CJRB Maileah J1918 Knife Review

Here’s the CJRB Maileah J1918, a folding knife with AR-RPM9 steel. This knife has Swaggs branding and great natural green G10 scales!

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Official Specs

Here’s a link to the CJRB Maileah J1918 knife product page.

Versions

There are a bunch of versions of the CJRB Maileah J1918 knife. This natural green scale version is the best, obviously. Also available are versions with handles in black, red, and black with Damascus blade, green with black DLC blade, and black with black DLC blade. And probably others!

Price

This version of the CJRB Maileah J1918 knife comes in at a reasonable $33. Other versions vary in price, from around $30 to around $60. The CJRB Maileah J1918 knife is available on amazon (referral link).

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Short Review

A couple of things about this knife. First, I love it. I love the color and the size and blade shape and just in general nearly everything about it. Second, it can be a little hard to open in the intended way(s).  

Long Review

Package and Manual

There is no manual.

What’s Included

• CJRB Maileah J1918 knife

Look

I had this “natural green” on another knife by CJRB (the Feldspar, J1912S) and I loved it on that model. I love it on this one, too! It makes the overall look of this knife just fantastic.

It’s hard for me to describe exactly, but when opened, the CJRB Maileah J1918 has a very useful look. 

I suppose whether you like the look of the red accents against the green (“Jade”) handles is personal preference. I think it looks great. I would guess this was the design feature choice of Swaggs (the branding namesake shown on one side of the blade.) I don’t know what other role Swaggs played in the development of this knife.

Open / Close / Lock

Primarily, the CJRB Maileah J1918 knife will be opened as a flipper. It’s not a typical flipper though, at least in the sense that you’ll flip it open with an index finger. This knife is flipped open more like flicking a lighter.

It’s a technique. You have to do it right, and the breakover energy required to get the blade moving can be a big cumbersome. But once you hit that magic effort level, the blade absolutely whips open and locks resoundingly. 

Once opened, the knife has a great feeling in hand. Again, it’s a fairly small knife (2.39″ blade) but it’s great for opening boxes and the like. 

Locking is, like the other CJRB knives I’ve had, by way of a liner lock. The lock seems secure, and I haven’t had any issues with it.

Build and Feel

I’ve covered this above, mostly, but in hand the Maileah knife is great. The natural green scales (which are G10) provide a good amount of grip.

The build quality is also good, with good blade centering shown above and below.

There’s a matching NTG backspacer, with metal standoffs. Just good build quality, especially for a $33 knife!

The spine has square edges (so it’ll work on flints) but also there’s a long section of jimping. You’ll need this for the flip opening.

Also note that there are thumbstuds on both sides of the blade. The knife can be opened with those, but this seems to be the less preferred (by design) way.

The pivot screw is adjustable on one side via a Torx screw.

CJRB says this is a ceramic ball bearing pivot assembly.

Here’s a better look at the metal standoffs and matching backspacer.

Size

Blade Length 2.39″（60.796mm）
Blade Thickness 0.09″ (2.5mm)
Overall Length 5.51″(140mm)
Closed Length 3.14″(79.712mm)

Here’s the Feldspar alongside some of my favorite flashlights and one of my favorite knives, below. That’s the Civivi Elementum, which I’ve also made a post about.

Steel / Cut / Oats

CJRB says this steel is AR-RPM9. Again, the blade is a flat grind and looks great.

I don’t know enough about steel to comment, but here’s what knifenewsroom.com says:

Artisan wanted a powdered steel that functions somewhere between 14C28N and D2. They wanted the corrosion resistance of 14C28 with the hardness of D2 that not only holds an edge but is also easy to sharpen. Finally, they also wanted a steel they could provide at an affordable price.

It easily picks up fingerprints, though.

Again, the spine is squared off. 

Retention

Carry of the CJRB Maileah J1918 knife is by way of a deep carry pocket clip. This clip ships attached as seen below. 

The clip does not sit “into” the body (ie there’s no cutout in the scales) (as you can see above) but it does provide a nice deep carry.

Thanks to these two holes on the opposite side, the clip can be reversed if you need opposite carry. 

Conclusion

The CJRB Maileah J1918 knife has great build quality and a nice short blade. I appreciate the deep carry clip and access to the thumbstud is excellent, too. Once I practiced with this type of opening mechanism, it was great and easy (and also fun). If you dig smaller knives but want something with a “new design,” you should definitely check out the CJRB Maileah!

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Notes

• This knife was provided by Vosteed for review. I was not paid to write this review.
• This content originally appeared at zeroair.org.  Please visit there for the best experience!
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