We missed a recent TOPS release here at KnifeNews – although to be fair, it’s a little guy and hard to spot. Meet the Wood Nymph, an outdoors do-all blade that unites smart, field-proven design with compact specs.
The Wood Nymph comes from the mind of Bushcraft Kelso, a high-profile presence in the online bushcraft community. When looking at the Wood Nymph, it’s clear that Kelso is a designer who knows what he likes, knows what he needs, and combined the two for this, his first TOPS collab. Anybody spending long hours in the outdoors wants the most bang for their ruck: something lightweight that still can pull heavy duty when called upon to do so – and that’s what Kelso appears to have delivered here.
The Wood Nymph comes with a 2.5-inch drop point blade made from the TOPS-standard 1095 carbon steel. This particular take on the drop point profile brings to mind the puukko- which makes sense, given that that Finnish classic is a go-to in the bushcraft scene, both in folder and fixed blade forms. Kelso reckons the Wood Nymph can do just about anything a bushcrafter would need a knife for (as opposed to a more specialized tool, perhaps); worth noting here too is that the Wood Nymph comes with thinner stock than the average TOPS joint, measuring in at .09″ along the spine.
If the blade reminds one of the puukko, the handle very nearly brings a kwaiken to mind, with its lightly tapered, rectangular lines. But the key here is the handfeel, not the history, and the Wood Nymph supports a full finger grip and, with chunky Micarta scales, a comfortable one too. Often, leverage and ergos, not blade length, are the key factor in whether or not a knife can do a particular chore, and those elements are certainly present on the Wood Nymph. Needless to say this one doesn’t weigh much: 3.2 oz. with the sheath, under two ounces by itself.
The Wood Nymph is available now.
Knife in Featured Image: TOPS Knives Wood Nymph
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