The Benchmade Mini Grip is an all-time classic. I love the knife. But, well, it is a bit muggly. Its indistinct jelly bean shape ain’t going to catch an eye, but its in-hand feel and superior design makes up for it. Compare that to a recent knife to be added to the review queue, The James Brand Carter, and the Mini Grip is downright homely. The Benchmade Mini Grip is a Dad with his golf shirt tucked into khaki cargo shorts and a leather cellphone holster. The James Brand Carter is Cary Grant in this picture:

But but but…its a hipster knife from a hipster brand. Yes, yes it is. But…so what? Thanks to a partnership with Gallantry the Carter and the Duval are in for review and you know what, the Carter has some really impressive design details. Look at the clip screws here:

Nothing out of the ordinary. Now look at the clip screws on the other side of the handle:

What! No filler tap? No obnoxious cut out? Just a simple, clean look. I haven’t taken this knife apart, but it is safe to say that whatever the solution, this is far more elegant than what the entire knife design industry has come up with so far.

Now look at the plunge line.

Not only is the forward angle something that looks good and makes the knife SEEM fast, it also serves a purpose—the thumb disk is now out of the cutting path. How about that? Another nice detail.

Finally, look at the thumb disk itself.

Of course it is The James Brand green, but it also has a dished out portion on top that makes the knife exceptionally good in the hand for forceful downward cuts (like if you are cutting cable or a small branch to size).

Over and over again, I find the designs on James Brand knives to be thoughtful and clever, as well as attractive. They may be different than what we are used to in the IKC, but they are really well designed knives. If they are carried by guys with selvedge jeans, get over it. They are good blades and clearly here to stay. This reminds me of something the Sage of the IKC says often—quality is not about geography, but effort. I would add a corollary to that—quality is not about brand, but about effort. Over and over again, I have been impressed with The James Brand’s effort. Its real and important.

The last thing I need to acknowledge is designing for looks. I have no problem with knives that are designed to look good. Knives should, like all other products made for humans, look good. But all to often designers chase a look at the cost of performance (see e.g. all recurve knives). The James Brand has done this in the past. If you want to see me ding them for it, go take a look at my first review of the Chapter, found here. Thanks to the boneheaded decision to coat the rear tang of the knife, once the coating wore off, the blade didn’t lock up as nicely. They chased looks over performance. But they learned from that mistake and the current iteration of the Chapter knife is a real looker and a good performer. What The James Brand has proven is that you can make knives that look good and perform well. And if you can do both without sacrificing either, why not?

Thanks to Gallantry for the review samples. Look for a review in a month or two.