Lynch NW

By Phil Spano

There’s no better feeling than buying a new pocket knife. Ok, maybe there is, but it’s definitely up there on the list. You research, you check out photos of the knife on Instagram and other places on the interwebs, and you decide to spend your hard-earned money on the latest and greatest knife. The perfect folding knife with amazing ergos, a blade made with the newest steel, titanium scales with micarta inlays, it’s just perfect.

Then it arrives. 

It’s the greatest knife in your collection, you’re going to carry it every day for a very long time.  You open up the box it came in and you inspect it, you flick it open a couple hundred times, and then into the pocket it goes, but something just isn’t right. It’s in there but it’s not all the way in there. You take it out and look at the pocket clip. 

Now most pocket clips, except for a few makers, seem to be an afterthought. Some of them look like pieces of scrap metal someone drilled holes in and threw on the knife. They’re ugly, and they make the knife sit a quarter of the way out of your pocket.

That’s where Lynch NW comes in. 

The company started as an idea from Casey Lynch who had a Spyderco PM2 and thought the clip was subpar. So he designed a clip, sent the idea out to about 60 different machine shops and only 1 responded back. They made him 100 clips and to Casey’s surprise, he was able to sell all of those on BladeForums. 

After that first run, he was told that the process was difficult and the production would cost a lot more than the first run.  

So Casey went to work in his home shop and after much trial and error, mostly error, and being humped over a workbench for extensive amounts of time, he finally had his first small batch of pocket clips.

Years later, after many batches, he was finally able to get out of his basement and into a real shop, a 3,000 square foot space in Washington State which held all the equipment he needed to make these pocket clips for various knives and eventually the All Access Pass, which is a pry bar that the EDC community knows and loves, and all the other pry tools they now make.

Casey and the team at Lynch NW now produce more than just pry bars and pocket clips. They have done knife scales, beads, and clothing. They’ve collaborated with different makers to bring you wallets and slips along with various different tools sporting the famous feather logo.

If you’re looking for an EDC setup, you can get almost every piece from Lynch NW. Through the site, you’re able to purchase a pocket knife with a house-made clip already installed, maintenance tools, a catch mat, prybars, pliers and the slip to keep them in, swag, and even more. I hear they have their own brew of pivot lube coming too.

An American company, making things with parts sourced in America, Lynch NW is what the American Dream is all about. Started from nowhere and now if you scroll through the EDC community, it’ll be hard not to see a Lynch NW made product in the majority of those posts. I myself have and have had Lynch NW clips on every knife I’ve owned that they make a clip for. I’ve had numerous prybars from them and still use one every single day.

The Lynch NW All Access Pass, is a titanium prybar that sits nicely in your pocket or pouch. I don’t want to call it a lifesaver, but I use mine for everyday use at work from opening doors on AC units to unscrewing battery compartments on my electronics, there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t use my AAP 1.5 for something. 

Head over to Lynch NW and see for yourself, grab a pocket clip in one of their various finishes to match your knife build and if you can, since they don’t last long, get yourself a prybar or any of the many offerings those guys produce and I assure you you will not be disappointed.