kick ass knife collection

This is the non-automatic version of the knife in post 257. It has a flipper-type opening mechanism as you can see in the video. After that previous post, I started looking around online and found this one for sale so I snapped it up.

To recap from before, Les is based in Florida and makes all of his knives himself in his own shop; this model comes in automatic and flipper versions. Both have carbon fiber scales and 3.375" blades of 154CM steel, and both are serial numbered with extremely limited production.

This thing is built like a tank, with dense carbon fiber scales and a thick, sturdy blade. I'm very happy with this knife and I wish I had bought a couple more to give to friends as gifts. If you like what you see, be aware that you can only find Les at a couple of shows every year, and his knives sell out pretty quickly.

Les Adams doesn't have a website or use social media, but he's been making knives since the early 1990s and is a senior member of the Knifemakers' Guild. I stopped by his table at Blade Show 2025 in Atlanta and we got to talking, and he showed me his knives; I liked what I was hearing and seeing so I bought this one.

He makes all of his knives himself, in his own shop; this model comes in automatic and flipper versions. Both have carbon fiber scales and 3.375" blades of 154CM steel, and both are serial numbered with extremely limited production runs. I got the automatic, and it has an ingenious dual locking system - you have to push the button and simultaneously slide the tab on the spine. Closing the knife requires the same two-part operation.

This thing is built like a tank, with dense carbon fiber scales and a thick, sturdy blade. I'm very happy with this knife and I wish I had bought a couple more to give to friends as gifts. If you like what you see, be aware that you can only find Les at a couple of shows every year, and his knives sell out pretty quickly.

This mini SERE 2000 knife is a fairly rare design from decades ago, and while you can still buy the model today, the look and feel is constantly changing. This is one of the originals from the early 2000s, made in Japan by a company well known for the quality of their work. It's 7" long when opened, with a 3" blade of VG10 steel, and weighs 3.5 ounces. There are a number of small but noticeable design details which speak to this knife's craftsmanship and quality.

Al Mar was, by all accounts, an interesting guy. He fought in Vietnam, then he got a masters degree in industrial design, and later he designed knives for Gerber before branching out in 1979 to form his own company. You can read all about it on a Wikipedia. (Be advised, in 2019 his company was sold and began manufacturing their knives in China, using Chinese steels.)

These are handmade by a local knifemaker, and he sells them both at a nearby shop and small shows in the area every now and then. I recently picked this model up at one of those shows.

This blade is 5/32" thick O1 tool steel, and I believe the surrounding handles are G10. This is a small, sturdy, functional knife that was made to be used, and it's a natural fit in the hand.

This is over 15" of full-tang, titanium-coated D2 steel knife. Or maybe machete would be a accurate term. It weighs in at almost a pound and a half, and is heavy and tough enough to hack through doors or walls.

This was the biggest of the dozen knives I picked up at Blade Show 2025, and I'm glad it was one of the last because it really would've weighed down the backpack I was carrying around.

This knife is just over 8" opened, with a 3.5" clip point blade of AR-RPM9 steel. It has a sizable hole for one-handed opening and a button lock to keep it open/closed. It weighs just 3.7 ounces and barely feels like it's there in the pocket. This was an example of a design that caught my eye, and so I bought the knife. (A common event in my life!)

This Benchmade Mini Adamas is actually not a small knife at all. It's medium sized, it's beefy, and it looks pretty damn cool if I do say so myself. It has a drop point blade made of 63-65HRC steel, and G10 handles with holes drilled in them, and the same Axis lock mechanism as the Benchmade from the last post.