Cheapest decent knife with micarta scales?

midnight flyer said:
I would try another Crown. For $10 shipped, that is a great price for that knife.

Two years ago I bought five of them to give out as Christmas presents, and they were a big hit from everyone. A couple of the guys I gave them to were real knife guys, and a couple weren't. I decided that I liked the pattern well enough that I kept the last one for myself.

I noticed that the knives were up to Kershaw's normal fit and finish, but at $10, I wasn't complaining. All of those Crowns are still in circulation and still being happily used by their owners, including me.

This was a good opportunity to customize a knife to my tastes. The micarta scales felt too blocky and square for my taste when in hand. So I sat down with a piece of 180 gr sandpaper and really rounded them off. I finished sanding with 220 gr, then a piece of steel wool to get the last of the scratched out. When I was finished, it looked like a factory finish. And it was a totally different knife in hand. It has the feel of a $50 knife now.

I would get another, and if it wasn't perfect I would send them both back to Kershaw for replacement. I doubt you would have any problems with them as their customer service is legendary.

Robert
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OK, ordered another one. I think I could address all my other concerns with this knife myself (mainly the big ass burrs on the lanyard hole tube, and aforementioned poor lockup) just this one was so off center it was stupid.

Maybe if I decide I like it I will order some phosphor bronze washers from knifekits and try again to fix this one. I suspect 2x PB washers would be better than one small brass washer and one plastic one.
 
Fit and finish on the crkt tribute is excellent at 23 bucks. The crown has really poor quality control. I've purchased several tributes as gifts and they're awesome.
 
I figured what the problem was with the Crown... had to run to Lowe's anyway and found a baggie of #14 brass washers for $1.25 with tax... OK that's cheap enough. Filed one down a little, put knife back together. Now I see that there's a little pip on the liner lock that's supposed to hit a slot in the blade to give it a little detent when it's closed. It's not lining up, that's the whole cause of the off center problem, the liner lock is forcing the blade over to one side when it's closed. Guess this one's a toolbox beater knife; I may take it apart again and file that pip off but it's also tight as a drum - two handed opening tight - with my still apparently too thick brass washer. I'm going to carry it for a while anyway just to evaluate the scales.

I did drop KAI a note to see if they'd send me a pivot screw kit and washers, but my understanding was they'd only do that with USA made knives?

If the next one doesn't work out OK I'm just going to either get G10 or micarta scales (depending on which I like better - I really liked the G10 on an Emerson; much more so than the G10 on the REI Grip, and I have a used CQC-7 coming so I'll rotate that with the Crown) for my Grip and that'll be my EDC whenever I make that decision.

It's a shame that the Crown has such poor quality control because IMHO it is waaaaay better looking than any of the other options mentioned (and let's be honest; style matters.) To get a knife that looks as good to me I'd have to pop for something like a Benchmade 581...
 
N8N said:
If the next one doesn't work out OK I'm just going to either get G10 or micarta scales (depending on which I like better - I really liked the G10 on an Emerson; much more so than the G10 on the REI Grip, and I have a used CQC-7 coming so I'll rotate that with the Crown) for my Grip and that'll be my EDC whenever I make that decision.
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Emerson's G-10 is nice and grippy, but remember to budget for new pants more frequently! :p :D

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-Brett
 
N8N said:
I did drop KAI a note to see if they'd send me a pivot screw kit and washers, but my understanding was they'd only do that with USA made knives?
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For many years I was a huge Kershaw fan. Over the years they have had two active subforums here that have closed for one reason or another. Never in that time did I see where Kershaw treated a knife they had made other than in the United States (such as Japan, China, Taiwan R.O.C., etc.) any differently from their USA models. For that reason I carry a few of them in rotation as my heavier work knives.

If the parts are on hand (remember how many of these are standardized to keep costs down) I would bet a cup of coffee they will send replacement parts out.

Robert
 
Well I got my 2nd Crown today... this one is splendid! Perfectly centered, flips smooth, no wiggle or wobble, locks up just right (lock is completely on the tang, but just barely.) I didn't even oil it or adjust the pivot, it was all good out of the box. Clamshell. Whatever. Needs a sharpening but other than that perfect.

So for $20 I got a knife I really, really like and a beater (unless Kershaw takes care of me on the first one, in which case I'll have a gift for someone... even better!) not a bad deal. I guess just order two. I'm actually pretty happy, thanks for pushing me to buy it, it's not often that you get something for $20 that you like as much as I like this little thing. Yeah, I'd rather have an Axis lock, but not enough to justify the price difference for a Barrage or similar.

Now I'll be rotating this with a CQC-7 so I can decide what kind of scales to get for my Grip... although I really think the Crown might end up being my EDC for a while.
 
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