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Microtech Anax
The Microtech Anax has one of the best origin stories in the catalog. It began in 2014 as Tony Marfione's first integral folder, machined from a single billet of titanium, and promptly took Most Innovative Knife of the Year at Blade Show. The name works twice: Anax is ancient Greek for a lord or military leader, and it is also the genus of the emperor dragonfly, whose segmented body inspired the patterning along the spine.
Today the design lives on two tiers, and knowing which one you are looking at matters more here than anywhere else in the Microtech lineup.
Marfione Custom Anax vs Production Anax
The original remains a Marfione Custom: a one-piece integral frame in 6Al4V titanium, hand-ground blades in Elmax and Damascus, the dagger logo, and the certificate and pouch that come with the founder's own work. The production Anax, the 190C and 191C on this page, is the attainable reintroduction, designed by Microtech and manufactured by Rikeknife as a solid titanium frame lock that keeps the shape, the carbon fiber, and the presence at a fraction of the custom's price.
Anax Specs and Details
The production knife runs a 3.69-inch Bohler M390 blade at 8.58 inches overall and 5 ounces, riding a 32-ball silicon nitride bearing race that makes the manual action feel gravity-assisted. Details run deep for the tier: a machined pivot collar and overtravel stop, carbon fiber inlaid into the DLC or satin titanium frame, two interchangeable titanium lanyards with a bit set in the box, and drop point or tanto blades in plain, partially serrated, and fully serrated edges. Our comparison of every major knife steel shows exactly what M390 brings to it.
Where the Anax Fits
In a catalog built on aluminum automatics, the Anax is the titanium dress folder, the Microtech you hand to someone who thinks they know what a Microtech looks like. If you want the brand's manual knife as a USA-built workhorse instead, that job belongs to the MSI; the Anax exists for the days when the knife is allowed to be beautiful first and busy second.