This Sublime Gentleman’s Knife Offers Something Others Don’t

For CJRB’s Perfect Locust, a smooth-moving, on-trend button lock just isn’t enough. So it packs a rare security feature, too.

By Steve Mazzucchi

Published January 23, 2025

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Technically speaking, CJRB is Artisan Cutlery’s more wallet-friendly wing. But you probably wouldn’t guess it from the brand’s latest Kickstarter project.

After all, said project, The Perfect Locust, is a gentleman’s knife boasting a variety of premium blade and handle materials, including S90V, MagnaCut, carbon fiber and titanium Damascus.

cjrb perfect locust classy carbon hero — The Classy Carbon variant pairs an S90V blade with a titanium and carbon fiber inlay handle.

The knife series very much keeps up with the times, courtesy of a button lock.

While many other knives stop there, The Perfect Locust also includes a much rarer feature: a safety switch.

Fancy folders

For the uninitiated, Artisan Cutlery/CJRB is based in Chino Hills, California, with the knives themselves manufactured in Yangjiang, China. CJRB is in fact short for China Jiang Ren Blade.

Though AC has existed for more than 20 years now — and CJRB for six — these brands have really been coming on strong of late thanks to an ever-growing family of good-looking, full-featured, well-executed, generally affordable knives.

The Perfect Locust knives distinguish themselves with an optional safety switch, which resembles what you tend to find on power tools and firearms. When engaged, it reinforces the lock, preventing any unintended blade slippage. The switch works when the knife is both closed and open.

One factor uniting many of the products is AR-RPM9, a blade steel AC actually commissioned. That’s a rare feat for a knife brand, and the steel itself is quite solid, generally considered a higher-quality powder version of what you might find in Victorinox Swiss Army knives.

The Perfect Locust project makes a departure from that ingredient however. The series consists of five knives that share design and functionality while offering different blade and handle materials.

cjrb perfect locust suit and ti — Here’s the Suit and Ti variant with optional safety switch — the smaller round button above the button lock and pivot.

Safety first

Let’s start with the unifying features, of which there are many.

The Perfect Locust is inspired by the Fairbairn-Sykes combat knife. While that commando dagger boasts a 6-inch-plus double-edged fixed blade atop a hilt and burly handle, I can see some similarity in the general silhouette when deployed.

Each Perfect Locust knife has a 3.15-inch spear point blade with a flat grind and an overall length of 7.28 inches. Pivoting on a ceramic ball bearing, the blades deploy via the thumb disc or the press of the button lock and a quick flick of the wrist.

As GP’s own Sean Tirman noted last week, this particular style of lock is becoming increasingly popular in the EDC knife space.

Still, The Perfect Locust knives distinguish themselves with an optional safety switch, which resembles what you tend to find on power tools and firearms.

When engaged, it reinforces the lock, preventing any unintended blade slippage. The switch works when the knife is both closed and open.

The switch is located right above the button lock. As stated on the Kickstarter page: “This ensures that every step — from deploying the blade to securing it back into the handle — is controlled and intentional, eliminating the risk of accidental activation. It’s a simple yet effective way to keep your knife exactly where it should be — secure, functional, and ready when you are.”

While the safety switch is much less common than the button lock, it appears to be a bit of thing with Artisan Cutlery/CJRB’s classier knives. The most recent appearance I have noticed before this one is in AC’s heirloom-y Holm, a beautiful knife in its own right.

cjrb perfect locust all dressed up — Thanks to a titanium Damascus handle and premium steel, the Magna Dressed Up is the priciest Perfect Locust.

Quality skews

As mentioned above, the Perfect Locust appears in five different, progressively higher-quality variants, but I must say that even the base model is no slouch.

That one, dubbed Carved Copper, features an S90V blade (valued for its edge retention and high resistance to corrosion and wear) and a copper handle and weighs 4.59 ounces.

The next level up is Classy Carbon, which pairs an S90V blade with a titanium and carbon fiber inlay handle and weighs 3.35 ounces.

The third treatment, the cleverly named Suit and Ti, boasts an S90V blade and a titanium handle with Fat Carbon “Arctic Storm” inlay and weighs 3.23 ounces.

Finally, at the top of the line, is the All Dressed Up and the Magna Dressed up. The former carries an S90V blade and a titanium Damascus handle.

The latter, as you might guess, swaps S90V for MagnaCut, the super steel of the moment, prized for its uncommon blend of toughness, edge retention and corrosion resistance.

Both of these knives tip the scales at 3.63 ounces. But as we all know, when you look that good, no one really cares what you weigh.

Availability and pricing

CJRB’s Perfect Locust is fully funded on Kickstarter with 35 days to go. The starting pledge is $138 (for the Carved Copper variant), and the estimated delivery is May 2025.