YouTuber Breaks into Production Scene with Pair of Knives

Swaggs, the YouTuber behind the knife channel Sharp and Pointy Swaggs, is bringing out two production knives later this year. The knives are made by different manufacturing partners and vary in key ways, but both play into themes of accessibility and user-friendliness.

Sway Back

The Sway Back is coming to us from Kizer Cutlery, and is a modern take on its traditional namesake. The handle has the swayback’s customary spine-side dip, with a belly on the bottom side to fill out the grip a bit. But Swaggs tells us that it was also inspired by her first modern knife: “My very first knife was a Kershaw Leek designed by Ken Onion (one of the greatest knife makers of all time),” she says. “I love that knife, and I love the wharncliffe blade on it.”

Thus this knife has a wharncliffe blade, which runs to 3 inches on the nose, making it eminently suitable for EDC cutting chores. And Swaggs paid just as much attention to the opening methods as she did the blade shape. “I like to call this knife a ‘fidget trainer,’ because it offers so many options to learn how to use and open a knife,” she explains. It is her hope that this button lock knife’s user-friendliness will help engage more women with the knife community. “One thing I’ve noticed is that women don’t get to handle knives regularly as they grow up like men do. We have less experience. I think that if women got to handle more knives at a younger age, enjoyed them like boys do, then I think you’d have way more women involved in the knife community. And I’m all for that.”

Maileah

The Maileah (pronounced My-lee-uh) is coming to us from Artisan Cutlery under their CJRB line, which means that it will be sporting the company’s budget-oriented AR-RPM9 proprietary powder metallurgy steel.

Swaggs came up with the Maileah’s 2.4-inch blade shape in an attempt to balance all the primary cutting verbs of an EDC knife. “I didn’t want a blade that was so stabby stabby that it couldn’t handle daily EDC work, but I also didn’t want a blade that couldn’t pierce either,” she notes. “This blade shape gives the best of both worlds.”

The Maileah’s handle and opening mechanism address common knife elements that can cause issues for female users. “Women get shorted when it comes to pockets. They’re super small. You can fit almost nothing in them, and they’re practically useless,” she says. Furthermore, the standard spine side flipper can be an issue too. “Most men don’t even know this, but if our nails are long, it’s really hard to use a flipper.” Thus she made sure the Maileah had a compact 3.1-inch closed length and a front flipper that keeps the finger nail out of the opening equation.

Swaggs hopes that her knives will appeal to all users, but the Maileah is dedicated to, and named after, a special woman in her life: “I named this knife in honor of my best friend Leah who passed away in a tragic accident late last year. Leah was always there for me. This knife is like her. It’s little, fun, and always ready to help when you need it.”

Swaggs got into the knife industry two years ago. She says that looking at blades critically on her channel provided key knowledge for designing knives of her own. “Over the last two years, I’ve been lucky enough to handle and play with hundreds of knives. Just about every kind you can think of,” she says. “When you handle all kinds of knives, you form opinions of what you like and don’t like. I think all of that helped me make the decisions about what I wanted in these two knives.”

She also tells us that another production knife is already in the works. “I’m in the process of sorting out ideas for my next Kizer knife. I had so much fun on the first one, that I can’t wait to see how this next one turns out. I hope to continue this process for as long as the brands out there want me to.”

Knife in Featured Image: Kizer Sway Back