Whereas many knife manufacturers iterate, innovate, and launch new knives weekly or month-to-month, I choose refinement and perfection, honed over years, in a choose few fashions. Imagine it or not, there’s a sterling instance of such a knife manufacturing.
Massachsetts-based Three Rivers Manufacturing (TRM) doesn’t launch a brand new knife each week or month. As a substitute, it really works on and refines fashions over years and releases them utilizing Shigeru Miyamoto’s product launch schedule — “when they’re prepared.”
The Bulldog is simply the model’s seventh folder in additional than a decade of constructing knives beneath its personal label (It’s been a U.S. OEM for many years), and it earns its spot in a steady of stellar blades.
Briefly: It is a brawnier N2 with a sliding bar lock and a knife solely TRM might make — a tough use, sub-4-ounce folder.
Be aware: The Bulldog is new for 2024. Additionally it is a TRM knife. These two issues mix to make it a really hard-to-get merchandise. Should you do get one, there are two totally different variations: one with flat handles and the opposite with absolutely contoured handles. I strongly advocate getting the contoured handles.
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Impeccable match and end -
Hand-filling deal with design -
Glorious versatile grind -
Easy and superior, deep-carry clip -
Cheap in comparison with related designs which are made in America
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Thumb oval may require some finger yoga for novice
TRM Bulldog Knife Evaluate
First Impressions
When you’ve got bought a TRM knife earlier than, you’ll be shocked whenever you get the Bulldog; this can be a blade with actual heft.
It’s not heavy in comparison with most knives, however at 3.6 ounces, that is bulkier than the N2 by nearly an element of two. It feels stable, robust, and stout, nevertheless it’s nonetheless fairly pocketable.
Testing Circumstances
I’ve carried the Bulldog completely because it arrived. It’s odd for me to be so in keeping with a single knife, as I’m frequently switching knives so I can get extra information for opinions.
The Bulldog caught round for thus lengthy as a result of it was exceptionally versatile. Because it was in my pocket for fall cleanup, it obtained lots of use exterior. It additionally noticed its fair proportion of use doing my regular slicing duties: meals prep, processing recycling, within the wooden store, and hearth prep.
Because the Bulldog arrived in the course of fall, I used to be exterior cleansing up our yard. For comfort’s sake, I additionally made various meals across the campfire within the yard. Switching from slicing away tangled woody stems from a rose bush that had grown right into a chain-link fence, to slicing up items of cheese and cured meats for lunch gave me the flexibility to see what the Bulldog might do.
How It Carried out
The scale limitations of the chain hyperlink fence significantly restricted which knives I might use, and consequently, none of my fastened blades labored. The Bulldog hacked and (don’t inform anybody) pried stuff aside with ease.
It chomped by way of the vines and branches, because of a supremely sharp innovative and good slicing geometry. It additionally sliced up the sopressata and cheese cleanly, although there was a noticeable dip in efficiency in comparison with different knives with thinner blade inventory, just like the TRM N2 and the Kershaw Bel Air.
Each of these knives, nevertheless, lacked the heft to deal with the pruning job.
The identical might be mentioned of the Bulldog when breaking down containers for my city’s (overly) stringent recycling program. It by no means snagged or stopped, nevertheless it was simply wanting the elegant slicing motion that you just get from thinner blades. When pressed into thicker cardboard, just like the corners of an equipment field, it crushed the duty.
Therein lies the Bulldog’s efficiency area of interest: It could slice and cube with above-average efficiency, however it may additionally sort out far more demanding duties than you wouldn’t really feel snug doing with an ultrathin slicer. If I had been giving it a quantity, I’d say that the Bulldog is 80% the slicer these thinner knives had been, however extra succesful in hard-use duties.
Locking Mechanism
The sliding bar lock was nicely applied — straightforward to have interaction and disengage. The contouring on the handles is a number of the greatest I’ve ever seen in any knife, ever. Total, the Bulldog fills and locks into your hand in a approach that I’ve not skilled in a really very long time.
Solely the contoured Natives or the Spyderco Shaman have the identical hand-filling really feel. And the clip right here is among the absolute best stamped clips I’ve ever used, permitting actually deep carry with straightforward retrieval.
The Bulldog’s thumb oval is kind of good, however most likely too cramped for a “Spydie Flick” (that’s, opening the knife with one’s center finger, which might be quicker than utilizing a thumb to open the knife). Nonetheless, the knife pops open with a thumb properly.
Conclusions
TRM builds a number of the best knives on the planet. Its mixture of efficiency, design, and execution is outstanding. However the beautiful factor is that TRM makes these knives right here within the U.S. for a really aggressive worth.
Should you wished a stockier TRM, that is your knife. When you’ve got a chore menu that features some actually robust slicing duties however doesn’t fairly justify a set blade, that is your knife. As a “jack of all trades” folder, you received’t discover higher.
