Corey Sar Fox Campagnolo Review
This knife was sent to me by a reader who also happened to be a knife designer. He designed and had produced in Italy a run of unique fixed blades called the Campagnolo. It is as weird a knife as you will find anywhere. From the handle, to the blade shape, to the carry options, this is a weird knife. And as your first venture into the knife world, its a bold statement. Corey could have dropped a…what for it…bland drop point under, but instead he releases what is essentially a food prep/kitchen knife beefed up for the outdoors. Its not for everyone and it is definitely outside the mainstream, but it is quite good in its intended role. If you thought to yourself that the Spyderco Zulu was bridge too far, well, this one is another bridge on the other side.
Let’s see how this strange little blade stacks up.
There is no product page, but here is the Cotelleria Collini page for the knife. There are two variants one with a brown micarta handle and another with a green micarta handle. There are no other written reviews or video reviews. Here is my review sample, provided by Corey to me for review:
Twitter Summary: Not a great first fixed blade, but a splendid third one.
Design: 1
Mega, super weird. There is no other way to put it. This knife is just intensely weird. But weird is not bad. In its intended role as a camp knife, jack of all trades it does well. It cuts and processes food like a dream (really, I would love a kitchen knife like this). It whittles and makes feathersticks. But it can’t do chopping. AT ALL. For a lot of people a fixed blade is a chopper, that’s why you buy one. But over the years I have learned a more sophisticated approach to fixed blades. I have a Busse if I need to chop and I have a Krein Whitetail if I need to do detail work. With this approach I can appreciate a purpose-built fixed blade like the Campagnolo. Most people, however, don’t have the luxury of having multiple fixed blades. As a result, this unique design doesn’t fit people’s perceived needs and so I give it a 1. If you do have multiple fixed blades or a more sophisticated approach to them, you will understand how a quirky design like this offers real performance benefits.
Fit and Finish: 2
The D2 and micarta are nicely finished and the sheath, a taut leather number, well made. In terms of what’s here, there is nothing at all to complain about, but let’s also be clear about what’s not here—complexity. If I were scoring this on a degree of difficulty, it would get a zero. If a knife company can’t make a clean and well-finished slab handled D2 micarta fixed blade in 2020, they need to get out of the business. Nicely made, but not terribly difficult.
Handle Design: 1
While we are told as kids that we have five senses, that is not true. Cognitive scientists have indicated that we have many more. Balance—for example, is clearly a sense that does not depend on seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, or tasting. Similarly, there is an awareness of our bodies in three dimensional space called proprioception. This is why, even in pitch darkness, you can clap your hands. Here, our sense of space, informed by prior knife designs, tell you, the second the Campagnolo is in your hand, there is something missing. It is such a jarring effect that even after I had learned how to the use the knife in other grips, it was still noticeable. In many ways, this reminds me of the jarring effect of seeing a concept car without a steering wheel—sure it might work, but it is SO different that familiar users will find the absent element unnerving.
But here is the thing, if you push through this, you will find that the pinch grip on the knife is exceptionally effective, especially in food prep tasks. It gives you a true sense of balance and is so good that the knife feels like part of your hand, instead of something sticking way out there. I could easily imagine a remote region of the world where knives always looked like this and folks were completely comfortable with this kind of design. In fact, it reminds of the Inuit ulu-style knives. The Campagnolo works really well, its just that it butts up against my knife design prejudices. And anytime something butts up against prejudice of any sort the result is a pervasive sense of being uncomfortable.
Steel: 1
D2 is perfectly serviceable as far as a steel, probably the very definition of average, and, as with many older steels, capable of great performance in the hands of a heat treat master. The Campagnolo’s D2 is just normal production D2, not sprinkled with bits of pixie dust like Dozier or Krein’s rendition of the old stand by steel.
Blade Shape: 2
In looking at and initially using this highly unconventional knife, the blade shape seemed to be a bridge too far. I could deal with the handle, but the blade shape was too much. Or so I thought. Then I used it and it turned out to be fantastic. Over and over again, it worked just as I had hope, cutting and rocking through material with ease. It is exceptionally well suited to this design and, in fact, it is what makes the Campagnolo really work. As the old Life cereals intoned into my childhood brain—try it, you’ll like it.
Grind: 2
Corey’s specs were right on in this department, nothing unconventional about it. Take a medium thickness stock of steel and reduce it to a paper thin edge. Done. Some things about knife design are always true and thin cutting edges with tall grinds always work.
Sheath Carry: 2
This is my first purpose-built scout style sheath. It works exceptionally well in terms of carry. You can do almost anything with this sheath on—run, walk, drive to the local hardware store while accidentally forgetting you have the sheath on. In terms of carry, if you can get knife small enough to scout style carry it, its quite good in terms of mobility.
Sheath Accessibility: 0
What the scout style sheath gives in carry it taketh away in terms of accessibility. The idea that you can remove or replace this knife from the sheath with it behind your back explains all you need to know about carrying this knife with this sheath. Its just impossible to do quickly and don’t even think about doing it with one hand. Only Brutus or Benedict Arnold would try to reload this knife blind.
Usability: 2
Despite its unconventional approach to being a knife the Campagnolo still works well for a long time with very few hotspots or issues. It does mean that you shouldn’t pinch super hard in a pinch grip, but that’s kind of like the old joke about doctor advice.
Durability: 2
D2, leather, and micarta are all durable and here there is nothing in the design that compromises these materials integrity.
Other Considerations
Fidget Factor: Very Low
Fixed blades are pretty much torture for fidget freaks as there is nothing to do. Take away the snap of a kydex sheath and the Campagnolo is basically as fidget friendly as a brick
Fett Effect: High
With D2’s semi-stainless nature, micarta changing with ease, and leather aging nicely everything here shows a pleasing amount of wear and use.
Value: Low
The price for the Campagnolo is pretty high, around $120 for the materials. It is a unique, small batch design so the machining and tooling costs are amortized over a smaller number of units, driving the price up, but still D2, micarta, and leather aren’t exactly gold, platinum, and pearl.
Overall Score: 15 of 20
This is one of the stranger things I have reviewed, but it is unquestionably a fully functional knife. I wouldn’t start out my fixed blade collection with this knife, but it is definitely something that benefits from new ideas. The Campagnolo is weird but good. I wouldn’t put it quite on the level of the Spyderco Zulu, which was unconventional but still worked like a knife, but it is definitely better than I assumed it would be having just looked at it.
Competition
There is nothing even similar to this knife on the market. There are bunch of small to medium sized knives out there that are good—the Bark River Lil’ Creek, the Kabar BK-16, the ESEE Candiru, and ESEE Izula, but none of them work, look, or feel like the Campagnolo. The old, oft-forgotten Spyderco Ulu is somewhat similar, but it is not even it is really similar.
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