Settle down, Dundee — contrary to its comical size, this is indeed a knife. You might have to squint, though; at a 32mm max height, the Slash disappears in even the tiniest polo shirt pocket.
Live now on Kickstarter — and more than 6,000% funded — the Slash proudly anoints itself as the “world’s smallest blade.” Measuring just 8 mm, or roughly one-third of an inch, the Slash’s cutting edge is indeed the teensy-weensiest our editors have seen (even smaller than that pointy part of my laundry room key).
But its sideshow sizing isn’t even the biggest callout for the Slash. It also boasts a blade that, according to the brand, “will never dull,” thanks to its tungsten construction. Now, here’s where the buyer-beware alarm starts to go off.
First of all, the brand — Marlboro & Kane — claims tungsten is “the hardest metal on earth.” That’s not true — it is a very hard metal, but chromium is by most accounts the hardest pure metal on the planet. Tungsten, however, receives extraordinarily high marks for its strength.
Of course, both metals in their pure forms are extremely brittle, so they are amalgamated into steel alloys. And in this form, the Slash’s tungsten steel blade is, comparable to many knife steels, very hard.
That said, with enough use, you would want to hone any blade.
The Slash: World’s Smallest Knife
But the Slash still makes for a potentially intriguing EDC. It screws into a pill-shaped cap, which the brand goes to extraordinary lengths to guarantee will never, ever accidentally open. Makes sense — you’d hate to have the world’s smallest, hardest, never-dull blade popping open in your pants pocket.
To accomplish this, the Slash has a silicone ring gasket that, according to the brand, helps vacuum seal the cap — making the ol’ pop-and-poke next to impossible. (Whew!)
