Description

The Fara was designed by Lucas Burnley, a custom knifemaker out of Orleans, MA, and produced by Mercury Knives out of Maniago, Italy. “Produced in Maniago, Italy” is the theme of the entire enterprise for MKM, which is aptly named. This ‘brand’ is a collection of four of the top knife manufacturers in Italy working together to consolidate and strengthen their commercial contributions to foreign markets.

They’ve chosen to work with some highly regarded and sought-after American custom makers to launch the brand and they’ve already made quite a splash. MKM won Knife Collaboration of the Year with Lucas Burnley and Bob Terzuola at the 2018 BLADE Show, while Viper took home Overall Knife of the Year with the SURU and LionSteel won the Manufacturing Quality Award for the third time in five years. A spectacular start, and one that confirms and fuels the mission of the Maniago Knife Makers consortium and the MKM brand: consolidating the value and style of Made in Maniago, by working together as a team.

The Fara is an ultra-stylish slipjoint design built for the European knife market, yet we think it’ll be right at home here in the USA. Many manufacturers, like Benchmade and Chris Reeve Knives, noticed the inklings of a change in the market toward EDC slipjoints when they introduced the Proper and Impinda, respectively, last year and each was an overwhelming success. The Fara follows in these footsteps, pairing a classic clip point blade with an ergonomic handle that slides in and out of the leather belt sheath with ease. It features pretty light action for a slipjoint, opening and closing pretty freely, with a half-stop safety to prevent accidental closures. Lucas Burnley nailed it with this design and it’s our first experience with Mercury, and we have to say we’re impressed. This knife is absolutely on par with the Impinda, and if you know anything about the quality and precision of a Chris Reeve knife, that is the highest possible praise we can give any knife.