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RJ Martin Partners with Shirogorov for Second Flipper Model

May 22, 2022

Shirogorov is picking up its pace as summer arrives. Just a week after their return to the Hati on the production side of things, they’re releasing their second collaboration with custom maker RJ Martin, the Soft Overkill.

The Soft Overkill has complex family tree. It is a sequel to the Russian Overkill, the first Martin/Shirogorov collaboration; the Russian Overkill itself is a collab variant of the Overkill, an RJ Martin custom design. It’s a true Martin classic, with a slick handle profile and a big ol’ recurve drop point flipper blade. The Russian Overkill was actually a bit smaller than its custom predecessor, both in terms of blade length and handle thickness. “Overkills done by RJ Martin himself are usually thicker than the Russian Overkill,” Shirogorov representative Tom writes. “And we have decided to collaborate on another Overkill variation, which would be closer in dimensions (above all handle thickness) to the customs made by RJ himself.”

Shirogorov and Martin approached those dimensions in a slightly unconventional way; it wasn’t simply a matter of thickening things, but rethinking the entire construction. “If Russian Overkill was a frame lock, the Soft Overkill is a liner lock,” Tom continues. The underlying frame, made from titanium, stands slightly proud of Micarta scales, which add that additional thickness. Shirogorov and Martin also tuned the flipping action. “The knife comes with a large flipper tab, and the detent is rather strong, so that the flipping action on the Soft Overkill would be more in line with RJ’s customs.”

The blade on the Soft Overkill isn’t recurved

Other details are more or less the same. The Soft Overkill, like the Russian Overkill, has a 3.94-inch drop point blade made from M398, the 2019 sequel to Bohler M390. And, unlike the Martin custom, the blade has no recurve so sharpening should be a little more straightforward.

Shirogorov will be selling the Soft Overkills through a lottery system. The first lottery, for the green canvas Micarta Soft Overkill, is open now. “We will announce the lottery dates for Overkills with black and maroon micarta scales separately,” Tom says.

Knife in Featured Image: Shirogorov/RJ Martin Soft Overkill

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