Collaborations between a production brand and a custom maker usually lose something in translation. The Vosteed Nymble keeps the parts that made John Rusk's EMP EDC design distinctive: front and back flippers, a dual-milled oval opening, the sculpted ergonomic profile and the honeycomb texture on the scales.
The blade is 3.25 inches of Elmax in a tanto profile with a compound grind — a hollow-ground main edge for slicing and a flat-ground forward section for support behind the tip. Elmax is a powder-metallurgy stainless with high wear resistance and better toughness than S90V, which suits a tanto point that will see more lateral load than a drop point. Vosteed's Vanchor Lock, with its pivot-centred release and steel locking structure, replaces the original's lock without changing the feel. Worth knowing about the lock: the Vanchor release sits at the pivot, which means your thumb lands near the blade tang when you close the knife. Vosteed's design keeps the blade from swinging free when the lock disengages, but it is a different muscle memory from a crossbar or a liner lock, and it takes a few days to stop feeling unusual.
The detail work is aimed at the collector. The titanium scales are CNC machined to keep the honeycomb pattern and the contoured shape, and the main fasteners are positioned away from the show side so the pattern reads uninterrupted. An enlarged lanyard point rounds out the package. That is the kind of attention that normally shows up on a $500 knife.
At $309, the Nymble competes most directly with WE's own M390 flippers and with Kansept's S35VN Tracer at $345.89. It is cheaper than the Tracer, smaller, and the only one of the three with a lock that is genuinely its own design rather than a licensed crossbar variant. For a knife that is both a collaboration piece and a daily carry, that combination is rare.
Check current pricing and available blade finishes at Vosteed.
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