If you follow Knife Thoughts you know I love a traditional knife. There’s just something about an old long proven pattern that hits me (and many others) the right way. The majority of traditional knives I have discussed have been of western origin; from the USA with roots in the UK or Germany, and some from other European countries like Italy and France. That said, knives are universal and there’s a whole world of knives and knife history out there to explore. That’s why I am really excited to see two traditional Asian knife patterns translated into modern every day carry knives in the Vosteed Nightshade and Civivi Ki-V Plus!
Vosteed Nightshade
The Vosteed Nightshade is a modern knife that emulates the Shilin Cutter. The Shilin Cutter is a pattern from Taiwan. The pattern originated in the mid 19th century when a cutler named Kuo He created and subsequently popularized the design. The knife is designed with a downward canted leaf shaped blade that lends itself to gardening and other utility tasks, while the handle is a simple eggplant shape that makes it extremely ergonomic even in extended use. The original traditional version was a slipjoint, meaning it used spring pressure to hold the blade open and closed but did not lock, and typically had forged blade steel and buffalo horn covers with brass bolsters.
Unfortunately, the shop that originally made the Shilin Cutter no longer seems to be in operation and even imitation versions are difficult to find. Spyderco created a modern knife based on the Shilin Cutter in the Bob Lum designed Lum, but it is discontinued and now exceedingly expensive on the secondary market.
Enter, the Vosteed Nightshade. Vosteed is a company that I became aware of relatively recent because of their high value kitchen knives, but they also have several folding knife designs with more on the way. The Nightshade makes few changes to the design of the Shilin Cutter, but updates it with modern materials and construction. It has snappy and smooth one hand opening with a flipper and ball bearing pivot, a pocket clip, a liner lock, 154cm steel (a great mid range steel), and G10 handles. It also is just plain really well made, like I was genuinely surprised at how nice it is (not to mention the high quality metal box in which it’s packaged).
The designer, Yue Dong, was gifted an original Shilin Cutter and has used it extensively for camping and every day carry tasks, but designed the Nightshade to be an updated and upgraded version that would stand up to wear and tear. I have found it to cut extremely well so far, as it came very sharp and seems to have a nicely ground primary bevel, and honestly have just enjoyed flipping it (it’s very smooth). With a comfortable handle and a sturdy but slicey blade, I think the Nightshade is up to pretty much any EDC, outdoor, or general use task.
You can get the Nightshade at this link and use code KT5 for $5 off a Nightshade or KT20 for $20 off the Nightshade and Shark Bomb pry bar combo! I also suggest joining Vosteed’s Facebook group at this link if you get one of their knives, as it’s quite active and enthusiastic.
Civivi Ki-V Plus
The Civivi Ki-V Plus is a modern folding knife that takes its design cues from the Kiridashi. The Kiridashi is a traditional Japanese fixed blade pattern. Like the pen knife in Europe and the United States, the Kiridashi serves as a small utility knife that was carried by the majority of people for everyday tasks. The Kiridashi has a straight, angled edge and is traditionally ground with a chisel primary bevel, meaning one side is ground and the other is left flat (other than the secondary bevel, or edge). This edge and grind style also lent the Kiridashi to shop work, like scoring wood and other such tasks. The traditional Kiridashi most often had a simple carbon steel blade and either a wooden handle or a skeleton, or plain metal tang, handle. While several companies are now offering modern renditions of the Kiridashi, I think the Civivi Ki-V Plus does about the best job I’ve seen of keeping the traditional design while adding modern materials and construction.
Now, the Ki-V Plus is actually an enlarged and modified version of the Ki-V (you can watch my video on it here). While I enjoyed the Ki-V and thought the designer, Ostep Hel, did a great job of keeping the traditional aesthetic I thought it could be improved with a different flipper tab design. Although the Ki-V plus doesn’t have the exact type of flipper tab I was imagining, I think it is an improvement over the original. I am NOT usually a fan of front flippers; I’m just not dexterous enough for them most of the time. That said, I’ve had a lot of fun flipping the Ki-V Plus and haven’t found any difficulty in opening and closing it in real use. The Ki-V Plus also adds a liner lock, whereas the original Ki-V was a double detent slipjoint. Even though I think the Kiridashi design does lend itself well to a slipjoint, the added size of the Plus version makes the liner lock a smart choice. However, I think a larger cutout on the front facing handle would make unlocking the blade a little more intuitive. Speaking of the larger size, the Ki-V Plus’s longer blade makes it feel like a knife better suited to working; still not necessarily hard use, but not relegated exclusively to lighter tasks either. While the Ki-V Plus doesn’t have the traditional chisel grind, the traditional angled edge still works great for all kinds of cutting tasks and especially those most common in EDC usage like opening boxes and cutting cardboard. I have had a lot of fun with the Civivi Ki-V Plus so far and have found it to be a very capable EDC knife.
You can get the Civivi Ki-V Plus at this link and use code KnifeThoughts for a discount. You can also join Civivi’s Facebook group which has a dedicated following.
Which should you get?
Honestly, if you can’t get both, just go with whichever one strikes your fancy. Either way you’re going to get a well made knife. That said, I think if you do more gardening and food prep and outdoor tasks the Nightshade might be better suited for you while if you do more cutting cardboard and opening boxes and such the Ki-V Plus might be a better fit. Still, either will work suitably for most tasks. I enjoy both knives for their quality and materials, but what I really appreciate is how well both give homage to their traditional counterparts. I hope to see more and more of that respect for traditional patterns in the modern knife industry going forward, but for now I’ll just keep enjoying my Nightshade and Ki-V Plus!
Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. That means that if you follow the link and purchase something I get a small commission. It does not affect the price you pay, aside from the discount codes I offer, but it does help Knife Thoughts immensely!
