RECOIL OFFGRID Preparation Defiant7 Knives Talos Review
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Welcome to Knife of the Week! Each week the Offgrid Editorial Team will highlight one of their favorite knives. These will range from time tested classics to the newest cutting edge designs. You won't find any glorified box openers here, each featured knife will be a purpose driven outdoor, bushcraft, survival, or tactical tool that is ready to work when you need it the most! This week's we will be looking at the Defiant7 Knives Talos, an exclusive design available at USA Made Blade.
I first saw the Defiant7 Talos when visiting USA Made Blade in North Carolina. If you're a knife enthusiast like me you probably before even knowing the name of the knife you will probably recognize the distinctive Les George design, in fact it is nearly identical to the Les George Talos. At first I made the assumption that Les George had licensed the design to a new knife company, but upon talking to USA Made Blade owner Scott “Whitty” Whittington I learned that Les George had partnered with the owner of Nicholas Damascus, Chad Nichols, to create Defiant7 Knives.
When a legendary knife designer and owner of one of America's most prominent Damascus makers get together it can't be a bad thing, but the ethos behind Defiant7 makes the company even more appealing – one of Defiant7's driving goals is to teach the next generation the art of US based knife production! Defiant7 employs young machinists and strives to hand down the extensive experience of two legends in the industry to them! Beyond all that, Defiant7 is bringing out models from some other amazing designers including Allen Elishewitz, Ryan Johnson, Tom Krein, and Matt Martin.
Right off the bat, the Defiant7 Talos checked a lot of boxes for me – it packs a proven design, it is made in the USA, I love what the company stands for, it is backed by two highly respected makers in the industry, and I'm a sucker for button locks!
Button locks are interesting and surprisingly versatile. The outward appearance looks just like an automatic knife, the main difference being there is no internal spring mechanism to deploy the blade. Button lock knives generally employ a thumb stud, like the Defiant7 Talos, or a flipper tab to deploy the knife. To close the knife the button is depressed to release the lock. In my experience high quality button locks have a super solid lock up and have a low chance to accidently disengage the lock as your fingers are not near the lock mechanism like a frame lock or a liner lock.
Another advantage to button locks are one handed opening and closing. The thumb stud or flipper can quickly deploy the blade and one the button is depressed the blade will easily return to the frame. You can also use the button to open the knife, it just requires a little bit of inertia.
While some people see button locks as a “poor man's auto,” they are a great option for those of us who live in areas where autos are illegal and they offer unappareled one handed opening and closing in the manual folding knife market.
The Defiant7 Talos is nearly identical to the Les George Talos with the exception of the lock type and material. The Les George Talos features a frame lock and titanium frame handle, where the Defiant7 Talos uses a button lock and Aerospace aluminum frame handle. The other major difference is price – The Les George version retails starting around $425 where the Defiant7 Talos retails at $285.
Let's get into the design a bit. The Talos has a relatively simple design that combines superbly ergonomic handle design and a highly functional blade drop point blade. The choice to use a drop point blade makes the Talos a versatile workhorse. Drop point blades provide stability, a strong tip, and enough belly for slicing tasks. This means the Talos more than adequate for day to day cutting tasks but can also be used in game/food processing tasks. From a self-defense standpoint the drop point tip is not as fine as a clip point or a Wharncliffe the wider point provides far more durability with good piercing ability making it capable in a pinch. The Defiant7 Talos has a 3.5-inch blade, sort of a sweet spot for a full sized folding knife in my opinion. It's big enough to handle most tasks without being to big to comfortably carry in public.
The blade is made from premium Magnacut super steel which is known for its toughness, edge retention, and corrosion resistance. These are all features you want in a blade steel that you plan on putting to work both in urban and wilderness environments. While all steels will eventually dull with use Magnacut ensures the longest use time between sharpening. The downside is that Magnacut can be more difficult to sharpen and requires the use higher grades stones. The corrosion resistance of Magancut makes it a great choice for working in wet environments when you don't have the time to worry about carefully cleaning and drying your blade between uses.
The Defiant7 Talos uses and aerospace aluminum handle frame. While this is not as “fancy” as the Les George version with the titanium frame, aluminum is both durable and lightweight. Aluminum is also far less expensive to procure and easier to machine when compared to titanium which helps keep the price down for the end user. The the frame is hard coat anodized black giving it a sleek look and provides excellent wear resistance.
The handle is a total of 4.5 inches allowing a full hand grip for most users. The handle shape is contoured to comfortably fit your hand reducing fatigue during extended use. The handle also has a few strategically placed sections of jimping to enhance grip retention when in use. In my experience I found no hot spots on when using the knife and found the jimping particularly useful when doing more detailed cuts.
The stainless steel pocket clip is mounted on the “back” handle and can not be moved anywhere else on the knife. It is the same style found on most Les George knives. It offers a nice deep carry and doesn't get in your way when using the knife.
The button lock on the Defiant7 Talos is located on the “show” side set slightly above and behind the pivot screw. It's location is nowhere I'd naturally rest my fingers during use and is recessed which all but eliminates accidental designment of the blade during use. When deployed the lock up is solid with zero left to right blade play and only the slightest amount of downward play when an unrealistic amount of force for folding knife use is applied to the spine of the blade. Spine impact did not cause the lock to fail, so overall I am very confident in the blade's lock up.
Deployment using the thumb stud is snappy with a bit of practice. While I typically prefer a flipper tab, the thumb stud works well with the handle design making it easy to rapidly deploy in a pinch. Upon deployment the blade locks into place with a very satisfying “thunk.” The button lock and some wrist movement will also allow you to deploy the blade with far less noise if you need to be more discreet.
Overall, I really like the Defiant7 Talos. For starters it gives people the opportunity to get their hands on an iconic design from a legend in the field for far less then the cost of the Les George branded version with very little trade off. The Aluminum handle frame looks good, feels good, and packs great durability while also keeping the Talos Light and easy to carry. The ergonomics, highly functional blade shape, and premium steel ensure the Defiant7 Talos is ready to work when you need it. The Talos was plenty sharp out of the box. The fit and finish is exceptional, and when combined with all the other features you get a truly premium US made knife at a very reasonable price of $285.
The Defiant 7 Talos is a an exclusive design made for USA Made Blade and multiple batches have already sold out. Make sure you sign up for the USA Made Blade newsletter so you can get all the details on the next drop!
To see learn more about Defiant7 and to check out their available and upcoming designs check out the official Defiant7 website.
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