A Russian “Transformer” Fishing Knife

Now this is a really cool knife and would be a great one for a fish camp, at least as a conversation piece. While it looks like a simple tube, you have a really useful design that can deploy a blade that’s surprisingly long, and a handle that’s equally impressive.

It’s a Russian creation, known as the Fortel Fisherman and sold by Atroposknife. There’s a video down below showing how it works.

The round micarta handle can be separated, revealing the blade and a pair of sharp spikes on the removable portion of the handle.

You can then deploy the other half of the blade from the handle, giving you a really long blade.

You can even reconnect the handles if you want, and have this super-lengthy knife.

On the company website, this knife is cataloged under the heading “Transformer.”

The guy in the video calls the spikes a primitive fork, but commenters inform him the spikes are used to secure a fish while you fillet it with the blade. Nice!

This thing is really cool, but if you’re really trying to sell knives to fishermen, don’t make them round. Round stuff rolls a lot on a rocking fishing boat! And an apparently-Russian commenter observes that it’s an old design and that this blade may be too stiff to function well for filleting.

For $235 I think I’ll pass. But I do admire the design. What do you think of it?

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.