Viper Cutlery EZ Open Spear Carbon Fiber Handles M390 Steel VPCK0411

This is the first knife I own from Viper Cutlery and the fit and finish is pretty great, the only minor flaw is a slightly off center blade if I were to nitpick. The design is nice, it is quite easy to open but it doesn’t detract from the overall look in my opinion that they went for that instead of just a nail nick, which I’m not a huge fan of usually. Though on this knife a nail nick would’ve worked fine because of the detent system.

Anyway, the pros:

– Carbon fiber finish looks and feels great.

– Design on the pivot while still being able to adjust it with normal tools is great.

– Blade finish is nice, the CK+Viper logo is done well and not crazy obtrusive or ugly in my opinion, the M390 stamp is done in a nice place, and the other side of the blade is completely clean which I like

– Blade shape is nice, thickness is just right for the kind of knife it is, not too thin to be worried about snapping it, but not a tank either.

– Rounded liners and blade spine is a nice touch that I’m glad they did.

– Came quite sharp with a pretty even grind.

– Smooth action out of the box, kind of like on a sebenza, sort of a hydraulic feel to it, and the way it works with the detent system instead of a spring makes this thing seriously addicting to play with, I could sit for hours just opening and closing it. The half stop is satisfying and just the right amount, the full stop even better. It’s sort of like cracking your knuckles (if you do that) – it just feels nice to do, and you want to keep doing it.

– Looks like it allows full disassembly which is not something you really see with most slip joints, just need a thin flathead for the pivot and regular torx for the rest, though I haven’t taken mine apart so it could be that only the pivot and scales come out and not the liners or blade. If it does come apart completely that’s pretty nice, lets you fully clean it and apply your own oil if you’d like, and maybe even adjust the centering some if yours happens to be off at all.

– Lanyard hole is in a nice place and looks like it was actually thought about some and not just thrown in because “oh it should have a lanyard hole” – it’s large enough for paracord or a string of leather, and has a tube so there’s no chance of it rubbing against the blade edge, though I wouldn’t be worried of that without the tube either.

As a side note, the premium tuscan pocket slip that I chose to get with it is really nice, I was worried it wouldn’t fit since it’s not made for the knife, but if you let it sit and form around the knife for a few days it’s really great, not too hard to get out, but also not loose and going to fall out, sort of like a molded kydex sheath, but with nice leather instead.

Really great option from CK and Viper at a really nice price point too, already recommended it to a few people on Reddit and have thoughts about buying another as a gift.