YouTube sensations and engineering wizards Hacksmith Industries, based in Cambridge, Ont., are introducing a 21st-century take on the classic pocketknife. The company has a knack for taking sci-fi concepts and creating working prototypes. Recently, they’ve taken a serious turn. “A little change of pace around here. We’ve moved from YouTube to becoming a full-on knife manufacturer,” said James Hobson, the creator of Hacksmith. The team ran the most successful Canadian Kickstarter of all time in August. Over a three-week period they raised $15 million to produce the ‘Smith Blade,’ said to be much more suited for the concrete jungles and technologies of today. “It’s my version of the modern-day Swiss Army knife,” said Hobson. “I was a Boy Scout [and] over the years I’ve carried lots of different pocket knives and multi-tools. I’ve tried Leatherman,” said Hobson, adding that they’ve never quite cut it. He referenced a recent visit from the former prime minister, Justin Trudeau, to the company’s headquarters when they both agreed the lack of tweezers in the Leatherman multi-tool is one of the gaps in the market. So he thought, why not make his own? “The Hacksmith logo has featured a Swiss Army knife for the past 13 years. So you could say I’ve been priming my audience for this product,” said Hobson. The Smith Blade weighs only 95 grams and has 21 tools integrated into it. To bring it to life, Hacksmith Industries has nearly doubled its workforce and continues to hire more people. They’ve overhauled their Cambridge headquarters to manufacture it there. “We’ve actually set a Canadian record and we actually have the largest single possible order for CNC Machines in Canada. We’ve got 32 in total,” said Hobson. They’ll be using those machines to produce the 40,000 pre-ordered Smith Blades for their Kickstarter backers. Then, they hope to start making more, including versions for the general public. “[Then we can] hit different price points so everyone can afford a Smith Blade. The lite version starts at $89.99, the standard $169 and then the pro at $249,” said Hobson. For someone who has brought ideas from comics, movies and video games to life, Hacksmith ranks the Smith Blade surprisingly high among his accomplishments. “That’s the biggest honour as an engineer, knowing that someone else likes your product that much that it’s part of their life,” Hobson said. As for what’s next, the big dream would be to have the Smith Blade become a dedicated gadget for the RCMP or military. Given what Hacksmith has achieved before, it may not be out of reach.
