Vosteed Mini Nightshade Knife Review

Vosteed introduced the Mini Nightshade, a smaller version of the Nightshade knife. It still features the Shilin cutter style blade, but the blade is 2.6 inches!

Official Specs

Here’s a link to the Vosteed Mini Nightshade knife.

Versions

I believe there are five (or “at least five”) versions of the Vosteed Mini Nightshade knife. There’s this satin blade and G10 handle version as well as some other blade finishes and some other handle options. It looks like all but two are out of stock at the moment, though. (In fact, this version seen here is out of stock.)

Price

The Vosteed Mini Nightshade knife sells for $59.

Short Review

The Vosteed Mini Nightshade knife shape is so specific – you’re either going to really want this knife and want to use it, or probably won’t care anything about it. I will say that the shape (and general ergonomics) aren’t really my preferred style, but I do greatly appreciate that Vosteed has released this mini version. I want a mini version of all knives! I want a micro version! Let’s get some 2″ knives going!

Anyway, the build quality of this Mini Nightshade is great (just like the bigger Nighshade.) Attention to detail is on point and the knife functions perfectly.

Long Review

Package and Manual

Vosteed has improved their packaging (in my opinion) but at the same time dropped the metal tin. That’s fine with me, because if I was going to carry in something, I’d definitely use the pouch (seen below) anyway.

What’s Included

Sorry, that photo above has the sticker in reflection. Here’s a better photo:

Vosteed Mini Nightshade knife
Zippered carry pouch
Polishing cloth
Nightshade sticker
Informational cards

Look

The G10 on this Vosteed really stands out. Also you’ll note immediately the shape of the knife spine – there’s a lot of beef there, and it does stick out over the handles quite a bit. That’s by design of course and adds weight that helps with flip. This blade style is called Shilin.

Who knows what’s a Shilin Cutter? I didn’t until handling the bigger Nightshade a while back. I couldn’t find a ton of information on those, but I did find this one that was once for sale at arizonacustomknives.com. Based on that one, I’d say this one by Vosteed is a very nice modern production of the Shilin Cutter.

Per the design language, this knife has a bow from tip to tail. Apparently this is great for slicing.

Vosteed describes the Shilin blade shape as “leaf-shaped” and I’d say that’s quite accurate. Below you can see some of the minimal branding.

Open / Close / Lock

Unlike the Vosteed Nightshade Lt knife (which is a liner lock knife) the Mini Nightshade is described as a “Cross bar lock” knife. Opening it requires the use of this thumbstud (or another option, see below).

Basically, that means “Axis” lock, and since the Axis lock is off patent (I think) this is an allowed usage of the locking style. I happen to be a HUGE fan of Axis locks, so this is good for me.

Here’s a close up of the locking mechanism. Actuating this cross bar lock effectively will allow you to flip the knife open and also drop it shut. It’s a very good mechanism!

Build and Feel

One thing I love about this knife (even despite its size) is the G10 handles. I’ve had other – smaller and thinner – knives with much grippier scales that tore my pockets up. Not so on this Mini Nightshade. These G10 handles are quite smooth (“polished” as Vosteed describes them) and slip in and out of the pocket effortlessly.

The backspacer on this Mini is upgraded from the bigger version (I have to interject here that it’s so tempting to call them the Mini and Maxi, because “the bigger one” seems gross and not ongoingly accurate.) Anyway, the backspacer is a solid piece, and not just the two standoffs as on the Nightshade.

The Mini does lose the full metal liners, though. But I haven’t struggled with rigidity, and even when purposefully flexing the area, there’s… no flex.

Blade centering is on point, too! The build quality here is really good.

The blade does not have any jimping, and the spine is rounded. You would not want to use this knife for striking a flint!

One tiny attention detail regarding build quality that I like on the Mini Nightshade is that the screw holes for the pocket clip go through the G10 into a threaded metal part. That’s very nice!

Size

Here’s the Vosteed Nightshade Lt knife beside another of my favorites – the Civivi Elementum. If you want to see a bunch more photos of that knife, check out my post about the Civivi Elementum here.

Steel / Cut / Oats

Just like on the Nightshade, the Vosteed Mini Nightshade knife uses 154CM steel.

I really don’t know too much about steel, but Wikipedia says this:

Crucible 154CM is a modification of martensitic stainless steel type 440C to which molybdenum has been added. It was originally developed for tough industrial applications and combines three principal elements: carbon, chromium, and molybdenum.

knifeup.com says about 154CM that

it’s a commonly used steel for a higher grade knife.

Does any of that matter much to me? Nah, to be honest, it doesn’t. This knife cuts, I will likely never sharpen it, and it carries well. Good enough!

Retention

As stated above, the pocket clip is a nice deep carry clip. The clip is held in place by two “over/under” TORX screws (around T6, I think). The clip can not be moved to any other position but what you see below. That does probably mean the knife will be backward for you southpaws out there!

The clip can go on either side of the knife but only on the tip-end, for tip-down carry.

Also included on the Mini Nightshade is a hole where a lanyard could be attached. This hole is on the same end as the pocket clip and can be seen in the photo above.

Conclusion

The Vosteed Mini Nightshade knife has great build quality. At $59, it seems like a nice deal. Vosteed answered my request for a smaller version of the Nighthade with this Mini Nightshade, and I’m very pleased with it!

Notes

This knife was provided by Vosteed for review. I was not paid to write this review.
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