Some of the best knives in the world are made at Via Cristans, 1 33085 Maniago, in the Province of Pordenone of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, in the North East of Italy, by a company called Euro Knives Italia S.r.l., which was is a subsidiary of the world renowned FOX Coltellerie, established by Oreste Frati in 1977. Euro Knives Italia was founded in 2008 to not only produce Fox knives but to produce knives for other manufacturers and build custom knives. The Spyderco Volpe — which means fox in Italian — was made there, hence the name. They also make knives for Mil-Tac and SOG among others.
But when it comes to fixed blade military knives, there is only one Italian company that you think of — Extrema Ratio — who were set up in 1997 and have earned a reputation for producing the best combat knives in the world. Nearly every Italian special force and anti-terrorist unit has their own model of Extrema Ratio knife, and the Italian military have the best knives in NATO. Extrema Ratio also make knives for other countries special force units, and they’re privately purchased by soldiers all over the world, which is why they cost so bloody much. The highly regarded ER Fulcrum cost $437.
Fox Predator I
The reason I’m mentioning this — no I didn’t forget what knife I was reviewing — is because the Fox Predator I is a very similar knife of equal quality that only costs $210. The ER Fulcrum, which is also a modern tanto blade, made out of N690Co has a 180 mm (7 1/8″) long and 6,3 mm (1/4″) thick blade, whereas the blade on the Fox Predator I is 180 mm (7 1/8″) long and 6 mm (0.23″) thick. The 0.3mm ain’t going to make that much of a difference when you’re sticking it in someone.
Now some people might think that’s a still a lot to shell out on a combat knife. But $210 really ain’t a lot to pay for a combat knife made by FKMD (Fox Knives Military Division) with a 180 mm long and 6 mm N690Co (HRC 58-60) blade and Forprene handle. Cobalt vanadium stainless steel N690Co is made by Böhler, an Austrian steel manufacturer, who probably produce the best quality rolled sheets and plates in the world. This is a new steel and it’s more widely available in Italy and Germany than it is in the USA, which is why it’s not often used by American knife manufacturers, but it’s a better steel for combat knives than ATS 34, 440C, VG-1, VG-10, 154CM, AUS -10 or S30V. It doesn’t retain an edge quite as well as S30V but it’s just as resistant to corrosion, even tougher, takes a finer edge and is a hell of a lot easier to sharpen. The Brigada de Operaciones Especiales “Lautaro” (Chilean Special forces) knew what they were doing when they chose this as their official combat knife.
Not $227 worth.
Another very interesting review. I love the look of the knife. $210 is a lot but it sounds like it could be worth it. Do you have both?
Ian — cheers mate. I just have the Fox Predator I but I have three Extrema Ratio knives, not including the training knives. I have a fulcrum training knife.
Rob … yes $437 for an ER knife is a LOT of money. Until I read Stefi’s blog I had not heard of the Extrema Ratio knives – they are not well-known in the USA (maybe some soldiers in the Special Forces are aware of them). In order for ER to keep a production line going, they must have a stable customer base to justify the production of the top-line knives. This tells me that the Italian military has been a steady customer for quite some time – just as you imply in your article. What’s interesting about this … is that your military sees the value in equipping its commando’s with excellent knives. I think a lot of western armies would not choose to spend their defense budgets on high-quality knives. In the USA we tend to see the military being much more focused on firearms, and I can’t imagine them equipping their best soldiers with really expensive knives that cost over $400 (although individual soldiers can always buy their own). It’s a choice of priorities.
The $210 Fox knife might be much more affordable for civilians who want a really good blade for self-defense purposes. Thanks for pointing that out. Even that sum of money will be a deterrent for large volume sales … which is why many of the US manufacturers are forced to make the choice to go with the other grades of steels.
cheers,
P
P — Extrema Ratio are an armourer to the Italian military, they were small firm that set up in Prato, Italy in 1997 making high quality diving and combat knives. Then they got numerous contract from the Italian military under the Soldato Futuro (future soldier) programme and they also supply Italian special forces, Carabinieri GIS, ROS and NOCS. The Fulcrum has been standard issue in Afghanistan. Loads of other European military special forces order off them, so they’re target market is the military. FKMD was set up in competition to them. The Folgore have adopted the RCST Fologore as their tactical/rescue folder and the COMSUBIN (Italian frogmen raiders) chose the FOX O.M.G. KAIMANO over the Extrema Ratio Ultramarine. The 49° Gruppo Squadroni Cavalleria dell’Aria “Capricorno” (air cavalry) chose the Fox NERO Capricorno. That’s what I know about, I think the state police have the Maserin Raptor E.O.D. Artificieri. Italian soldiers also have decent firearms too.
@ P Extreme Ratio are too expensive for me too but if I was being deployed I might buy the Fox Predator. The Italian military must really love knives if they issues 437 dollar knives. I wouldn’t want to be the soldier who loses one.
That is a AWESOME blade! Nice looking knife. I’ve been hearing about their fixed blade knives. Nice info in the comments about the different knives used by the different Italian forces.
It would be cool to see a long post with pics of all the knives used by Italian forces, especially law enforcement, as well as some info on street cop and detective weapons in the various countries you visit or live.
@ El Fish
That would be a very long post!
El Fish
I try to do them in separate posts because I don’t want the post to go on too long.
Rob .. I tell you one thing – if ER makes a really good diving knife then they have a really good market right there. I used to do a lot of diving when I was younger. I NEVER had a diving knife that was any good – they were all stainless alloys and they were all crap!. Eventually I gave up and just carried a basic steel knife made out of 1095 steel. It rusted, so I had to clean it all the time. But at least it could cut.
I agree with Ian’s comment. I’d hate to be the Italian trooper who accidentally loses his ER knife. That could be painful. And I’m guessing that some “bad guys” have read your comments by now. So they now know that if they find a dead Italian soldier on the battlefield, they will strip the body to take possession of his knife. Sorry, but it’s a reality you’ll have to face.
cheers,
P
@P
.
You want the Extrema Ratio ULTRAMARINE diving knife? It’s $775.50! You can get the FOX O.M.G. KAIMANO diving knife for $256.44. That’s the one that COMSUBIN use. But I like my FOX Technoreef II it’s only got a 110mm blade but that’s all you need when diving and it’s made of N690Co so it can really cut and it’s DLC coated for better rust resistance. So it’s pretty freaking good and it only costs $190
Amica
You wouldn’t want to drop the ULTRAMARINE at the bottom of the Ocean.
P – The modern American soldier goes to battle with equipment in excess of $17,500.
Shorter would be better, yeah.
That is a cool marine knife.
@ Amica. Do you do a lot of diving?
@ Jen
Not so much. I dive more than I parachute and ski but I mainly do wrestling, knife fighting, Paranza, tactical shooting, and strength and conditioning. We go hunting quite a bit as well.
ER are nice, no Dark Ops though!
Only messing! I have no Italian knives atm., but Moletta designed Nexus fixed blade is very moreish, and his design for a folding version is very nice (Lion Steel SR1).
Lion steel Daghetta is cute too, the SR1 is very “Zero Tolerance” looking though, and Gibbs has a ZT on “NCIS” so…
It’s only a pity the SR1 isn’t pointier, I prefer a more piercing single edge blade, like on my Murray Carter fighter, very Benchmade looking blade in whaite paper steel.
Of the ER line up I think the Shrapnel, Shrapnel OG or the Dark Talon folder are my kind of thing.
I’ve seen pics of a pair of ER Kukri chipping very badly on timber so their heat treat may be on the brittle side for larger choppers like the Praetorian? Caveat Emptor and all that!
The Lion Steel SR1 is a nice knife but I prefer the Fox pro hunter, neither of them are tactical knives though. The daghetta is a decent tactical knife and very cheap. The shrapnel is a good back up dagger, definitely not my favourite ER knife. BTW all that about ER kukris being brittle is complete and utter bullshit. I’ve seen that picture myself — it’s a chipped blade — I don’t know what it’s chipped on but I know it wasn’t timber. Also ER Kukris have been thoroughly tested and independently verified and exceed NATO standards. ER test their knives like nobody else, that’s part of what you’re paying for. ER carries out internal efficiency and durability tests of all their products in collaboration with the Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Perugia, to test the product ergonomics and interface with the user; and in collaboration of the Faculty of Engineering, University of Florence that do their testing and analysis of structures, materials and surface finishing. They’re ISO 9001 certified and is included among the suppliers of the Armed Forces, NATO Code (N / CAGE): AD856; official knife armourer to the Italian Army and Air Force, and work closely with several international arms companies and armed forces and special units, such as “R.E.O.S.”, 9°Rgt.”Col Moschin”, 4°Rgt. Alpini Paracadutisti “Monte Cervino” and all the best Italian anti-terrorist, underwater and amphibious units. Part of their testing includes testing them against their rivals. Fox make their best combat knives 6mm thick, ER make theirs 6.3mm. This is a company that doesn’t give a fuck about the cost of their product because they know their knives will be bought by the Italian military. But the Fox predator I is definitely of a comparable standard to the ER combat knives, I prefer it to the Praetorian II.
@ Rob
I prefer Fox knives too.
What is the knife Grylls uses here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bosp4-pyTM?
@ Rezbi
It’s a diving knife. I’m not sure of the make though. I dive with a Fox Tekno Military II, which is a similar design.
Gerber have produced a Bear Grylls knife range. So I’m guessing he will be using one of those from now on. I’ve never seen that field sharpen method before.
@ Rob
What impressed me most is the strength.
I’m after a knife that’s strong, sharp and reasonably priced. Meaning, not hundreds of pounds.
What would you recommend?
Rezbi, sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Holidays and all that. I know I usually talk about expensive knives but there are lots of very good well priced knives. If you tell me what’s your price range is and what do you want it for I’ll be able to recommend something suited to your needs, but if you want a cheap fighting and field knife, you can’t do better than the Glock field knife and the Glock Survival knife, which are both very decent knives despite the price.