San Diego,CA — Nov 12, 2020 –- The very first DPx Gear HEST(Hostile Environment Survival Tool) appeared in 2008. A patented design from world famous adventurer Robert Young Pelton the HEST quickly became a design classic. In 2010, the DPx HEST 1.0 folder was announced. Adapting the many features and durability of the fixed blade, the HEST/F became a best selling classic. To celebrate ten years, DPx Gear is releasing both updated affordable models of the HEST/F and a limited edition DECADE version to celebrate ten years of innovation.
The DPx Gear HEST/F Classic
The Classic is the famous DPx Gear HEST/F upgraded and redesigned to deliver maximum value for the customer’s money. The blade is still the unique Bohler D2 Milspec coated tool steel with a special heat treat to hit the sweet spot of edge retention and ease of mirror-shiney, hair-popping sharpening. The beefy Ti frame, big hand ergonomics, and features remain with the addition of a reversible clip. The HEST/F features a 1⁄4” Hex drive, glass breaker, rapid opening feature, wire stripper choil, 7/64” hex hardware and classic big belly thick blade – all features add up to a sweet spot for hard use folders.
“The goal was to stay within the same price point as our first folder came out in 2010. An aggressive concept considering the cost of premium materials and what has happened over the last ten years. We’ve enhanced the knife durability, simplified the design, retained the same hard use features, and still offer our famous Skull Tool,” says DPx Gear founder, Robert Young Pelton. “A proven, heirloom quality knife, crafted by an award winning manufacturer, at a reasonable price with a lifetime warranty. It’s the perfect product for someone looking to get past gas station knives or low priced folders.”
The DPx HEST/F Classic DECADE
The DECADE version is the first of its kind for DPx Gear folders. A collectible celebration of RYP’s vision of personalized heirloom knives. A knife that is shaped by the sweat and experience of the owner to become an heirloom. The limited edition of the HEST/F Classic Decade features raw canvas Micarta canvas scales and a stonewashed blade in Bohler CleanSteel M390 steel. Micarta is an American cloth laminate developed in 1910. Created as an insulator, the material is shaped and colored by use. The same American material used in the HEST Original and the sold out HEST 6 DECADE fixed blade designed for just one very famous Special Forces ODA.
The Micarta scale becomes your blank canvas, ready to be broken in and seasoned as you put it to hard use. The more this material is used, the better it looks, or clean it up and start fresh. In ten, twenty, thirty years (or more), this once-in-a-lifetime knife will be unique to you.
Upgrades include a matte black PVD coated combat pocket clip on the G10 model, lock bar insert, and upgraded Skull tool. What is new. The famous RotoBlock has been replaced with a 440 steel lock bar insert face. Stronger, simpler and elegant design.
Each model comes with a skull tool to store the replaceable flat head screw, and a new design that includes an end that can be used as a flat head screwdriver, box opener or chisel.