Strider Knives, Inc. is a custom and production knifemaking facility headed by Mickey Ray Burger, founded and based in

San Marcos, California San Marcos ( ; Spanish for " St. Mark") is a city in the North County region of San Diego County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 94,833. It is the site of California State University San Marcos and ...

Materials and design

Strider Knives makes folding knives and fixed-blade knives, using metals such as ATS-34,

CPM S30V steel CPM S30V is a martensitic (hardened) powder-made (sintered) wear and corrosion-resistant stainless steel developed by Dick Barber of Crucible Industries in collaboration with knifemaker Chris Reeve. Its chemistry promotes the formation and even d ...

titanium Titanium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resistant to corrosion in ...

stellite Stellite alloys are a range of cobalt-chromium alloys designed for wear resistance. "Stellite" is also a registered trademark of Kennametal Inc. and is used in association with cobalt-chromium alloys. History Stellite was invented by Elwood Hay ...

beryllium Beryllium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Be and atomic number 4. It is a steel-gray, hard, strong, lightweight and brittle alkaline earth metal. It is a divalent element that occurs naturally only in combination with ...

damascus steel Damascus steel (Arabic: فولاذ دمشقي) refers to the high-carbon crucible steel of the blades of historical swords forged using the wootz process in the Near East, characterized by distinctive patterns of banding and mottling reminiscent ...

, and BG-42 for the blades. Currently Strider does runs in many premium super steels (CTS-204P, Z-Wear, CTS-40CP, CTS-B75P, CPM-154, CPM-S110V,CPM-3V).Covert, Pat."Strider Knives Are Hard Corps", ''

American Handgunner ''American Handgunner'' is a magazine dedicated to handguns, handgun hunting, competition shooting, reloading, tactical knife and other shooting-related activities in the United States. It is a sister publication to ''Guns'' and ''American Cop ...

'', March–April 2000 Strider fixed blade knives utilize

Steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

Paracord Parachute cord (also paracord or 550 cord when referring to type-III paracord) is a lightweight nylon kernmantle rope originally used in the suspension lines of parachutes. This cord is now used as a general purpose utility cord. This versati ...

or G-10

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a common type of fibre-reinforced plastic, fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened i ...

for the handle material. Strider uses a proprietary heat treatment originally developed by Paul Bos of

Buck Knives Buck Knives is an American knife brand and manufacturer founded in San Diego, California in 1947 as H.H. Buck and Son, and now located in Post Falls, Idaho. Company founder and family patriarch Hoyt Buck made his first knife in 1902, but did no ...

.Gardner, James. "Duel of the Titans: two exceptional folders exemplify state-of-the-art", ''Guns Magazine'', June 2005 This resulted in knives with blades of ATS-34 or BG-42 coming back from heat treat with a very dark colored blade which would then be bead blasted a flat grey color. After masking a blade before beadblasting, Mick Strider found it resulted in a striping or

camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...

effect and it has become a part of the design.Kertzman, Joe. "Earn Your Steel Stripes", ''Blade Magazine'', March, 2006Covert, Pat."Evolving edges: Strider Knives get Better and Badder!", ''

'', January–February 2005 As the newest steel Strider uses, CPM S30V does not darken after heat treating, a black oxide coating is applied beforehand.

Strider folding knives

After eight years of making fixed blade knives, Strider turned to making folding knives. Strider's goal was to produce a folding knife that was as strong as a fixed blade. To work toward this goal, Strider relied on the use of G10 Fiberglass handles, titanium liners thicker than what was in current use throughout the cutlery industry and an oversized pivot screw 0.19" in diameter. The end results were two linerlocks known as the AR and GB models. Strider makes titanium handled framelock folding knives. These models utilize the handle itself as the locking mechanism and are named the SMF, SnG, PT, and RC models.

Military models

Strider's first project as a company was to supply

Naval Special Warfare The United States Naval Special Warfare Command (USNSWC), also known as NAVSPECWARCOM and WARCOM, is the naval component of United States Special Operations Command, the unified command that oversees and conducts the nation's special operatio ...

Group 1 with WB and BG models in 1994. Strider Knives currently makes several models specifically for units of the US Military in the Global War on Terror, each with its own NSN.

NATO Stock Number A NATO Stock Number, or National Stock Number (NSN) as it is known in the U.S., is a 13-digit numeric code used by the NATO military alliance, identifying all the 'standardized material items of supply' as they have been recognized by all member ...

s are:

Strider SMF The Strider SMF is a framelock folding knife that was specifically developed for Det One, the first unit of the United States Marine Corps (USMC) under the United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM). The Strider SMF was the first knife iss ...

(officially - Knife, Folding, Special Mission) 1095-01-531-5015, Strider DB-L (officially - Knife, Fixed, Camo) 1095-01-531-5023, the JB1 (officially - Shroud Knife) 1670-09-000-3920, and the Probe Knife 1095-01-503-7231, built for landmine detection. Strider Knives has designed a new

bayonet A bayonet (from Old French , now spelt ) is a -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , now spelt ) is a knife, dagger">knife">-4; we might wonder whethe ...

it hopes to market to the US military. The blade is CPM S30V and it features a tang extending all the way to the latch plate for increased strength. Strider designed the bayonet for Zero Tolerance Knives, which will release it as the ZT Bayonet D9. Strider Knives has manufactured modern versions of classic military designs such as the V-42 stiletto, the Marine Raider stiletto, the SOG Knife, the USMC Fighting Utility Knife, and the

Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife The Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife is a double-edged fighting knife resembling a dagger or poignard with a brass or wooden foil grip. It was developed by William Ewart Fairbairn and Eric Anthony Sykes in Shanghai based on ideas that the two ...

. These versions have the same profile as the originals, but incorporate modern steel and materials in their designs. The SOG Knife, Marine Raider stiletto, and V-42 stiletto have been used to raise funds for Veteran's Groups associated with those units.

Collaborations

Strider Knives has collaborated with the following companies: *

for a variety of Strider developed knife designs mass-produced at a more affordable price. * SureFire Flashlights. Strider Knives collaborated with SureFire by making an exclusive SF fixed-blade numbered and marked with the SureFire logo and sold with an identically numbered Strider marked M2CombatLight. * Unertl Optical Company, Inc. (longtime manufacturer of USMC

Scout Sniper United States Marine Corps Scout Sniper ( MOS 0317, formerly 8541) was a secondary MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) designator of U.S. Marine Corps infantrymen and reconnaissance Marines that have graduated from a U.S. Marine Corps Scout Sn ...

Scopes) for a unique SMF knife paired up with each custom 1911 pistol sold. * Zero Tolerance Knives for Strider joint designs with custom Knifemaker,

Ken Onion Ken Onion (born January 16, 1963) is an American custom knifemaker based in Kaneohe, Hawaii, United States who invented the "SpeedSafe" assisted opening mechanism for Kershaw Knives. Ken Onion was the Premier Knife Designer for Kershaw Knives. ...

. A portion of the proceeds from every sale of Zero Tolerance Knives is donated to the Paralyzed Veterans of America. Strider,

and Zero Tolerance won Blade Magazine's Publisher's Award for 2006 because of this collaboration. *

Richard Marcinko Richard Marcinko (November 21, 1940 – December 25, 2021) was a United States Navy SEALs, U.S. Navy SEAL Commander (United States), commander and Vietnam War veteran. He was the first commanding officer of United States Naval Special Warfare D ...

for the "Rogue Warrior" series of knives named after the author's

series of books A book series is a sequence of books having certain characteristics in common that are formally identified together as a group. Book series can be organized in different ways, such as written by the same author, or marketed as a group by their publ ...

References

External links

Strider Knives, Inc. official site
{{Knives Knife manufacturing companies Companies based in San Marcos, California