Black Fox Bean gen 2

The Serge Panchenko made Bean is a sought-after knife in the worldwide EDC community. It commands a very high price, if you can actually get hold of one. Thankfully, Serge has worked with Black Fox produce the Gen 2 Bean. It does not have the flipper system for opening of the original Bean, made by the man himself, but it shares the same overall design philosophy.

The Gen 2 is an elongated oval shaped knife and only 78mm long and 20mm wide; cut deep into one side is the opening in the handle scale for accessing the blade’s thumb slot. The 56mm long ‘sheep’s foot’ blade has a 46mm cutting edge and upon opening it clicks into a ball detent on reaching the full 180-degree swing out. Blade steel is the ubiquitous 440c stainless steel. I three versions for review and they all felt very different in use. The black G10 model looks more tactical and is the most grippy of the three and the Zebra wood looks stunning with its polished blade. The all-steel model just looks clean and classy with its stone-washed finish.

All three have the Black Fox logo engraved on the end of the top scale and the fixed, 57mm long pocket clip is offset to keep clear of the spring lever for the ball detent. Serge’s recognisable ‘SP’ in a circle logo is also on the same side as the pocket clip, so you know he has designed it along with Black Fox . The lightest is the wood version at 59-grams, then the G10 at 61, with the all-steel the heaviest at 64-grams.

Which is my personal favorite? Dress/going out carry would be the wood, stealth carry would be the steel, but work carry would be the G10. For £27.95, the build quality is brilliant, the design is the real star here, Serge is a top-class knife designer. As a UK legal knife, it doesn’t get much better than this. Snap one up while you can.

Thanks to Richard and Bruce at Heinnie Haynes for help in production of this article.

Name

Black Fox Bean Gen 2

Price

£27.95

Contact

Heinnie Haynes www.heinnie.com