Additional contributions by Sean Tirman.
Way back in May 2022 (can you believe how fast the time has flown??) The James Brand announced a forthcoming made-in-the-USA pocket knife. "The Kline" wasn't to be released that spring, or even summer or fall, but finally in December, we got the launch we'd been waiting almost a full year for. And then, just like that — it sold out. Well, today the Kline is back in action and once again back in stock. This time, we'd recommend buying before the goods are gone once again.
The James Brand claims that its newest release is its first-ever knife made in the U.S., but that's not even its most impressive attribute. The Kline is named after the Kline arrowhead found in the Delaware River Valley of Pennsylvania, and is what The James Brand is billing "a workhorse" — it's got a larger, more rugged form factor, influenced by the rough and determined zeitgeist of 20th century America.
The Kline is built using Magnacut, a first for The James Brand. For the unfamiliar, Magnacut is a new, American-made, EDC-specific stainless steel designed to be highly corrosion resistant and extremely durable. The "supersteel" as The James Brand calls it, is a jack of all trades; its composition lends it to be useful in a variety of everyday tasks. Developed by Dr. Larrin Thomas, the material "has the toughness of CPM-4V (a hard-use steel found on high-end fixed blades) with the stainlessness of CPM-20CV (a tried-and-true premium knife steel used primarily in folders)." It won't stand up to the toughest jobs like CPM 3V, or hold an edge like Maxamet, but that's the point: it can get most jobs done, most of the time, and do them well. Plus, like we mentioned, it's made in the USA.
Along with Magnacut, the Kline hosts an array of additional, impressive features: it has a removable/reversible deep-carry clip, a proprietary Slide-Lock locking mechanism and a full-liner construction. Thanks to its larger size, Micarta scales and ambidextrous design, the Kline is a larger, ready-for anything EDC option.
Anyone familiar with knives and EDC will be pleasantly surprised to learn that even with all of its high-caliber engineering, the Kline is an affordable $349 — well under what similarly-constructed pocket knives would go for. If you've been waiting for this release as long as we have, you'd better act fast: at this pricepoint, we expect the long-awaited Kline to be gone in a flash.
