Home / Knives / Ivan Braginets Whips up a Folding Bushcraft Knife for Real Steel

Ivan Braginets Whips up a Folding Bushcraft Knife for Real Steel

July 14, 2023

It’s been a while since we checked in with Real Steel, but they’ve got a new model out from prolific collaborator Ivan Braginets. The Pathfinder is the company’s new into the growing subcategory of folding bushcraft knives.

A few – well, more than a few – years ago, Real Steel and Braginets partnered up for the first time, for the Gardarik. This was a bushcraft fixed blade with a modern flair, approaching one of the oldest knife roles in the world in a funky, fresh way. The partnership branched out from there, with more than a few models dropping through the intervening years.

But, of all the many RSK/Braginets collabs, it really is the Gardarik that the Pathfinder most strongly reminds us of. Its 3.54-inch drop point makes the same gradual, gentle decline from spine to tip, and it has its own smaller version of the decorative fuller element too (the Gardarik was a bit bigger than the Pathfinder, with a 4.25-inch blade). The Pathfinder opens with a thumb stud and locks up with a crossbar lock – one of many, many Axis Lock-style mechanisms that have entered the market since the patent on that influential design lapsed; its presence on the Pathfinder allows for a completely ambidextrous knife.

14C28N steel is on tap and a standby for both indoors and out, but the most salient detail on offer is the grind; RSK is giving the Pathfinder a zero-degree Scandi grind, the preferred edge geometry for traditional bushcrafting. That’s the role the Pathfinder happily slots into as well, but given its smaller dimensions and folding nature, an EDC designation is also, obviously, on the table, as is general, non-nature related hard use.

The Pathfinder is available now.

Knife in Featured Image: Real Steel Knives Pathfinder

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