The DPx HEST™/F is an everyday-carry folding knife that can handle some of the toughest jobs you can throw at it. Designed by adventurer Robert Young Pelton and handmade by LionSTEEL® in Northern Italy, the knife is made with the most austere environments in mind. It’s a lightweight, super-rugged field tool that might just get you out of your next dangerous situation, wherever and whenever that may be.
The 3.67-inch blade is made of German D2 tool steel with a mil-spec phosphate coating. The steel has a Rockwell hardness of 60 and is known for its ability to maintain an edge and resist corrosion. The blade’s been polished and bead-blasted before coating and is easily sharpened using a whetstone or diamond sharpener. Please, NEVER use a grinder to sharpen any of our knives.
One side of the DPx HEST/F handle is scaled in American G10 polymer, an ultra-tough material that is unaffected by heat, humidity or freezing. Its high tensile strength and durability make it suitable for everything from electrical
equipment to rocket cases. It won’t melt (though it will char), it won’t conduct electricity, and it won’t absorb moisture.
The other side of the handle is one of the strongest titanium alloys on the market. The 6Al4V GR5 alloy-meaning 6% aluminum, 4% vanadium, Grade 5-is used in surgical implants, turbine blades, and military aircraft fuselages. It’s not the hardest material on earth, but it’s some of the hardest you’ll find in commercial knives.
The DPx HEST/F also features LionSTEEL’s patented RotoBlock®, which locks the blade in the open position. The RotoBlock enhances the knife’s safety and reliability, and essentially makes your knife into a fixed blade. It takes mere seconds to engage, and we suggest you engage it every time the knife is used.
The knife has a low-profile pocket clip on the titanium side and a removable glass breaker on the butt. There’s a hex driver in the handle, which can be used with the knife either open or closed, and three gauges of wire strippers on the back of the blade. The wire strippers also serve as jimping. A bottle opener/prying notch in front of the wire strippers may be used as a lashing point.
The DPx HEST/F comes with the Mr. DP™ skull tool that is used to adjust the pivot tension and replace the glass breaker with a flat screw (flat screw also included with the knife). The tool has an edged side that can also be used as a knife.
DPx Gear fully guarantees the DPx HEST/F against manufacturer’s defects for as long as you live. We think the knife will be around longer than you will, but if you intentionally abuse the knife-throw it, hammer on it, squeeze it in a vice-you’ll void the guarantee and you’re on your own. Otherwise, give it hell, and tell us how it fared.