The small knife company is expanding in a lot of ways. First they moved from a one-car garage to a larger shop with a lot of new manufacturing toys to play with, then they designed and released the Lost Trail 5.
TJ himself made a video detailing aspects of the knife and their decisions behind each element. We’ll try to give you the short version.
It’s mid-sized camp knife (the biggest knife from TZ Shwarz to date). They refer to it as a “one-knife solution” at the camp site. It’s meant for whittling, chopping, and batoning, with a surprising amount of attention given to the sheath.
Here are the quick specs:
| Overall Length: | 10.2″ |
| Blade Length: | 5.0″ |
| Blade Steel: | A2 (62-63 HRC) |
| Blade Grind: | Full flat |
| Handle Material: | Richlite |
| Sheath: | Pancake-style Kydex |
| Made in: | Idaho |
The Standard Blade Shape
Particular attention was paid to making it a good batoning knife. They’ve kept the blade shape standard, so the spine stays straight all the way up to the tip. This allows the whole length of the spine to be used and avoid the “skip” effect cause by a drop point shape.
The spine also has a 90° angle and the knife isn’t tumbled, so it can throw spark off a ferro rod.
The Tool Steel
The blade is A2 tool steel with a Cerakote coating.
Schwarz explains that he chose this steel because it has a “very flat curve in toughness as you get into the higher hardnesses”. Since they’re hardening these blades to 62-63 HRC, that kind of toughness is especially important.
The Handle
It’s a thick Richlite handle with a striker pommel featuring a 90° angle similar to the spine. It should be usably for striking a ferro rod and hammering in stakes.
Schwarz mentioned the possibility of different colors and materials down the road, but for now, the Richlite should provide a soft-grip experience similar to Micarta.
The Sheath
The sheath seems to have been given almost as much thought as the knife itself.
- It’s Kydex with a stainless steel drop rig assembly with a leather loop fixed to the top.
- It has an eyelet piece near the thumb ramp to keep the sheath from pinching the thumb,
- It’s formed with a well shape inside so the Kydex won’t scratch the blade,
- And it’s sheath pancake-style with standard hole spacing, so it’s compatible with most aftermarket clip options like Tek Lok.
That stainless steel piece is unique in the knife sheath world (the first of it’s kind as far as we know). Schwarz actually has that piece custom made for the Lost Trail knife, because he wants to make sure it can hold up to extra wear and tear that part of fixed blade sheaths often go through.
Currently the sheath is available in black or OD green.
A Big Start for the New Shop
This is the most affordable knife so far to hit the TJ Shwarz catalog.
That was one of the goals they had going into it, and it sounds like they experimented with their new shop space to achieve the $195 the LT5 is dropping at.
TJ mentioned in the video that this knife is a “family of one”, saying they “want to keep expanding it”, so we’re expecting to see variations of this down the road (Maybe something similar to the Overland Sport treatment?).
It’s definitely worth checking out the TJ Schwarz video about the knife. Obviously it’s better to hear things from the creator. We’re just here to summarize.
The LT5 is available now from the TJ Shwarz site. They usually sell out quick, so don’t wait too long.
Check out our in-depth review of the Lost Trail 5 here to find out how it performed in our multi-week test.
