Houge Explodes Onto The Knife Scene!

GRIP
Hogue
Pat Covert
Photos: Chick Pittman, Inc.
W
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THIS!
hat do handguns
and knives have in
common? In a word
— Hogue. The popular
firearms accessory
manufacturer known for making some
of the best handgun grips in the business, is now giving knife users something to wrap their hands around, and
they’re doing it in a big way. Rather
than stick a toe in the water to see if
it was warm, Hogue chose to jump in
feet-first by partnering with one of the
biggest names among custom knifemakers, Allen Elishewitz; and their first
salvo is impressive.
Though the knives are new, the seeds
for the Hogue-Elishewitz collaboration
had been planted years back. According
to competitive shooter Jim O’Young,
who serves as an advisor and facilitator on the Hogue team, “In 1998, I
started a knife company, SpeedTech,
and met Allen at the Shot Show that
year. Unselfishly, he gave SpeedTech
an incredible amount of his knowledge
and support which allowed us to suc-
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2011
s
e
d
o
Expl
Onto The Knife Scene
cessfully launch our product and win
an award at the Blade Show. He has
also become one of my shooting sponsors and one of my closest friends. At
my 50th birthday celebration in 2007,
I introduced Allen to Jim Bruhns, the
head of Hogue Tool & Machine. They
immediately hit it off and developed a
mutual respect for each other’s knowledge, abilities and talents.
“One day it hit me,” continued Jim.
“Why not create a knife company with
the artistry of Allen’s designs and the
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quality and precision of Hogue? I
had a long conversation with Allen
and sold him on the fact Hogue has
the technical and manufacturing
capability to make his knives,
the name recognition, marketing
and distribution network to sell
product, and most importantly, the
ethics to do business on a handshake. At that point he was all in.
At dinner one evening, I casually mentioned the opportunity
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Continued from page 67
to Jim. Knowing Allen’s talents and
reputation, he thought about it for all of
10 seconds and was all in. After a few
phone calls, the ball was rolling.”
Viceroy Of Slice
Hogue couldn’t have chosen better.
Ranked in the elite of tactical knifemakers, Allen Elishewitz is the Viceroy
of Slice, and, in many of his dedicated followers’ eyes, he’s the King.
He is one of a rare breed who not only
make knives of the highest of quality
and craftsmanship, but has trendsetting design skills. A Texas native, Elishewitz’s background in martial arts and
experience as a Recon Marine provided
the knifemaker added insight into what
a tactical knife should be.
is the EX-01, a group of folders under
the Hogue Extreme Series umbrella.
The knifemaker began designing
the series in 2009, and, after some
tweaking of Allen’s original designs,
the line was revealed at the 2010
Shot Show.
“At the Shot Show, Hogue had
the first prototypes on display and I
must say they had done a fantastic
job,” Elishewitz recalled. “After the
show, we made some changes to the
knife such as adding textures to the
handles, installing a safety, making
slight refinements to the finishes and
modifying the tanto blade and bevel
grinds. The EX-01 received a tremendous welcome at the 2010 Blade Show
in Atlanta.”
The EX-01 Series is well conceived,
with options in blade styles, blade
lengths, handle lengths and handle
styles. Users can choose from a pur-
Hogue couldn’t have chosen better. Ranked in
the elite of tactical knifemakers, Allen Elshewitz
is the Viceroy of Slice, and, in many of his
dedicated followers’ eyes, he’s the King.
He made his first knife in 1988, and
by the first few years of the decade follwoing had honed the skills necessary to
become a top knifemaker. By the mid1990s the tactical knife boom had taken
off and Elishewitz was in position to
ride the crest of the wave. And he did.
As O’Young mentions, Jim Bruhns,
CEO of Hogue Tool & Machine, was
implemental in bringing Allen into the
fold. “We have been blessed by the
opportunity to collaborate with Allen
Elishewitz on our new knife line and
the early reports are nothing short of
outstanding,” Bruhns told Handgunner.
“We have been in a backorder situation
since we whispered into the wind we
were producing (knives) and shipping.
We have steadily increased production to meet demand, and are now in a
more comfortable position. Production
is now meeting demand and we are
excited by the prospect of more aggressive marketing.”
Although his tactical folders are
what Elishewitz is most noted for, he
designs a mean tactical fixed-blade as
well. The folder end of the market is
infinitely larger however, and this is
where Hogue decided to place their initial focus.
pose-driven, bread-and-butter, droppoint blade, or a thoroughly modern
version of the Japanese tanto, both done
up in premium 154CM steel with a tumbled, Stone-washed finish. Two blade
lengths (4" and 3.5") are offered in both
blade styles, all featuring an ambidextrous thumb stud for easy opening.
The blade action is — as you’d
expect from Elishewitz — extremely
smooth and locks up tight. A slide lock
on the handle further locks the blade in
place and prevents it from closing until
disengaged. To unlock the blade the
user pushes down a plunger-style button
located just southwest of the pivot. Very
simple. Very effective.
The handle is pure Elishewitz, curvaceous and comfortable with a deep
finger groove for superb purchase. An
ample, spoon-shaped pocket clip on the
backside of the handle is standard. Handles are available in two basic styles.
Option one is a hard anodized 6061 T6
aluminum in a black or green hard coat
finish. Option two is green or black G10
machined in a special pattern dubbed
G-Mascus, a surface look that resembles Damascus steel, developed exclusively by Hogue.
Jim Bruhns describes the process:
“Company partner Neil Hogue was
The First Thrust
instrumental in the development of our
Once the top management at Hogue G-Mascus. The material is something
gave Allen the green light SSKIndustries2010.indd
to design a we1 are very proud of and have very
line of tactical folders, he got down to high hopes for going forward. It’s no
business. The outcome of the compa- different in any way to G10 composite
ny’s first collaboration with Elishewitz which has been used for years in many
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applications, including knife handles.
It is, however, different in the way it
is made. The basic premise is to start
with layers of different color material
prior to resin bonding. This multi-color
material is then placed into the resin
bath and shuttled into the press as it
normally would be for standard G10
resin bonding.”
Bruhns adds, “The press normally
has large flat press plates which exert
pressure on the material during the
bonding phase. For our process, these
press plates have a variety of protruding
dimples which impose themselves on
the material under this extreme pressure.
This causes the various colored layers to
become non uniform in thickness giving
us a random pattern of color.”
Models with G-Mascus handles have
stainless steel bolster plates inside the
frames to provide strength to the entire
lock mechanism and serve as an excellent bearing surface against the 154CM
blade. Hogue has a trademark and
patent pending on G-Mascus G10 and
is also making it available for handgun
grips so you can dress for success wherever you go.
Future Slice
The EX-01 Series has been a
rousing success, so much that Hogue’s
next step is to add a fixed blade to the
line. According to Jim Bruhns, “We
are now working on our first fixed
blade product. The EX-F01 is another
product designed by Allen and as you
might expect, it is another work of art.
The EX-F01 is now in full production
and we expect to be shipping within
the next 30 to 60 days. We have produced several models in both 5.5" and
7" blade lengths, and are finishing up
things like packaging and artwork as
well as the sheath that will come standard with each knife.” The EX-F01
is shown here in prototype form, but
should be available by the time you
read this.
The EX-F01 sheath was designed
by Allen using his years of being a
recon Marine, as well as input from the
Hogue team. This unique sheath incorporates a complete MOLLE mount
system, removable MOLLE mount
front pouch, split belt loop, and high or
low belt mount option. No other sheath
on the market incorporates all these
features together.
In addition, the next generation
of Hogue tactical folders, designated
EX-02, are in the works and our readers
get a chance to see the prototype version here as well. By all indications
Hogue is off to a great start with their
new line of knives, and if they are as
successful as their other
products, the sky is the limit.
*
For more info: www.americanhandgunner.
com/hogue-inc
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