Max Knives P14OL — Folding pocket knife, 440C blade, olive wood handle

Overview

The P14OL takes the frame of the house pocket folder and dresses it in olive wood. Its 440C stainless blade measures 53 mm here, with a plain edge and a straight profile that carries on the line of the handle. Closed, the knife is 90 mm, the length of its handle; open, it reaches 127 mm. A liner lock holds the blade in the working position and releases under the thumb. It is a general-purpose pocket knife: bread on the tablecloth, garden twine, the apple at eleven o'clock, the tape on a parcel.

Olive wood against bone: two materials, two blades

Next to the P14B, which wears a bone handle and a 47 mm blade, the P14OL plays a different tune. Its olive wood is dense and oily, veined with brown over a blond ground, and every handle shows the drawing of the branch it came from, so no two are alike. That wood takes a patina from the hand, darkens gently over the years and gains a polish that use maintains better than any cloth. The blade, six millimetres longer and straight in profile, gives a long continuous plain edge that slices in one pass, where the bone version plays compactness. Same 90 mm handle, same steel, same lock: the choice is made on material and on blade.

Technical specifications

The blade is 440C stainless steel, straight in profile and plain edged, and measures 53 mm. The olive wood handle is 90 mm long, which gives the length of the knife once it is folded; open, it measures 127 mm. The blade is secured by a liner lock, a spring leaf built into the handle that moves behind the heel of the open blade and is cleared with a single hand.

Care

Olive wood likes to be fed: a cloth with a little olive or linseed oil, once or twice a year, revives the grain and keeps the material from drying out. Wash the knife by hand in warm water without letting it soak, and wipe it immediately. Wipe the 440C blade dry after cutting, particularly after acidic fruit or fatty food. A drop of light oil in the pivot and on the liner lock leaf keeps the movement crisp, and leaving the knife open for a few minutes lets it dry completely before it goes back into a pocket.

Legal notice. Carrying a knife in public without a legitimate reason is an offence in France and in most European countries. Check the law that applies where the order is delivered before purchasing.