Kansept Pluto S90V Knife Review

The Kansept Pluto S90V knife, a flipper designed by Munko Knives, features blackwash titanium scales and black Micarta handles and a 2.5″ blade! Read on!

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Official Specs

Here’s a link to the Kansept Pluto S90V knife.

Versions

At least four versions of the Kansept Pluto S90V knife are available. They vary in handle material (Micarta, Fatcarbon), blade steel (S90V, Damascus), and blade finish (Damascus, Satin, Rose Gold, Blackwash.)

Price

The Micarta version of the Kansept Pluto S90V knife (including this one) is priced at $138.89. The other two are a bit costlier, at ~$155 and ~$223.

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Package and Manual

There is no manual.

What’s Included

• Kansept Pluto S90V knife
• Cleaning cloth
• Carry pouch
• Warranty card, etc.

Look

I am definitely not the first person to call this black-with-brown the “Dune” colorway, but that’s what I think of every time I see it. And I love it – it’s a very nice look. They call this “Rose Gold” (and I’m nearly certain they’re calling the blade color rose gold), but it’s definitely brown, and very much in the “Dune” colorway.

The look is fantastic. Remember, this knife has a small blade (2.5″), and so despite looking a bit bulky, the knife is really quite small (or “small enough”).

There are some Spyderco Pup vibes going on with the Kansept Pluto S90V knife, too!

I have had one other Fatcarbon knife, and I’m pleased the Pluto is available in Micarta. I like Micarta anyway.

There’s a little bit of branding on the Pluto, but not too much. It’s also fairly subtle and discreetly placed.

The Munko Knives logo is in place there, too!

The blade color is matched by the screws color.

Open / Close / Lock

The Kansept Pluto S90V knife is a flipper. It doesn’t have thumbstuds or a hole or anything else for opening. But it does have two flippers! You could flip it as I’m doing below, or you could flip it with the tab on top (with your thumb, I’d say, but I suppose you could do it all sorts of ways.)

Flipping this way is good and fairly reliable (though the knife could use some breaking in.) But with the thumb flipper, I feel like there’s more leverage, thus more pop, when the knife opens. So it’s “more reliable” in that sense.

The handle has room for three fingers.

But if you choke up to the front like this, there’s room for four.

Also worth noting is that the closed blade protrudes over the scales plenty for a pinch open, which will require two hands. That’s also a very good way to open the Kansept Pluto S90V knife!

The Pluto locks with a bolster lock. There’s a little screwed-in stainless steel tab that will keep the titanium parts from wearing down and wearing out.

The lock is exposed on the very front edge. Which is to say that the Micarta doesn’t go all the way to the front of the lock. Thus, right at the front edge, the lock looks more like a frame lock. Either way, the lock works fine and has very good tension for holding the knife locked and releasing the lock when it’s time. And in fact, this description of part liner lock part frame lock is exactly what a bolster lock is!

Build and Feel

The build quality is on par with other Kansept knives – very good. This isn’t an inexpensive knife, though. It’s reasonably priced for build quality levels, I’d say.

The blade tip is tucked down into the scales, but it’s perfectly centered.

Kansept doesn’t say what the pivot is, but as I said above, it will probably wear in very nicely (and could use a bit of flicking to get flicky!)

The backspacer is a solid piece of (probably) titanium that matches the other blackwash titanium.

The pivot is accessible on both sides with a TORX screw. Here you can get a better look at both flippers, too.

An interesting design choice that I love is the full-spine jimping. You wouldn’t be using this knife to strike a flint anyway, and I do love jimping, so this is great.

Size

Above you can see the Kansept Pluto S90V knife with the Civivi Elementum in orange G10. I use that knife so much! I haven’t talked about it much yet, but that Spyderco Lil Native is going to be my “nicer” knife size standard (in the same way that I use a Convoy S2+ and Hanko Machine Works Trident as flashlight size references.)

Here’s the knife in hand:

Below you can see the Kansept Pluto S90V knife with the venerable Convoy S2+. The version below is a custom laser-engraved Convoy S2+ host by GadgetConnections.com. I did a full post on an engraved orange host right here! Or go straight to GadgetConnections.com to buy your Convoy S2+ now!

[photo incoming]

In the photo above, you may note that the SRM (standard reference material) flashlight for comparison has changed! I used a TorchLAB BOSS 35 for ages. Now, what you can see as the 18350 SRM is the Hanko Machine Works Trident. While I have not reviewed or tested the Gunner Grip version seen here, I have tested a Hanko Machine Works Trident Total Tesseract in brass. I love the Trident, and it’s a striking contrast next to the inexpensive Convoy S2+, which also makes a great standard reference material.

Steel / Cut / Oats

The Kansept Pluto S90V knife uses S90V steel and a drop point blade (per the product page).

It’s a flat grind, too, (despite that this photo makes it look a bit hollow.)

The steel type information is printed on the blade.

Here are some details on S90V steel:

https://www.alphaknifesupply.com/Pictures/Info/Steel/CPMS90-DS.pdf

I don’t know too much about steel, and I have not sharpened the Artisan Cutlery Satyr knife. Here are some more details from newjerseysteelbaron.com:

A favorite among folder and kitchen knife makers, S90-V is known for taking an exceptional satin finish to match its excellent edge retention properties.

Retention

The Kansept Pluto S90V knife has a milled pocket clip held in place with one screw. It may be possible to swap the clip side – the other side definitely has a screw here, but it’s also a structural screw (holding the backspacer.)

There’s also a lanyard slot built into the backspacer. I like this type because it’s so unobtrusive. It’s also protected from the blade, so if you use this for a lanyard, you don’t have to worry about the blade cutting your lanyard when the knife is closed.

Finally, Kansept includes its standard carry pouch.

Summary and Conclusion

I love small knives, and I like the Kansept Pluto S90V knife a lot. I love this colorway (though the satin blade is great too). I’m glad there are a couple of Micarta versions, and especially that they’re the least expensive among the group. The size is great, and the knife carries very well, too. I love the “excessive” jimping and like to cut things with the Pluto too – it’s very able!

Notes

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