Astrum

Overview

The Shirogorov Astrum is the workshop’s 100 mm flipper on a liner lock with an apron, the larger of the workshop’s two apron liner locks and the first of the workshop’s own models in MagnaCut, after the 2023 Molten Overkill collaboration. It began as a Sprint Run stamped 2023, went through a First Production of 100 pieces in July 2024 and reached serial production in November 2024, when the first serial knives were shown at the Arsenal show. The serial knife pairs an M390 blade, 3.0 mm at the spine, with a gray titanium handle 11.5 mm thick, a titanium clip and backspacer in the handle color, and the MRBS pivot with the CPS anti-rotation system. Overall length is 228 mm and weight 106 g.

The Astrum sits beside the 90 mm Stellar and carries the same lock detail: the apron on the liner keeps dirt out of the gap between liner and handle, and its inner face is jimped so the thumb has more contact when closing the knife. BladeZilla, a knife-focused YouTube channel, named the Astrum its 2024 Knife of the Year.

Factory specifications, every model in the line and the dated releases are on the Astrum record.

Quick Reference:

• Designer: Sergey Shirogorov
• Classification: Production model (liner lock flipper, 100 mm)
• Initial release: 2024 (First Production 27 July 2024; serial model 30 November 2024; Sprint Run stamped 2023)

Pricing is tracked in the price record.

Variants comparison

Every model in the line side by side, from the factory record: tier, release, blade, steel, bearing system, lock, handle, weight and run size where the factory has published them.

Production history

The Sprint Run came first, then the First Production, then the serial model, with the Custom Division and a Sinkevich Touch show edition in the same period. MagnaCut is the steel of the First Production and the first Custom Division run; the serial knife moved to M390, the steel of the other serial models.

• 2023: Sprint Run, the first Astrum, stamped 2023.
• 27 July 2024: First Production, 100 pieces, in MagnaCut; the dimensions and weight of the serial knife were set here.
• October 2024: Astrum Sinkevich Touch, 50 pieces, sold at CCKS Fall 2024 with the Capsule Tool and a Cova leather pouch.
• 30 November 2024: serial Astrum in M390 on MRBS, shown first at the Arsenal show.
• 2024 onward: Custom Division line opened on the platform with the Astrum CD, 50 pieces, MagnaCut, anodized titanium, SRRBS.
• 2026: Astrum CD Stardust CarboTi, 100 pieces, DamaX blade and backspacer, SRRBS with the PLDS pivot system.

The line is current and the serial knife is a current factory model.

Variants

Astrum Sprint Run

The first Astrum, stamped 2023. It preceded the First Production by about a year. It established the 100 mm blade, the apron liner lock and the titanium handle of every later serial Astrum.

Astrum First Production

Released 27 July 2024 in a run of 100 pieces, the First Production carried a MagnaCut blade. The serial knife kept its dimensions and weight and changed only the steel, the handle pattern and small details of the backspacer, so the First Production is the reference point for the whole line. The pattern at the rear of the handle runs in parallel lines, where the serial knife’s is slightly radial, and this is the quickest way to tell the two apart in hand.

Astrum (serial)

On sale from 30 November 2024. Blade 100 mm, 3.0 mm thick, M390, full flat grind; handle 127 mm long and 11.5 mm thick in gray titanium with milled internal pockets; overall length 228 mm; weight 106 g. The pivot is the MRBS multi-row bearing with the CPS system that stops the pivot screw from turning. The liner apron carries fine jimping on its inner face. The stonewashed titanium clip mounts tip-up on a hidden screw and matches the handle color, as does the backspacer, which is suspended along its whole length; the notches on the backspacer have slightly sharper edges than on the First Production. Handle option is titanium only.

Astrum Sinkevich Touch

The CCKS Fall 2024 set: 50 pieces in MagnaCut on MRBS with the apron liner lock, stonewashed and anodized scales with fine textured milling, sold with the Sinkevich Capsule Tool and a Cova leather knife-and-tool pouch. It is a production-tier show edition, not a Custom Division piece; the register of every Touch set is on the Sinkevich Touch page, and the wider design partnership is on the Sinkevich collaborations page.

Astrum CD (MagnaCut)

A Custom Division run of 50 pieces, the first on the platform. Blade 100 mm at 2.8 mm thick in MagnaCut, thinner than the serial knife’s 3.0 mm; anodized titanium handle; SRRBS single-row roller bearing pivot, the Custom Division bearing; liner lock with apron.

Astrum CD Stardust CarboTi

A Custom Division run of 100 pieces, 2026. Blade 100 mm at 3.0 mm thick in DamaX; Stardust CarboTi scales, a DamaX backspacer and a titanium pocket clip; SRRBS pivot with the patented PLDS (Pivot Load Distribution System); liner lock with apron.

Authentication

The serial is recorded on the box and the certificate for most pieces; Custom Division pieces carry their markings inside, on the scales and/or the backspacer. The authentication guide has the per-tier checklist. On this line the steel is a first check: a serial Astrum is M390, and a MagnaCut blade belongs to the First Production, the Touch set or the MagnaCut Custom Division run, each of which has its own paperwork. A Touch set is complete only with the Capsule Tool and pouch, and no Touch or First Production Astrum carries a Custom Division marking.

Pricing and collecting

Prices are in the price record; the questions a buyer asks before paying are on the Buying FAQ. Collectors follow the Astrum for the steel sequence, MagnaCut on the First Production and the first Custom Division run and M390 on the serial knife, and for the numbered editions: the First Production, the Touch set and the two Custom Division runs are each 50 or 100 pieces. The tier ladder places the serial knife in production and the CD runs above it, with the Touch set as a show-edition sub-run of the production model.

Questions answered: Models FAQ.