Collections
Free Shipping
Made In USA
Reate Knives occupies a position almost nobody else in production cutlery does. Founded in 2014 by David Deng, an engineer by training rather than a bladesmith, Reate built its reputation on tolerances that read as custom work at production volume. The company also machines knives for other brands under contract, which means a fair number of enthusiasts have owned Reate craftsmanship without the name on the blade; boutique builds like the Luft Concepts AVNT come out of Reate's machines by design.
Steel selection runs premium across the catalog. M390 and M398 appear on flagship builds, with Elmax, CPM-3V, S35VN, S90V, Nitro-V, and Damascus distributed across the range depending on model and intent. That spread is deliberate rather than scattershot, since a gravity knife that lives in a pocket and a hard-use flipper want different properties from their steel. Our knife steel comparison guide covers how these alloys behave against one another. Handles are where Reate separates itself further, machining 6AL4V titanium and pairing it with carbon fiber, Micarta, Ultem, zirconium, Zircuti, and mokuti inlays. If those materials are unfamiliar, our handle materials guide explains what each one actually does in hand.
The EXO is the model that pushed Reate from respected to unavoidable. Released in 2021, it revived the gravity knife with a pivoting frame and sliding lock, dropping the blade under its own weight with no spring involved. The line expanded quickly into the EXO Mini, the EXO-M, the karambit-profiled EXO-K, the utility-blade EXO-U, and the push dagger EXO-D.
The folding catalog is where Deng's engineering background shows most plainly. Ball bearings sit recessed out of the pivot's side profile so debris cannot reach them, and pocket clips are finished on the interior face to keep them from chewing through fabric. The T6000 and T3000 anchor the titanium framelock range, the PL-XT carries the button lock platform, and the Bushido works a Japanese-influenced profile. Collaborations with Todd Begg, Tashi Bharucha, and Kirby Lambert bring custom design language into production runs, and the TF-4 remains one of the more configuration-rich models in the lineup.
Free Shipping Made In USA