Whereas many knife manufacturers iterate, innovate, and launch new knives weekly or month-to-month, I desire refinement and perfection, honed over years, in a choose few fashions. Imagine it or not, there’s a sterling instance of the sort of knife manufacturing.
Massachsetts-based Three Rivers Manufacturing (TRM) doesn’t launch a brand new knife each week or month. As a substitute, it really works on and refines fashions over years and releases them utilizing Shigeru Miyamoto’s product launch schedule — “when they’re prepared.”
The Bulldog is just the model’s seventh folder in additional than a decade of constructing knives beneath its personal label (It’s been a U.S. OEM for many years), and it earns its spot in a secure of stellar blades.
Briefly: It is a brawnier N2 with a sliding bar lock and a knife solely TRM might make — a tough use, sub-4-ounce folder.
Be aware: The Bulldog is new for 2024. It is usually a TRM knife. These two issues mix to make it a really hard-to-get merchandise. In case you do get one, there are two completely different variations: one with flat handles and the opposite with absolutely contoured handles. I strongly advocate getting the contoured handles.
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Impeccable match and end -
Hand-filling deal with design -
Wonderful versatile grind -
Easy and superior, deep-carry clip -
Cheap in comparison with comparable designs which can be made in America
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Thumb oval would possibly require some finger yoga for novice
TRM Bulldog Knife Evaluation
First Impressions
You probably have bought a TRM knife earlier than, you may be stunned if you get the Bulldog; this can be a blade with actual heft.
It’s not heavy in comparison with most knives, however at 3.6 ounces, that is bulkier than the N2 by virtually an element of two. It feels strong, robust, and stout, but it surely’s nonetheless fairly pocketable.
Testing Circumstances
I’ve carried the Bulldog completely because it arrived. It’s odd for me to be so in line with a single knife, as I’m frequently switching knives so I can get extra information for critiques.
The Bulldog caught round for therefore lengthy as a result of it was exceptionally versatile. Because it was in my pocket for fall cleanup, it bought a whole lot of use outdoors. It additionally noticed its fair proportion of use doing my regular reducing duties: meals prep, processing recycling, within the wooden store, and hearth prep.
Because the Bulldog arrived in the midst of fall, I used to be outdoors cleansing up our yard. For comfort’s sake, I additionally made various meals across the campfire within the yard. Switching from reducing away tangled woody stems from a rose bush that had grown right into a chain-link fence, to reducing up items of cheese and cured meats for lunch gave me the power to see what the Bulldog might do.
How It Carried out
The scale limitations of the chain hyperlink fence enormously restricted which knives I might use, and consequently, none of my fastened blades labored. The Bulldog hacked and (don’t inform anybody) pried stuff aside with ease.
It chomped by the vines and branches, because of a supremely sharp innovative and good reducing geometry. It additionally sliced up the sopressata and cheese cleanly, although there was a noticeable dip in efficiency in comparison with different knives with thinner blade inventory, just like the TRM N2 and the Kershaw Bel Air.
Each of these knives, nevertheless, lacked the heft to deal with the pruning job.
The identical will be stated of the Bulldog when breaking down packing containers for my city’s (overly) stringent recycling program. It by no means snagged or stopped, but it surely was simply in need of the chic slicing motion that you simply get from thinner blades. When pressed into thicker cardboard, just like the corners of an equipment field, it crushed the duty.
Therein lies the Bulldog’s efficiency area of interest: It may possibly slice and cube with above-average efficiency, however it may well additionally sort out far more demanding duties than you wouldn’t really feel comfy doing with an ultrathin slicer. If I had been giving it a quantity, I’d say that the Bulldog is 80% the slicer these thinner knives had been, however extra succesful in hard-use duties.
Locking Mechanism
The sliding bar lock was nicely carried out — simple to interact and disengage. The contouring on the handles is a few of the greatest I’ve ever seen in any knife, ever. Total, the Bulldog fills and locks into your hand in a method that I’ve not skilled in a really very long time.
Solely the contoured Natives or the Spyderco Shaman have the identical hand-filling really feel. And the clip right here is without doubt one of the best possible stamped clips I’ve ever used, permitting actually deep carry with simple retrieval.
The Bulldog’s thumb oval is kind of good, however most likely too cramped for a “Spydie Flick” (that’s, opening the knife with one’s center finger, which will be quicker than utilizing a thumb to open the knife). Nonetheless, the knife pops open with a thumb properly.
Conclusions
TRM builds a few of the most interesting knives on the planet. Its mixture of efficiency, design, and execution is exceptional. However the beautiful factor is that TRM makes these knives right here within the U.S. for a really aggressive value.
In case you wished a stockier TRM, that is your knife. You probably have a chore menu that features some actually robust reducing duties however doesn’t fairly justify a set blade, that is your knife. As a “jack of all trades” folder, you gained’t discover higher.
