Snarf: The Utility Knife Reinvented for Knife Nuts

Hey everyone! We've almost recovered from the post-Blade Show bug that seems to always follow us home after each show. But we had a blast and appreciated getting to see familiar faces and meet new Snarf backers!

We also got a chance to reconnect with Laura Chen from Scikio and Frank She from Dream Tech who are collaborating to bring Snarf to life. They brought production samples of Snarf for us to check out, which also meant folks were able to come by the booth and see Snarf in person.

We loved getting feedback in person, and below is a combination of thoughts and observations we shared with Laura and Frank. But we also want to hear directly from you, so we'd love for you to join us tomorrow (Sunday 6/14) at 6pm CST on our YouTube channel for a live Q&A.


Overall Thoughts
Snarf definitely had a lot of "wow" factor at our booth, causing a lot of folks to step inside the booth for a closer look. The colorways, size, ease of blade replacement, and overall vibe really seemed to connect with folks. Knife nerds have always been our motivating drive, and seeing the instant smiles on attendees' faces when they picked up Snarf had us totally stoked.

Feel, Finish, and Fidget Factor
Speaking of picking up Snarf for the first time, what seemed to tickle folks' fancies the most was the feel in hand, the fit and finish, and the fidget factor. The action is just so smooth and just feels totally natural in hand, which makes us even more excited about getting Snarf out to our backers!

Slicin' and Dicin'
I stepped away from the booth for a while to cut up a bunch of cardboard with Snarf, and was really impressed by how quickly and smoothly it sliced through the cardboard. I did notice that the production sample's utility blade release button was slightly proud to the blade grabbler, and though pressing it flush to the grabbler wasn't enough to pop the blade out, I did find that I could force the blade to pop out if I dug the knife into the cardboard and made a curving cut against the button.

So in our meeting with Laura and Frank, I showed them the issue and Frank said that though the parts were already milled out, he could go back and file down the button so that it is below the level of the blade grabbler. The image on the left is the current state of the button and the one on the right is what I've asked them to do instead. I filed one down to this height and found it was still easy to get the blade out but should help avoid losing the blade when making deep curving cuts.


Colors & Textures
Overall we were really pleased with how the colorways came out. We did ask them to make the Purplewashed Titanium and Bluewashed Titanium a darker shade of each color and tumble them after anodizing to get more of the stonewashed look. We also asked them to try to make the Miamiburst fade from blue to pink without there being the silvery color in the center. That said, it's hard to guarantee an exact shade for any of the colorways, just know that if you don't wind up being happy with your colorway, we'll definitely work with you if you want to swap to another colorway. I also made a video showing the front and back of each model if you want to check that out: 

=AURORA= Blade
The utility blades that were custom-made for us are really nice and fit really snuggly in the blade grabbler. The only thing we've decided not to do is engrave =AURORA= on each blade. The company making the utility blades wasn't willing to engrave all 20,000 blades, and though Frank from Dream Tech was willing to do it, we'd much rather know he's out there making more amazing knives instead of putting a vanity stamp on our blades. So we'll put our logo on the box instead and move on!

Last but possibly the most important??? T6 vs T8 Screws
We were supposed to have T6 screws on the Blade Grabbler (what holds the utility blade) and T8 on Snarf's body, but there were some crossed wires in communications and Scikio/Dream Tech put T6 screws on Snarf's body as well.

We asked about whether we could swap to T8, but since all 7,000+ T6 screws have already been made, we'd have to postpone delivery another month to make 7,000+ T8s.

To be honest, I've lost more than a little sleep over this one. Depending on who you ask, T6 vs. T8 is either a non-issue or a major issue, and the last thing I want to do is let our backers down. The primary concern is that it's easier to strip T6 when disassembling, especially when not using a crisp new Wiha bit. Consider this chummy conversation on Reddit:


Some good news here is that we've disassembled several of the Snarf production samples and have not had any issues with the T6s. Also I had already asked them to include three extra screws in a lil' baggie for each Snarf (one for the body, one for the clip filler, one for the clip), so that should create some additional buffer.

So after considering all the options, we're making the call to go forward with production with the T6s. The upside is that will mean you'll only need one bit for the entire knife, plus we've asked them to not overtighten the screws and to either use very little or no Loctite at all.

As always, we welcome feedback on all of this and hope you can join us for the live on Sunday at 6pm CST. We're getting closer and closer each day and we're so excited about getting Snarf in your hands, but if anything changes and you need a refund, please don't hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected]. We'd hate to lose you this close to the finish line, but we also realize sometimes life happens and you need to take care of you and yours first! 

Thanks so much for your support and patience as we wrap this project up! All the best!

-Michael

Hey everyone - we've almost recovered from Blade Show and I've been working on a full post-Blade Show update that should be coming out this weekend, but I wanted to give everyone a quick heads up that we're planning on hosting a live this Sunday at 6pm CST to show off the Snarf production samples, answer questions, and just generally hang out with you guys. 

It'll be hosted on our YouTube page, so we hope you can join us but if you aren't able to it'll still be there for you to watch afterwards. Thanks so much and we're looking to chatting with you guys on Sunday!

-Michael

Hey everyone, so sorry for the extreme gap in updates! We’ve had a bit of a crisis on our hands which has kept us up burning the midnight oil the past month and a half, and we want to apologize for the effect that has had on our communications.

When we got back from Blade Show Texas, we realized that we were missing about 80 knives – 40 gray satin Truffles and 40 gray satin HiveMinds. That’s about 1/3 of our stock that somehow disappeared. I guess it’s still possible that they'll show up, but after all these weeks, that seems unlikely. 

So to try to recoup the financial loss from the missing knives, I've been customizing our existing stock to sell exclusives. The upside is I’m learning a lot of new skills, the downside is it has really cut into my available time. So I’m pretty far backed up on emails and other comms. 

That said, I apologize that I left you guys hanging. You've made a significant investment in the future of AKT by backing Snarf and I want to make it clear how much we value your trust and support by keeping you as up-to-date as we can, so sorry I dropped the ball on that this time.

So picking up from the last update, we mentioned our OEM wanted to produce additional samples of colorways before going to production. Even though this would delay getting the knives out to our backers, it would ensure that the minor tweaks and color options we added during the campaign came out as expected.

So although we hated to delay the delivery, we did decide to go ahead and have Scikio/DreamTech produce updated samples. Here's how they turned out:


Laura from Scikio and Frank from DreamTech who are co-producing Snarf are actually bringing these samples to us at Blade Show Atlanta next week, so we'll get to handle them and ask questions in person. This also means if you happen to be attending Blade Show you can handle them in person as well. We could also do a live at some point if there's enough interest for those who aren't at the show to give some feedback, so let us know if you'd be interested in that. 

I just heard back from Laura and she said that the good news is they've continued production on all the elements they could while still waiting on a final thumbs up from us. That means that if we approve the samples at Blade Show, they expect to finish production late July and ship to us early August. We originally estimated everyone would receive their knives in June, so the current quote is two months behind, but the delay will mean we've had one more chance to make sure everything is as we hoped for.

Speaking of, this is all assuming everything is ready to go. In the photo above, some of the colors seem off (especially the Miamiburst colorway) but that could just be due to poor lighting. Either way, we'll get another update back to you after Blade Show so you know what the status is.

I especially hate to inform everyone of a delayed shipment after a delay in communication, but I do hope that this will mean we're able to get you the best first-gen Snarf we can. Just keep in mind that if for any reason during the campaign you'd like a refund, please message me at [email protected]. We'd hate to lose your support, but we'd much prefer you be happy!

Again, if you'll be at Blade Show next week please stop by the booth and say hello, and if you see a box of 80 AKT knives on sale on Craigslist please hit us up! Seriously, thank you guys so much for the support and for bringing Snarf to life!

-Michael

P.S. - Several of you expressed interest in giving us feedback on future projects, so I wanted to let you know we've got a prototype for Truffles Jr. (1" shorter than Truffles) and we'd love your thoughts! You can fill out the survey here: Truffles Jr. Feedback and you can also use the survey to join our mailing list specifically to give feedback on future designs! Again thanks so much!

Hey everyone - a huge shoutout to all the Snarf backers who were able to pop by the booth at the Texas Blade Show and handle our Snarf prototypes! It was so cool getting to meet some of you folks in person and we hope we'll be able to do the same at Blade Show Atlanta. If you've never been, I highly recommend attending Blade Show not only to see a gagillion amazing knives, but more importantly to meet the amazing folks behind the knives. Hands down, our favorite thing about the knife community is the people, and that's on full display at the Blade Show events.





So in short, if you can make a Blade Show, we encourage you to do so. We'd love to meet you and we promise that most Blade Show evenings don't end with an ER trip!

Speaking of Snarf at Blade Show, I've been in talks with Laura at Scikio (our OEM) and we're still cooking on Snarf production. Currently Frank and his team at DreamTech (the factory Scikio is working with to make Snarf) are working on the Blade Grabblers (yes, that's the actual name of what holds the blades). Man that was a lot of parenthetical statements. Anyone else think primarily in footnotes? 🤘😅

So things are moving along, but Laura did mention to me today that there might be some value in taking the extra step to get some production samples since we have so many models this time around. In the past the most models we've ever done at one time was two, and now we have 12 Snarf variants. So I'm asking her to find out how much time that might add to production because I'm of the mind that we only get to make it right once and there's no going back, so if it's not going to slow things down too much it would probably be worth getting some production samples in hand. So I'll let you know more on that once I hear back from her. 

If you've got any thoughts on the matter we're open for suggestions as well. We're also looking for a platform to allow us to get feedback on designs prior to us releasing them via preorders, so if you'd be interested in being part of the R&D team for AKT, we're all ears about that as well!

We'll keep you in the loop as we get closer to the finish line, but in the meantime thank you all so much for helping bring Snarf to life!

-Michael