Presenting the ACE Evolution 2
Andre Erasmus has been refining the design of his highly popular ACE folder over the past few years. At this stage, he is starting to phase out the ACE, with a few exclusive special editions planned to give the ACE range a proper send-off.
Though the ACE Evolution 1 range will be coming to an end, we are excited to announce the release of ACE Evolution 2!
“Tell me more about the Evo.2“
It is always fun to design a knife together with a customer to create a totally unique piece that will be a useful, albeit pretty, tool that will outlast both the maker and the user. Valuable customer input ensures that information and creativity flow both ways in designing and creating the ACE.
The result is a close bond between the customer and the ACE stemming from the customer’s involvement in the creation of a personalised work of art. At the same time, this provides Andre with insight into the needs and tastes of different individual knife enthusiasts.
Using the wealth of experience gained from building a number of the ACE (Evolution 1), Andre has gone back to basics and designed a new version of the ACE.
The ACE Evo2 has evolved into a sophisticated lady with more curves but still as sexy as they come. She is a looker and she knows it. She will only wear the best designer outfits when going out, but she can still get down and dirty to get the job done. Her sophistication lies in her ability to be attractive at all times, even when wearing working clothes.
Ace Evo2 is to be the perfect everyday tool for the stylish gentleman with an acquired taste who knows what he wants. A man who is equally at home in the boardroom, in the countryside or on the shooting range. A man who does not need status symbols, but prefers to own the best.
“How the Evo.2 evolved from the ACE?”
The Ace 1 design features strong, straight lines, purposely intended to be long, lean and mean. This sexy lady is lean and mean – a real Amazon warrior. From the start ACE was an athletic sprinter, sometimes in her track clothes and sometimes wearing an evening gown.
The initial Ace design was born in October 2018 during a late night drafting session. Implementation of the design elements into the actual hardware pieces was a challenge to say the least. The issue came from the slim design of the knife. The parts had to be extremely accurately crafted to tight tolerances in order to fit all parts together in the available space. This was essential in achieving such beautiful lines which is the key feature of the ACE
A total of only 13 Ace folders have been made between 2018 and 2020. The very first ACE prototype, that was initially discarded and replaced with another, was recently completed for a friend.
One of them was a shorter prototype uniquely made for a collector to his specifications. So only 3 prototypes and 10 production knives have been made.
Like all pretty ladies ACE has grown up over the last few iterations and it was becoming more and more difficult to give each one her own personality. The design was never intended to be produced in large volumes, but rather was meant to be handcrafted into a few exclusive iterations for gentlemen who appreciated both stylish everyday carry knives as well as beautiful display pieces or safe-queens.
One lesson learned from the initial ACE design was to always include a pocket-clip so that the wearer could actually use the knife, and preferably to make the clip in such a way that it can be used both left handed and right handed. This also presented an opportunity for the wearer to show off his lovely lady at a moment’s notice.
Options To Choose From
It would not be a proper Andre Erasmus, if you did not get a chance to make the knife uniquely yours, by choosing different colours of anodizing, different scales or even a Damascus blade for those of us who simply MUST have Damascus on everything!
All Evo.2’s will be full customs, built according to your specifications:
Options
- High carbon damascus, mono stainless steel or stainless steel damascus blade
- Damascus, stainless steel or titanium pocket clip
- Left or right handed versions
- Handle material of your choice
- Bolster material of your choice, even timascus (Titanium damascus)
- Leather carry pouch
Option pricing on request.
“Any other designs coming up?“
“There was such a big demand for the Sela Field Grade knives, that another batch may be released before the end of this year. The next batch would possibly be lefty’s with an option to change the G10 handle colours.
It is highly unlikely that there will be an Ace Evo 3 as I have lots of new design ideas and enjoy the challenge of creating something new, much more than producing proven designs.
One of these new designs is a large Hunting knife folder that is a focussed tool for the professional hunter who doesn’t want a large fixed blade strapped to his side to hinder him while tracking or stalking.”
A very small number of Special Edition Versions of the old ACE may be done upon request.
Yes. Andre wants to retire this design. And make the ACE go out with a Bang. So the only chance that he does not retire it, is if there is such a big demand for the Ultimate ACE, that he might make a small run of them to satisfy a handful of knife lovers. But right now, that is not certain.