Ferocious Form & Function: Bridgeport Knife Co 395 v2 Review

We live in a time when you can get a virtually perfectly made knife from a dozen different companies, on at least three different continents. The production of knives and their fitment has come a long way since the debut of the Barlow during the Industrial Revolution.

Parts were so crude then that the iconic extra-long bolster was needed to hold everything together. Now you can contract with heaps of operations, send them a CAD drawing, and get a stellar blade by the gross in a few months.

Given this manufacturing prowess, the knife game has really become one focused on materials and design. Materials themselves are coming to a similar point, as you can find M390 blade steel on $40 knives and previous exotic MokuTi comes on about four new knives a month.

So, when fitment and materials are not really a competitive advantage, folks have to turn to superior design.

Bridgeport Knife Co. has done that. The second version of its first knife (the 395) is a tour de force of great design. It looks somewhat simple, but after a few cutting sessions, you will greatly appreciate all those little touches.

In short: The 395 v2 is a great knife with simple, clean lines, a slicey blade, and a truly outstanding pocket clip. This is not just a good knife, but one that vaults BKC into the discussion of the best EDC folder.

Bridgeport Knife Co 395 v2: Review

Overview & Design

There are a few variants of the knife. The handle materials vary — micarta, fat carbon, and titanium (if you want a Ti-handled version, you have to get it from WayofKnives.com).

There are also two opening method setups — opening hole and thumb stud. You can get your knife with either a hole or a stud and a hole, but not all handle materials are on each deployment setup. The review sample was fat carbon with just the opening hole.

The blade itself is part of a growing trend of blade shapes that really blend the taxonomy of blades. It’s a reverse tanto with a bit of a drop point in it. The handle is a little boxy, offering no contouring but pleasantly buttered edges.

The pocket clip is an excellent, ultra-low-profile sculpted clip. Finally, the knife uses a very easy-to-access linerlock.

First Impressions

When you first see the knife, it won’t blow you away. It looks like a softened-up, taller, but not quite as long Benchmade 940. That’s a really popular knife, but never one that I thought of as an ergonomic or performance masterpiece. Its long but narrow blade made it surprisingly bad at slicing, but it carried well and came with good steel, so people liked it despite its obvious shortcomings (hey, BM, what about an FFG version?).

But that reverse tanto shape was put on a tall, very hollow ground blade, and the result is a cutting champion.

When you combine the good performance with a “hidden” finger choil (it only appears when the blade is open, much like the choils found on the Spyderco Gayle Bradley 1 and 2), with a great clip, you realize that the 395 is one of the better EDC choices out there. The clip is so good that it is the first knife I have ever had where it never created a hotspot.

Additionally, at $145, the 395 bucks the trend of crazy expensive knives. This is a great value, on par with my favorite knife available right now, the TRM Neutron 2.

Drawbacks

There are two drawbacks, especially on the opening hole-only knife.

First, it requires a Spydieflick, thanks to a pretty strong detent.

Second, given the fact that you can’t really rest your fingers on the clip as you do on other Spydieflick knives, this requires some real finger yoga.

Bridgeport Knife Co 395 v2: Conclusion

If you have a bunch of knives and regularly use this odd deployment method, the 395 is no big deal. If not, there could be a learning curve.

But the knife is good enough to make the work worth the effort.The Bridgeport Knife Co 395 v2 is highly recommended.