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 EDC Knife: Out With the Old, In With the New 
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I was picking up a project at the local print shop today and I ran into my buddy Mike Vellekamp. He is a master blade smith and owns VNives. He said was heading to the shop, so I told him I'd meet him there. I hadn't been there in awhile and was curious what he was working on. I also told him I needed a new EDC knife.

After 23 years I decided it was time to retire my EDC knife. The first Benchmade axis lock knife was the 710. This is a 720 and the first production run of the Mel Pardue axis lock designed knife. I didn't realize that Mel passed away last year. My knife is # 234/1000. It is made of T3 aluminum with titanium liners. It was faithfully carried every day since late 1999 or 2000 when I acquired it from a friend who had bought it new. My friend was always messing with stuff and decided to remove the black coating on the blade..may have been BT2? This knife has been sharpened so many times, the serrations are gone and it's starting to loose the shape. It has been back one time to Benchmade to be tuned up as part of their lifetime program.
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Here's my new EDC knife from now on. This is the VNives Olympian. The Olympian was originally designed and manufactured when Mike owned and ran Fox Knives USA, in partnership with Fox Knives. That knife had wood scales. You will see that later in the post.
This particular knife is made in the U.S.A.
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Available in "Black" or "Earth".
This particular knife is made in the U.S.A.
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This knife has a really cool package. The plastic box has clips on both sides that keep the top secure. To open them, you pull out at the bottom of the clip, then swing up and away from the top.
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The box also has a place to attach a lanyard. This could be helpful if your attaching the box to a backpack, bag, vest, etc.
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Mon Feb 13, 2023 11:25 am
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In the box is the knife, a small info pamphlet and a bag that has a tool and extra screws. These extras are included with most of his product line.
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Knife deploys smoothly and has a firm lockup with no wiggle. All of Mike's knifes regardless of price structure are quality pieces and he stands behind them with warranty.
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You can actually put the knife face down and it will stay there.


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Mon Feb 13, 2023 11:32 am
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Attachment:
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Mike is 2A friendly and carries daily, even in his shop. You might see him sharpening a knife at a machine and he will have his gun on. That being said, he claims you can carry 50 rounds of ammo in the box. I imagine you'd have to remove the foam first.
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Here is the VNives Olympian along side the original Fox Knives USA Olympian.
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Mon Feb 13, 2023 11:38 am
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If you don't know who Mike Vellekamp is, here's some background.


This is from his new catalog. The picture is hilarious. This is when he was working to change the laws in Washington State to allow us to legally carry assisted Knives. They were successful. Unfortunately they got shot down on the full auto law. They are regrouping and will make another attempt in the future.
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This is what he normally looks like..
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Here's a great video where he explains how he got started in the knife industry.

https://youtu.be/wg8CPDTc-Dg


This is an older video, but really shows his character. This is from about 8 years ago..

https://youtu.be/4I3-H3F1e1Q


This is a crazy video..don't try this..

https://youtu.be/MvLuDRsEMCY


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Last edited by dav2no1 on Mon Feb 13, 2023 11:50 am, edited 1 time in total.



Mon Feb 13, 2023 11:42 am
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I had an idea and we're gonna make it happen. Mike is going to donate a knife and laser engrave it with the Waguns logo. And we're gonna give it away to one you lucky suckers! Look for the giveaway soon!

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Mon Feb 13, 2023 11:44 am
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How much?


Mon Feb 13, 2023 2:39 pm
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So you carry a knife that can be traced back to you....that is nuts.


Mon Feb 13, 2023 2:44 pm
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Where are these made? Seems odd that they don't put it anywhere on the knife or literature, especially since the fox knife says that it was made in Puyallup. $200 for a 154CM knife seems a little expensive, ridiculously priced if its not MiUSA.


Mon Feb 13, 2023 4:17 pm
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spaghetti monster wrote:
Where are these made? Seems odd that they don't put it anywhere on the knife or literature, especially since the fox knife says that it was made in Puyallup. $200 for a 154CM knife seems a little expensive, ridiculously priced if its not MiUSA.



If you looked closely..the first post shows the specs from the catalog and clearly says "USA Made" and in my post I point out this is a made in the USA knife. Yes his factory is in South Hill Puyallup on Meridian. No that's not expensive..that Benchmade I retired cost $180 in 1999! And the 154 knife lasted 23 years! He has different price tiers..he has some with parts made from China, Taiwan and The USA. I will ask, but I believe the imports are still assembled and sharpened here. It's very time consuming to laser engrave knives..believe me I helped him one night engrave like 100 or so knives for a Federal Officers event a long time ago.

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Last edited by dav2no1 on Mon Feb 13, 2023 4:56 pm, edited 2 times in total.



Mon Feb 13, 2023 4:42 pm
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hartcreek wrote:
So you carry a knife that can be traced back to you....that is nuts.


Asks the guy who puts his full name in his avatar! And...
Well..I'm not a serial killer, so it a non issue!

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Mon Feb 13, 2023 4:50 pm
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zombie66 wrote:
How much?


Are asking about the price of the Olympian? It's $199. Price can be seen in the first post on the catalog page.

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Mon Feb 13, 2023 4:52 pm
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dav2no1 wrote:
spaghetti monster wrote:
Where are these made? Seems odd that they don't put it anywhere on the knife or literature, especially since the fox knife says that it was made in Puyallup. $200 for a 154CM knife seems a little expensive, ridiculously priced if its not MiUSA.



If you looked closely..the first post shows the specs from the catalog and clearly says "USA Made" and in my post I point out this is made in the USA knife. Yes his factory is in South Hill Puyallup on Meridian. No that's not expensive..that Benchmade I retire cost $180 in 1999! He has different price tiers..he has some with parts made from China, Taiwan and The USA. I will ask, but I believe the imports are still assembled and sharpened here.


They seem like interesting knives and if they are fully made in the US $200 isn't crazy.. I would prefer a little more exotic steel options though for the price range like s30v at a minimum. I can get a number of Benchamdes or Spydercos made in the USA for less.


I am curious how made in USA these are. Does everything take place in the US? Or do they CNC the knife in Taiwan ship it to the US and do all the assembling and finishing here? It just seems odd that they only have one spot that says "USA Made" but no where else do the mention where they make them. Other than the literature in the pic that says they manufacture in the USA, Italy, Taiwan and China. Every USA made knife I've seen proudly puts it on their website, boxes, stamped on the blades and on all the literature that comes with it. Even his knife he made at Fox knives has it stamped on the blade that its made in Puyallup, why change it for this company? Seems a little sketchy is all


Mon Feb 13, 2023 4:56 pm
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spaghetti monster wrote:
dav2no1 wrote:
spaghetti monster wrote:
Where are these made? Seems odd that they don't put it anywhere on the knife or literature, especially since the fox knife says that it was made in Puyallup. $200 for a 154CM knife seems a little expensive, ridiculously priced if its not MiUSA.



If you looked closely..the first post shows the specs from the catalog and clearly says "USA Made" and in my post I point out this is made in the USA knife. Yes his factory is in South Hill Puyallup on Meridian. No that's not expensive..that Benchmade I retire cost $180 in 1999! He has different price tiers..he has some with parts made from China, Taiwan and The USA. I will ask, but I believe the imports are still assembled and sharpened here.


They seem like interesting knives and if they are fully made in the US $200 isn't crazy.. I would prefer a little more exotic steel options though for the price range like s30v at a minimum. I can get a number of Benchamdes or Spydercos made in the USA for less.


I am curious how made in USA these are. Does everything take place in the US? Or do they CNC the knife in Taiwan ship it to the US and do all the assembling and finishing here? It just seems odd that they only have one spot that says "USA Made" but no where else do the mention where they make them. Other than the literature in the pic that says they manufacture in the USA, Italy, Taiwan and China. Every USA made knife I've seen proudly puts it on their website, boxes, stamped on the blades and on all the literature that comes with it. Even his knife he made at Fox knives has it stamped on the blade that its made in Puyallup, why change it for this company? Seems a little sketchy is all


Nothing sketchy about it..I was still editing when you replied..see the rest of my answer. I will ask him as soon as he calls me back. As far as I know this knife has always been manufactured and assembled in th US. I know for a fact that he designed this knife ..I was there and that Fox knife is off the first batch. On paper the S30V looks great..in the real world it is very close in comparison.

Mike is legit..he has many knife awards and owns many knife designs. He was really good friends with Mel Pardue(RIP) ..even sent a few of my first production run knives to him and Mel signed them. There's some pictures somewhere online from the shot show with him and Mel..Mel was getting his hall of fame trophy.He's very good friends with Ken onion, Spencer Frazer and just about all the key people in the industry.

Here's my personal custom knife I made years ago in a class that Mike hosted.
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Here's an older knife he designed while at bladtech I4N1(Eye For an Eye)
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Mon Feb 13, 2023 5:27 pm
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Still waiting g for Mike to call me back. But here's an article form The Cutting Edge showing Blade Show Winners for the Most Innovative American-Made Design of the Year.

You can see Mike won in 2009, 2016 and 2021 for his knife designs

https://blog.knife-depot.com/most-innov ... ince-1990/

I found my post from another forum.
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https://blademag.com/blade-show/tony-bo ... ll-of-fame


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Last edited by dav2no1 on Mon Feb 13, 2023 6:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.



Mon Feb 13, 2023 6:14 pm
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Cool knife! :thumbsup2:


Nice of him to offer one up to the Forum! :cheers2:


Mon Feb 13, 2023 6:16 pm
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