Mantis Knives M3
Review by Phil Elmore
It was in early 2007
when The Martialist first took note of Mantis Knives, a brand that
seemed to appear out of nowhere in dealer catalogs and knife magazine
advertisements. Contacting a real, live human being through the
company’s website proved surprisingly easy. We are therefore
happy, after a year of living and working with these knives, to present
long-term reviews of this company’s blades.
According to Jared West, owner of Mantis Knives, the company was
founded in late 2005 and debuted at the 2006 SHOT Show. “The
Mantis Logo came to me before the name did,” Jared told me. “I
was sitting in an International Business class at the Hilton Business
School at L.M.U. in 2001. I was taking notes, and this logo just
hit me, so I scribbled it down. I revised it a couple of
times. Now it’s the logo that you see on every Mantis Knives box
that ships out of our Anaheim Hills headquarters.”
That headquarters is a 10,000 square foot facility in Orange County,
California. Some of the knives in the Mantis line are made in the
United States, while others are assembled in Taiwan from US-made
materials (sent by Mantis from Crucible and other sources). The
result is a line of affordable knives of decent quality for the money,
including the only brand of knives officially sanctioned by the United
States Catfish Anglers Tournament Series. “We’re the only company
they endorse,” Jared states. “We’re [also] the only knife
company in the world to offer S30V stainless steel on a folder for less
than $100.00 [USD].”
Jared carries his own company’s MK1 model when “hucking boxes and
working in the shop or warehouse.” While out on the town, dressed
nicely, or in formal meetings, he carries “my MT2SC. It’s slim,
lightweight, and elegant.” Price, performance, and style are what
set his company apart from others, according to Jared. “Put our
knives to the test,” he urges. “They endure. Every Mantis
knife has a unique, post-modern, industrial look to it. Ever
since I was young, I’ve been into strange angles and structures in
architecture and design. If I were to design a building, it would
look an awful lot like the Getty Center in Los Angels, or maybe even
the Walt Disny Concert Hall.”
At just 27 years old, Jared is a young entrepreneur who seems eager to
take on a competitive and often politically charged industry.
Mantis’ blade materials range from stainless steels like 420HC to more
rugged alloys like BG42 and 154CM. Handle materials also range
from unusual metal designs to more conventional G10 and carbon fiber
slabs.
The Mantis M3 “Churchkey 1” is just that — a church key, the holy
relic that allows thousands of beer lovers to commune with their
deities on a daily basis. Packaged in Mantis’ usual stylized
black-and-red all-metal package, the little M3 houses a 1.5-inch blace
of 420J2 steel.
The aluminum handle is of 606-T6, and the whole package is six
inches overall. A graduated thumb stud (for right hand use only)
is fixed to the blade, which was reasonably sharp out of the box and is
well-suited for the small cutting chores a keychain item like this is
normally used to perform.
I will warn you; the open-frame design of the M3 means it will pick
up a lot of dust when carried on your keys in your pocket. This did not
seem to interfere with the frame lock, however. The little blade
opens smoothly and locks positively without play. the grooves on
the rear of the blade spine are most welcome and match the grooves cut
into the frame. While the churchkey shape makes for a knife of
awkward protrusions overall, it is small and light enough that you
won’t notice it.
I put the M3 to the test by giving it to one of the beer drinkers in
the office (he brews his own) and letting him test it. The M3
opened the beer easily and can thus be said to perform its primary
function well.
If you are a beer-drinker, the Mantis M3 is the keychain accessory for you. >>