Key Takeaways
- The XEN-OAL is super lightweight, and has a great blade with a hard bite;
- The handle has a solid, four-finger grip despite being thin and aluminum;
- It’s an absolutely solid frame lock, which, again, is impressive for aluminum;
- The texturing makes it easy to hold even with gloves but it is prone to chewing up pockets.
The XEN-OAL Has Made a Tidy little knife With an Extraordinary Amount of Cutting Ability
It hits an odd combination of points, though:
It’s lightweight, with some high-speed, low-drag elements that most people call “tactical” these days, it has an excellent grip (especially for an aluminum handle), it’s based on a flashlight, and it comes from the mind of one of the most prolific and well-respected knife designers alive right now.
It is, in short, a pure-bred EDC knife, and a great example of a style that is slowly becoming a new normal for pocket knives.
Specifications
| Overall Length: | 7.36” |
| Blade Length: | 3.16” |
| Blade Steel: | CPM-S45VN |
| Open System: | Flipp tab / thumbstud |
| Blade Shape: | Modified sheepsfoot |
| Blade Grind: | Flat |
| Handle Material: | Aluminum |
| Lock Type: | Frame lock |
| Weight: | 73 g (2.575 oz) |
| Designer: | Ken Onion |
| Made in: | China |
| What I Liked | What I Didn’t Like |
|---|---|
| Fantastic slicer | Terror on the pocket |
| Comfortable for a thin metal handle | Flipper tab is a little harsh |
| Excellent grip even with gloves |
Prototype Disclaimer
OKnife sent us late-stage prototypes of the XEN-OAL with the understanding that they might have a couple rough fit and finish issues. They mostly wanted our thoughts on the design.
The only glaring issue we had was that the detent was several orders of magnitude too strong, which OKnife assured us would be smoothed out for full production.
So I have to write this review a little bit blind. We received two. The action was harsh on one, but butter smooth on the other, so I know the levels of fit and finish they’re capable of, I’m just not sure where the QA will be when these hit the shelves.
This review will be more about the design elements than the execution, with the educated guess that OKnife is doing their due diligence. Hopefully I’ll be able to update this review soon with a proper production model.
Design Notes
The XEN-OAL design is inspired by the Arkfeld flashlight, which Ken Onion is apparently a fan of. It’s not a clear resemblance. I’m not sure I would have guessed the inspiration if the two tools were placed side by side, but the spirit of the thing is there.
This is a slim and rectangular knife.
When OKnife announced the XEN-OAL some of the key language explaining it were “sleek” and “industrial” with “distinctive angular geometry”. Which all seems to fit well enough now that I have it in hand.
They’ve also succeeded in their goal to make it “compact and lightweight” without compromising toughness. It’s lighter than the box it came in (I say after weighing them, and then again after remembering to take out the commemorative OKnife coin it came with). But that lightness has a featherweight feel, but the knife still packs an expert punch in the blade.
A New Age for Onion and EDC Knives
What I really like about this knife, as a fan of Ken Onion designs, is that I can see a steady evolution in lines from the nature-based knives of his Kershaw days. I’ve always associated Onion with leaf-shaped blades and neat, curvy little handles (designs that arguably paved the way for hundreds of other small pocket knife designs), but the last few years have seen him playing with straighter lines and modernizations of vintage design languages like the CRKT Redemption.
I’m not sure I necessarily like his more recent designs better than his old ones, but I do like that I can take knives from different periods, like the Kershaw Leek, CRKT Facet, and now this XEN-OAL, and see the lines shift in a clear direction.
Even more interesting is that I’ve been seeing this kind of blade shape more and more.
As I’m writing this I’m shifting between tabs that include banner ads for things like the Chris Reeves Sebenza with an insingo blade, which is essentially a modified sheepsfoot, a Kershaw Iridium and Livewire both updated with “reverse clip point” blades, another Kansept flipper with a slightly curved reverse tanto and a squared off handle and a beveled corner on the pommel, etc., etc.
The points on blades are getting closer to the edge which, in turn, are trending a little straighter right alongside handles which are also getting slimmer. It’s not a new phenomenon. Designs like this have been coming out in numbers for a few years, but seeing Ken Onion bring the XEN-OAL out made me look up and realize we’ve entered a new era of pocket knives.
The Handle and Pocket Terror
I’m torn on this handle, and so is my pocket.
- The lines of the handle feel good in the hand (so they got the most important part right);
- the texturing is aggressive enough to make it grippy even when wet but doesn’t irritate the hand (much, but it does feel kinda weird);
- It’s thin and super light, so it feels great in the pocket and the blade to weight ratio is off the charts.
But the pocket clip is tight and probably bigger than it needs to be. That in combination with the texturing is hell on pockets. I’ve been lifting the clip a little when I take it out of the pocket just to save the lining.
The pocket chewing aside, though, this is a great handle with a full, four-finger grip that can take some hard use leveraging despite being so light. It’s hard to make a slim, aluminum handle anything close to comfortable, but they’ve contoured and chamfered the shape into submission.
It could just use some kind of smoothed out landing for the pocket clip.
An Aluminum Frame Lock Really Can Work
OKnife is using an especially hard aluminum that allows them to make this a frame lock, something of a first in the knife world. Honestly, I hadn’t thought about the fact that there were no aluminum frame locks on the market until I saw OKnife’s ad copy lauding the benefits of their proprietary “super aluminum”, but happy with what they’ve done here.
I pushed and pried with this thing and couldn’t get the lock to budge any direction except the one it was designed to. The lock does feel pretty stiff, to the point that if they hadn’t carved a nice little slope inside for the thumb it would feel rough to disengage. But they did grind that slope in there, so this works like a charm.
It’s an exciting prospect: frame locks don’t have to be heavy anymore.
The Blade
This is a good blade with a hard bite.
I’m calling this a modified sheepsfoot. I know it’s going to get labeled reverse tanto, because that’s the kind of world we live in. It’s fine. I’m over it.
Whatever you want to call the shape, I like it. I like that the edge has just a little bit of belly, and that the point is pronounced enough to puncture into bags and packages but the shape keeps it from going too far.
It’s been a dream for opening packages and breaking down cardboard (like 90% of my actual, non-testing daily use). The edge is just toothy enough that cuts are easy to start on most materials, and if I move the blade with the edge curvature right I can keep a cut going for a while, which is useful when cutting rags and shirts.
The Steel
This blade is sporting S45VN steel, which I haven’t had much experience with, but I haven’t noticed a significant difference in this from S30v or S35VN blades I’ve tested. On paper it seems the goal of it was to have more corrosion resistance in Crucible’s S-series of steels.
I can’t say that I’ve tested those limits enough to determine how it performs against two other steels that are already impressively corrosion resistant. In practical terms, this blade has great edge retention and it hasn’t picked up any rust spots despite all the dirt I’ve dragged it through.
I have had to sharpen the blade up a little bit after spending a week subjecting the blade to daily cardboard cutting, wood carving, plant trimming, and general (sometimes ill-advised) household tasks and I can say that it’s at least as frustrating to work with as S35VN. No more, no less.
Comparison and Alternatives
Two knives jumped out at when I first started handling the XEN-OAL:
The Off Grid Scorpion, which is larger and has a titanium handle but has similar lines and blade shape (Off Grid went with ol’ “reverse tanto”);
And the CRKT Facet which is another Ken Onion design that looks like a close cousin. The materials are on the lower tier, but it’s one of the few assisted open folders where I actually like the action. It’s also easier on the pocket, but that’s mostly because of the un-textured steel handle, which comes with its own problems.
I’d also put the Kizer Begleiter 2 up as a worthy option for a similar handle but with a drop point blade and something that’s less ambiguously a gentleman’s carry.
What’s the Genre
I’m tempted to come up with some stupid new category for this knife involving the word “gentleman’s” because it’s so subtle in the pocket and the straight-line design makes it look kind of classy.
But damn it, this thing is great for hard, outdoor use. I had this out in the yard with me all the time opening bags of dirt, trimming plants, and cutting zip ties and weedeater string.
The aggressive jimping on the flipper tab and the odd-feeling texturing on the handle become really useful when I have gloves on, and the materials are tailor made for getting dirty and abused.
To hell with it. Let’s call it gentleman’s hard use. Welcome to the new age of pocket knives.
