WithArmour Knives
Featured model:
CAJO I BK
A knife design by Andreas Löfflmann
First Production run 02 out of 100
Way Back in May I visited the WithArmour booth at IWA 2025.
To be honest, I'd never heard of them before.
That's because behind but separate from WithArmour is DAV GEAR, a long established OEM knife manufacturer for many well known global brands. You might be surprised who is making these well known brands. Anyway this is what a company employee told me about WithArmour
"WithArmour stands apart as our own high-end brand—focused entirely on delivering innovative, durable, and purpose-built tools for serious outdoor use. It reflects our vision and capabilities beyond OEM, combining top-tier materials, cutting-edge design, and field-tested performance."
I think the key words here are "Beyond OEM". So this appears to be the case here for WithArmour.
I had no appointment with them, their knives on display caught my attention out of the many new exhibitors present. I was indeed scouting for quality and innovative (if possible) products to review for you all!
I also noticed that they were making knives for German knife designer Arthur Brehm.
I picked up and handled some of the models on display and carefully examined their designs and construction. Certainly, they looked well made and useful!
Enough for me to inquire further....
I approached them to see if I could review something.
I asked to test the following model: CAJO I BK
BTW, "CAJO" (this happens to be the name of the Designer's, Andreas Lofflmann's dog!)
Ok let's start at the top: The Presentation.
A sturdy all cardboard presentation box, no foam of any kind was present, no Nd magnet lid catches, just a good old constructed box with a slip on/off lid. Ok, they have a funky company logo with some sort of diffraction grating in the text giving it a rainbow of colours should one wave their box lid about!
The knife and associated articles (Kydex scabbard, mounting hardware, diamond steel, belt clip and a small amount of paracord, were securely all placed within individual profiles cut into a layered corrugated cardboard insert (not shown). The knife (only) was inside a small plastic bag. There was some sort of moisture absorbing film within the box as well.
Ok so straight off, I liked the fact that the box wasn't full of non-bio degradable plastic/foam inside that would end up in the trash and take the next 100 years to break down, if ever? The amount of plastic appeared to be kept to an absolute minimum.
As people who enjoy the great outdoors, these small things are important, plus when I think that once people used to buy milk in glass and shopping bags were made out of (tough) paper!
Next we saw some paperwork, which included a card with a message from the the manufacturer, in particular the CEO of the operation, Davis Zhang, who has a background in Engineering and Business degrees from Cornell and Nanjiing Universities. BTW there is just a picture of him on the card, it's not littered with text stating he's the CEO etc etc. Just a picture of a bad ass looking guy holding a big knife!
It's probably worth reading (I'm not going to rehash the text here) and reflecting upon what it says. But to give a summary (from which my 14 year worked out in an instant), basically they are proud of the quality of their products. I'd say that sums it up!
The next card I picked up was the all important warranty card. Now the warranty is something like this like this: let's say you open your box to a defective product, unlikely?), you can return it within 15 days obviously with proof of a defective product and if the same model is available you will get like for like if not a similar model. The knife itself is warrantied for 5 years for defective workmanship with replacement/repair (obviously if not abused or natural wear and tear).
After 5 years the warranty will enable one to have their knife repaired for the cost of the necessary parts. (don't loose your warranty card or your receipt and or proof of purchase!).
Just a quick note here for those not familiar with "warranties", any genuine warranty, the cost thereof must be "buried" within the sale value of the product in order for the manufacturer to be able to honour the said warranty conditions without incurring excessive over costs in doing so should these occasions arise.
The third card which is basically "a call to action" (a very smart business move) encouraging customers to share their stories of outdoor exploits on the official WithArmour social media.
Finally there was a small glossy card (not shown) showing WithArmour's latest products, although not as late as this knife being reviewed here!
Now To The Actual Knife!
My very first impressions "out of the box"
Well it was immediately clear that this was a quality product and this was reassuring as it was of similar quality to the knives I had handled at IWA in Germany.
What Is The CAJO I BK Made From?
A proprietary San mai steel called WASTEEL
Let's take look at this:
WASTEEL is a proprietary steel, developed by WithAmour. It is essentially a "san mai" type steel for which 420J2 clads a core of VG10. For those not familiar with Japanese, "San mai" means three layers of steel.
According to WithArmour.
"The knife blanks are vacuum heat treated to prevent oxidation and decarburization (ie loss of Carbon). The process also removes phosphorus to provide a clean finish."
The VG10 obtains a hardness of approximately HRC 62 with the 420J2 reaching about 56-58 HRC to provide a "tough sandwich".
Are These Steels Produced in China?
The raw materials such as the 420J2 and VG10 are imported and are then combined as stated above to produce the proprietary trade marked WASTEEL, thus assuring total quality control.
The CAJO is sort of a bushcraft type knife constructed around a beefy Scandi grind geometry using a proprietary San mai constructed blade as mentioned above. The spine is very thick but not unwieldily at 6.01mm (my measurements) which is 0.24" , so just shy of 1/4", so I'd say 1/4" thick.
The width of the blade is 26.64mm ie 1.05", ie 1" wide. The blade is basically 100mm long ie 3.9" ie 4" long.
The scales comprise of a carbon fibre G10 composite and is apparent when twisting the handle in bright light, one can just make out very small carbon fibres glinting in he sunlight. This arrangement gives the scales an interesting pattern.
The scales of the #WithArmour Cajo I BK are affixed to the tang via 3 (Two the same size and one slightly smaller) stainless steel chain ring bolts made from UNS S41600 stainless steel. The inner layer (an accent) of G10 is bright red and this makes the handle look the part IMHO.
The knife fits perfectly within the scabbard with a distinctive "clack" sound. There is a small drainage hole at the base of the scabbard.
The blade is partially PVD coated with an anti reflective Black Titanium. The carry system is belt carry, left or right handed.
HOW DOES IT HANDLE?
WELL THE Fit and finish is absolutely great. The comfort is great too. The knife is heavy for it's size however, this also speaks of great robustness. The knife alone weighs in at 275 grams, ie almost 10 Oz.! it is marketed under "Tactical"
Well the blade angle, simply demolished any wood I presented to it. In fact one had to be careful trying to generate feather sticks as this edge simply bit into the wood like some cosmic knife, seriously and the next thing I knew was that I'd almost cut the stick in half!
Seasoned cottonwood
There are zero hot spots on this knife (including the gimping on the part of the spine.
Gloves are simply not necessary unless using the WithArmour CAJO in sub zero temperatures.
Who is this knife for?
Anyone who wants a super robust "wood eater" super scandi ground knife and extra tough because of the WASTEEL San mai construction, synonymous with strength when it comes to knife blade manufacture. I can see it very useful for hikers, campers and hunters and just for overall bush crafting!
(Yes they are indeed .308 shells)
The knife also comes with a diamond rod.
This knife will easily handle up to medium sized game eg wild goats etc.
No comments:
Post a Comment