Other than Athena, who, according to legend, sprung from the head of Zeus fully formed and ready for combat, TJ Schwarz’s debut in the knife world has been nothing short of remarkable. Since the release of his first two designs for Koenig Knives (the Arius and the Zenaida) when he was around age 22, his portfolio of work has been incredible.
The Arius stands as a mainstay of the high-end production world, while the ultra-rare Zenaida is a “gee whiz” machining feat — a knife with absolutely no blade play held together without fasteners.
After that, Schwarz designed two incredible knives for Millit — the machining wonder that is the Torrent and the hard use folder the Overland — and then a simpler version of the Torrent for mainstream release through CRKT.
This knife, the Confidente, represents the next step in the now 31-year-old’s career — the first knife he has made at a production scale in his own shop. It, like his other blades, doesn’t disappoint.
In short: The TJ Schwarz Confidente is a fresh take on the camp knife with new lines borne out of great design insights from a knife-making prodigy. Its pedigree makes it interesting, but its performance makes it a homerun.
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Modern, modified nessmuk-ish blade shape is broadly useful -
Very slight drop point allows for real piercing power without sacrificing slicing -
Heavily machined handle is excellent in hand -
Thin enough to carry like a dream -
Rivals some of the best fixed blades in the world in terms of performance
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Unconventional blade shape might represent a learning curve for folks that have developed blade skills on more traditional designs -
Produced in batches, so not always available -
Sheath design is not ideal (sheathes: tacos > pancake; food: pancake > taco)
TJ Schwarz Confidente Review
First Impressions
The knife looks and feels very light and thin in the hand, but the blade shape is not quite like anything else — a bit nessmuk and a bit drop point hunter (DPH). Named for 19th-century woodsman George Nessmuk Sears, the nessmuk is a blade with a bulbous tip that allows for excellent slicing and skinning. Basically, the tip of the knife rises up above the spine near the tip.
By combining a nessmuk with a drop point, the Confidente is neither fish nor fowl, but something of its own. Schwarz’s merger of the two is quite excellent, giving the knife a tip not really found on a nessmuk but having the strength not possible with a drop-point hunter. It’s also not too shabby-looking.
The handle is also great, thin and yielding excellent control over the knife all the way up to the tip. But I am not as excited about the sheath. It is well-made, snug-fitting, and easy to carry, but it is a little bigger than it needs to be. Kydex sheathes can be made in two ways: first, by smashing two pieces of kydex together, or by bending one piece of kydex in half.
The first style, a so-called “pancake” sheath, has a larger footprint than the second, as it requires fasteners around the entire edge of the sheath, adding about an inch or so to the width of the knife-in-sheath package. As both offer the same retention, I always prefer the second style of sheath (the taco style) for its smaller size.
It’s not a big deal, as you can pretty easily make your own sheath with a griddle, a sheet of kydex, some Chicago screws, and a saw, but when a knife is this amazing, small design quirks really stand out.
Hard-Use Tests
One knife, 12 tons of graded base, and a ton-and-a-half of bricks, the use test for the Confidente was a doozy. After years of losing access to my shed between January and March, thanks to a slick ramp and standing water, I decided it was time to build something better.
By recycling all of the materials and using a palletized stack of bricks, my dad and I constructed a much better, tougher, and easier-draining ramp that will allow year-round access to outdoor equipment. It was an exhausting job to do in 3 days, but thanks to the Confidente, it went a little faster.
Prying
One of the primary goals of the project was to reuse as many of the supplies as we could. This meant we had to take the old ramp apart (I even tried to reuse the screws).
Over the years, the screw heads were covered with mud, dirt, and grime — some were completely buried in the wood. In order to reuse the lumber for the form, we had to remove the screws, and that meant we had to find them.
I used the Confidente to dig out the screw heads — an excellent test to determine tip strength. Scraping through dirt and sand was easy, as was peeling back the edges of the pressure-treated lumber. Hundreds of screw heads later, the sturdy tip of the Confidente was no worse for wear. In fact, there is almost no visible damage whatsoever.
Scoring, Cutting
I don’t tend to use a tape measure in projects, instead opting for “relative measures.” This is faster and makes for a more precise fit, but it also means you really need a marking knife.
After getting the pressure treated lumber up, I used the Confidente to make about a dozen marks for an absolutely snug fit. Masonry doesn’t need that level of precision, but it was no big deal, as that is how I work in the wood shop. The Confidente took easy and sizable bites out of the pressure-treated lumber, making cuts at my indoor miter station fast and reliable.
Chopping
Finally, after the forms were made, set into the graded base, and filled with brick, I had to come back and trim down some of the parts of the setup that stuck out of the ground. They would be quite the tripping hazard, and they might pop a tire or two.
It was a great test of the Confidente’s ability to handle heavy chops. While there are faster ways to do this, the Confidente was fun to use. It was half prying and half cutting, and I really wrenched on the knife.
The result was definitely some blunted edges, but only on the wood. While the Confidente was not shaving sharp after this work, it was still passably sharp.
I also used this knife around the campfire after washing it down. It worked fine while feathering sticks for fire starting. I wasn’t good at this after blunting the edges of the wooden frame on the ramp, but I could make do.
It still cut meat cooked on the campfire and worked fine slicing cheese, though the tall smooth blade was very sticky. I did not get a chance to test the Confidente on recycling, but I would imagine it would do well given the tall blade and thin stock, especially after running over a strop for a while.
After this project, I have a very good sense of where the limits of the knife are. In normal use, as a camp knife or in hunting duties, I can’t imagine the Confidente doing poorly. The tip was strong, the grind thin enough for precision work, and the blade tough enough for rough chopping.
Conclusion: Who’s It For?
Without the hulking bulk of a lot of knives in its size range, the Confidente is the work of a master — but not just a master designer, a master maker too.
It is a very refined fixed blade, one that requires a lot of steps and processes to make it the polished river-rock of a knife that it is. It slots in between the Overland and the Overland X in TJ Schwarz’s lineup, and it’s more refined than the other two blades.
At $300, it might seem expensive for a wafer of steel, some bendy plastic, and two slabs of handle material, but it actually is quite a bargain. It is a significant step up from knives like the ESEE 4HM and the Ka-Bar Becker BK-16. It is also less chunky and slabby than something like a Bark River.
Only my custom Tom Krein TK-3 Whitetail really gives this knife a run for its money. It’s so good, so impressive, and so easy in the hand, it’s hard to beat. There are a few on the market right now at various retailers and I would guess they will be made again. If you find one, snap it up. It is exactly what you’d expect from a knife prodigy like TJ Schwarz.
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