Way back in October of 2017, WESN launched its first Kickstarter campaign — an effort to crowdfund the creation of a new everyday carry brand via its very first product, a keychain-sized pocket knife called the Microblade. In just 60 minutes, the project was fully funded. And now, the brand has a fully fleshed-out catalog of bladed tools and ranks among our favorite knife and EDC brands.
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WESN Microblade 3.0 Read More
An impressive six years later, that same knife that started it all is still among the best tiny EDC knives anyone can buy and has even experienced a design overhaul in 2020. However, the brand still found room for improvement and, as a result, the Microblade just went through its third redesign to date, making this pocket powerhouse better than ever before.
It Takes a Village to Completely Redesign a Knife
WESN's Microblade isn't new. In fact, it's been around long enough and remained so popular that we can confidently say it has stood the test of time. But we have to credit that, at least in part, to the brand's willingness to take it back to the drawing board, as it did back in 2020. This time is a bit different, however, as the brand has actually taken a more feedback-driven approach.
Rather than doing everything internally, WESN compiled years' worth of customer feedback and spoke with the top craftspeople around the world, as well as relying on its internal expertise to completely overhaul the Microblade from top to bottom for the third time. And that holistic approach appears to have paid off big time, as the results look to be spectacular.
Even a Keychain Knife Has Room for Big Improvements
As mentioned, the WESN Microblade 3.0 went through a complete ground-up overhaul to bring it to its current standards. And while the changes might not seem completely groundbreaking, the quality-of-life improvements certainly speak volumes of the care put into this redesign.
The biggest alteration might be in the knife's signature thumb stud, which is now removable. That means people who love it can keep using it as their primary means of deployment, while those who don't can simply do away with it for an even more streamlined, minimalist EDC option. The blade also saw a choil redesign (that little notch between the base of the blade and the handle) that makes it easier to sharpen.
Other improvements include making the pocket clip out of softer steel, thus making it a bit looser and easier to use, and tweaking the mechanics and detent to make deployment even smoother (which is especially noticeable when utilizing the thumb stud to pop the blade into position).
Some Microblade Features Were Too Good to Change
While a lot about the Microblade has been altered in some way, many of what one might call its most defining features remain — and that's a good thing. Despite its deployment, blade, thumb stud and pocket clip changes, it still retains its same signature silhouette and size (measuring up at just 3.75 inches when open, 2.25 of which are accounted for by the handle and 1.5 go to the stout blade). It also still maintains its same materials, including options for a full grade 5 titanium handle or one with a single-sided G10 scale, as well as D2 steel for the blade.
The Microblade 3.0 is available right now on WESN's site for $89 in three versions: Titanium, OD Green G10 and Blacked Out.
