Max Knives MKO3 — Compact double action automatic, 440C blade

Overview

Not every automatic goes looking for length. The MKO3 plays the compact card: a 100 mm handle (110 mm with the glass breaker), a 70 mm drop point blade, 177 mm in total once open. The push button commands the launch and the return in double action, and the steel chosen for the blade is 440C, with an edge that is half plain and half serrated. The handle, in a zinc and aluminium alloy, carries a glass breaker; it takes a belt clip and a lanyard hole. The nylon sheath is included. All of which puts one-handed opening in your pocket in a footprint you forget about.

Zinc-aluminium, a handle that is cast

Zinc and aluminium alloys are not worked like a machined block of aluminium: they are poured into a mould while liquid, and they reproduce the shape down to its smallest detail. That is what allows a handle of this family to show ribs, grip hollows and internal housings formed in one piece, with nothing assembled afterwards. Zinc gives the alloy a higher density than aluminium on its own, hence the sense of solid material you feel in the hand on a short knife. On the MKO3 the technique serves a 100 mm handle that houses the double action mechanism and its glass breaker.

Technical specifications

A 70 mm drop point blade in 440C steel, 2.5 mm thick, with a half plain, half serrated edge. A 100 mm handle in zinc-aluminium alloy, fitted with a glass breaker that brings the closed length to 110 mm. Automatic double action opening by push button, the same button retracting the blade. Overall length with the knife open: 177 mm. The MKO3 has a belt clip and a lanyard hole, and ships with a nylon sheath.

Care

A short knife slips in everywhere, including the pockets where crumbs and lint collect: clear out the blade channel regularly before the mechanism does it for you. The zinc-aluminium alloy is cleaned with warm soapy water and then dried thoroughly, never left to sit wet. On the blade, pay attention to the junction between the plain and serrated sections, where residue likes to settle. A trace of fine oil in the mechanism, two or three times a year, keeps the travel even.

Legal notice. Age-restricted item (18+). In France this knife is a Category D item: legal to sell but reserved for adults, with age verification at checkout. Automatic and OTF knives are restricted or prohibited in many countries — the United Kingdom, Germany and several US states among them. It is the buyer's responsibility to check the law that applies where the order is delivered before purchasing.