Olight Fortitude 2 Fixed Blade Knife
The Olight Fortitude 2 Fixed Blade knife is a full tang CPM-S35VN steel knife. It has a matte black blade, a Micarta/G10 handle, and a nice two-layer sheath.
Official Specs
Here’s a referral link to the Olight Fortitude 2 Fixed Blade knife.
Versions
Olight appears to have just one version of the Olight Fortitude 2 Fixed Blade knife. There’s a previous iteration, though, which differs slightly from this second version.
Price
The Olight Fortitude 2 Fixed Blade knife price comes in at $139.99. Olight is running a sale right now though, and members can get the Olight Fortitude 2 Fixed Blade knife for $104.99. That’s 25% off!
I have the Olight Prowess in for review but I doubt I’ll be able to hit this sale window with the review… If you’re going to buy it, I’d love for you to use my referral link to the Olight Prowess. That helps Olight know to keep sending items for testing! I’ve messed with the Prowess enough to know that it’s very neat and the lantern function is pretty great. So short review is: I doubt you’ll be surprised by it. If you think you’ll like it, I believe you will like it!
Package and Manual
What’s Included
- Olight Fortitude 2 Fixed Blade knife
- Two-layer leather pouch
- Challenge coin
- Manual etc.
Look
The Olight Fortitude 2 Fixed Blade knife is intended to be a beefy knife. Olight says it directly – “designed to excel in various scenarios including hunting, camping, rescue missions, and EDC needs, offering functionality and reliability in various scenarios.”
It seems built to a standard that will stand up to that stuff all while looking spectacular! The Micarta scales seem refined. The yellow G10 adds a great pop of color. Matching black screws coordinate with the titanium-coated blade. It’s a nice look!
Open / Close / Lock
This is a fixed blade knife, so there’s no opening, closing, or locking the Fortitude 2. That’s ok!
Build and Feel
To accompany the talk about this knife “not opening” (as it’s a fixed blade knife) it’s important to note that it’s also a “full tang” knife. The blade metal goes all the way into the scales. This makes the knife extremely robust!
In the case of this full tang knife, the handle part is wrapped in yellow G10 (maybe 1.5mm thick) and then contoured Micarta.
Below you can see that this is the “Sootch00” edition – Sootch00 is a youtuber with 1.45 million subscribers! (I don’t know if there’s a non-Sootch00 edition!)
The handle has a great size and feel. The Micarta provides great grip and the size is great for hard tasks.
Swapping the scales would be easy if you wanted to make your own, for example. Each side has two Torx screws.
On the top side of the blade around where the scales start is a bit of jimping. It’s not super grippy jimping, though. I wouldn’t say it’s great for grip (but then you probably shouldn’t have your thumb there during use, anyway.)
Size
Weight: 6.35 oz (180 g) (Sheath Included)
Overall Length: 8.53 in (216.7 mm)
Blade Length: 4.01 in (101.95 mm)
Handle Thickness: 0.64 in (16.25 mm)
Blade Thickness: 0.15 in (3.7 mm)
Here’s the knife in hand:
Below is the Olight Fortitude 2 Fixed Blade knife with the Civivi Elementum. I still use that knife so much! There are some other knives shown too. One or two that I really love!
Steel / Cut / Oats
The steel here is a CPM-S35VN. That’s fine. Probably a good steel for this knife. There are definitely newer and maybe more “cutting edge” (get it, cutting edge) options, though.
Retention
First I’ll mention this lanyard hole that goes through the G10 and through the tang. Going through the metal means it’s a super strong connection to the knife and could be considered extremely reliable.
The second option (and really probably the main option) for carrying the Olight Fortitude 2 Fixed Blade knife is this included leather sheath. It’s a very nice sheath. And really you’ll have to carry the knife in this sheath – since the Olight Fortitude 2 is a fixed blade knife, it’d be weird I think, to just carry it around in your hand all the time. But maybe you live a different life than I do!
The sheath has very nicely finished edges – above you can see the sewed seams and below you can see the coated leather edge.
This belt attachment allows the knife to be carried horizontally (along a belt) or vertically (like a legitimate bushwhacker). It’s a clever design, but do note that it’s one or the other – there’s no middle carry option (exactly). It’s a leather attachment, so it’s sewn in!
The mouth for entering the blade is good size and reasonable.
When snapped closed, this closure is very secure! I did find the snap a bit fiddly to get snapped, so when you put your Olight Fortitude 2 Fixed Blade knife in place, be absolutely sure that this snap is snapped. Otherwise you might cut your body off.
Past how the knife works in the sheath, check out how it looks – this leather sheath looks nicer than the black blade as far as matching the Micarta scales. This is a good pairing!
The sheath has a very solid lanyard connection point, too. Since the snap captures the knife, you can safely hang the whole package from this point without worrying that the knife will fall out.
Summary and Conclusion
I’ve only used fixed blade knives a moderate amount, but appreciate this one. Not only does it look nice but it is also well build and extremely solid. The steel choice is reasonable and the natural Micarta handles provide excellent grip and usage.
Notes
- This knife was provided by Olight for review. I was not paid to write this review.
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