If you were a collector of baseball cards in the mid 90s you remember Ben McDonald. He was the “can’t miss” prospect from the Baltimore Orioles. Unfortunately, he missed, and now is perhaps most famous for the also overhyped error card that he appeared on in the 1990 Upper Deck set (not the mysterious “White Circle” error card which looks like a fake, but the one with the Orioles logo on the front instead of the “Rookie” logo). Neither were worth the hype.

Knives have hype too and no knife has been more hyped than the Roosevelt (often lovingly called a “Roosie”). Issued by Oz Machine Company as a limited run production knife now, it was originally a full custom where buyers could choose from a host of features. The version that is out now is the same in terms of blueprint, but you get what you get when the batch is announced. The retail price is around $700, but with add-ons and scarcity on the secondary market, they easily go for over $1,000. When Nick visited last fall, he brought his for me to borrow for review. After a few months I feel like I have a good handle on the Roosevelt, its positives and its negatives. Borrowing it also means that I am not as caught up in the hype around the knife. Thanks to Nick for letting me handle this hard-to-find blade.

The Roosevelt is an incredibly well made knife and it is a very on-trend design, but it has some negatives, aside from availability, that seem to be ignored by the insanely hardcore group of fans that knife has created. Its certainly not Ben McDonald in terms of failing to live up to its hype. Perhaps it is more like Andruw Jones—very good but not great. And no, I am not a member of the Andruw Jones for Hall of Fame writing campaign, though if Harold Baines is in…

Here is the product page. The Oz Machine Company Roosevelt costs $700. Here is a written review. Here is a video review from Nick. Here is a written review from Knife Informer.

Finally, here is my review sample:

Quick Review Summary: Perfect, but only if you are wear Roosie colored glasses.

Design: 2

In an age of minimalist designs, the tall, square, squat Roosevelt is an excellent entry. Like the Sebenza, the Ur Minimalist knife, this is a titanium framelock (sans flipper). The knife’s star attraction is its action and boy is it special, landing in the very tippy top of the knife world along side something like the Micro Evo 2.0 Nadeau Sharp By Designs and a very good Shiro Neon. While there are some curves, like the Sebenza these are restrained curves, a bend on the pocket clip and a cut here and there around the rest of the knife. There is a large fully forward (i.e. in front of the pivot) choil and a giant index notch (more on this below). The sample Nick lent me was a LC200N model with flat scales and Dark Ti accents. Now a “golf putter” pattern is more common. The blade is just under 3 inches and the thumb hole (really a finger hole) is large and easily accessible. From a design perspective there is a lot to like here—spare, clean, and easy to use.

Fit and Finish: 2

When the deployment is this good the entire knife is really a tour de force in machining. There was no blade play despite the absolutely impeccable action. The surfaces were nicely and evenly finished. The screws were tight and the entire knife, clip included, had nice buttered edges. The high satin finish was pretty but did pick up gunk easily. Nick had sharpened the knife so the edge was keen.

Grip: 0

The Roosevelt is an excellent knife in many regards, but it is one of the worst knives in hand during use that has garnered this much hype. The problems are many. First, the handle is wide, as is the entire knife. I am okay with that, not everything needs to be a CRKT CEO, but the wide handle means that there isn’t a lot of space between your palm and the knife when it is in your hand. In turn, this means that the clip is even more intrusive than it would otherwise be. Then there is the clip itself. Like the knife, it is squared off, which matches the aesthetic, but makes the butt end of the knife quite blocky, not good for extended use. Finally, the handle gets very, very close to the “this must be ergonomic because it looks ergonomic” finger scallops. The choil and the index notch are overdone and too pronounced, lacking the subtly you find on a design like the Caly3. Here the design is very bossy—put your hand here. When this is combined with the blocky tail of the knife there are very few grips you can use with this blade. This is not the classic simple handle you find on something like a Sebenza nor is it close to the master class that is the handle on the Caly3 or Neutron 2. Of the flaws, this is the worst. And, without Roosie colored glasses on, it is a serious one.

Carry: 2

I really like the way the Roosevelt carried. Its thin cross section and rounded off exposed rear tang along with buttered edges everywhere made inserting the knife into the pocket easy and retrieving it even easily. Without garish adornments, it sat flat in the pocket and it was not heavy enough to feel like a pocket pendulum.

Steel: 2

LC200N is a great steel, one of my very favorite steels. It has been overshadowed by Magnacut recently, but it is an excellent choice and very different from yet another M390 steel. If it is an option, I’d choose it over pretty much everything else other than Magnacut or something truly exotic, like Vanax, that suits the knife’s intended purpose.

Blade Shape: 1

The Roosevelt was used in a massive cutting task “competition” with a host of other knives and surprisingly it did only okay. I had been hopeful given the comparatively thin stock and the flat grind over the wide blade, but the blade is so comically wide that it generates quite a bit of friction passing through medium and thick card board. Compared to the Caly3 or the Neutron 2, this was not even in the same tier. Compared to the vastly less costly Lander, this was still not in the same tier. In the end, the enormously wide blade creates a host of problems that seem to negate the thin stock and flat grind. It was also a magnet during food prep—cheese and cured meats were basically glued to the knife.

Grind: 2

This is a tall knife with a really good flat grind, resulting in a cutting edge that absolutely lasers through material—kind of. If you are severing rope, this is a machine. If you are push cutting through cardboard—mmm, not so much. Its odd that the grind is so good, but the unusual blade shape limits its performance. Its like having a Bugatti Chiron with the parking brake on. The grind itself is really good, even, clean, and crisp with perfect symmetry.

Deployment Method: 2

Again, like with the handle, the Roosevelt wants you to open it in only one way—the finger flick. It happens to be all the rage among the cool kids, so that is okay for now, but it is actually subpar in a slow opening scenario. Finger flicking is cool on IG, but probably not discrete enough for anywhere in public especially when the knife is this large (notably, its blade length is 3” but this is a WIDE knife). Compared to something like a Vero, this is a one trick pony, oh but what a trick it is. The Roosie’s deployment is sublime, opening with a silent swing followed by a sharp click to let you know the blade is locked in place. Forget trying to fail fire this thing—once the detent is overcome, the blade’s final destination is guaranteed. If the opening action wasn’t so damn good, I would give this knife a 1 for how forced it is and how it is a real challenge to slow open it, but I am too mesmerized by the opening action.

Retention Method: 2

Setting aside the clip’s impact on grip, which I accounted for above, the clip itself is good. Its simple shape isn’t gaudy or silly, and it has the right amount of tension along with a well-shaped mouth. I like the clip quite a bit and a smidge of work on the back end would have made it perfect.

Lock: 2

There are two interfaces between the lock face and the rear tang of the knife. The result, much like the Sebenza’s ceramic interface, is a lock up that is super solid but completely without friction or stick. This helps give the Roosie its amazing action. Without blade play and with perfect engagement or disengagement, the lock action here is great.

Other Considerations

Fidget Factor: Very High

If this didn’t have a blade and was a fidget toy, it would still sell well. This is the most fidget friendly knife i have ever used.

Fett Effect: Very High

The satin finish does collect fingerprints and the like and the titanium gathers scratches, so over time this Roosie will look like no other.

Value: Very Low

Its a titanium framelock with good steel and good action. Lots of knives are similarly described, but few, if any, cost what a Roosevelt does. With a table price of $700 and an aftermarket price up to twice that, this is an abysmal value. Remember—the root for “fan” is “fanatic.” I think that best explains why these knives are so hard to find and so expensive when you locate one.

Overall Score: 17 of 20

This is a good knife with an amazing deployment, but it is not a flawless design. Its not great in the hand and it isn’t the best cutter in the world despite a keen edge. I think a few tweaks would make the knife better, the easiest of which is ramping the tail end of the pocket clip. That’s just a no-brainer these days, as pretty much every self-published blade does this now. I understand where the hype comes from but I do not get it. If this were a $400 I’d be interested. In a world where you can’t get one for twice that, I think I have been sated by borrowing Nick’s knife. No Roosie chase for me.

Competition

This is a finely made knife with a unique design. If you like the design or you are a fidget fiend there is nothing better out there than this knife. If you like your knives as tools, well, there are a lot better knives out there, especially given the staggering price tag. First off, in all ways but finger flickability (if that is a word), the Sebenza dusts the Roosevelt. And it is just over half the price, that is, if you can get one from the maker. But the real problem is comps to knives like the Neutron 2. At $180 the Neutron 2 basically resets the bar for what a knife should be and the Roosie just isn’t in the same league, other than both have very limited availability. Compared to another hype knife, the Vero Engineering family of blades, the Roosie fails on the design front (though to be fair most knives are worse designs than Vero stuff). The Vero Mini Synpase just works better in every way. And you can finger flick it and taunt people on IG. But this knife is not for folks that look at these blades. If you are considering one of the bloated monstrosities on sale from CKF like the Evo, then this is both not overpriced and a decent performer. But all of these knives are insanely overpriced and picking one as the best is like finding the most attractive leper.

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