David Boye, the Arizona knifemaker whose unique folding boat knife of cast dendritic cobalt won our June 2000 sailors’ knives bench test and was a reference standard for our March 2004 revisit, recently introduced a new model Basic 3 Cobalt knife.

Boye Basic 3 Cobalt knife

These knives doggedly retain a cutting edge when going through tough, blade-resistant materials like rope, cardboard, or even old rugs. Others give up long before the job is done. In our experience, Boye’s cobalt knives last much longer—and when they finally do slow down, they can be resharpened with just a few strokes on a medium stone. The difference, we reason, is in the metallurgy. …