By Luke Causey

The Bear OPS Nekama may well represent one of the best buys in the current tactical EDC knife market. Made entirely in the USA with quality components and available at a great price, the Nekama gives the user a level of quality and design features normally found in knives double the price. I’ve carried the Nekama every day for three months and put it to hard use. Let’s dive into the knife and the user experience.

Bear Ops is the tactical line of knives from parent company Bear & Sons. Released earlier this year, and showcased at Blade Show, the Nekama is designed as a tactical folder geared toward military and law-enforcement use. It features parts and materials manufactured entirely in their Jacksonville, Alabama facility.

I’ve carried the Nekama every day for months, including over 80 hours of SWAT training, multiple fishing and camping trips, and one two-week trek across half the country. The Nekama is light, functional, and extremely well designed.

The knife utilizes a 14C28N Sandvik stainless steel with a cutting edge of 3¼ inches. The blade length from tip to handle comes in at 3.4 inches, keeping it just under the 3½-inch mark for overall blade length. That can be important in some jurisdictions around the country, and hits the sweet spot for an everyday carry blade.

14C28N isn’t one of the fancy powder steels made from a blend of ground unicorn horn and fairy dust. However, it’s plenty corrosion-resistant, holds a good edge, and sharpens easily. This steel also lets Bear keeps the price reasonable, and quite frankly, hits the ‘common man’ market space for the buyer looking for a quality knife without the uppity fuss.

The blade shape is listed as a ‘modified tanto’ by Bear. In use, it’s really more of a drop point design with the transition from the straight edge to the tip being very subtle. I’ve treated this like a normal drop point for edge maintenance on a ceramic rod, and that’s has worked out perfectly.

The tip is more than pointy enough for piercing material and the high saber grind provides plenty of strength.I typically carve bow drill divots with a knife by pinching the blade near the tip and rotating it in a drilling motion in the hearth board. This was simple work for the Nekama and proved the tip to be substantially strong.

My version has the black DLC coating on the blade. The coating is smooth and I can’t perceive any drag in cutting. Also, the coating is crazy-tough. I cut the tops off a few soda cans to hold used cooking oil, and the finish wasn’t any worse for the wear. It also spent a week in my pocket on the gulf coast exposed to salt water, sand, processing fish and crab bait, and doing kitchen duty. Maintenance has been washing it clean and hitting the pivot with a little gun oil. I haven’t had any rust issues at all.

The handle of the Nekama is anodized black aluminum with a copper accent around the pivot and a copper backspacer with lanyard loop. The clip is deep carry for tip up, and reversible for left or right hand. While we’re on the clip topic, the Nekama’s clip has enough space to pass over thick pocket hems without issue, which is especially handy for tactical pants and pockets like the ones found on Carhartt’s. The clip hides the entirety of the Nekama in the pocket and provides enough tension to stay put. During a two-day shooting course, I added a short lanyard of 550 cord to help pull the knife out of my pocket while wearing gloves. I’ve liked this arrangement and have left it this way for months now.

The blades rides on ball bearings and locks up with a cross-bar lock. A few online retailers list the knife as pivoting on washers, but looking closely with a flashlight, the pivot is clearly bearings. The blade can be opened with a thumb flick on the stud, or the lock bar can be pulled back and the blade swung open. An inherent feature of the cross-bar lock is that it keeps fingers out of the way during closing, which is especially nice when the knife needs to be operated out of line-of-sight or in the dark. The lock-up is solid, with no lateral or vertical blade movement at all.

Initially, the ball-bearings might seem like an issue for dirty environments. My field use of the Nekama started during a shooting course in a very dusty environment and continued over several camping trips. It cut targets to fit openings behind barriers, opened dirty cases of ammunition, and many other tasks that filled the mechanics of the knife with fine dust. I never experienced a lock-up or opening issue. The open back design has allowed for easy cleaning on the few times it’s gotten particularly janky.

Here's the truth about the Nekama…it’s seriously good. When I got it, it was obvious that it was designed to directly compete with knives way above its price point. It’s a working knife that does well at the shooting range, on fishing trips, and in the camp kitchen. Let’s be honest, none of that stuff requires a blade steel that’s made from pixie dust. What it does require is good design, durability, usefulness and dependability. That’s exactly what the Nekama delivers.

The Nekama’s MSRP is $94.99 directly from Bear. Major online retailers have it listed for sub-$65 for the black version, and sub-$60 for the polished bladed version. That’s an incredible price point for a quality US-made folder. With that in mind, I’ll leave you with this parting thought; If for some reason I lost the Nekama, I’d buy another one. That should tell you everything you need to know.   

Specifications: Bear OPS Nekama

• Blade Material : Sandvik 14C28N
• Handle Material : Aluminum
• Overall Length : 7 7/8″
• Blade Length : 3 1/4″
• Weight : 3.1 oz.
• Made In: USA
• MSRP : $94.99, (about $64 retail)