Comparable to the iconic Chris Reeve offering, Mangana’s Aurelia boasts notable distinctive details and a great price.

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You’d be hard-pressed to meet a pocketknife lover who isn’t well-acquainted Chris Reeve Knives and the brand’s most iconic offering, Sebenza.

While it’s great to see even today, it’s important to remember how groundbreaking the Sebenza was when it first appeared back in 1987.

“My process still starts with sketching and hand-shaping foam prototypes. Even though I’ve been using 3D printers in my personal and professional life for over a decade, I still feel this approach is faster and gives better results for ergo.”

— Sherif Manganas, designer of Aurelia

In addition to super clean aesthetics and otherworldly craftsmanship, it was the first knife to use the now talked about frame lockwith part of the handle itself falling into place behind the blade’s butt to hold it securely open when deployed.

These days, the Sebenza is still the gold standard as any premium pocket knives can be measured.

So naturally my eyebrows went up an inch or two when GP received an email from an independent designer who wanted us to check out a new knife with distinct Sebenza vibes.

Of course we asked Sherif Manganas to send a prototype of Aurelia over for a look-see. What follows are my first impressions of a knife that made quite an impression.

Discriminatory design

Just looking over the ingredients in this knife I knew it was one I could take seriously. The handle scale is made from stonewashed and contoured titanium, with a super smooth finish, integrated pocket clip and wonderful weight in the hand.

This is reasonable based on the process Manganas uses. A classically trained industrial designer who started in the automotive industry before his passion for knives drove him to create Manganese steelhe believes in the sense of the real.

“My process still starts with sketching and hand-shaping foam prototypes,” he explains. “Despite having used 3D printers in my private and professional life for over a decade, I still feel that this approach is faster and gives better results for ergo.”

His care when it comes to materials carries over to the pivot point of the knife itself, which he calls the MSK Dual Way Pivot because it’s designed to run on both Skiff’s phosphor bronze washers (better for heavy gravel and dirt environments) and ball bearings.

The prototype I got to check out is stock, and although the deployment was a little sticky at first, after several break-in flicks, the blade swung out smoothly and satisfyingly.

The frame lock is quite secure and yet the design is such that it is quite easy to retrieve the blade with one hand. (See both parts in action in the video below.)

Manganas says the production Aurelias comes with stock, but he works with Dinghy to add a stock and tray upgrade option so users can customize their own knives to their liking.

Speaking of the blade, shape-wise it’s a beauty – and refreshingly different from the Sebenza in that it’s a cutting point. (The classic Sebenza is a drop-point, and Insingo and tanto blade shapes are also available, but no clip points.)

Why did the Manganas go this way?

“I drew inspiration from my childhood kitchen,” says Manganas. “My parents, who immigrated to this country, used LaGuiole knives as our kitchen knives. LaGuiole knives have a distinctive look – an elongated pinch point with minimal bellying and a long flat section, all characteristics that I like in my EDC knives.

“So I started integrating these basic cues with what I had envisioned for a daily utility tool/gentleman’s hybrid. After three months of non-stop sketching in my spare time, Aurelia was created.”

While this difference might not affect day-to-day use all that much, it’s a clean, striking silhouette that gets major style points in my book.

Precise performance

The blade is deployed via double-sided thumb studs, and there’s a bit of fuss on the back to improve grip for making more detailed cuts – two unsurprising features that are nevertheless notable for their sensible placement and reliable functionality.

The one area where it’s a little trickier for me to comment on is with the blade itself still. As is quite common with prototypes, the steel is of a different grade than what will be in the final product that Manganas has hired Reate OEM to produce.

The metal in this review unit (as you might have guessed from the pictures) is M390, which is a super steel in its own right, but the consumer product takes it to the next level.

That’s right, it’s going to be MagnaCut, which, as you’re probably tired of saying by now, is basically unmatched in its combination of toughness, edge retention and corrosion resistance.

While I can’t speak to how this particular knife will perform with the MagnaCut, I can kind of triangulate on this topic. This particular form factor – 3.6-inch blade, 4.8-inch handle, 4.4 ounces – feels incredibly balanced in the hand.

It has worked well around the house tackling everyday chopping and slicing – everything from duct tape to tomatoes to chicken – and my past experience with the MagnaCut has always been incredibly satisfying from a performance standpoint.

In other words, I think it’s safe to say that the same design with a MagnaCut blade is unlikely to leave any consumer wanting.

One last point I would like to make is about the price. Because while the Sebenza 31 Plain Drop Point costs $425, the Aurelia has a pre-order price of $280. The latter isn’t exactly pocket change, but it’s about 34 percent less than the former.

Of course, with this new knife you can’t Chris Reeves Made in Idaho pedigree and general Sebenza street cred — and you also can’t put a price on the innovation the brand began bringing to the space nearly 40 years ago.

But in my limited time with this cheeky young upstart, I’ve found plenty of satisfaction and I’ve even taken to not just admiring it on my desk and rolling it around, but turning it into action and you know, simply use the damn thing.

Safe to say, it has the look and feel of the best premium pocket knives you can get for less than $300. That means it’s well worth adding to your collection alongside the Sebenza – or even, if you’re just starting out and every penny counts, instead of it.

Availability and pricing

Mangana’s Aurelia is available for pre-order now for $280.

Mangana’s Aurelia