Demko Knives Shark Cub AUS10A Edition

I’ve been using a Demko Knives AD20.5 folder for over a year now and it’s become one of the mainstays in my EDC rotation. It uses the Andrew Demko designed Shark Lock which is mounted on the spine of the knife handle. It’s ambidextrous, and very easy to use, but also incredibly strong. About the only ding I have against the AD20.5 is that sometimes it’s a little bigger than what I want to carry. It’s not big, but just bigger than I want at times. Well, I had a chance to look at the smaller Demko Shark Cub AUS10A prototypes at Blade Show earlier this year, and was impressed with what  I saw. Well, they’re now shipping so let’s take a look at what the newest Cub brings to the table.

Baby Shark

The Shark Cub shrinks down not only the size of the AD20.5, but also the price. It keeps the core design of it’s bigger brother but trims all of the key dimensions down. It also uses some more budget friendly materials to bring the price under $100. I say budget friendly, but don’t think cheap. The Shark Cub is still using excellent materials that don’t affect the strength of operation of the knife.

The  Cub has a 2.5 inch blade of AUS10A stainless steel. AUS10A is a great steel with excellent corrosion resistance and edge retention. It’s not MagnCut, but then again it’d cost at least another $100 more if it was. Two blade styles are available. The first is a traditional clip point, with ambidextrous thumb studs for opening one hand opening. The other is what Demko calls a Slicer Shark, which is pretty much a drop point design. That one uses a long opening hole in the blade for ambidextrous, one hand opening. Both blades have a matte, stonewashed finish.

The handle on the Shark Cub largely follows the lines of the AD20.5 although without the pommel hook. Handle material on the AUS10A version of the Cub is a textured  GRN (Glass Reinforced Nylon) with steel liners. The pivot uses caged bearings and if it’s anything like the AD20.5, and the prototypes I handled, it should be smooth, and fast opening. A deep pocket, ambidextrous pocket clip is provided. You can get the Shark Cub AUS10A in any color you want, as long as that color is black. The Demko Knives website mentions other handle materials being available so maybe we’ll see some other options down the line.

MSRP on the Shark Cub is just $89.95. That’s almost half the price of an AD20.5, and half the price of the Shark Cub’s that come in 20CV stainless steel with Black G10 or aluminum scales. I plan on adding a Shark Cub AUS10A to my carry rotation soon. I’m just deciding between blade profiles, or figuring out if maybe I just need one of each!

Specifications:
Blade Shapes: Clip, Slicer Shark
Blade Length: 2.5” (Cutting Edge)
Overall Length: 6.875”
Steel: AUS10A
Handle Material: GRN (Glass Reinforced Nylon)
Manufactured: Taiwan
MSRP: $89.99 USD