‘Nymble’ But Brutish: Vosteed’s Latest EDC is a Burly Workhorse

It’s Thursday night, I’m pretty sure. The automatic doors at the airport open with a groan, and I am hit with a dry heat I haven’t felt in months. I’ve just arrived in Walvis Bay, a port town on Namibia’s coast in Africa. I am on the cusp of a week-long safari in search of birds and any of the big five that my travel companion and I can get our cameras on. With no prior experience, no sleep since Tuesday, and a blurred sense of time and space that comes from overseas travel, the adventure is about to begin.

For this bucket list adventure, I packed the Vosteed Nymble as my one daily carry for the entire week, and I didn’t go anywhere without it. It’s a bigger knife than I usually carry, but then again, this is a much bigger adventure than my typical daily life. My time in Namibia served as a great testing ground for Vosteed’s latest EDC folder.

In short: The Nymble is a stout EDC that offers multi-deployment and Vosteed’s coveted Vanchor Lock. Designed with John Rusk of EMP EDC, it is a fresh design with Vosteed at its core.

Vosteed Nymble Review

Meet the Vosteed Nymble

The brand new Nymble joins Vosteed’s lineup of established folders. The titanium handle is CNC-machined with a honeycomb pattern and sculpted contours, giving it a standout look. The design was made in tandem with John Rusk of EMP EDC, and includes the coveted front and back flippers, along with a dual-milled oval opening so you’re set whether you’re wearing gloves, have cold wet hands, or just want to fidget flip for a few minutes during a boring meeting.

The 3.25-inch Elmax blade is a tanto shape, making it great for piercing and scraping and with a HRC 61 that will hold an edge throughout myriad heavy-cutting tasks. At 7.63 inches overall in length, and just over 0.5 inches-thick, this knife takes up significant space among its weight-weenie EDC counterparts.

As with everything in life, the tradeoff is a knife that is brawny and tough, and can withstand just about any cutting task you put it through.

The Vanchor Lock is a Vosteed original, a combination of a pivot-centered release with a solid steel locking structure. Jimping on the spine of the blade and a titanium pocket clip close out an impressive rap sheet.

The knife arrives in a quality case, which I thought was a really nice touch for a tool of this price point ($300+). The case is a molded hardshell with dual latches — it looks like a mini Pelican case. I found this a “nice-to-have” option when traveling with the knife in my checked luggage.

The Nymble In The Desert

The Nymble has been my primary daily carry for several weeks now, and it has been by my side for everything from routine office days and errand runs, to camping trips and out-of-state fishing trips. I’ve used it for opening packages, meal prep, cutting back plants, cutting fishing line, trimming up kindling, and more. The knife has handled everything with ease, and it doesn’t come as a surprise.

The biggest test with this knife was taking it to Namibia for my first trip to Africa. This trip would include hiking and camping in remote parts of the Namibian desert, and one of the most remote (and beautiful) landscapes I have experienced to date. I wanted to see how the knife would hold up to the random tasks that come up while off-grid, and whether using it in extreme heat and sandy conditions would tarnish my feelings for it.

I used my knife mainly for meal prep, slicing and dicing veggies, prying open cans, trimming meats, and of course cutting into pesky packaging. I also used the knife to cut tape and make adjustments to gear we had on hand but hadn’t used yet. Even with all the dust and sand, the Nymble would open with a snap and cut with ease. Barring fending off a lion, I felt confident the Nymble could handle all the routine camp chores.

The fancy materials and features are all well and good, but when you’re in a pinch, that’s far from your mind. Sometimes, you just need a knife to work. I want my knife to snap open and perform the task at hand without worrying about sluggish deployment, a wobbly blade, or a quickly dulled edge. After several days in Namibia, I feel confident in saying that the Nymble is a dependable EDC, and one that I know I can count on for a variety of tasks and scenarios.

I loved the larger jimping along the spine of the blade, and the choil for a more forward grip. While not super aggressive, it was perfect for meal prep and other tasks that needed a little more finesse.

One thing I noticed was that the handle had a few hotspots, especially when I was gripping it tightly. It was even more noticeable in the heat of the desert when my palms were already sweating. Your mileage may vary based on your hand size, but it was pretty pronounced. More on that later.

Overall, the knife feels bulky. Depending on your style and preference, that might be a good thing. For me, I’ve felt that it depends on what I am using the knife for. Day-to-day, outside of testing, I don’t think I would pick this knife as my daily carry because of the size. It is pretty thick and moderately heavy.

My daily tasks rarely have a true need for a beefy cutting tool. However, for any type of outdoor adventure, this would be a top pick without a doubt.

Dangerous Curves Ahead

This knife doesn’t play games. It is unapologetic in the way it takes up space in your pocket. For me, the weight and “bulk” of this knife is a downside. I don’t like to feel the knife in my pocket throughout the day—I usually prefer to forget I have a knife on me until I realize I need one. With that in mind, a bigger knife comes with perks, too. And it isn’t lost on me that a person who wears thicker jeans, work pants, or otherwise might not notice a knife like this nearly as much as I do.

The other piece is the honeycomb handle. I love the handle’s design from an aesthetic standpoint, and the titanium material is strong and lightweight. However, the texture of the handle is “sharp” and doesn’t feel smooth in the hand. If you use the knife for a longer period of time, you start to feel the edges in the design. Day-to-day this isn’t a big deal for me since most of my cutting tasks are quick. But when I was using it to chop everything up for meal prep, I started to notice the edges from the constant pressure on the handle.

Final Thoughts: Who’s It For?

The Vosteed Nymble is a workhorse that is worthy of a spot in my rotation. While it may be a little big for me to use daily, it’s an invaluable option for times when things might get dicey. I find myself reaching for this knife when I am headed out camping, hiking, hunting, or going off-grid, knowing that it will hold up to just about anything I can throw at it.

And while it is expensive, it is made with high-quality materials that will stand the test of time. If you consistently need a knife with the brawn to take on challenging cutting tasks, this knife is for you.