![]() ![]() This, then, may be the most important way to view Mick’s knives and design philosophy: he is a Minimalist. Most impressively, the knife accomplishes all this in a deceptively simple design. Not content to rest on the successful features of the previous folders, Mick created an entirely new pivot system for the SJ75 he increased its internal strength using revised stop pins the popular but inelegant disc to prevent overflex on the lockbar was replaced with the simplicity of a 45 degree angle cut on the bar itself and, the very manner in which the blade is presented was revised by changing the handle angle echoing the poignard. The SJ75 has a whole host of unique features that are both profound and subtle simultaneously. Yet the acme of Mick’s innovative folders was still to come.Ī long time in the making, the arrival of the SJ75 series of folders in 2012, twenty years after he initially embarked on his knife making career, again broke new ground. ![]() It, in turn, spawned an even larger horde of imitators – including some of the most famous and successful folder makers in the world. This configuration, combining a thick titanium lockbar framelock with a linerless, integral G-10 composite handle, was a large stride forward in folder design, and looked obvious only once he presented it. The design succeeded spectacularly, and resulted in a host of other makers trying their hands at making similarly stout knives –imitation being the sincerest form of flattery! The success of these folders was eclipsed by the hugely popular, and in many ways even more innovative, SnG/SMF/PT style of folder. They were designed to be as strong as a fixed blade when open, using overbuilt parts throughout. These twin folders (they are the same except the AR is a spearpoint and the GB a tanto) created an entirely new category of folding knife. Still, despite the many innovations incorporated in these knives, they paled in comparison to his first effort in making a folder: the AR/GB. For instance, he was not the first to wrap a knife handle with paracord, but he was the first to do it in a way that was tough enough for sustained infantry use. Mick sampled some good ideas, but made them great. Soldiers, policemen, and other men going into harm’s way couldn’t buy them fast enough. No one carrying a Strider knife was going to be spotted because of sunlight glinting off of polished steel or a glossy leather sheath. These knives were the first indication of his innovative approach: in addition to their utilitarian design, the knives carried a subdued finish and subdued sheaths. The knives he made didn’t look like the hunter-inspired knives seen in most PXs instead they were almost brutish in their functionality: beefy, solid, and with unbreakable ¼” stock full tangs. He started with a tabula rasa, a clean slate, informed only by his own experiences and knowledge of what a soldier needed in a knife. Mick’s approach was to not get burdened by the weight of past designs. This turned out to be fortunate turn of events, both for Mick and for the knife using world at large. However, in 1988, he began making specialized knives for use by the military. After the disappointment of his unexpected discharge from the Army, he drifted a bit in life for awhile. His military career was cut short due to injury. This drive ultimately led him to enlist in the US Army, and attain the high distinction of becoming a member of one of its Ranger Battalions. Mick Strider’s early years were unremarkable except for his unyielding desire to excel at whatever he was doing. Mick Strider is that exceptional person, a man who has routinely brought innovation to the craft of making knives. And with such a long history of edged weapons making, it is extremely difficult for anyone to be truly distinctive in bringing new ideas to making knives. It has continued to be a pursuit of every society of man, across the span of human existence and in every clime and place in the entire world. Knifemaking is one of mankind’s oldest activities, with crude edged tools predating the rise of Homo Sapiens by at least 300,000 years.
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