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The latest run of the L-Via, the popular mid-tech collaboration between Kopis Designs and Ed’s Manifesto, drops today. The L-Via comes in two different spine styles and delivers an unusual, but field-proven take on the all-purpose fixed blade concept.

The L-Via has resonated with customers, and part of its appeal is surely that it straddles the practical/tactical divide in a unique way. That uniqueness begins (but doesn’t end) with the blade, a 2.5-inch hawkbill. In recent years, hawkbills have been neatly slotted into the self-defense part of the blade profile Venn diagram, but the shape has history as a utility cutter too. It’s this dual heritage that designer Ed Calderon leaned into here, creating something that can seamlessly transition from outdoors to indoors, from hard use to light daily cutting.

As with previous L-Via runs, Kopis and Calderon utilized 154CM for the blade steel. This stuff has a track record that goes back further than many of today’s common steels have been around, and for good reason. 154CM can do well in all sorts of roles, but its well-rounded performance profile sings in any knife that needs to be flexible, doing different things from one day to the next – it’s tough, it doesn’t succumb easily to rust, and it stays sharp for a pleasantly long time.

This blade is half of the L-Via proposition; the other half is its handle. As with the hawkbill, the L-Via’s upswept handle, most reminiscent of that seen on the Phillipine pikal, implies that the tactical reverse grip is the way to hold it. Yet great care was taken to ensure the L-Via does just as well in the standard hammer grip, a grip more suited to the demands of utility-, rather than urgency-driven work. Combine that with a dead simple, reliable GFN handle and you have the recipe for a user that won’t shy away from an expanded gamut of cutting jobs.

The L-Via drops today, Wednesday September 25, at 12pm EST/9am Pacific. Whenever they arrive at KnivesShipFree, the L-Vias go fast, so if you’re tempted, we recommend acting sooner rather than later.

Knife in Featured Image: Kopis Designs/Ed’s Manifesto L-Via

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