Fox Knives Saturn Brings Radius Lock to a New, Dagger-Inspired Design

Blade Show 2021 was a big deal for the entire knife community; it was the first major show since the COVID-19 pandemic put everything on hold, an opportunity for friends to get back together again after a year apart. And while Maniago, Italy’s Fox Knives couldn’t be there in person due to travel restrictions, it was a really significant Blade Show for company as their new Saturn knife pulled in two of the show’s biggest awards: Overall Knife of the Year and Best Imported Knife.

The Saturn is the latest design from Denis Simonutti, the man behind the Radius, another Fox collaboration that also snagged Overall Knife of the Year and Best Imported Knife, back at Blade in 2019. “The same opening mechanism, patented by FOX with the name ‘Radius Lock,’ has also been adopted on the Saturn,” says Fox’s Massimo Centazzo. The Radius Lock is operated by pushing the arcing handle stud through its groove around the top half of the pivot; to close it, you press down on the stud and push it back the other way. But Fox and Simonutti also incorporated something new this time around. “This folding knife has been designed for left-handed users as well as right-handed users, a strength that is not passed unnoticed by the careful jury of the Blade Show,” Centazzo explains.

In terms of its look and functionality, the Saturn diverges quite a bit from its Radius Lock predecessor. It has a 2.55-inch dagger blade, with both edges sharpened. Six versions are planned for this year, and another seven variations will eventually follow. Blade steel varies from model to model, with M390 and N69Co both on tap, for titanium- and aluminum-handled versions respectively, but another variant on display at Blade got a lot of attention with its composite blade. “[It] is composed of a copper sheet imprisoned in two sheets of C70 carbon steel,” Centazzo tells us. This welded metal setup is called “Carbon Copper,” and “was created by the master craftsman from Maniago, Dario Di Chiara.” Di Chiara is the owner of Be.Di.Ma, which has been making high quality scissors in Italy since 1947.

Sadly, with COVID-19 precluding most international travel, Fox Knives wasn’t able to attend the show in person; but company owner Gabriele Frati had this to say:

“It was a rather unusual edition, we are not used to not being present and experiencing the event online. I hope that this new award, the third in a row, is an important incentive for future generations who approach the world of work, who do not see the world of cutlery with the stereotypes of an unskilled profession and who understand the study and research we do and the technologies applied are at the forefront.

It is necessary to keep the Maniago cutlery district alive by trying to involve new recruits in local companies and institutions in sharing long-term projects. For our part, we are doing our best to create continuity and spread the Maniago product, for years we have been hosting interns from various technical schools in the province with the hope of finding future collaborators. I conclude by thanking my wife Claudia, HR manager of the FOX group, my Mom who continues to follow the company and all our collaborators for their dedication and their continuous commitment in carrying out this project, which began in 1977 “

Knife in Featured Image: Fox Knives Saturn