Unless you’re a pocket knife collector or product nerd (like us), you probably don’t know the names of too many knife designers. But if there’s one you might recognize — or one you should know — it’d be Ken Onion. Not just because his vegetal surname is particularly memorable but because the former US Marine has had such a measurable impact on the knife industry, with countless designs and over 30 patents on features like locks and opening mechanisms. Onion regularly works with CRKT, a collaboration that recently resulted in a new, limited-edition knife called the Panache.
According to CRKT, Onion’s inspiration for the Panache comes from the angled contours of stealth bombers. That notion materializes in hard, geometric angles in the spine of the blade — a 3.6-inch drop point made of CTS-XHP steel — as well as its titanium handle and grippy carbon-fiber inlay. The Panache deploys with a flipper tab on CRKT’s IKBS super-smooth ball-bearing mechanism and includes a sturdy frame lock and pocket clip. CRKT and Onion only made 550, each of which is numbered.
Gear PatrolThe best way to catch up on the day’s most important product releases and stories. Read the Story