This one is a long shot.

It takes me back 20 years ago when the Spyderco Jess Horn C38PBRG-ZDP-189/420J2 Burgundy was produced. In 2006, that 50 grammes ultra sharp folder was reviewed by Cliff Stamps. And I really enjoyed reading his reviews.

You can still find it here: https://cliffstamp.beyondt01micron.com/knives/reviews/jess_horn_zdp_189.html

Written on July 20, 2006, it’s a fascinating snapshot of what ZDP-189 was capable of more than twenty years ago. Tongue firmly in cheek, Cliff was even splitting logs with his ZDP Lightweight Jess Horn. 😉

Mine was named “Horny”, because of Jess, and was originally lent to me by a friend. I always missed that very pointy, capable little folder, despite its vertical and lateral play.

Its thin hollow-ground blade was incredibly sharp and stayed sharp for a remarkably long time. I also loved the FRN handle, which was textured and covered with a repeating “Jess Horn” pattern all over its burgundy surface. It gave the knife a very distinctive look and feel, and somehow made the otherwise simple little folder feel even more like a true Jess Horn.

Twenty years later, in 2026, when I discovered that a dealer exclusive was available in the US, I started looking into importing one. Eventually, I found out that it was being offered by Coutellerie Tournangelle, and two days later, it was sitting in my mailbox. Sometimes things just work out.

My first impression was simple: razor sharp and absolutely zero vertical play. Yep, vertical play is a real plague for me. I hate cutting on a wood board and feeling the blade move slightly back around the pivot. For me, a folder should lock up solidly, with zero lateral or vertical play. This new edition of the Jess Horn delivers exactly that. And I’m so glad about it.

This new Jess Horn is a particularly interesting update of the original design. The most obvious difference is the full-flat grind, whereas the original version had a hollow grind. I guess a CPM Cruwear FFG is stronger than the hollow grind ZDP also Jess Horn was a master in FFG…

There is no choil here, but a sharpening notch (!), something quite rare on Spyderco knives. And given Jess Horn’s reputation for making very specific requests, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was another of his personal touches—especially since Sal Glesser has never been a big fan of sharpening notches. His concern is that the notch can snag the material being cut.

(On his very first collaboration with Spyderco, the C27, Jess disliked the Spyderhole and even considered it ugly, so its folder was designed without one. Instead, it used a pair of trapezoidal depressions, one on each side of the ATS-34 blade, allowing one-handed opening. Tha C27 was a remarkable knife for its time. When it was introduced, it was the most expensive single-blade folder Spyderco had produced. And notice that clip too! It was also the only Spyderco-branded folder ever offered with a serrated edge that did not use Spyderco’s trademark SpyderEdge pattern, but instead featured small, evenly sized serrations.)

Jess Horn seemed to have had some sort of a Joker card when it came to getting his way with Spyderco in the early 2000s. And somehow, you can still feel that influence in this 2026 edition.

Jess Horn was an American knifemaker from Oregon, best known for his exceptionally refined folding knives. In 1968, while working as a public-works engineer, he made himself a folder because he found the knives available at the time too fragile and poorly designed. His personal designs soon attracted the attention of his hunting and fishing friends, who began asking him to make knives for them. What started as a small production for friends gradually grew as word spread and retailers began placing orders. Horn became known for his meticulous work and his very personal approach to knife design. His knives eventually earned an almost legendary reputation among collectors, particularly in Europe, Japan and the United States. He was never afraid to challenge Spyderco’s established design language. Jess Horn passed away in 2016, but his designs remain highly regarded and his influence is still visible today.

That 2026 “dealer exclusive” is a reminder that, ten years after his death, his distinctive approach to folding-knife design still has something to say. There is a kind of spicy, old-school sauce to this knife that you simply don’t find in much of today’s production. It has bags of character. It feels like a genuinely unique folder, almost deliberately going against the current direction of the knife industry.

For starters, it doesn’t try to be tactical, nor is it designed as a fidget toy. This is a proper folding knife: serious, purposeful, extremely pointy and genuinely razor sharp. It feels made to cut, not to entertain your thumb.

Then look at this handle. The clip sits very low, so the knife rides high in the pocket. There’s no attempt here to make it disappear with a deep-carry setup. So high it can ride in the watch pocket too !

Plenty of the handle stays above the pocket, ready to grab.

(Is that a knife in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?) 😏

And once you grab it, the Jess Horn almost jumps into your hand. That crazy curved handle wraps itself around your palm with a comfort that is almost ridiculous. It looks simple, but the ergonomics are anything but.

There is something of a miniature Indian saber (a Khyber?) in that sweeping shape. The more I play with it, the more addictive it becomes. But the real trap is when you actually start cutting with it: that’s when the addiction kicks in for good.

That beautiful blade is made for working as it is now made from CPM CruWear, and this is where that 2026 version takes a different path from the ZDP Jess Horn.

The old one used ZDP-189, famous for its extreme hardness (65HRC) and edge retention, but with relatively low toughness. With a thin hollow blade like this, that can make the blade more vulnerable to breakage under harder use. This is one reason ZDP-189 was then proposed with a tougher steel cladding—to give that incredibly hard core some additional protection.

Two birds with one stone: change the steel, change the grind.

Moving from ZDP-189 to CPM CruWear completely changes the philosophy of the knife. CruWear gives up some of ZDP-189’s extreme wear resistance, but brings considerably more toughness and strength to the table. It is a much more forgiving steel when the knife is actually being used rather than simply admired for its edge retention.

CPM CruWear is almost synonymous with a hard-working blade. It’s a steel that invites you to use the knife rather than baby it. And changing the grind at the same time makes perfect sense: the old Jess Horn had that wonderfully thin hollow grind, while this new version gets a full-flat grind, giving it a different kind of cutting character.

(There is also an interesting connection here with CPM MagnaCut. MagnaCut was not simply designed as a stainless version of CruWear, but the philosophy is related: take the exceptional toughness associated with high-toughness tool steels such as CPM CruWear and CPM-4V, and combine it with genuinely high corrosion resistance and useful wear resistance.)

So Spyderco has effectively given the Jess Horn two birds with one stone: a new steel that is much more at home in hard use, and a new grind that lets that steel show what it can do. In that sense, CruWear is part of the same family of thinking: prioritizing toughness and overall balance rather than chasing maximum wear resistance at all costs. (CruWear itself is not stainless, of course, but it is surprisingly corrosion-resistant for a tool steel and can take a long time to develop any visible patina under normal use.)

And that makes a lot of sense on this particular knife. The Jess Horn is an exceptionally thin, pointy folder, and CruWear gives that delicate geometry a much tougher backbone. You still get excellent edge retention, but with a level of toughness that makes me much more confident about actually putting this needle of a blade to work.

(Picture of two Horn, Jeff and Des)

The result is Jess Horn with a thin, strong aggressive blade. Cliff Stamp would probably have loved it. (Sadly, Cliff left us in 2021, far too young, but his 2006 Jess Horn review remains a fascinating snapshot of both the knife and the way he approached steel, geometry and cutting performance. Reading it today, while holding this new CruWear version, makes the connection between these two generations of Jess Horn’s Spyderco particularly special.)

Finally, what I like about Jess Horn’s designs is that they never look like they are trying too hard. A Jess Horn is not a tactical brick with a thousand angles and a collection of gadgets. It feels more like a tool designed around the hand—simple, elegant and with a very clear idea of what a folding knife is supposed to do.

That philosophy is still very much alive in this new version. The materials may be modern (Carbon Fibers and CPM Tool Steel), but the knife itself feels wonderfully old-school: rivets instead of screws, for example, just like like on the Caly 3.5 !

The construction is equally straightforward and solid. You get a full steel construction, with a steel backspacer adding weight exactly where you feel it most: in the palm of your hand. It gives the Jess Horn a surprisingly substantial feel for such a slim and elegant folder.

And when you actually start using it… ah ah. That satin-finished modified clip-point blade is a thin little devil: an extremely pointy matter separator built around a steel that balances edge retention with toughness.

And look at that subtle false edge, or swedge, along the spine. It visually lightens the blade without turning it into some kind of tactical sculpture. But it is not just there for looks—it also helps the needle-like point glide into deeper cuts with less resistance.

Yes that needle blade is gorgeous. Seriously. It has the kind of profile that makes you want to keep looking at it before finding another excuse to cut something.

At the same time, CruWear gives this delicate-looking blade the toughness to be used as a real working knife rather than treated like a fragile collector’s piece.

Then come all those little details: the smooth transitions around the spine and ricasso, the absence of unnecessary machining, the restrained lines, the big, beautifully simple pivot screw… Nothing screams for attention. Everything looks as if it has been put exactly where it belongs.

It is understated, but far from boring. This blade has attitude.

Made in Japan, there is something distinctly Japanese about that Jess Horn’s design: a kind of Shibui simplicity, understated and refined, where nothing is there just for show. The knife doesn’t scream for attention. It quietly waits for you to pick it up—and then reveals all its character.

Yes, that is probably the best way to describe the Jess Horn: a knife with a quiet appearance, but a very loud personality once you put it in your hand.

Which is probably why I called mine HORNY. 😏