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Massdrop x Eric Ochs Orca Titanium Liner Lock Knife
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Massdrop x Eric Ochs Orca Titanium Liner Lock Knife
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Product Description
If anyone understands the importance of a good knife, it’s Eric Ochs. Growing up in the Oregon countryside, Ochs naturally gravitated toward knives for outdoor pursuits, and in the mid-2000s he made his first one Read More
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keyboard_arrow_downEricOchs
163
Ochs Worx
Aug 2, 2018
Hello, thanks for checking this out! I am truly excited about this knife project! For one, I have been watching for the last few years as Massdrop has grown and several of my friends and fellow knifemakers have done Collaboration projects with Massdrop. Maybe a little selfish but as Massdrop has matured it has been creating a pretty cool innovative legacy of collaboration knives and I wanted to be part of that.
Also, I have really wanted to do a quality production version knife. Since I live in a man cave garage much of the time making custom knives where the focus is on creating one off pieces. These come with custom prices and crafting them in limited output. The opportunity to create a production performance knife of high quality construction and materials is something I have really been looking forward to doing. When Massdrop approached me about working with them I jumped at the chance.
As we worked out the details for the collaboration the opportunity to work with Reate came up. Then at the Blade Show in Atlanta, Jonas and I reviewed the project with Reate with my prototype in hand and we checked out the knives Reate had brought to the show. From then on there has been no question in my mind that things would go well on this Orca project.
In July Jonas was up in Portland for the Northwest Handbuilt Invitational and by some stroke of good luck he had received the Prototypes form Reate the day he was leaving to come up. I had the opportunity to look at, poke, flip, shake, jiggle, prod and otherwise play with all the Protos! : ) Honestly and I seriously do not say this lightly these are better than most midtechs and some customs I have handled. In my opinion they are a super value. I you are familiar with Reate’s level of quality you know what I am talking about here.
Best of all though after playing around and sharing them around with a bunch of knowledgeable Makers & Collectors who were at the show. The only real criticism anyone had was that the thumbstuds were too sharp on the corners. This will be addressed in the production version by tumbling the T-stud in the finishing process to remove any sharp corners.
Personally I am very pleased with the way this project has come together from start to finish. I am psyched to get to work with Reate and Massdrop to offer the Orca. This model is what got my folders noticed and the original version was one of my early designs which was inspired by the great Bob Lum. It seems almost crazy to say this now but at the time the original came out there was no one else in the tactical folder world making raised swedge harpoon style blades. Now this seems like a feature in most maker’s line up somewhere.
This Orca has been redesigned and modified from the original model. It has been sized down slightly to a 3.5” Blade and the handle has been streamlined to clean the lines up and maximize blade to handle ratio making it an easy carry. It fits in my hand great and that comment came from many of the people who handled it in Portland too. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
Eric
Also, I have really wanted to do a quality production version knife. Since I live in a man cave garage much of the time making custom knives where the focus is on creating one off pieces. These come with custom prices and crafting them in limited output. The opportunity to create a production performance knife of high quality construction and materials is something I have really been looking forward to doing. When Massdrop approached me about working with them I jumped at the chance.
As we worked out the details for the collaboration the opportunity to work with Reate came up. Then at the Blade Show in Atlanta, Jonas and I reviewed the project with Reate with my prototype in hand and we checked out the knives Reate had brought to the show. From then on there has been no question in my mind that things would go well on this Orca project.
In July Jonas was up in Portland for the Northwest Handbuilt Invitational and by some stroke of good luck he had received the Prototypes form Reate the day he was leaving to come up. I had the opportunity to look at, poke, flip, shake, jiggle, prod and otherwise play with all the Protos! : ) Honestly and I seriously do not say this lightly these are better than most midtechs and some customs I have handled. In my opinion they are a super value. I you are familiar with Reate’s level of quality you know what I am talking about here.
Best of all though after playing around and sharing them around with a bunch of knowledgeable Makers & Collectors who were at the show. The only real criticism anyone had was that the thumbstuds were too sharp on the corners. This will be addressed in the production version by tumbling the T-stud in the finishing process to remove any sharp corners.
Personally I am very pleased with the way this project has come together from start to finish. I am psyched to get to work with Reate and Massdrop to offer the Orca. This model is what got my folders noticed and the original version was one of my early designs which was inspired by the great Bob Lum. It seems almost crazy to say this now but at the time the original came out there was no one else in the tactical folder world making raised swedge harpoon style blades. Now this seems like a feature in most maker’s line up somewhere.
This Orca has been redesigned and modified from the original model. It has been sized down slightly to a 3.5” Blade and the handle has been streamlined to clean the lines up and maximize blade to handle ratio making it an easy carry. It fits in my hand great and that comment came from many of the people who handled it in Portland too. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
Eric
T.willy
463
Aug 22, 2019
It's nice to see your willing to try and help out the lefthanded fans of your work Eric. 👍😎
Narq
913
Aug 22, 2019
Your empathy is welcome. Even if left out, I am nonetheless impressed with your knives. And your offer is a kind gesture. Us lefties just have to adapt and survive! Thank you for the response.
JonasHeineman
5987
Aug 2, 2018
Hey everyone,
I’m excited we can finally share this with the community, and really grateful to Eric for entrusting Massdrop and Reate with his awesome design, and for working with us very closely to make sure that our production version met his exacting standards. Eric has been a Massdrop member for many years, and the community here is one of the big reasons he decided to partner with us on an exclusive production model!
This knife represents a few firsts: it’s our first design with Eric, and the first Massdrop Made liner lock produced by Reate (who also made the Tashi Bharucha Prism frame lock.) It’s also the first time that we’ve offered any models with Moku-Ti hardware, which is commonly found on custom knives but rarely used in production models.
The project evolved over the course of attending a few knife shows this year. It started when I met Eric in Las Vegas this January at the Tactical Knife Invitational, and got final revisions when we reviewed the prototypes together in Portland at the Northwest Handbuilt Invitational in July. We showed it around to a number of other makers and serious collectors, and everyone loved it. Most people said they could hardly tell the difference between Eric’s prototype and the production samples, aside from the laser markings. The only change that we’ve asked for on the final version are to have the thumb studs tumbled to slightly round their edges.
In between, I also spent some time with Eric in June at Blade Show in Atlanta, where his lottery is always very popular - he had about 400 entries for 12 knives this year. There were a lot of phone calls about materials and specs and other details - we wanted to make sure the production Orca featured Eric’s signature design elements and was true to his original design.
We wanted to highlight the ergonomic and flowing lines of this design with some natural colors that are not as common - so we chose tones that reflect the Oregon landscape that Eric calls home - a lighter blue (Glacier), brighter green (Forest), brown with a hint of purple (Madrone), and of course we had to have black (Obsidian). We looked at woven carbon fiber for the scales, but the squared pattern didn’t do justice to the curved handle and clip or swirled pattern of the Moku-Ti, so we selected the marbled carbon fiber for both colors on upgraded models.
Here are a few notes on the drop: * Only members who join during this pre-order drop will receive serialized units. * This drop is limited to 1000 total units, with a maximum of 400 upgraded carbon / Moku-Ti versions.
Thanks for checking it out and making this possible!
Carry On -- Jonas
I’m excited we can finally share this with the community, and really grateful to Eric for entrusting Massdrop and Reate with his awesome design, and for working with us very closely to make sure that our production version met his exacting standards. Eric has been a Massdrop member for many years, and the community here is one of the big reasons he decided to partner with us on an exclusive production model!
This knife represents a few firsts: it’s our first design with Eric, and the first Massdrop Made liner lock produced by Reate (who also made the Tashi Bharucha Prism frame lock.) It’s also the first time that we’ve offered any models with Moku-Ti hardware, which is commonly found on custom knives but rarely used in production models.
The project evolved over the course of attending a few knife shows this year. It started when I met Eric in Las Vegas this January at the Tactical Knife Invitational, and got final revisions when we reviewed the prototypes together in Portland at the Northwest Handbuilt Invitational in July. We showed it around to a number of other makers and serious collectors, and everyone loved it. Most people said they could hardly tell the difference between Eric’s prototype and the production samples, aside from the laser markings. The only change that we’ve asked for on the final version are to have the thumb studs tumbled to slightly round their edges.
In between, I also spent some time with Eric in June at Blade Show in Atlanta, where his lottery is always very popular - he had about 400 entries for 12 knives this year. There were a lot of phone calls about materials and specs and other details - we wanted to make sure the production Orca featured Eric’s signature design elements and was true to his original design.
We wanted to highlight the ergonomic and flowing lines of this design with some natural colors that are not as common - so we chose tones that reflect the Oregon landscape that Eric calls home - a lighter blue (Glacier), brighter green (Forest), brown with a hint of purple (Madrone), and of course we had to have black (Obsidian). We looked at woven carbon fiber for the scales, but the squared pattern didn’t do justice to the curved handle and clip or swirled pattern of the Moku-Ti, so we selected the marbled carbon fiber for both colors on upgraded models.
Here are a few notes on the drop: * Only members who join during this pre-order drop will receive serialized units. * This drop is limited to 1000 total units, with a maximum of 400 upgraded carbon / Moku-Ti versions.
Thanks for checking it out and making this possible!
Carry On -- Jonas
T.willy
463
Feb 13, 2019
Now what I'd love to know is are you guys close to a date when you might start the drop for the Gavko /Massdrop Nurse?
aitmike
39
Aug 2, 2018
I would like to recommend that massdrop not use the blade as a banner for their name as the discounts you get do not justify the add space. For what is essentially a giant group buy the discounts are relatively anemic compared to the eventual street price. I suggest putting the massdrop name on the inside of the liner/scale or on the underside of the back space (where applicable) like custom knife makers sometimes do. This way the name is still present with out affecting the perception of value. I liken it to buying a quality brand name knife at Wallmart only to have the Wallmart name emblazoned on the side of the knife blade.
namhod
1991
Aug 6, 2018
The anti logo crowd will never understand this. Thanks for throwing in your thoughts, since you worked with Massdrop on a collab and have knowledge of the process!
Notsurewhyibother
1200
Aug 6, 2018
namhodWhat does Gavko know, he's just a designer of one of the knives produced by massdrop. Obviously he would have no idea who deserves to put a logo on the side of his design.
I, for one, vastly prefer the opinion of random internet guy who thinks a "quality, name brand knife" purchased at Walmart is comparable to any of the massdrop collaborations.
I, for one, vastly prefer the opinion of random internet guy who thinks a "quality, name brand knife" purchased at Walmart is comparable to any of the massdrop collaborations.
JustFluxz
456
Aug 2, 2018
Another gorgeous looking knife that will most likely have a very expensive price tag...
Omniseed
1972
Aug 3, 2018
It wasn't a novel dog whistle, we're all well aware what someone means when they pointedly comment about the Chinese manufacturer.
JaleesaG
1550
Marketing Team
Feb 11, 2019
Hi all,
We have an update on your Massdrop Made product. Production is now complete and the Massdrop x Eric Ochs Orca Titanium Liner Lock Knives have arrived at our warehouse.
During quality control checks, we noticed that some of the blades were not sharpened at the same angle completely through the heel of the blade where it meets the choil. To make sure that every blade meets our expectations, and those of Eric Ochs and most importantly all of you who have been waiting patiently, we have shipped all of the knives to Eric’s workshop in Oregon. Mike Jones, our Product Lead for Blades collaborations, will be joining Eric next week to help with unpacking and the inspection of every item. Then Eric will be personally sharpening any blade that needs to be touched up.
Because of this, we’re tracking behind our original estimated ship date and now expect to begin shipping these items in early March, as soon as they return to the warehouse.
We apologize for the delay. If you prefer not to wait the additional time, you can cancel your order on your transactions page: https://www.massdrop.com/transactions.
Thanks so much for your patience. We’ll be back with another update when the Massdrop x Eric Ochs Orca Titanium Liner Lock Knives return to the warehouse.
(Edited)
Vaelys
48
Aug 3, 2018
No mention of a lockbar insert or a carbidized lockface to prevent the titanium liner from wearing down against the harder blade steel tang?
Vaelys
48
Aug 5, 2018
Nope, its a steel lockface attached to a Ti liner, attached to the Ti scale. Also Shiro F3's have had lockbar inserts on their liners for a long time.
anonomous
558
Aug 5, 2018
VaelysThe Shiro is evidence. It's also a $500+ custom/midtech knife. Nobody is gonna do that on a production knife. At least not at this price. And all your previous examples are still completely wrong. But you win. In the end cause you found one example.
The F3 also has a much thicker liner lock than almost every one ever made to even allow that.
The F3 also has a much thicker liner lock than almost every one ever made to even allow that.
iKnowKungFu
14
Aug 3, 2018
I am new to knives and have a dumb question. Is this a collector item or a knife that is functional for EDC, hunting and fishing? I am willing to pay for quality materials but don’t necessarily need a collector item. Thanks.
BlueCrowned
5305
Aug 3, 2018
You're better off just not telling her man. I'm not into knives (yet) but the crap I get from my coworkers for buying keycaps...
I'm just here to ogle at a knife I can't hope to afford.
I'm just here to ogle at a knife I can't hope to afford.
anonomous
558
Aug 5, 2018
iKnowKungFuWould be a great users knife but don't loose it. You can get some cheaper quality users from spyderco, Cold Steel and even Ontario rat's. There is a point to diminishing returns. This one's over that point but you get so much more in quality, materials and construction. So is that worth it to you? I don't buy cheap knives anymore. They cut but always have issues that bother me. Generally 150$-300 range is where I generally see quality. But there's always alot of bad apples in that range too.
The carbonfiber one is definitely a collector knife. But can and will work as a user, and if you don't plan to sell it again use it like I will.
For what it's worth I did not like the MD ffkw knives at all.
The carbonfiber one is definitely a collector knife. But can and will work as a user, and if you don't plan to sell it again use it like I will.
For what it's worth I did not like the MD ffkw knives at all.
dealda
63
Aug 3, 2018
Well, I think this is the cheapest production knife with mokuti.
And the marbeled Cf is also really cool.
IanEDC
231
Aug 3, 2018
I wasn't expecting to drop $300+ on a knife this morning, but I can't say no to that marbled cf and purple mokuti, so here I am. I guess my kid doesn't really need to go to college anyway
annasoh323
96
Aug 3, 2018
IanEDCI'm trying my hardest to say no to that marbled CF and purple Moku-Ti and your comment is hurting my will power deeply.
Hatuletoh
850
Aug 3, 2018
Does anyone have first-hand experience w/ RWL34 blade steel? It's fairly common to see for custom blshes but fairly uncommon in production knives. One of Spyderco's more recent mule team pieces was made with it and I'd been meaning to pick that up, as it seemed the least expensive option for acquiring an RWL34 bladed knife, but you know...other stuff distracted me and I never got around to it. So I was just interested in any thoughts / opinions, esp if you own or have used for a while production knives with it.
anonomous
558
Aug 5, 2018
HatuletohHere's a write up on 154cm. The powdered steel version of that is cpm-154. Powdered steel is made from powder of the various elements, multiplying some of the original steels properties.
https://knifesteelnerds.com/2018/05/21/154cm-development-properties-legacy/
Rwl34 is the European version of cpm-154 steel. It's basically the same exact thing. Custom makers use it because it's easy to work with, it's stainless, gives a great mirror finish, tough and has fair edge retention. It's also fairly exclusive in knives. Being used by mostly customs and reate, no doubt due to Todd begg. Of which also helped reate be one of the best cnc and quality in the business.
In anycase recent testing has shown that the cpm version of 154cm is more focused on other properties than edge retention, as the above article explains more on the details of of the base metal.
https://knifesteelnerds.com/2018/06/18/maximizing-edge-retention/
It also explains how edge retention can be improved by edge angles. Some might read more into it, but the fact is, different alloys will increase edge retention over this particular steel.
The fact is rwl34 is a great steel but doesn't have edge retention like m390/20cv/204p class steels, but fairs well regardless. toughness has increased and this is good for piercing, light prying etc. Though I would not pry with a knife ever unless it was like 55hrc like an Emerson or if the tip and edge were stout. Highly stainless and really easy for manufactures to work with to reduce using too many belts and exotic heat treatment techniques.
https://knifesteelnerds.com/2018/05/21/154cm-development-properties-legacy/
Rwl34 is the European version of cpm-154 steel. It's basically the same exact thing. Custom makers use it because it's easy to work with, it's stainless, gives a great mirror finish, tough and has fair edge retention. It's also fairly exclusive in knives. Being used by mostly customs and reate, no doubt due to Todd begg. Of which also helped reate be one of the best cnc and quality in the business.
In anycase recent testing has shown that the cpm version of 154cm is more focused on other properties than edge retention, as the above article explains more on the details of of the base metal.
https://knifesteelnerds.com/2018/06/18/maximizing-edge-retention/
It also explains how edge retention can be improved by edge angles. Some might read more into it, but the fact is, different alloys will increase edge retention over this particular steel.
The fact is rwl34 is a great steel but doesn't have edge retention like m390/20cv/204p class steels, but fairs well regardless. toughness has increased and this is good for piercing, light prying etc. Though I would not pry with a knife ever unless it was like 55hrc like an Emerson or if the tip and edge were stout. Highly stainless and really easy for manufactures to work with to reduce using too many belts and exotic heat treatment techniques.
Viajames
118
Aug 18, 2018
HatuletohRwl34 is used on alot of customs,including the Norseman by grimmsmo...fun fact, its named after Robert (Bob) W Loveless
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