Page 83 - Blade (February 2020)

DPX GEAR HEAT HIKER

BLADE LENGTH: 2.5”

BLADE STEEL: CPM S30V stainless
BLADE PATTERN: Drop point
CARRY: Carabiner or Kydex neck

sheath
HANDLE MATERIAL: Skeletonized
stainless steel

SPECIAL FEATURES: Bottle opener/
nut driver
WEIGHT: 2.15 ozs.
OVERALL LENGTH: 6.25”

MSRP: $125
The author put the DPx HEAT Hiker to work carving and shaving hardwood and slicing off
strips of harness leather. The knife is a little workhorse, though gloves are recommended for COUNTRY OF MANUFACTURE: USA
tough tasks due to the lack of scales.

a bunch of spare keys, I bravely toted it
around for a week and received nary a poke
nor a stab. Granted, I wear cargo shorts and

they are loose fitting, so if you’re leery, clip
the Roadie to a belt loop.
I tested the Roadie’s various tools and
they worked very well. However, tools this
small are made for small tasks, so don’t plan

on rebuilding a lawnmower with them. The
sharpener did a very nice job of restoring
The Lansky Roadie’s diminutive sharpener did
an excellent job of retouching the edge on the an edge on both a GEC Bull Buster folder
1095 carbon steel blade of a GEC Bull Buster. with 1095 carbon steel and the slightly
The carbide blades work on harder stainless dulled edge of the test DPx Gear HEAT
steels such as CPM S30V as well.

Hiker’s CPM S30V stainless blade. The tiny
sharpener is for touch-ups and, when used
that way, works quite nicely.

FUNCTION or FLASH
The carabiner is located on the rear
The carabiner is located on the rear All the carabiner models served their
base
Kershaw
of
base of the Kershaw Reverb XL and has purposes well. If I had any druthers, it would
and
the
Reverb
has
XL
spring
a wire spring gate. The folder also sportssports
a
The
folder
gate.
also
wire
a pocket clip as a carry option.
a pocket clip as a carry option. be for the manufacturers to design and
incorporate a spring gate that would clip to

a larger, 5/16-inch-diameter carabiner. That
said, there are workarounds for this, such
as using a dangler. Meanwhile, whether
for function or flash, carabiner knives are a

cool way to go.
For more on the carabiner knives and multi-
tool in the story, see “Where To Get ’Em” on
page 64.
None of the knives could accommodate a For the latest knives, knife news, trends
According to the author, the Spyderco Snap- 5/16-inch-diameter carabiner through the and more visit blademag.com, BLADE®’s
It Salt’s fully serrated H1 nitrogen steel spring gate. However, there are options. The popular Instagram page @blade_magazine,
blade is wicked sharp. It whipped through larger carabiner can be opened and threaded and on Facebook and Twitter.
3/8-inch synthetic rope and seat belt through the carabiner loop. Alternatively, a
webbing—typical of Spyderco’s reputation small dangler-style carabiner can be attached
for delivering extremely sharp blades. to the knife and then clipped to the larger unit.

FEBRUARY 2020 blademag.com 81