Deadman’s Hand

When the Almighty Algorithm kicks up a post that touts a knife “perfect for slipping into your boot before heading out to the frontier,” it’s going to grab my attention.

I’m generally not too taken with folding knives. I prefer a fixed blade and am fortunate that circumstances allow me to carry a belt knife as EDC. But the brand new Columbia River Knife and Tool Redemption…. Good lord Lorrie — that’s a handsome knife.

The Redemption is based on legendary knifemaker Ken Onion’s Deadman’s Hand custom, a tribute to the knives carried by the outlaws and poker players of the Wild West, and named after the aces-and-eights hand Wild Bill Hickok purportedly held at the time of his death. The Redemption brings this classic folder into the modern age and is Ken’s first CRKT knife to incorporate a Crossbar Lock. Made in the U.S.A. in collaboration with Hogue Knives, it uses CPM MagnaCut blade steel for incredible strength and edge retention.

The Redemption is made with the hot-n-sexy Magnacut steel, and commands many plews. It is built to strum all the chords that resonate with a Frontier Partisan, and to lead us into temptation. When it comes to folding knives, I tend to favor the low end of the scale so that it doesn’t hurt when you lose one or have to ditch it in the landscaping outside a music venue.

But… good lord Lorrie — that’s a handsome knife…