Defiant7’s Clutch is on sale now at $285, sold direct from the maker’s site. It’s a button-lock automatic that opens out the side, designed with Matt Martin of Vehement Knives, and it runs a 3.31-inch MagnaCut bowie blade in a contoured aluminum handle. Five colors are listed, and the green one has already sold out.
It’s the production brand from knifemaker Les George and Chad Nichols of Nichols Damascus, based in Blue Springs, Mississippi. Martin’s day job is his own custom shop, Vehement Knives, where his knives sell one at a time. This one puts one of his designs into a production run, at a production price, with a button-fired automatic opening.
Production automatics from American makers mostly cluster between $200 and $350, in aluminum handles with premium stainless blades. This one lands in the middle of that band at $285, and it holds the strongest steel spec in the group.
An out-the-side automatic works like this: a coil spring sits wound behind the closed blade, and pressing the button frees it, so the blade swings out of the side of the handle and locks open. Firing and closing run through the same press: the button sends the blade out, and the button lock releases it to close. There’s no flipper tab and no thumb stud to find, which is the appeal for anyone opening a knife with gloves on, or with one hand busy.
Price: $285.00
Where to buy: Defiant7
Amazon doesn’t sell this one, so here are two alternatives it does sell, matched on fast one-hand opening and price.
| Defiant7 Clutch | Kershaw Launch 15 | Benchmade Barrage 583SBK | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening | Button automatic, out the side | Push-button automatic | Spring-assisted |
| Blade | 3.31 in bowie, MagnaCut | 3.5 in spear point, CPM MagnaCut | 3.6 in tanto, serrated, 154CM |
| Handle | 6061 aluminum, knurled | Aluminum with micarta inlays | Valox |
| Weight | 3.5 oz | 3.1 oz | 4.51 oz |
| Price | $285.00 | $189.99 | $250.00 |
| Defiant7 | Amazon | Amazon |
Closest match on paper is the Kershaw Launch 15: a push-button automatic with a 3.5-inch CPM MagnaCut blade, an aluminum handle with micarta inlays, and a reversible deep-carry clip, made in the USA and listed at $189.99. Benchmade’s Barrage costs $250, and it’s spring-assisted rather than a true automatic, with a 3.6-inch serrated tanto blade in 154CM. Both showed in stock at Amazon on Friday.
Price: $189.99
Where to buy: Amazon
Price: $250.00
Where to buy: Amazon
A bowie blade in MagnaCut, hardened to 62-63 HRC
Bowie blade, 3.31 inches with a clipped point and a swedge running along the spine, and the basics are etched right onto the flat: Made in USA, Magnacut. Hardness is listed at 62 to 63 HRC, which is hard for a production blade.
MagnaCut is Crucible’s powder stainless, built to hold an edge like a tool steel and resist rust like a stainless, and it’s the steel most premium EDC knives have moved to over the last few years. It came out of Crucible’s powder program, designed by metallurgist Larrin Thomas, who tuned it for the three things knife buyers weigh most: edge holding, toughness, and corrosion resistance in one alloy. At $285, it’s the strongest line on its spec sheet.
That bowie shape is a practical one. A clipped point keeps the tip fine for detail cuts, and the belly gives you slicing length along the edge. The spine stays thick enough for harder utility work.
Martin has said the profile goes back to a British special-forces knife, the Saboteur’s Knife built by Joseph Rodgers, which he found pictured in a reference book on special military forces. His stated brief for the design was three words: simple, fast, effective.
Contoured aluminum handles with knurling across the flats
6061 aluminum handles, machined with a 3D contour instead of flat slabs, and the flats carry a fine knurled texture that shows up clearly in the maker’s photos. Its fire button sits on the show side with a textured cap, and the same button works the lock. Five hardcoat anodized colors are listed: black, blue, green, red, and tan, each at $285. Hardcoat is the thicker, harder class of anodize, the same family of finish used on weapon lights, and it stands up to pocket wear better than a decorative anodize.
Green is already marked sold out on the maker’s page, and the other four showed available on Friday. It’s pitched to first responders, everyday carriers, and collectors, and the contouring and knurling come straight off Martin’s custom patterns.
Titanium clip, tip-up only, at 3.5 ounces
Its clip is titanium, and it carries tip-up. It mounts on one side of the handle and it doesn’t swap sides, so left-handed carriers don’t get a left-side option from the factory. Tip-up carry keeps the closed blade’s spine against the seam of the pocket, which is how most automatic carriers prefer a knife to ride. At 3.5 ounces, it’s light for an aluminum automatic with a 3.3-inch blade, and the closed handle is slim, with a scalloped line milled along the spine that you can see in the photos.
Check your state law before you order one
Automatics sit in a different legal bucket from regular folding knives. A number of states and cities restrict or ban switchblade carry, and federal law limits how automatics move between states. It sells direct from the maker’s own site, and the product page doesn’t screen buyers by state. Read your local rules before you order one, and again before you carry it.
Black, blue, red, and tan run $285, with green already gone. It’s Matt Martin’s design at a production price, and it gives the brand a button-fired knife of its own next to the George designs it built its name on.
Price: $285.00
Where to buy: Defiant7
