I have a lot of knives in my collection and not many knives surprise me anymore. The Hogue/Elishewitz EX01 has me shocked.
I can't believe this is a $200.00 knife. It feels and operates like twice the msrp price and very custom like. I first watched many demo videos on YouTube from it's designer Allen Eleshewitz knife maker extrodinar. He was testing the button lock on the EX01 to 639 in-lbs. He also shows how he constructed the knife and all of the heavy duty parts engineered into it. If watching his honest no-circus demonstration of the EX01 doesn't impress you, I don't know what will. The EX01 is a extreme use knife and it feels like it. The EX01 is made in the USA. I am going to compare it as having many qualities of knives I currently own all rolled up into one knife. This is my opinion and I am using knives I currently own to compare it against.
I ordered the 4" drop point version of the EX01. It is a big edc knife but is very light at 5.2oz. The actual cutting edges is 4".
The EX01 has the over engineered feel of a Strider SMF or ZT 0300. What makes it different is it's smoothness and it has a bigger blade than the Strider and much lighter than the ZT. I have never owned a knife that is this smooth right out of the box. It locks up like a vault. No blade play in any direction. Eleshiwitz's button lock design locks up like a frame lock but fast and one handed as a Benchmade axis lock. This is where I fell in love with the EX01. It's like having the best of two different knives combined into one.
It edc much like my Emerson cqc-11 but is a more hard use knife than the Emerson. Even tho the Emerson's wave is fast to deploy, I can open and close the EX01 2 times faster than the Emerson can open and close 1 time. The EX01 can be done with only
one hand.
As you can see the EX01 has a the largest blade out of the Emerson cqc-11 and Benchmade Rift. But its handle is shorter than the Emerson.
The clip is Elishewitz's spoon type and is very strong but has the right amount of tension. The handle is made out of G10 but is called Gmascus because of the different colors infused in the G10. I fell in love with the green color Gmascus. It looks like a alligator to me. It is done the same way on the Benchmade Rift. The textured grip is imprinted only on one side and is called "piranha". It has a good rough feel and is very similar to the gunners grip on the Strider. The handle fits my hand perfectly much the way my Strider SMF GG does. Jimping is good on the handle and on the back of the blade.
Here is picture right before the lock is engaged. Notice the 180 degree trough that the locking bolt slips into. Everything is heat treated and robust. The locking bolt is huge. All the components are in a SS heat treated bolster for strength. This also includes the blade stop pin. You cant see it in the pic but the G10 is milled out to fit the bolster plates. There is a optional safety lock that can only be engaged with the blade in the open position. It essentially locks the blade open like a fixed blade and wont allow the button lock to be pressed. Its probably not necessary but its nice to have and it doesnt get in the way of using the knife.
Blade centering was perfect.
The blade is a 154cm drop point style that has a very high quality stone washed finish on it. It is very understated with the word Hogue on one side and Elishewitz on the other. The grind was even and the edge was mirror polished and razor sharp. Custom look and finished all the way. Amazing! There really is no down side to buying a Hogue EX01. I would put I up against any semi custom knife. I paid a lot more money on knives with less quality. The msrp of the 4" Gmascus is $239.95. The lowest price I found was around $170.00. The EX01 also comes in a 3.5" blade. Both sizes come in either a drop point or tanto and can be had with the Gmascus or Aluminum handle. Hogue knocks this one out of the park.
I can't believe this is a $200.00 knife. It feels and operates like twice the msrp price and very custom like. I first watched many demo videos on YouTube from it's designer Allen Eleshewitz knife maker extrodinar. He was testing the button lock on the EX01 to 639 in-lbs. He also shows how he constructed the knife and all of the heavy duty parts engineered into it. If watching his honest no-circus demonstration of the EX01 doesn't impress you, I don't know what will. The EX01 is a extreme use knife and it feels like it. The EX01 is made in the USA. I am going to compare it as having many qualities of knives I currently own all rolled up into one knife. This is my opinion and I am using knives I currently own to compare it against.
I ordered the 4" drop point version of the EX01. It is a big edc knife but is very light at 5.2oz. The actual cutting edges is 4".
The EX01 has the over engineered feel of a Strider SMF or ZT 0300. What makes it different is it's smoothness and it has a bigger blade than the Strider and much lighter than the ZT. I have never owned a knife that is this smooth right out of the box. It locks up like a vault. No blade play in any direction. Eleshiwitz's button lock design locks up like a frame lock but fast and one handed as a Benchmade axis lock. This is where I fell in love with the EX01. It's like having the best of two different knives combined into one.
It edc much like my Emerson cqc-11 but is a more hard use knife than the Emerson. Even tho the Emerson's wave is fast to deploy, I can open and close the EX01 2 times faster than the Emerson can open and close 1 time. The EX01 can be done with only
one hand.
As you can see the EX01 has a the largest blade out of the Emerson cqc-11 and Benchmade Rift. But its handle is shorter than the Emerson.
The clip is Elishewitz's spoon type and is very strong but has the right amount of tension. The handle is made out of G10 but is called Gmascus because of the different colors infused in the G10. I fell in love with the green color Gmascus. It looks like a alligator to me. It is done the same way on the Benchmade Rift. The textured grip is imprinted only on one side and is called "piranha". It has a good rough feel and is very similar to the gunners grip on the Strider. The handle fits my hand perfectly much the way my Strider SMF GG does. Jimping is good on the handle and on the back of the blade.
Here is picture right before the lock is engaged. Notice the 180 degree trough that the locking bolt slips into. Everything is heat treated and robust. The locking bolt is huge. All the components are in a SS heat treated bolster for strength. This also includes the blade stop pin. You cant see it in the pic but the G10 is milled out to fit the bolster plates. There is a optional safety lock that can only be engaged with the blade in the open position. It essentially locks the blade open like a fixed blade and wont allow the button lock to be pressed. Its probably not necessary but its nice to have and it doesnt get in the way of using the knife.
Blade centering was perfect.
The blade is a 154cm drop point style that has a very high quality stone washed finish on it. It is very understated with the word Hogue on one side and Elishewitz on the other. The grind was even and the edge was mirror polished and razor sharp. Custom look and finished all the way. Amazing! There really is no down side to buying a Hogue EX01. I would put I up against any semi custom knife. I paid a lot more money on knives with less quality. The msrp of the 4" Gmascus is $239.95. The lowest price I found was around $170.00. The EX01 also comes in a 3.5" blade. Both sizes come in either a drop point or tanto and can be had with the Gmascus or Aluminum handle. Hogue knocks this one out of the park.
Last edited:
I'm really considering picking up another one in green g-mascus drop point because I like these so much! My only wish is that they had a darker clip, but no worries.
