The Base - Pocket Knife

The Base - Pocket Knife

DISCLAIMER: Please make sure you are familiar with the knife laws in your country/ state, and do not order this knife if it is not allowed. It's a frame-locking 57mm blade, with one-handed (unassisted, no spring) opening. Many countries have laws prohibiting one or more of these features. Aroundsquare cannot take responsibility for customs seizures or delivery issues related to your country's laws, and knives confiscated by your country's customs or border services will not be refunded. Also, obviously, this is a knife and not a toy. Be safe, and be prudent with it. 

Aroundsquare's first pocket knife, the Base, was designed to be minimalist without compromise. While a lot of everyday carry (EDC) gear leans hard into the "tactical" design language, the Base bucks the trend by going ultra clean. The knife is a completely custom design, built from the ground up to meet a strict set of requirements--requirements that, in and of themselves, do not feel particularly surprising. And yet, assembled in full, the Base is striking in its simplicity. It is fresh and distinctive, standing out among even the most extensive collections. 

Taking its name from the solid foundations of quality materials and clean geometry, the Base is designed to be a reliable and adept daily companion to your EDC. While there are so many great knife brands and makers out there, and no shortage of compelling offerings, the Base fills a noticeable gap in what's readily available. Relatively speaking, the Base is a fairly small knife.. around the size of a Bic lighter or a small pack of gum. But it hits that sweet spot where it is big enough to be a functional blade for a ton of daily tasks, without being so big that you'll be wanting to remove it from your pocket throughout the day. The Base also lands nicely in the space between tactical work knife and elegant gentleman's folder. It has the easy deployment and practical functionality of a workhorse, with the unassuming confidence that can only come from high quality materials and precision craftsmanship. 

Below are a few notes on the design and features:

• Materials: The frame is time-tested grade five titanium, and blade is reliable CPM S35VN steel.. Preferences in the knife world abound, but these are inarguably excellent choices, particularly for a knife of this size and purpose. 
  
• Deployment: Easy to open one-handed, with comfortable dual thumb studs, and set on copper and nylon washers for smooth action. For those new to the space, it can take a bit of practice to get the motion and angles for one-handed deployment, but once you get it, it becomes second nature. While it's trendy in the knife community right now to have flip and flick opening with very loose action, there is just something timeless, intentional, and very satisfying about smooth movement with solid thumb studs. Those who own the classic gold standards from the early EDC days (and they know what blades we're talking about here) know the appeal. 
• Design: The Base is very clean and minimal in its appearance. With its simple geometry and unassuming looks, it bucks the trend of tactical looking knives, which sometimes feel like they're trying a little too hard, while at the same time modernizing the idea of what a gentleman's folder could be. The result is a knife that can be tossed on an office desk without making the team nervous, while confidently holding its own when it comes to getting the jobs done.  
• Dimensions: The frame is 80 x 20 x 10mm; blade is 57mm in length; blade thickness is a chunky 3mm for sturdy reliability.
• Blade Profile: The blade features a tanto grind. While the appearance may take some getting used to, it's hard to argue it doesn't work beautifully with the frame design. But this profile was actually chosen for practical purposes. Unlike a lot of other grinds, the tanto shape allows the blade to retain thickness until mere millimetres from the sharpened tip of the knife, which reduces the likelihood of chipping or snapping the tip. Additionally, the tanto shape creates a secondary point below the tip, which is extremely functional when a piercing edge is needed. This means the user seldom needs to go tip-down, which is an inconvenient position to handle a knife in, and inadvisable in a lot of cases. 
• Carry Options: The Base can be purchased with or without a clip. The clipless option makes for a cleaner "business" side of the knife, with a flush surface apart from the lock bar. The clip version features a solidly built deep pocket carry clip, meaning the knife can sit deep in the pocket without protruding. The clip is removable, but the frame on the clip version is recessed to allow the clip to sit flush with the frame. 

Launch Note: Here at AO2 HQ, we have received our full inventory of the Base knives, but only a small portion of the boxes we ordered for them. In order to make the full inventory available at launch, we're going to offer the option to purchase your knife with or without a box. Some people want the full unboxing experience, and many keep the boxes for posterity or potential resale purposes. But others simply discard the boxes once they get their hands on the metal. If you don't care about the box, simply pick that option and we'll knock a few bucks off the price for you. Those purchased without the box will ship in a cloth bag, and will be wrapped securely for shipping. 

For more information on the Base, have a look at our February 2024 Drop Preview video.. which should be time stamped for you below.