Home / Knives / Artisan Gives Straight Razor-Inspired Orthodox a Makeover

Artisan Gives Straight Razor-Inspired Orthodox a Makeover

August 8, 2025

After more than five years on the market, the Orthodox, ironically one of the least orthodox models in the Artisan family, is getting an update. The Orthodox V2 brings some tweaks and revisions to this enduring, quirky design.

The straight razor is an instantly recognizable piece of design – and, while its original use falls outside of “knife as cutting tool” realm, it still manages to inspire a lot of designs in the modern folding knife market, in ways both big and small. The Orthodox stood out with its faithfulness to the straight razor blade shape and handle design, but Artisan rejiggered the mechanical elements to make it work just like any other modern EDC flipper.

The clip is now properly deep carry, too

The first important change concerns the blade itself, but it’s not something that’s visible at a glance. Artisan thinned out the edge profile, going from a flat to a hollow grind, to make the Orthodox V2 the sliciest version yet. The steel is AR-RPM9, Artisan’s in-house budget steel recipe, designed to deliver current-gen performance without breaking the bank. The remastered blade should be easier to deploy, too, thanks to a tweaked flipper tab.

Orthodox V1 featured a handle design that hewed close to pretty close to the standard, arcing shape on historical straight razors, but the V2 takes a more modern and angular approach with a gunstock-style grip instead. The scales are made from G-10, and the pocket clip is now much closer to the butt end of the knife, making the Orthodox V2 a deep carry piece for sure. It weighs 2.7 oz., a sterling weight considering its 3.54-inch blade.

The Orthodox V2 is coming soon.

Knife in Featured Image: Artisan Cutlery Orthodox V2

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