Rare, Do-It-All Blade Proves Its Pedigree: TRM Bulldog Review

While many knife brands iterate, innovate, and release new knives weekly or monthly,  I prefer refinement and perfection, honed over years, in a select few models. Believe it or not, there is a sterling example of this type of knife production.

Massachsetts-based Three Rivers Manufacturing (TRM) does not release a new knife every week or month. Instead, it works on and refines models over years and releases them using Shigeru Miyamoto’s product release schedule — “when they are ready.”

The Bulldog is only the brand’s seventh folder in more than a decade of making knives under its own label (It’s been a U.S. OEM for decades), and it earns its spot in a stable of stellar blades.

In short: This is a brawnier N2 with a sliding bar lock and a knife only TRM could make — a hard use, sub-4-ounce folder.

Note: The Bulldog is new for 2024. It is also a TRM knife. Those two things combine to make it a very hard-to-get item. If you do get one, there are two different versions: one with flat handles and the other with fully contoured handles. I strongly recommend getting the contoured handles.

TRM Bulldog Knife Review

First Impressions

If you have purchased a TRM knife before, you will be surprised when you get the Bulldog; this is a blade with real heft. 

It’s not heavy compared to most knives, but at 3.6 ounces, this is bulkier than the N2 by almost a factor of 2. It feels solid, strong, and stout, but it’s still quite pocketable. 

Testing Conditions

I have carried the Bulldog exclusively since it arrived. It is odd for me to be so consistent with a single knife, as I am regularly switching knives so I can get more info for reviews. 

The Bulldog stuck around for so long because it was exceptionally versatile. As it was in my pocket for fall cleanup, it got a lot of use outside. It also saw its fair share of use doing my normal cutting tasks: food prep, processing recycling, in the wood shop, and fire prep.

As the Bulldog arrived in the middle of fall, I was outside cleaning up our yard. For convenience’s sake, I also made more than a few meals around the campfire in the backyard. Switching from cutting away tangled woody stems from a rose bush that had grown into a chain-link fence, to cutting up pieces of cheese and cured meats for lunch gave me the ability to see what the Bulldog could do. 

How It Performed

The size limitations of the chain link fence greatly restricted which knives I could use, and as a result, none of my fixed blades worked. The Bulldog hacked and (don’t tell anyone) pried stuff apart with ease. 

It chomped through the vines and branches, thanks to a supremely sharp cutting edge and good cutting geometry. It also sliced up the sopressata and cheese cleanly, though there was a noticeable dip in performance compared to other knives with thinner blade stock, like the TRM N2 and the Kershaw Bel Air. 

Both of those knives, however, lacked the heft to handle the pruning job. 

The same can be said of the Bulldog when breaking down boxes for my town’s (overly) stringent recycling program. It never snagged or stopped, but it was just short of the sublime slicing action that you get from thinner blades. When pressed into thicker cardboard, like the corners of an appliance box, it crushed the task. 

Therein lies the Bulldog’s performance niche: It can slice and dice with above-average performance, but it can also tackle much more demanding tasks than you wouldn’t feel comfortable doing with an ultrathin slicer. If I were giving it a number, I’d say that the Bulldog is 80% the slicer those thinner knives were, but more capable in hard-use tasks.

Locking Mechanism

The sliding bar lock was well implemented — easy to engage and disengage. The contouring on the handles is some of the best I have ever seen in any knife, ever. Overall, the Bulldog fills and locks into your hand in a way that I have not experienced in a very long time. 

Only the contoured Natives or the Spyderco Shaman have the same hand-filling feel. And the clip here is one of the very best stamped clips I have ever used, allowing truly deep carry with easy retrieval. 

The Bulldog’s thumb oval is quite nice, but probably too cramped for a “Spydie Flick” (that is, opening the knife with one’s middle finger, which can be faster than using a thumb to open the knife). Still, the knife pops open with a thumb nicely.

Conclusions

TRM builds some of the finest knives in the world. Its combination of performance, design, and execution is remarkable. But the stunning thing is that TRM makes these knives here in the U.S. for a very competitive price. 

If you wanted a stockier TRM, this is your knife. If you have a chore menu that includes some really tough cutting tasks but doesn’t quite justify a fixed blade, this is your knife. As a “jack of all trades” folder, you won’t find better.