Most knives are one shape wearing a costume. The WE Pending doesn't quite know what it is, and that is what makes it interesting: a 3.75-inch dagger profile, 8.54 inches overall, with only one edge sharpened and that edge serrated.
Read the sheet properly and the design intent shows up. Blade: Bohler M390 at 58 to 60 HRC, flat grind, black and grey stonewashed finish, 0.13 inch stock, dagger outline with a single sharpened edge. Handle: 6AL4V titanium with carbon fibre inlay, 13mm thick, black spacer, tip-up right-hand titanium clip, caged ceramic ball bearings, and a button lock with a sprung button — WE notes the tension is tuned so the button resists accidental release, which is the specific failure a lot of cheap button locks have. Weight is 3.86 ounces, 109.5 grams.
A one-edge dagger with serrations on the working side is a rescue-knife answer in a folding dress frame. Serrations cut webbing, rope and seatbelt material that a plain edge skates across, and they hold a usable edge long after a plain edge has gone dull. The trade is that they cannot slice paper cleanly, cannot push-cut wood, and are miserable to sharpen without a rod system. On a knife that costs $350 and looks like a gentleman's carry, that mismatch is either the point or a mistake, depending on what you want it for.
The "Sample" in the model name matters. WE sells sample and prototype runs through its own store, and those are the knives that never made it to a full catalogue number — which means no restock when they sell through, and no guarantee of parts support years later. You are buying a factory one-off, not a production line model.
At $350 it sits in the same bracket as the Suisei and below the Varg. The competition inside WE's own range is brutal: for less than this you can have a 3.28-inch reverse tanto in M390 with a nested liner lock at 110 grams. The Pending's argument has to be the dagger silhouette and the serrations, and if you do not specifically need those, the maths does not work.
Verdict: a factory sample for people who want the odd one out — a paving-stone-serious M390 blade in a titanium frame that happens to be serrated on one side. Buy it if the shape speaks to you. Skip it if you want a knife you can maintain with a bench stone and buy again in two years.
We earn a commission if you make a purchase through these links, at no extra cost to you.