I love the Giant Mouse Riv. It is an upscale version of the Spyderco Dragonfly—a compact cutter that just melts in the hand and rides well in the pocket. I bought one years ago when it was first released. It was a micarta framelock with Elmax steel and it was made by Reate. I loved the knife, but I wasn’t a fan of the steel or the framelock. I did, of course, love the micarta because it is micarta (micarta is basically cat nip for knife knuts). So over the years I watched for new versions of the Riv and recently Giant Mouse dropped a Riv with Magnacut and a linerlock. So I did that really stupid thing that only knife guys and car guys do—I purchased a second version of a knife I already owned. This version was made by an Italian company. I don’t know exactly who it is, but it feels a lot like Lionsteel. If I am wrong drop a note in the comments.

This exceptionally poor financial decision allowed me to do something I have always wanted to do—compare apples to apples the manufacturing abilities of two different companies. It is exceedingly rare to have one knife made by two differnt companies, so this comparison has been all but impossible until now. But with two different companies producing the Riv, I can now get into the details.

The biggest difference between the two is in the action. The action on the Reate Riv is spectacular. If you like crispy detents, this is the knife for you. It might be a bit too hard as I can’t get the knife to regularly open using the flipper tab. But as a Spydieflick opener, this thing is epic. The Italian Riv has a merely mortal detent. The knife doesn’t fly open and can fail to fire, but its still pretty good. If this were a review it would a 1.75 instead of a 2. I recognize that this is a bit of preference, so I’d be willing say it is a wash, though be clear—the knife snob in me doubts this assertion very much. A good detent is a strong detent.

The Italian Riv did need some tuning before I put it into rotation. The blade wiggled quite a bit when locked open, as is common these days. A few twists of a screwdriver and things were snug again. Unlike with a lot of knives, I didn’t need a dab of lock tight. I got in in the right place and it stayed. The Reate Riv required zero adjustment and has never had even a smidge of blade play.

The Reate Riv came razor sharp out of the box. It shaved hair with zero effort, popping hairs off without effort. It was sticky sharp and the hairs that were cut off didn’t resist at all. The Italian Riv was not as sharp and it seems that the bevel grind is a bit thick as it does not maintain an edge anywhere near as long as its Chinese twin.

The scales are different—one is jade G10, a favorite of mine, and the other is green micarta, another favorite of mine. They both have nice sculpting and are shaped well. I do think the Italian Riv is a smidge more refined with a better feel in the indexing notch (less squared off). The difference is probably as big as the difference in the detent.

The jimping on the Reate Riv is more refined and less grippy.

It feels more like texturing on a fine watch and less like a grip enhancer. The Italian Riv is very grippy in terms of jimping.

It is a bit hard to compare blade finishes because the Italian Riv has a blackwash finish, but there are no places that are as nice and as almost polished as the choil and the spine of the Reate Riv.

I feel like the Reate Riv’s clip is more substantial, but that is just a feeling. I didn’t realize that the Reate Riv’s clip is longer than the Italian Riv’s clip until I took these pictures.

I think they are both pretty good as far as wire clips go (which can be pretty variable, just look at Spyderco’s on-again off-again approach to clips).

Overall, I think the Reate Riv is better made, but I like the look and the handle of the Italian Riv better. The steel is nicer and, of course, I prefer a liner lock to a framelock. That said, comparing apples to apples, Reate is one of the best production knife companies in the world. Only Chris Reeve produces knives of the same consistently high level of fit and finish. I would say that the difference between the two is small enough to be overcome by preferences, which is why I am keeping the Italian Riv.