Bladepoint Boxer

Handmade Boxer knife blade by Bladepoint

The Boxer blade is another result of a need a tool, make a tool. Intended task is the menial but frequent job of opening boxes. Using the Marauder or some heavy knife as a box opener is of course possible, but in all honesty they are quite bulky and heavy for the job. Here is where the Boxer comes in.

Going for a Sheepsfoot design makes perfect sense in many ways. Firstly, the tip is what is doing the bulk of the business when cutting straight shallow cuts. Normal upturned tips are far less ergonomic on the wrists. Wharncliffe type blades have less material behind the tip and thus less durability where it counts. The Sheepsfoot designs history is told by its name. It came from herders who tended to their sheeps hooves and needed a tipless knife for the animals safety. This same feature is excellent when trying not to cut into the contents of the box.

Blade length is more of a hindrance than advantage when opening boxes. The longer the blade, the less control you have at the tip. More weight to fling around, more to sharpen. Increased risk of damaging the contents. The blade on an unboxing knife does not need to be long, in fact, it shouldn't. The Boxer has a 50mm blade length which is more than sufficient for the task.

Slightly untraditional for a box opener is the scandi grind. The thought behind this is that the cutting depth should never be more than the thickness of the box side. The geometry on a scandi will aid in preventing accidental deep cuts in cardboard. 99% of the times, you only want to cut the tape holding the box shut. Also, while a little more cumbersome to sharpen, on a scandi edge it is very easy to maintain a constant angle. The whole edge of the Boxer has a slight curve to it. This improves the cutting performance compared to a straight blade.

The handle on the Boxer is a shorter 3,5 finger style. Smaller hands will probably be able to use this with a normal grip, but I find the best grip is with the forefinger on the spine of the blade. The finger divot in front of the belly is large and suits the angle the long finger comes in at. The belly itself is fairly flat with another small divot towards the back.

Bladepoint Boxer comes in 80CrV2 steel. Main reasons are availability and cost. I have ruined edges on expensive knives with powdersteel blades when cutting into metal clips underneath the tape on boxes. In my experience, it hurts much less if there is a ding on a 80CrV2 blade compared to a S30V one. 80CrV2 is classed as a spring steel and it has some good flexibility to it. In theory, this should be a good thing if cutting into these clips.

All in all, the Boxer is a fun little project. The design brewed for a few months while using a Marauder prototype blade at the packing table. Needed something smaller, but with a flair if originality.

The Bladepoint Boxer is designed and handmade by Kaj-Mikael Storbacka, founder of Bladepoint.

Blade length: 50mm
Blade width: 25mm
Blade thickness: 3,2mm
Total length: 164mm
Steel: 80CrV2 Carbon steel
Holes: 2x4,8mm, 2x12mm

These knife blades are handmade, please allow some variation in measurements.