SHOT Show 2025 Recap
Big Trends, Bold Revivals, and Exciting Innovations in the Knife World
SHOT Show 2025 is officially in the books, and it was awesome! We saw tons of cool new products from a bunch of different brands. And while each is unique, I noticed a few exciting trends I’d like to talk about here. If you’re interested in what each brand released, check out our SHOT Show 2025 YouTube playlist. Or, stay tuned for upcoming articles breaking down each brand’s new offerings.
But for now, here are the biggest knife trends we noticed at SHOT Show 2025!
In This Article
- Reviving the Classics: Iconic Knives Return
- The End of Crucible? Knife Steel’s Shaky Future
- EDC Fixed Blades: The Growing Trend
- The Crossbar Lock Craze Continues
- Smaller Knives, Bigger Benefits
- Ka-Bar & Estwing: The Ultimate Collaboration
- Magpul Knives Enter the Scene
- Innovation Ahead: 2025 Here We Come!
Reviving the Classics: Iconic Knives Return
Lots of companies brought back bangers from yesteryear, and I’m here for it.
First of all was Benchmade, who re-introduced the Bedlam line with the new Mini Bedlam. Benchmade fans remember the Bedlam for being a giant Persian-style tactical knife. While the Mini certainly can be tactical, at its moderate size, it’s perfect for EDC.
Spyderco brought back the Harpy line too. But I will warn you. If you’re a Harpy fan, I’d act now and get your friends to do the same. Because Eric Glesser, who runs Spyderco, said if it doesn’t sell well, it’s going back in the Spyderco vault!
In addition, Buck brought back their line of USA-made Stockman-pattern traditional knives. Pro-Tech is making the Don again. And Boker even started making knives in the USA again after 80 years! With all this nostalgia, I feel like I should wear a pair of hammer pants and call things "groovy" again!
The End of Crucible? Knife Steel’s Shaky Future
It’s no secret that Crucible Industries, who makes many of our favorite blade steels, isn’t doing too hot right now. At the end of 2024, they sent the New York Department of Labor a WARN Notice.
A giant TL;DR of that document:
- Crucible is in a ton of debt, and is poised to close up shop in early 2025 unless they get bought out—or find that several million dollars worth of spare change they lost behind the smelter.
- The good news is that several companies are looking to bid on it, but for now, Crucible’s future is uncertain.
As such, I noticed a bunch of knife companies swapping blade steels out for steels made by other companies. Don’t get me wrong. Plenty of companies are still cooking with MagnaCut and S35VN. But some of the bigger companies, especially those whose production schedules are a few months out, took the precaution of switching many of their steels from Crucible to Bohler.
We certainly hope that Crucible and their steels find a way to live on. But if not, the knife industry is taking measures to make sure the music never stops.
EDC Fixed Blades: The Growing Trend
A trend started forming in 2024 that came to full force this year at SHOT Show: the EDC fixed blade. I’m not sure what caused it, but knife folks have fallen back in love with knives that don’t fold. And knife companies are ready to provide them.
Boker is the standout in this category, releasing multiple compact fixed blades with pocketable sheaths right out of the box. Another perk of those Bokers is their range in price, from ultra-premium to the $50 ballpark.
Benchmade also released another sheath option for their Dacian that came out last year. MKM put out a foxy fixed blade version of the LOV. And even Kansept came out with a sweet fixie with a titanium handle. And that’s just the beginning!
As a long-time fixed blade fan, I’m super pumped for the buffet of blades we got this year!
The Crossbar Lock Craze Continues
The crossbar lock craze is still in full force, and it’s only getting crazier. All but three brands I visited put out either a straight-up crossbar lock or something inspired by it. And there were many more I didn’t get to see.
People love this lock for its titanic strength and its easy ambidextrous operation. It’s great to see so many options of style, size, and price on the market.
The standout showing in the crossbar lock pack, at least in my opinion, was the Buck Range. Not only is the lock dialed in to perfection, but the whole knife is just so well thought out. The blade is incredibly thin at only 0.09." So, it will slice like a dream and every corner is perfectly rounded—except that hair-splitting edge. But if the Range isn’t quite your speed, there’s bound to be a new crossbar lock that suits your fancy!
Smaller Knives, Bigger Benefits
In years past, we’ve seen tons of big knives come out, with the logic being that bigger means more edge. Which means more choppy-slicey. Which means brain do a bigger happy.
But I noticed the knife showing at SHOT Show gravitated a bit smaller than normal.
We see thinner blades, more milling, and more efforts to keep the size and weight down. The most obvious example of this is the Spyderco Edgerati. I don’t think they could have taken any more material out of that handle and have it still function. It’s the same size as the Shaman, but significantly lighter thanks to the milling and the straight spine.
Buck is known for their big, tough blades. But the Range, while still tough enough for Buck’s exacting standards, is rather slim and pocketable. Heck, instead of releasing the old favorite as it was, even Benchmade went ahead and released the Bedlam as a mini!
Ka-Bar & Estwing: The Ultimate Collaboration
We saw a lot of collaborations at SHOT Show. But the biggest collaboration came from Ka-Bar and Estwing.
In hindsight, these brands feel like they’d be best buds. I’m honestly surprised it took this long for the crossover to happen, but it’s still awesome. Estwing, known for striking tools, now has a hammer with a stacked leather handle and Ka-Bar branding. Ka-Bar has a knife with a blue rubberized handle and Estwing branding.
Many collaborations we’ve seen before, but others were a fun surprise:
- Spyderco and Pie-In-The-Sky reunited for a nifty slip joint based around a compliant mechanism.
- Jerad Neeve and WE Knives released the Inmate.
- And Ramon Chaves now has a Redencion auto made by Pro-Tech.
Just to name a few.
All of the above are made in the USA and backed by a great warranty. It’s super cool to see!
Magpul Knives Enter the Scene
We always meet new knife brands at SHOT Show, and this year was no exception. However, there was one that was particularly peculiar, and you gun folks might just know them: Magpul.
Magpul is known for pioneering molded polymer firearm components. This year, they released the Breslau line of knives with metal injection molded (MIM) blades. Yep, you read that right.
They spent the better part of the last two years prototyping and testing their blades, trying to reach super-steel performance out of MIM. And by golly they did it. That innovation brings a ton of features that just aren’t available on conventionally made blades, and we’re excited to see it.
For all you knife historians out there, yes, other companies have made MIM’ed blades in the past. But Magpul has done it differently.
Instead of using an established MIM steel and living with the results, Magpul cooked up their own steel specifically designed for MIM. And they didn’t stop iterating until they had the results they wanted. Their steel, MVN35, is quite a leap in MIM technology. I can’t wait for the community to get it in their hands!
Innovation Ahead: 2025 Here We Come!
Pretty much everyone in the knife industry can agree that 2024 was a hard year. But, I’m inspired by how knife companies have reacted. Instead of drastic downsizing and focusing on their core, they’ve looked forward, put their heads together, and put out—in my opinion—the best lineup of knives the world has ever seen.
So be patient, join the Blade HQ email list, and stay tuned! Because all of these knives and more are on their way.
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