The Viper Knives Berus is one of the most recent additions to my growing family of small fixed blades, and it is a welcome addition. While it is similar in size and shape to others I own, this one is made with Bohler M390 blade steel, arguably the best knife steel on the market today, even better than the S35VN used on the ESEE Xancudo.
Viper Knives are handmade by Tecnocut in Maniago, Italy, and are notable for their high end materials, exquisite design, and attention to detail.
The Berus is available in two distinct blade profiles, the drop point that I chose and a sheepsfoot variety. It is also available with a variety of handle scale options from black G10 to green micarta to carbon fiber.
The Berus has an overall length of 6″ and a blade a touch over 2.5″ at 0.16″ maximum thickness. It weighs just over 3 oz. For me, it’s perfectly sized and includes well-placed jimping and a useful sharpening choil.
In addition to its blade steel, the Berus is notable for its crowned spine, oversized lanyard hole, and distinct cutout for the user’s second finger. This feature might sound a bit odd, but it is extremely comfortable in hand, nonetheless.
The Berus includes a kydex sheath, and here we find my only complaint about this knife—the kydex sheath has a rather notable rattle. The sheath is otherwise good quality, but noisy kydex is a bit of a pet peeve of mine. It includes an Ulti-Clip for pocket carry, but I prefer to use it as a neck knife.
Final Thoughts
The Viper Knives Berus is quite possibly the highest quality knife I own in its size range. While its sheath could be better, the knife itself is of unimpeachable quality and the Bohler M390 steel is as sharp as a razor blade. It’s crowned spine and well textured G10 make it incredibly comfortable to use, and the blade size is right in the middle of my preferred range. This is a truly excellent knife. Should you choose to acquire one, you will not be disappointed.
I have one of these. The sheath was a pain in the ass: it somehow accomplished being both too loose (rattle) while also being too tight (difficult to draw the knife out). I cut a piece of gorilla transparent tape (looks like packing tape but it’s much thicker and has a more elastic feel to it), cut a hole that the detent in the sheath that holds the knife fits in, and put it in the left side detent (looking into the slot the blade goes in “left”). The result was that the added friction keeps the knife from rattling, and it’s slightly easier to draw the knife out.
Any recommendations for a good leather sheath for the Berus 1?