With a rugged stainless steel handle, a 2.88-inch drop point blade made of high carbon stainless steel, and an assisted opening mechanism, the Bear & Son 112A Framelock Assisted Opener Knife has the right stuff for a solid everyday carry (EDC) knife. Since it is made in the USA and has a price at the time of this writing of $59.99 it is a good value for your hard-earned dollars. It is available at BearAndSonCutlery.com .
I only keep a small number of the knives that I test. Most of them I give away to family, friends, and acquaintances. I am happy to report that I have not yet begun giving knives away to random passing strangers. But the 112A is a knife that I will keep. I highly recommend it.
Background
Bear & Son Cutlery is one of a small handful of manufacturers that makes quality, American-made knives at budget-friendly prices. As a result, I keep my eyes open for their press releases, and read them with great interest. Their SHOT Show press release mentioned the introduction of the 112A, and it sounded like just the type of knife that I enjoy reviewing. So I requested a sample for testing and evaluation. Not long afterward, a package arrived in my mailbox.
First Impressions
The knife arrived in a 5.88 x 2.25 x 2.25 inch shipping box via USPS Ground Advantage. It was shipped from Bear & Son, Inc., 1111 Bear Blvd, Jacksonville, AL 36265-3396. The shipping box contained the product box wrapped in foam sheeting.
The 4.25 x 1.63 x 0.88 inch product box featured the words “Made in the USA” prominently on four of its six sides. Bear & Son is justly proud of the knives that they make at their Jacksonville, Alabama factory.
Among other information, the product box also warned, “Handle with Care. Products are Sharp” and the details of their Limited Lifetime Warranty. I won’t bore SurvivalBlog readers with still another rant about the “Captain Obvious” warnings that have become necessary due to our litigious culture. They are one symptom of widespread social decay.
The font used for the Full Lifetime Warranty was so fine that I could not read it even with the help of my bifocals. I retrieved a magnifying glass from the pegboard by the workbench in the basement. To summarize, the warranty protects the original purchaser from defects in material and workmanship.
The product box contained the knife in a black satin drawstring bag and a card. The card contained the URL for the warranty, the URL for product registration, and a QR code.
Specifications
I found the knife itself to be quite attractive. I like the appearance of well-machined stainless steel, and that describes pretty much every surface of the 112A. The stainless steel handle also gives the knife a little more heft and stiffness than similarly-sized knives with polymer scales.
The knife is 4 inches long closed and 6.75 inches opened. It has a flipper lever and dual thumb studs to enable ambidextrous, one-handed opening. The assisted-opening blade snaps decisively into place when deployed. The flipper works so effectively that the thumb studs are largely redundant, and could probably be eliminated. The rugged frame-lock holds the blade securely open when deployed.
The sturdy pocket clip can only be mounted in one position: on the butt edge of the scale that is on the right when the edge is down.
The edge was nicely shaving-sharp right out of the box. Jimping on the base of the spine of the blade provides additional control for delicate cuts. The blade is made from a proprietary version of 440 stainless steel.
The blade is 0.13 inches thick at the base of the spine. The entire knife is only 0.38 inches thick. The relatively thin profile is possible because stainless steel is strong enough to allow thinner scales.
Testing
During the course of my testing, I was able to use the knife for a myriad of different tasks:
Opening a box of communion supplies for use in our church.
Cutting a piece of pizza that I was having for lunch into bite-sized pieces.
Cutting leftover cheese broccoli chicken breast that I was having for lunch into bite-sized pieces. The 112A cuts food much better than a typical table knife.
Opening mail.
Opening a box containing an OBD2 scanner so that I could see why the check engine light was on in my Honda Fit.
Cutting cardboard to use in making a fire pot for starting a fire in the fire pit.
Opening the dog’s monthly heartworm medicine.
Opening a package of hot dogs to roast on a rocket stove that I was testing (note: I washed the knife after opening the heartworm medicine).
Removing labels from empty fruit juice bottles, and then cutting the top half off of the bottles. My wife, “Kari” then used the tops to cover and protect some early spring planting that she was placing in the garden.
Opening a package with a smoked beef bone for the dog.
On multiple occasions, cutting dinner rolls and spreading butter on them to eat with my lunch.
Cutting the tag off of the key fob of my truck after it had been in the shop.
Opening the shipping envelope on a knife that turned out to be a counterfeit (stay tuned for further details in a future article).
Cutting paracord to the proper length to hold polymer reactive targets for a range day that our small group Bible study was having at our house.
The 112A completed all of these tasks and a host of others well.
Assisted Versus Automatic Blade Deployment
The 112A features what is called “assisted blade deployment”. (Some other knifemakers use the synonymous term “assisted opening”.) The user begins to open the blade using the flipper or thumb studs. At that point, a spring engages to rotate the blade into the fully opened and locked position. Assisted blade deployment is rapidly gaining popularity, here in the United States.
Automatic knives, on the other hand, are dependent solely on spring power to deploy the blade. The user presses a button or switch that releases a spring to deploy the blade.
Many jurisdictions that have restrictions on automatic knives do not have similar restrictions on assisted-opening knives.
JWR Adds: Note that some states make a distinction between ownership (at home) and public carry in their spring-assisted knife laws. Be sure to consult your State and local laws before you place an order for any knife that includes a spring-opening design.
Some Stainless Steel History
Steel has been in use by mankind for thousands of years, but stainless steel did not come into common use until the 20th century.
The key ingredient that makes stainless-steel stainless is chromium. Stainless steel is composed of at least 11 percent chromium.
Chromium was used by the ancient Chinese to prevent corrosion. It was then largely forgotten by history until rediscovered by French chemist Louis Nicolas Vauquelin, who demonstrated the element to the French Academy in 1798.
Throughout the 1800s, the corrosion-resistant properties of the element were explored by scientists and applied by industrialists to a host of applications.
In 1913 in Sheffield, England, Harry Brearley was looking for a corrosion-resistant alloy to use in the manufacture of gun barrels. This was especially important because of the mercuric corrosive primers that were in common use at the time. Brearley used 12.8 percent chromium in his stainless steel alloy, which he called “rustless steel”. The steel he produced, similar to modern 420 stainless steel, was not particularly well suited to gun barrels, but it did make wonderful knives. He is now credited with the start of industrial use of stainless steel.
There are five major types of stainless steel based on crystalline structure (austenitic, ferritic, martensitic, and duplex) or on the type of heat treatment used to develop its properties (precipitation hardening).
The various 440 steels (A, B, and C) are martensitic and were developed early in the 20th century. As mentioned previously, the Bear & Son 112A is made of a proprietary version of 440 steel.
Conclusions
The Bear & Son 112A Framelock Assisted Opener Knife is a great design. It is rugged, sharp, and easy to deploy. As I mentioned earlier in the article, the knife is a keeper.
I must admit that I am becoming increasingly partial to assisted-opening knives. They make full deployment of the blade very reliable. It is also aesthetically pleasing to hear the blade snap decisively into place.
Whenever I decide to keep a knife, that means that it is displacing some knife that I had owned previously. The 112A will displace the knife that I carry in my fishing tackle box. The knife in my tackle box was a great knife, but the 112A is even better. If you need a good EDC knife, then you might want to take a look at this one.
Disclaimer
Bear and Son Cutlery provided me with a sample of their 112A Framelock Assisted Opener Knife for testing and evaluation. I tried not to allow their kindness to interfere with my objectivity as I evaluated the knife, and I believe that I succeeded. I did not receive any other financial or other inducement to mention any vendor, product, or service in this article.
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