Pure, unadulterated cool. The cat’s pajamas. That je ne sais quoi, distilled.

Style, folks.

Everyone wants it. This knife’s got it.

This is the CobraTec Gideon, in its silver and abalone incarnation. Which is, of course, not only absolute swankiest but also the shiniest version. Hey, if you’re going to ride into battle against the Midianites you may as well do it while looking fabulous.

CobtraTec is an American knife company based in Texas, but for most of you they’re probably not one of the household names. But based on some internet sleuthing, I have a pretty good hunch that they’re actually the force behind the Böker balisong knives we like so much. That drew them to my attention initially, but their catalog of fairly samey out-the-front switchblades thoroughly fails to captivate me.

But then, there’s this.

The Gideon is a side opener. But you’ll note the utter lack of thumb stud, button, switch, toggle, latch, or plunger. It’s profile is svelte and nearly completely smooth.

You’ll never guess how it opens. Go on, just try.

This is part of CobraTec’s “Hidden Release” series. And not even, you’ll be surprised to learn, the weirdest of the bunch.

This is its opener.

To set it off you slide the diamond textured bolster to the side. Its spring action is quite firm, and you need sharp eyes to notice the hairline gap between this and the handle which’d clue you in that it is in fact a moving component. It’s pretty damn unlikely that anyone would figure out how to open this if you didn’t tell them or they didn’t already know.

The Gideon is precisely 7-1/2" long when open, with a 3-3/8" long drop pointed blade made of 154CM. CobraTec call the blade “3 inches.” To be fair, that’s roughly the length of the usable portion of the edge. It’s subtly hollow ground with a thin, stiletto-like profile. It’s 4-1/8" long closed, and 0.481" thick across its sleek aluminum body not including the clip. It has a pleasing density at 76.4 grams or 2.68 ounces, but thanks again to its aluminum handle it’s not especially heavy overall.

All of this makes it uniquely suited to EDC duty for sufficiently stylin’ people. With no crossguard, protrusions, or other greebles on its surface it rides superbly in or on your pocket. (What? All of the sudden my CQC 6K is silver again? No, silly, I have two of them.)

It’s got a traditional pocket clip with a single position only, tip up carry for right handed people. The clip is not very tightly sprung and since the Gideon’s abalone handle insert is completely smooth this means it draws supremely easily. There’s just enough retention that it won’t fall off of its own accord if it’s dangled upside down while clipped to normal-ish fabric (i.e. my shirttails, which I just tested this with) but if you’re the sort to be habitually rolling around in the mud upside down while Solid Snaking it in the bush, I think it goes without saying that the Gideon is just maybe not the knife for you.

There is a lanyard hole on the tail of the knife which is left exposed even when the knife is clipped.

There are indeed ambidextrous knives in the world, with thoughtfully symmetrical controls suitable for both righties and lefties.

The Gideon is absolutely not one of them.

Never mind the irreversible clip. The opening mechanism is accessible from one side, and one side only. This one, shown here with its textured bolster. Left handed users will probably find this uniquely difficult to use. CobraTec invite you instead to go whistle. That, or buy one of their myriad of out-the-front models with a spine mounted switch instead.

You’ve all watched me spend a lot more on pure nonsense, but at a list price of $130 the Gideon is still not exactly cheap. To make up for it, it’s packing a deceptively intense amount of precision machine work. It starts with this snake’s head embossed in the bolster opposite the one you use to open it.

Come to think of it, CobraTec’s logo looks distinctly viperid. I wonder if anyone ought to tell them that, uh, cobras aren’t vipers.

You get it again on the blade, along with the Gideon’s steel descriptor. There are no other markings.

It’s also assembled very, very competently. Every part of it feels incredibly solid. There is no wiggle in the blade, and it doesn’t touch either side of the handle despite the minuscule clearances around it in its channel.

It’s also got a fully concealed pivot. When CobraTec were constructing this monument to elegance they absolutely weren’t fucking around. The Gideon reveals none of its secrets about how it’s constructed from the outside. The only visible screws are the three holding on the clip, and a single lone one in the tail immediately behind these.

Undoing this doesn’t lead to much, either. The Gideon’s pivot must be press fit; the two halves of the handle can be separated minutely with the tail screw out but the pivot remains resolutely locked together regardless of any amount of wiggling, twisting, or trying to slide a spudger up the gap. Beyond this I’m disinclined to fool with it – It’s a side opening automatic which means that the blade is under spring tension all the time, which means even if I did get it apart it’d go “sproing,” and then be annoying to reassemble.

CobraTec backs this with a lifetime warranty. But I’ll bet you that won’t cover breaking it trying to get it apart.

From the outside we can see that the Gideon is actually a lockback mechanism. The sliding bolster is attached to a hook on the backstrap, and this seesaws on a cross pin in the usual way with spring motive provided by a leaf spring underneath. This is separate from the one for the blade itself, which is presumably a torsion spring. Unusually for a lockback, of course, the lock engages in both the open and closed positions so that the thing won’t spring open in your pocket. You can’t open the blade manually, despite appearances.

The Inevitable Conclusion

This may be sacrilege, but despite its show-off looks and price tag I actually bought my Gideon to be a knife to use – not just for looking at.

Sure, at $130 it’s not cheap in an objective sense. But that’s only before you start comparing it with other American made automatics. The Covetousness Tax ensures that switchblades remain expensive these days, but if you ask me you can spend a whole lot more on one than this and get rather less for your money.

The Gideon’s got a lot going for it in that respect. Its textured anodized handle does a great job at hiding fingerprints, it’s extremely solid, and 154CM is still a quite competent alloy. All in all, this may just be the ultimate gentleman’s knife.

And for fuck’s sake, it’s still $50 cheaper than a Benchmade Bugout. Come on. You can’t tell me this isn’t at least 300% cooler than a Bugout.