Home / Knives / Andrew Demko Started with the Clip to Build the Cold Steel Grik

Andrew Demko Started with the Clip to Build the Cold Steel Grik

April 2, 2017

The Cold Steel Grik stands out in the company’s vast 94 product catalog with its unconventional pocket clip, HTR deployment mechanism, and smaller size. Slated for a summer release, the Grik offers a unique package of benefits that Cold Steel hopes will gain traction in the years to come.

Plastic clips were more common in the early days of modern pocket knives. For example, they appeared on some of the first Voyager models. But Grik designer Andrew Demko says the Grik’s GFN clip is anything but a throwback. “Usually the clip is the last part of the design. In this case the knife was designed around the clip concept.”

Steel clips can be painful against the palm during extended cutting chores. With its wide and flat profile, the Grik’s green clip fits against the palm better than a narrow stamped clip, contributing to the ergonomics and eliminating hotspots. “The real goal was to increase handling comfort, and I think we achieved that,” Demko says. The Grik’s clip also won’t scratch your car door or tear into leather seats.

Cold Steel Grik - Clip Side

With its accessible price tag, the Grik will also be the most affordable way to test out Cold Steel’s patent pending HTR deployment mechanism, which was first introduced to the world on the Golden Eye folder in December. At the time, we speculated that it looked like a combination of thumb ramp and opening hole. Demko, inventor of the HTR, now tells us that was precisely the idea, and that the HTR offers the best of both deployment methods.

“It combines both what’s good about a thumb stud and a thumb hole,” he explains. “It offers a large surface area of traction and its ramp feature aids in thumb placement.” Demko’s Tri-Ad Lock has become a Cold Steel staple, and he sees a positive future for his latest brainchild too. “I think it will be well-liked.”

Cold Steel’s 2017 releases placed an emphasis on larger knives. With its 3” AUS-8A blade the Grik stands alongside the new Khan as the smallest clippable folder among the new for 2017 designs. Lynn C. Thompson, president of Cold Steel, says he likes the Grik for its relatively small size. “I enjoy the tiny knives too—and they’re great because you can always keep them on you.” Still made for work, the Grik’s spear point blade has been modified with a hefty swedge and a finger groove in the spine for greater control when cutting.

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According to Thompson, the Grik signals the company’s move into smaller and more widely legal knives. He also says that the scope of the catalog will keep the company busy for the remainder of 2017. “We won’t be releasing anything else new this year. We announced all of 2017’s new products in January.”

Knife featured in image: Cold Steel Grik

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