Most folders that arrive with a pattern-welded blade are asking you to put them in a display case. KANSEPT’s Orion asks for a pocket clip instead. It’s a 3.07 inch Damascus clip point set into a titanium frame lock handle, designed by custom maker JB Stout for KANSEPT’s production line.
Price: $169.89
Where to Buy: Amazon
The Orion itself isn’t new. It’s been on KANSEPT’s own site long enough to earn a spot in the brand’s Best Sellers collection, and this Damascus variant has only recently landed on Amazon.
The listing leads with the phrase “blood groove,” which either sells you instantly or makes you squint. That’s KANSEPT’s own copy, used on the S35VN Orions too, so it describes the blade rather than the storefront.
What KANSEPT built here
The Orion is a production knife with custom DNA. KANSEPT describes it as a design JB Stout drew for the production market, loosely based on his SquirrelMaster XL. Stout is a machinist and tool and die maker by trade, and the brand credits that background for how the knife functions.
The version linked here is the K1089B2, the blue anodized and machine satin titanium variant. KANSEPT lists it at 7.14 inches overall, 3.07 inches of blade, and 4.06 ounces, with blade stock at 0.137 inches, which is substantial for this size class. Lock duty goes to a titanium frame lock, which seats the lock face in the handle slab instead of adding a separate liner.
KANSEPT is also capping the run. This variant is limited to 400 serialized pieces, each carrying its own number, and that count belongs to the variant rather than the series, since the blackwash Damascus K1089A3 is capped at 300.
The Damascus blade and that groove
KANSEPT calls the blade a Damascus clip point with a flat grind, finished in the pattern itself rather than a stonewash or satin coat. It pitches the clip point tip for piercing and detailed tasks, which suits errand work more than hard use, and the pattern is the reason to pick this variant over the S35VN versions.
The blood groove appears in KANSEPT’s Amazon copy rather than the spec table on its own site, and the same wording runs on the S35VN Orions, which puts the groove on the blade rather than in the marketing. What KANSEPT documents everywhere is how the knife opens: a flipper tab and a thumb disk, riding on ceramic ball bearings with a strong detent, so buyers pick a preference instead of adapting to one.
Titanium, weight, and how it carries
The handle is titanium, cut with fine parallel grooves down both sides, with machine satin flats between. KANSEPT labels the B2 treatment blue anodized and machine satin, so color plays against bare metal rather than covering the whole slab. Anodized titanium also means the color is grown into the metal, so it wears rather than chips.
At 4.06 ounces the Orion isn’t a lightweight, noticeably more than the sub-3 ounce titanium folders at the minimalist end of the category. What you get for it is material: thick blade stock, a full titanium frame, and a frame lock, the same choices that put this in the enthusiast tier instead of the featherweight one.
Our coverage of the WE Knife Anglex walks through the same trade at more than twice the price.
Where $169.89 lands
KANSEPT lists both Damascus variants, this one and the blackwash K1089A3, at $169.89. The other seven Orions run CPM S35VN at $189.89, and that gap isn’t a verdict on steel value, because every S35VN version carries a CNC milled blade, which is the likeliest reason those cost more.
Amazon lists the identical $169.89, so there’s no storefront markup to work around. That sets the Orion well above the budget tier in our EDC knives under $100 roundup and just under the boutique titanium shelf, a defensible spot for a titanium frame lock with a designer credit and a Damascus blade on a limited run.
Who should carry the Orion
This is a knife for someone who already owns a workhorse and wants the next one to have some character, without giving up a lock and a clip. If you’re still building a first serious kit, start with our rundown of EDC knife brands that earn the hype and come back to this one.
What you’re paying for is a Damascus clip point on a production knife rather than a custom one, at a length that stays inside practical daily carry, with a shape that came out of JB Stout’s own custom work.
Two things temper it. Damascus trades published edge retention data for pattern, so you’re buying on construction rather than a number you can line up against another blade. At 4.06 ounces it’s heavier than the slim titanium folders sitting beside it.
Price: $169.89
Where to Buy: Amazon
The Orion won’t be the knife you loan out at a job site. It’s the one you pull out when someone asks what you’re carrying, and it still opens boxes on the way back to the car.
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(as of July 14, 2026 14:09 GMT -05:00 - More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
