REVIEW – Tekto Knives has been on my radar for a while but I hadn’t had the opportunity to test one out until now. Let’s see what the Tekto A5 Spry automatic out the front knife has to offer.
What is it?
The Tekto A5 Spry is their most tactical automatic out the front knife so you want to check your state laws to make sure you can legally carry one. The A5 Spry sports a 3.5” blade made from high end S35VN steel and is available with a dagger, serrated dagger, drop point, or tanto blade all with a titanium black coating. It boasts lightning fast action with a contoured push button and rock solid grip with its 6061-T6 textured handle available in OD green or black with all four blade types.
What’s included?
- Tekto A5 Spry in OD Green with Dagger Blade
- Belt Pouch
- 2x stickers and user manual
- Limited lifetime warranty
Tech specs
Click to expand Tech Specs
- Handle Material: 6061-T6 Aluminum
- Blade Material: S35VN
- Blade Hardness: 60-62 HRC
- Blade Styles: Dagger, Serrated Dagger, Drop Point, Tanto
- Locking: Sliding button lock
- Blade Length: 3.50” (89mm)
- Handle Length: 4.90” (125mm)
- Open Length: 8.60” (219mm)
- Handle Width: 0.48” (12.2mm)
- Weight: 3.49oz (98g)
Design and features
The Tekto A5 Spry is compact, light, and stealthy. The high end 3.5” S35VN blade steel is one of the most well rounded steels out there with good edge retention, toughness, corrosion resistance, and ease of sharpening. Below is a quick video review showing the OTF action.
The contoured button lock has a ramped design which assists with blade extraction and retraction. The action is firm and requires deliberate pressure so I don’t see it opening accidentally in your pocket which is good since it does not have a blade lock feature. The 4.9” 6061-T6 aluminum handle is nicely contoured and I think looks really nice in OD Green. The shape fits perfectly in the hand and feels quite anchored even with wet hands or gloves due to the milled pattern.
The button is pretty aggressively knurled (maybe too much) so it might wear a hole in your pocket after a while or if you keep other items in the same pocket they might get some scratches. I keep a thin wallet in the same pocket along with my car fob and noticed some marks on them after a week. To alleviate that you can use the included belt pouch or the clip is reversible and that would place the button towards the back of the front right pocket away from other objects which I might do. If that doesn’t work I might also lightly sand the sharper edges of the button.
If you prefer to sharpen your own knives like I do a double edged knife can be a little tricky depending on your preferred sharpening system but I was able to bring it back to factory sharp with just a strop since S35VN holds an edge so well. You also get twice the life between sharpening since you essentially have two blades.
The deep carry reversible steel clip has good retention with no worries about the knife falling out of my pocket. With so many knife manufacturers going overseas it was nice to see Tekto is based in Biddeford, ME and all their knives are designed, tested, and assembled in the US. They seek to design purpose built knives for life’s most demanding missions. Given that I think they succeeded with the A5 Spry. Using the Tekto A5 Spry I found the blade very usable with the sharp point easy to insert in zip ties, open up boxes, and cut muffins in half at work.
What I like about the Tekto A5 Spry
- Made in the US
- Plenty of blade options in excellent S35VN steel
What needs to be improved?
- Nothing
Final thoughts
For a US made fully automatic OTF with high end S35V steel you will not see one cheaper than $249.99. At that price you are getting an excellently designed OTF backed by a lifetime warranty from a US based company. Something that is getting harder to find these days. Tekto also offers automatic folding knives and manual knives as well so they have something for everyone. Now that I finally got the chance to test out a Tekto knife I am now a fan and I bet you will be too.
Price: $249.99
Where to buy: The Tekto website
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Tekto Knives. Tekto did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
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Just to clarify, these knives do not qualify to be labeled as made in the USA. Unlike brands like Microtech (with some exceptions), Benchmade and Chris Reeve, Tekto is not a true US manufacturer. Credit them for bringing enough assembly to the US to qualify for the “assembled in the USA” label, but they do not do full manufacturing here. Given that they started out importing knives, any work done here is progress, but I suspect they do the minimum to qualify for the label.
To clarify, I have no problem with knives made overseas – there are some great knives coming out of China, specifically. At the same time, I find it disingenuous at best when companies attempt to trade on the “made in USA” label when they are not doing what most of us would consider manufacturing here.
Greetings Will,
Tekto states on their website: The A5 Spry is designed, tested, and assembled in Portland, ME. Tekto uses a combination of local and foreign manufacturers and in-house capabilities to create a quality product for life’s most demanding missions.
Tekto knives do qualify for the “Made in the USA” label in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s standard regarding product labeling. Links below. There’s some interesting rules depending on what the product is that are worth a gander.
Now are they 100% made in the US from 100% US sourced and made parts, no, but Tekto is honest about that and 99% of products out there that qualify for the label can’t say that either. Does the Benchmade 535BK-4 Bugout made with Swedish produced Bohler M390 steel qualify to be Made in the US? According to the FTC it does even though the main component, the blade, is made overseas. I also would add that unlike most foreign made knives Tekto does have a limited lifetime warranty which granted is not as good as Benchmade’s warranty since it only applies to the first purchaser but is better than most knife makers out there.
https://www.bladehq.com/item–Benchmade-Bugout-AXIS-Lock-Knife–118557
https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/complying-made-usa-standard
https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/complying-made-usa-standard#Assembled%20in%20U.S.A.