My snowblower and I have a love hate relationship. When it is chucking those huge ice chunks that build up at the end of the driveway as plows pass by, my back and I are pretty happy. When it fails to start or when, for no reason, one of the tires decides to deflate, well, let’s just say we aren’t friends. When my snowblower dies I plan on sending it into the yard tools afterlife Office Space-style and immediately replace it with the full sized Ego snowblower.

A few years ago, amidst a February built to test one’s convictions about living in New England, my right tire deflated completely and without warning. Now, for whatever reason, the tire does not have an innner tube, because, well, that would make sense. Instead, its just the actual tire seated on a lip around the wheel. Getting it seated when the tire had no air is, without the aid of tools, impossible. So, I tied a rope around it to put pressure on it and I still couldn’t get it to grip with enough pressure to hold in air. In part, it was because I couldn’t inflate it fast enough. I have an air compressor, but it wouldn’t reach where I used to store my snowblower. So I decided to buy a portable tire inflator. I was so mad that I had to spend money on one of those “filler” tools that you get in a multi-pack at Christmas. There was a Makita dealer down the road and after an hour of cold, wet attempts to inflate the tire, I hopped in my car and bought that dumb tool (I would have much rather bought the battery powered plunge router…). Two years later, it is my most used tool aside from the track saw (one of the drills would be most used, but the set has two of them…). My Dad even asks to borrow it when he comes over sometimes. It is wildly underrated.

This frustrating experience underlines something I call the “truck phenomenon.” Good tools change our capacities. People that don’t have trucks (poor unfortunates), often say things like “why do you need a truck, you don’t do anything that requires having a truck now.” But when you have a truck, or a small tire inflator, or, more germane to this review, a surprisingly slicey large knife, you do things you normally wouldn’t. This is a good knife on paper—classic Oeser design, Reate-made, Williams Kickstop, premium materials—but it is even a better knife in use. Problem is a knife this fancy often dissuades people from using it. This is a knife that might make owner carry something stupid like a second knife or a razor blade holder. Don’t do that.

I don’t normally go for knives this long, especially as folders, but the F22 is really, really good. It lets you do things, for me some kinds of food prep, that a small knife won’t without any of the penalties of a huge knife. Good tools get better when you use them and the F22 is one of those tools.

There is no product page for the knife. The production F22 costs $375. There is no written review. Here is a video review. They were released in a large batch and are still readily available at the time of this review. Oeser indicated that he will not be release another batch of these, so this is likely the only version of this knife available, though I imagine if it does well he will iterate on the design (like a 2.75 inch version…which would be sweet). There are a series of combinations of materials. There are three forms of variation: blade, accents, and handle material. Blades are either satin or coated. The accent elements (shield, clip, and pivot assembly) are either satin, coated, or bronze. Handles are one of four materials: natural or green micarta, carbon fiber, or titanium. As a result there are a lot of combinations. The review sample, which purchased personally, is satin blade, satin accents, and carbon fiber handle.

Quick Review Summary: Premium name, build, materials…AND…performance.

Design: 2

This is a big knife. It doesn’t seem like it because it is sleek and the blade is not that tall, but don’t be fooled, this is a big knife. At 3.375 inches the blade is really nice for food prep, basically a folding paring knife. But the intended purpose here is as a high end EDC. The problem is that it is awfully close to the new 2023 Sebenza barrier and so comparisons are really easy to make. This is something of a sodbuster design if we were employing the classic terms from traditional knives. It doesn’t have quite the belly, but the handle is definitely sodbuster-ish. Overall, the F22 nails the high end EDC look and feel, which is great and all, but for me, I want more than that from a knife. Surprisingly, the F22 delivers. I have used the knife to break down boxes, prepare lunches (for a Pocket Knife Lunch), and light fire prep tasks and it did all of that remarkably well. I believe these are Reate-made and so having a very slicey grind was unexpected, but the F22 can do real work.

I want to take a minute and write about an issue that has come up over and over again and that is blade shape choice. I know this should be in the blade shape section below, but because it is so important I wanted to elevate it to the Design section. This knife would be categorically worse with a tanto blade shape. Tanto blade shapes, specificially the “Americanized tanto” (here is a bit more on this, noting that the “Americanized” designation may be apocryphal). The reality is this triangular tip really does not work well on a folder. In theory, and I write that because I have no knowledge of martial bladecraft, these blade shapes excel at piercing and thrusting. Since I never fight with my knives or pierce or thrust with them even for fun, this blade shape has no benefits, but it has a huge number of drawbacks. It makes the blade less slicey. It presents to material in an awkward way. And its hard to sharpen. I get they look cool and there is a bit of “displaying mastery” in their creation, but the reality is, folders with tantos are for mall ninjas. Those of us that use our folders as they are intended to be used, should, in reality, look elsewhere. We do not need an F22 production model with a tanto tip.

The ratios are good because while this is a long knife, it is also a light one. The B:W is a very good 1.02. The B:H is also good .75, which is the threshold between good and elite. The ratios here are representative of the knife as a whole—this is a superb blade.

Fit and Finish: 2

My unit was a dud. About two months in the detent ball fell out. I never found it and it really impacted the knife’s performance. As a result, I reached out to Jared and he took care of it. The knife came back about two weeks later and it was GREAT. Notice how tight the transition is around the shield. This is why you buy a Reate.

Grip: 1

When your knife is as sleek as a torpedo, it figures, by virtual necessity that the knife will be not super great on grip. I wouldn’t say its bad, but at the same time this is not the knife to take with you on a trip to the butter, soap, or lubricant factory. Given its role as a large EDC knife, I am okay with that, bending a bit away from grip in favor of a streamlined carry and simplified appearance.

Carry: 2

Despite the blade length, the F22 carries quite nicely. It will never fit in the coin pocket of a pair of jeans, but it hangs nicely in a main pocket. The slim, rounded handle is just exceptionally nice to slide in and out of the pocket. Tucked up against the seam of the pocket, the F22 allows you to still use the pocket, something you can’t say with taller knives, like those from Spyderco such as the Manix 2.

Steel: 2

M390 is so boring.

Blade Shape: 2

There is a little weird false harpoon/swedge, but let’s be clear, this is basically a drop point and there is nothing wrong with that. I kinda wish that Oeser leaned into the sodbuster theme and gave this a real bullnose blade, but while that would be cute, it wouldn’t be more functional.

Grind: 2

Reate is not known for its grinds, but fortunately the grind here is non-Reate at all. It is super duper slicey. Not “for a Reate” but in general. Its shocking to have a Reate that is truly great a cutting. There have been a lot of good knives and a few decent cutters, but only the Micro Evo 2.0 rivals this knife in terms of cutting stuff. After a long cardboard processing session with a bunch of knives, this knife came out in front and that is crazy.

Deployment Method: 2

The Kickstop is not so much a different deployment, but a spin on the flipper tab. Here deployment is excellent, just a smidge below my favorite flipper ever—the SBD Micro Evo. The trick here, of course, is that once deployed the flipper tab vanishes. It adds a bit of mechanical complexity to the knife, but not so much I am worried about it. It is undoubtedly a cool trick, but its not something I would go out of my way to put on a knife.

Retention Method: 2

The clip is really great here, with a shape that follows lines, an inoffensive placement, and a decent ramp at the end. We are finally at a place where makers are regularly making not just good, but great sculpted clips.

Lock: 2

This is an “inset” lock which is just a fancy word for a liner lock with a partial exposed liner. Whatever you call it, it is nice looking, easy to engage, and easy to disengage. You won’t have any problems with the engagement or blade play here.

Other Considerations

Fidget Factor: Very High

The magic trick of the disappearing flipper tab is really good at making you want to do this over and over again.

Fett Effect: Low

I guess you could abuse the knife and mess up the satin finish, but really, there is no need.

Value: Low

You know going in that this is not a value proposition.

Overall Score: 19 of 20

Only the Micro Evo 2.0 rivals this knife in terms of Reate-made blades. I like them both a lot and they are on the opposite ends of the EDC size spectrum. For a big knife, this carries well and cuts with aplomb. Its actually pretty shocking in the slicing department. Don’t worry about the price. If you can afford this knife, buy it. If you can’t there are better values out there. But in the market space of premium stuff, this is not only a good choice, but a very, very good choice.

Competition

Well, there is the Sebenza. There are a few different Liong Mah knives that hit this same note. A lot of CKF blades are in this space, too. I think a few Giant Mouse knives are in this price range, too. Terrain 365 has a tight theme to its knives and they are in this price range. The super premium Spydercos live in this range. A bunch of other self-published blades are also in this price range. Of these knives, most are gilded lillies. The Sebenza is not. Is this better than a Sebenza? No, no it is not. Is it worse? Not really. Most of the knives in this price range are fidget toys that people never use. This knife doesn’t need to be that kind of blade. Its good. Really good.

Amazon Links

Makita LXT Tire Inflator

Spyderco Manix 2