WE Knife Trogon Review

WE Knives collaborated with Brian Brown to develop the WE Knife Trogon. He is an acclaimed knife designer coming from retail background and started making knives a few years ago. He won the 2021 Blade Show West “Best Tactical Folder” award for his Warthog design. He then levelled up and began working with knife production companies such as WE Knives to put designs into the hands of the masses for a far lower price.

WE Knife Trogon is a thumb stud folding knife featuring a titanium frame lock, bearing pivot, CPM 20CV steel blade, and anodization. It is 7.75” long overall with a 3.25” blade and 4.5” handle. The blade has a bead blasted finish, while the blue titanium handle has a stonewash finish. It comes with a pocket clip and a black nylon zipped storage pouch.

The WE knife Trogon came in its standard black cardboard box with the serial number, barcode, Made in China label, and the variant description – blue titanium handle.

It comes with a black nylon pouch, inside which is the WE Knife Trogon wrapped in a plastic sleeve, a WE Knives sticker, an authenticity certificate, and a carbon fiber cleaning cloth.

The knife came out in a perfect condition, with a stonewash finish on its blue titanium handle. The pivot is anodized with the WE logo on it, a thumb stud, and a slightly milled handle.

The pocket clip is also blue titanium, with two screws in place. The handle has one rear screw, one pivot screw, and milled body screws, holding the knife together.

The blade has an immaculate bead-blasted finish, featuring the ultra-premium CPM 20CV with spear point, hollow grind, and a plain edge. It also has a slight finger choil and jimping lines along the spine, although not long enough to fit a thumb. The swedge at which the blade curves has flat grind lines. It is 3.25” long, good for EDC tasks.

We cut slices of cardboard with it just to try it out, and it cut with laser speed and precision.

The handle felt smooth yet grippy in the hand, with contoured edges and comfortable grip. The handle is 4.5” long, so it fits easily in an average-sized hand. The pocket clip is configured for left and right hand tip-up carry, and hangs well in the pocket of any fabric. It is also thoroughly polished.

The blade’s flat grind is slightly easier to sharpen than the hollow grind, but does a fine job.

The blade of WE Knife Trogon is ultra-thin, with a blade stock thickness of 0.16”, a width of 1.19” and length of 3.25”. It has dual grinds, mainly featuring hollow grind through its cutting length, with a flat grind towards the swedge. It resembles a tanto style blade overall.

The bead-blasted finish gives it a satin shine and sheen to it that hides wear, looks high-end and aids in cutting performance. Another interesting feature of the knife is that it does not contain the blade material, country of origin, or other text on it. It only features a Brian Brown logo on one side and nothing more, which adds class to it.

The blue titanium stonewash-finished 4.5” handle is well-contoured and micro-milled in a diagonal fashion and anodized blue. It gives the knife a high-end feel without being slippery, while keeping some aesthetic pleasure with built-in wear.

The scales are drilled with five speed holes on each side, which were then chamfered and polished, so each one has a little flash to it. The show side is simple, with a simple WE logo on the pivot, the five speed holes, and a single standoff screw. But the lock side has more to show. The pivot uses an anodized collar around the blue anodized screw, the lock bar features a steel insert that doubles as lock bar over travel stop, screwed in from the outside.

The pocket clip is also milled titanium and anodized too, to match the scales. The bottom of the handle has a matching standoff screw that mates up to the show side. It is configured for tip-up carry for both left and right hand.

The back spacer is also a blue titanium anodized and stonewashed, with a small mini standoff for a lanyard. The Trogon features a hidden blade stop construction, which is actually a crossbar in the blade, and the handle scales are milled for the stop pin to ride on. The ceramic caged bearings pivot complete the feature list of the handle that makes the deployment and lockup smooth.

All the seams and edges of the handle are smooth and well-chamfered, fit perfectly in the hand, and have no movement or ratting in any way. It has no blemishes or fitment issues. The hardware is anodized to match, the screws are anodized, giving an overall high-end look to the knife.

The WE Knife Trogon features thumb studs for deployment, and a titanium frame lock as its lockup mechanism. The dual thumb studs are within easy access of the thumb and fingers. They are large, stepped, and flat on the edge so they do not pinch. The detent is dialed in just right where the blade does not pop open with a little shake if the knife is closed. That shows a solid lockup, and easy for use in the field with frequent usage.

The lockup is also good because of the caged ceramic ball bearings pivot. It is solid with no blade play left or right and engineered just right with no back to front flex or play. The bearings however, do feel a bit scratchy, not due to dirt or debris. It is not as smooth as we would expect caged ceramic balls to be. The lock bar access is easy but limited. At 4.5 ounces with a hefty blade, a little more access to the lock bar would have been nice. It requires a bit of juggling to get to the lockup. But once the lock disengages, the blade falls freely and locks up in position. And it can be shaken into a closed position with a minimal flick.

We tested the Trogon a bit during our first impressions by cutting slices of cardboard, and it proved its razor-sharp smoothness and slicing ability.

The ergonomics were a bit questionable when taken into the field. It is fairly slim throughout the length of the handle until we get to the pivot with a hidden blade stop. It still fits in the hand quite well though. We cannot choke hold it, given the minimal choil and jimping that is simply not enough.

Even with the chamfering, the handle does not feel thin around the edges. It is heavy enough to use the knife without much hot spots.

However, slicing through cardboard boxes using the longer belly of the edge is a breeze. The front section of the blade is a little thicker than the tip, and pierces through the cardboard just fine. Bearing down on some pines further makes the ergonomics hard.

When it comes to minor food preparation, it is a bit too thick and will split the food better than cutting it. It is good for cutting ropes though, but not exactly made for it.

The factory edge is well done, razor-sharp, shiny, and shaves with ease. However, sharpening it may be a bit technical, given the dual grind lines. But as with thicker stock, it adds a slippery feel to the edge when cutting more fibrous materials. It may subside with the sharpening, but worth mentioning.

The Trogon rides well in the pocket. The milled titanium pocket clip with the narrow handle end with a fancy pocket clip without too much weight works well.

The Reate V2 Raptor is also a product of Brian Brown, which is a production version of his Warthog knife. Although it is not in the same price range – Raptor being at $400, it has dual thumb stud deployment, titanium scales and frame lock with an overall similar aesthetic as the Trogon. The V2 Raptor has many variants with price depending on materials and blade composition. It also features CPM 20CV blade, but with black finish.

WE Thug XL is another knife designed by WE Knives in collaboration with designer Matthew Christiansen and nearly identical to the Trogon in dimensions, but 0.25 ounces heavier. It also has a compound tanto style blade, in almost the same price range. It has a titanium frame lock with the same hardware, but with the scales having more hand-rubbed look. It is quite the contender to the Trogon with a slightly different appeal.

We found WE Knife Trogon having quite the contrast between its features, design, and performance. It has high-quality features and design functions, but not as good a cutting performance as we would expect. Although it is razor-sharp and slices well, its blade stock is too thick for tasks like kitchen preparation and cutting ropes. It is a good slicer but not a good chopper.

The handle is well-chamfered and contoured, but lacks practical ergonomics when tested in the field. It feels a bit bulkier with a thicker blade. The titanium pocket clip however, rides perfectly. It does not create any hot spots against any fabric. It is tip-up carry but not lightweight.

The deployment and ergonomics is perfect when it comes to design and features, but lacks in the field. The caged ceramic ball bearings do not work as smoothly as expected. The access to lock bar is limited, but the lockup is solid once the blade is disengaged. It works well when flicked in a smooth action.

It costs lesser or falls in the same price range when compared to other similar knives in the market. It is a high-end product with a designer attached to the WE Knives manufacturing.