Ask me about perfection, I'll show you my OPK!

Hey Cody,
thanks for sharing your observations. Fully agree with you. The machining/engeneering work is fantatstic. And it is a piece of CRK history. Every now and then it comes to my mind whether I should buy one for my collection. Particularely as currently there seem To be quite many OPK on the market available. Just didn't pull the trigger yet, as I am into folders. But threads like yours are inspiring :-)

Best,
Stefan
 
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James Longstreet said:
Hey Cody,
thanks for sharing your observations. Fully agree with you. The machining/engeneering work is fantatstic. And it is a piece of CRK history. Every now and then it comes to my mind whether I should buy one for my collection. Particularely as currently there seem To be quite many OPK on the market available. Just didn't pull the trigger yet, as I am into folders. But threads like yours are inspiring :-)

Best,
Stefan
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I was in the same situation. I mainly carry folders and have a couple great Bark River knives for bushcraft. I was undecided about getting an OPK, but knew if I got one I would want the smaller size, and single guard, so the Mntnr 1 would be the most likely choice and most readily available. I saw a very good price for one new-in-box and jumped on it.

If it's a fair statement, I would say these one-pieces are the knives that laid the foundation for CRKs reputation for quality. Certainly the Sebenza was what popularized the brand, but the OPKs were where the concept of extremely high quality, at attainable pricing, started. It's a nice historical reference point to have in a collection.

My only regret is not buying a "used user". The one I got is so perfect that I don't know if I can use it, though I really want to.
 
kidcongo said:
It is truly Hollow. It goes in to about 1/4" shy of the curved edge of the blade guard (about halfway into the smooth, round section). There is one step narrower inside the handle where the knurling ends and the smooth part begins. As much material as possible was removed to keep the weight down I figure. Also the cap is hollow, so there is actually quite a bit of room in there.
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The OPK's are truly my favorite blades, fixed or folding. I regret selling my Aviator but will replace it with a Mountaineer I when I find a not so ridiculously priced piece.

A huge upgrade, if you're going to put any time in EDC'ing it, is the pancake sheath that came with the Aviator. I contacted Gfeller to make one for my Shadow IV and they're $150 and just a FYI they won't put the CRK logo on the sheath.

Hollow cap is great, I believe most 5.5"-9" will take a 14mm compass in the cap and the Aviator and mountaineer I is a 12mm I believe. I keep a ferro rod, braided fishing line/hooks and a compass in mine...they're pretty cool and super strong designs, I'd take one over a Randall 18 any day.

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Here's the pancake sheath I was talking about. It's by far the best I've ever used and sits high and tight to the point I can have a t shirt and jeans on and it doesn't print and is hardly noticeable.

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Thanks for the writeup Cody!
 
dubya3 said:
The OPK's are truly my favorite blades, fixed or folding. I regret selling my Aviator but will replace it with a Mountaineer I when I find a not so ridiculously priced piece.

A huge upgrade, if you're going to put any time in EDC'ing it, is the pancake sheath that came with the Aviator. I contacted Gfeller to make one for my Shadow IV and they're $150 and just a FYI they won't put the CRK logo on the sheath.

Hollow cap is great, I believe most 5.5"-9" will take a 14mm compass in the cap and the Aviator and mountaineer I is a 12mm I believe. I keep a ferro rod, braided fishing line/hooks and a compass in mine...they're pretty cool and super strong designs, I'd take one over a Randall 18 any day.

4f86e65a6a0b673d96dee2fa4fba0af2.jpg


7571267d2f73141d73ba9777359c6a1b.jpg


Here's the pancake sheath I was talking about. It's by far the best I've ever used and sits high and tight to the point I can have a t shirt and jeans on and it doesn't print and is hardly noticeable.

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Thanks for the writeup Cody!
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Thanks for adding this info. That sheath is cool. Is that a tritium compass?
 
kidcongo said:
Thanks for adding this info. That sheath is cool. Is that a tritium compass?
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Unfortunately it's not. If I saw a tritium button compass that size I'd buy one for sure. Mine is just glow and is supposedly military grade glow but it doesn't last long.

They aren't super tight fits so I used two teeny drops of Gorilla Glue around the compass and it works great. If you happen to find a tritium compass let me know please, I'd like to put one in my Tanto as well.

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By the way, there is a really cool aftermarket cap with a built-in whistle and compass but they're really hard to find and long discontinued. A friend on the forum has one but he's got a death grip on it lol. I think the extra bit of length on this cap would be especially nice on the 4" blade model's.

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A buddy of mine from Facebook lives near New Graham Knives and sent me pics of the CRK Short Sword they have for sale. For a cool $5k you can have number 5 of 10 made lol

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dubya3 said:
A buddy of mine from Facebook lives near New Graham Knives and sent me pics of the CRK Short Sword they have for sale. For a cool $5k you can have number 5 of 10 made lol

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So the next logical question is whether the CRK Short Sword has a hollow handle, and if so, can you fit my Mountaineer 1 inside it?

That thing is insane!
 
Lol its definitely a hollow handle one piece but I think you're better off trying to stash a small SAK in it. If I ever hit the lotto I'm buying one!
 
Nice review of what must be the most practical OPK Chris ever made.

It is important to remember the times in which he originally designed and produced these knives. South Africa was under heavy sanctions and getting good quality cutlery was not easy. Added to that is the fact that there was not a huge amount of choice for an affordable, super well made hard use knife anywhere. Chris's goal was to produce the very best item with the very best material available at the time for a reasonable price.

To do that he made the knife from a single piece of steel which allowed much of the production to be automated and produced a configuration which was revolutionary.
The blade was heat treated to be slightly softer than we would normally expect today because this gave it greater ductility and made it easier to sharpen. Remember we did not have diamond stones and all manner of sharpening apparatus in those days.

At his workshop in Durban I personally watched Chris take his own D2 Mountaineer (which was ground a lot thinner than these later ones) and hammer it into an oak tree to about halfway down the blade. He then stood on the handle for about 20 seconds. There is no doubt that these little knives are strong!
 
Nice little story Steven! That doesn't surprise me one bit, they are extremely solid. The larger ones seem especially strong, I think my Tanto I is 1/4" stock!

It would be a dream come true if he started making a OPK again, even just a single model or two or maybe even a new one. We can all dream, right?
 
dubya3 said:
Nice little story Steven! That doesn't surprise me one bit, they are extremely solid. The larger ones seem especially strong, I think my Tanto I is 1/4" stock!

It would be a dream come true if he started making a OPK again, even just a single model or two or maybe even a new one. We can all dream, right?
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In the early 80's when I was selling Chris's knives in the UK I gave a Tanto (7" Blade) to one of the local gun magazine knife reviewers/testers. He was notorious for breaking knives and the issue before he broke a Cold Steel Tanto and wrote about it. (Lynn Thompson was furious with him)

I was concerned about giving him the Tanto and with good reason. He beat that thing to death (chopping, cutting, prying) and when I saw the pics I was sure the review would be negative. The knife was not broken but it looked like it had been pulled the length of Britain behind a pickup truck.
He was super impressed with the Tanto. It did everything he asked of it and he was easily able to field sharpen it.

When I received it back I was shocked at the state of it. He had beaten it so hard the ally hex cap was all busted and skew from hammering.

I sent it back to Chris who laughed when he saw it. He gave it a quick re-furb and new cap and we gifted it to him to say thanks for the review.
He was amazed to see the knife in as new condition and was super impressed with the spa treatment. In those days it was unheard of for a factory to re-furb a knife. It was a low number Tanto probably somewhere between 20-30. I wonder if he still has it?

The years have passed and new tech and new heat treating protocols have moved the hard use blade into the 21st century. But like Randall's there is no doubt that the Chris Reeve OP Tanto is still a brilliant knife.
Alas with the rising prices of the OPK's today few people are using them anymore a shame really.

I have the article somewhere, I will try and track it down.
 
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That's awesome, I'd love to read your article if you can find it. I can read reviews on the OPK all night. I wish there were more video reviews on YouTube but the first CRK shop video "The Exquisite Blade" is a very cool piece with great history of his fixed blades.

I find it ironic that Lynn would get pissy about a knife review/tester that broke one of his pieces considering that he has Demko destroy the competitions folders including CRK, Benchmade, Spyderco and more with their, in my opinion, unless tests.

I do have to agree with strength. Even with the new, super tough carbon steels (3V, S7, ect), the OPK is right up near or at the top of the pack in my books. You just can't beat the one piece blank and A2 at ~56 is easy enough for a chimp to keep sharp.
 
That is a fantastic story! Thank you so much for sharing. Hope you can find the article.
 
As always, Great Review. I once chopped down a 6" diameter ironwood tree with my little shadow III. Took over an hour, but I did it. A larger OPK would have worked better, but I did not have one on me. That little shadow III was my first CRK and still remains one of my favorites. Steel holds an amazing edge and its tough. I know any of my OPK would stand up to anything I would ever think of putting them thru. Like many, I wish they were still being made, but am fortunate that I was able to purchase many while they were still being made. I also realize how stupid I was to sell every single one that I did. Luckily I still have a healthy stable remaining.
 
Hey guys, need some help, what would be a fair price for a Mountaineer 1 w/ box and papers?

USA made on about 2002.
 
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