It wasn’t that long ago that multiple solid knives were available for less than $30. These days, many of those knives like the Ontario RAT 2, have moved up market to closer to $40 or even more in some cases. So, when someone recently asked what I would recommend for an EDC or work knife for less than $30, I couldn’t fall back on my old recommendations. That’s why I purchased a Civivi Mini Praxis to see what $30 buys you these days.
Specs
- Overall Length: 6.79″ / 172.5mm
- Width: 1.27″ / 32.3mm
- Overall Height(Include Clip): 0.62″ / 15.7mm
- Blade Length: 2.98″ / 75.6mm
- Closed Length: 3.81″ / 96.9mm
- Blade Thickness: 0.1″ / 2.5mm
- Handle Thickness: 0.45″ / 11.5mm
- Knife Weight: 2.77oz / 78.5g
- Blade Material: D2
- Blade Hardness: 59-61HRC
- Blade Grind: Flat
- Blade Type: Drop Point
- Handle Material: G10
- Liner Material: Stainless Steel
- Pocket Clip: Tip-Up, Right Carry
- Clip Material: Stainless Steel
- Screws Material: Stainless Steel
- Pivot Assembly: Caged Ceramic Ball Bearing
- Locking Mechanism: Liner Lock
Observations from Use
The Mini Praxis is essentially just a down-sized version of the Civivi’s well-known Praxis. It is very impressive how gracefully that design, known for being a large work/tactical knife, scaled down to a surprisingly refined EDC-oriented knife that just about disappears in your pocket thanks to a true deep carry clip. I think this is due, in large part, to the finger choil. On the larger Praxis, the choil allows the user to choke up on what is a fairly large knife but on the Mini Praxis, it allows a very svelte and compact knife to feel much larger.
This knife cuts aggressively. Civivi generally does a very nice job with their D2. The cutting geometry on this little laser beam also helps. The spear point blade is thin, with a very high flat grind that thins out the edge very nicely. The long swedge grind provides an acute but relatively strong tip.
The flipping action is what you would expect from Civivi which is to say it is very good. The detent is crisp and the action is smooth so the blade rockets out when you use the back flipper. That’s a good thing because that is the only method for opening the Mini Praxis that is provided by the design. This design is classy enough to serve as an office carry so it would have been nice to have a method of opening that is more suited to slower opening but the design is true to the original Praxis which also only had a back flipper.
Civivi did a great job of taking weight out of this design. The blade is very broad compared to many folders of this size so you might expect it to be heavy but the liners are aggressively skeletonized. The 2.77 ounce weight puts this firmly into ultralight range.
It would have been nice if Civivi didn’t scale down the design quite so literally as I wish the jimping on the spine extended out a little bit more. It also would be nice if the G-10 slabs had a bit more thickness and contour. However, those are relatively small nitpicks at this price. I think people would buy this knife at $45-50 and feel it is was a solid buy. 10 years ago, you would expect to pay $80-100 for something like this… maybe more. In today’s market it is impressive to see it at a sub-$30 price point. That isn’t a sale price either. That is the everyday price.
Wrap Up
The Mini Praxis proves that the Praxis design was more versatile than any of us realized – able to go from rugged work knife to classy EDC just by scaling it down in size. This knife has great cutting performance, solid ergonomics, and it is easy to carry. It’s a well-designed EDC option that impresses at under $30. It seems like a worthy and very recommendable alternative to something like the RAT 2 at this price point.
I purchased my Civivi on Amazon for even less by taking advantage of their occasional used knife offers (returns): Civivi Mini Praxis with satin blade and black G-10 or the Mini Praxis blackwash blade with green G-10 on Amazon.com
I got the Praxis a few weeks back, and found it was well finished and the execution smooth as silk. I was previously carrying a Boker Strike button so the change of tip orientation and deployment is still in the fumble stage, but It will settle down. I’ve carried flippers on and off for years.
I found it was a good choice – and could have saved $10 if delivery direct from China was something I wanted to wait (and wait, and wait) for. Paid the $42.50 retail and received it from a US based shipper. It was packaged well, the zipper knife holster, tags, stickers etc all there.
Looking it over and comparing to say, a BM Osborne Rift or even a Strider SnG, the level of finish with almost no unmachined surfaces, clean lines, and even better, a choil that doesn’t hang up in cutting corrugate cardboard is nice. The SnG has always been a bit short in the blade for taking down boxes and hanging on the choil, the Praxis came out doing the job far better. And it’s very sharp, equal or better to the Rift. It’s also quite a bit more affordable, the prices on the other knives are approaching sepukku levels if lost or stolen. But a nice LPVO would be a great trade off.