot that have never been seen on a folder before.

If you want to do something at the highest level and you will accept nothing less than that, sometimes doing the obvious thing, the thing everyone wants, is very hard to do. I am not saying this justifies the iterative output we have seen over the last two years, but I knew this was coming and so I kinda, maybe mentally, accounted for it. Something is late until it arrives, but something is great forever (thanks Miyamoto...).

Thanks again for reading and I am thrilled to be able to show this off. Get your wallets ready. Thanks, my friend, for letting me share this and thanks to Drew for the help he provided.