Honey Badger isn't a name you hear often, but there's a reason we chose it as the name for our knife and knife accessory ranges. Honey Badgers are known for their strength, fearlessness and most notably, their toughness. They are Africa's toughest animal, so it made sense that Africa's toughest knife should carry the same name.
Honey Badger Knives was created in 2014 by our CEO and Head Knife Designer, Marc Ager who saw a need in South Africa for an affordable range of high-quality, practical and durable EDC knives. Marc has over 30 years' experience in the hunting and outdoor market, having originally started Ramrod in 1987. Ramrod was renamed as Lite Optec and is still to this day, one of Southern Africa's leading and most reputable importers and distributors of high-quality products and brands to the hunting and outdoor market.
With his lifelong passion for knives, wealth of experience and stellar reputation in the industry, Marc spent 18 months researching and fine-tuning his designs, and these became the first 3 models of the Honey Badger range. The Claw, Hook and Flipper launched at the April 2016 HuntEx Expo in Johannesburg, South Africa, and 6 years later, the success of the original 3 models has resulted in an expanded number of models and range extensions, including bespoke replacement machined G10 handle scales.
Marc's unwavering dedication to good knives can be clearly seen in Honey Badger — a range of 7 different blade styles, all superbly designed to be tough, hard-wearing, and totally competent in varied long-term use. Each knife style is offered in 3 different sizes and all are light-weight. They feature either high-quality 8Cr13MoV stainless steel or D2 blades that have excellent cutting ability and edge retention, whilst being easy to resharpen when needed. All our knives have an incredibly smooth, almost frictionless opening and closing action, that is facilitated by two opposing roller bearings that contain a total of 18 ball bearings. Africa's toughest knives are also Africa's smoothest, and using them is an absolute pleasure.
The handle slabs of each knife are made from a Fibre Reinforced Nylon (FRN) and are available in 6 colours — there's a choice to suit every preference. The FRN carries a ridged honey-comb pattern that provides an excellent multi-directional grip, and whilst light in weight and slim in width, they are extremely tough, slip-resistant when wet and dry, and they fit ergonomically in your hand. In addition, the new 2022 introduction of Accessory G10 handles in 8 colours gives you the opportunity to further upgrade to a more exotic, customizable option if you prefer.
Honey Badger is the perfect blend of quality, functionality, fun and most importantly, our range is affordable. Customer service, innovation and consistent, competitive prices are at the heart of our business, and our friendly and dedicated customer service team are trained and ready to answer any and all questions that you may have.
Drop-Point Blade — Honey Badger "Flipper" Model
One of the most common and popular blade shapes, the drop-point is characterized by a convex spine that curves down from the handle to the point. This creates an easily controlled point and a bigger belly for slicing. Drop points are great for general-purpose use and ideal for hunters. Overall, this blade style has been Honey Badger's most popular, best-selling model."
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This the HONEY BADGER claw series of knives, Chinese-made but locally conceived, engineered and assembled.
The blade finish features a stainless, light-refractive hue, made from robust D2 tool steel. If you might be wondering what that means, please see read this handy introduction to this steel type;
https://knifesteelnerds.com/2018/11/05/all-about-d2-steel-knives/
Otherwise, these knives really are flyweight, making them incredibly easy to manipulate - holding true to the manufacturer's claims. The blade itself locks positively in place, thanks to a rightward liner lock, whereupon the rotational blade sits perfectly still in place, holdings its zero if we may put it like that. The gripscales are Fibre Reinforced Nylon as indicated, w/ a robust feel to it. It is hexagonally checkered, providing multi (6)-angle traction. The fine ridges are 90° / square angled, to allow for maximum traction.
The gripscales are Fibre Reinforced Nylon as indicated, w/ a robust feel to it. It is hexagonally checkered, providing multi (6)-angle traction. The fine ridges are 90° / square angled, to allow for maximum traction. The frontal end of the grip scales on the front end has a grooved scallop for one's thumb to rest upon ergonomically. Slipping off of said scallop, one's thumb can easily push down on the exposed grooved liner which otherwise prohibits the knive end from hinging. Once engaged, the knife can rotate freely and fold in 180° to close into the handle, safely hiding away the edge.
The upper shoulder of the knife feature a small plethora of fine teeth; from the grip scales, traversing as jimpings onto the false edge / spine of the blade. This presumably was designed to allow for finer control over the knife when performing tasks such as fine carving. The base of the false edge also slopes up, to form a mating silhouette w/ the shape of one's frontal thumb digit. Likewise, similar to your SPYDERCO, you have a sizeable hole at the rear of the knife blade, which actually serves a number of uses. We could elaborate, but off hand, you can utilize it to flip open the blade faster with your thumb, it reduces the front-end weight of the knife, to bring its balance point slightly more rearward. For further reading, please see;