- Joined
- Sep 7, 2015
- Messages
- 965
Over the last couple of years my EDC has been both a CKRT Ignitor, and a CKRT M-21 which I both purchased new. I know there's much better knives out there, but for me they have held up pretty well so I've always kinda distrusted the distaste I read that people have for them. Well recently I made some finds at the pawnshop of all places that made me question just what you're buying with a CKRT.
1st find was another M-21!!! Normally I wouldn't buy the exact same knife but when I saw it for only $20 (cad) and I paid around $100 (Cad) I had to grab it.
Taking it home I realized that the $20 one was much older and sadly it's way better made then the one I bought new. The older one is marked Taiwan and things like the groves on the flipper are much better cut and the screws and finish are higher quality. The one I've bought is most likely made in china and is just not the same at all despite looking identical from a distance. I ended up giving the older one to my Father so we both have the same knife.
2nd Find was a CKRT Pinapple. Again it was only $20 so I had to have it. At first I loved the size and shape and I was really happy with it. But this knife has a major flaw!!!. The belt clip is on the opposite end of the blade. At first you will think this is a good idea as you can draw it faster, and you will wonder why not all knives are like this. But what happens is that it opens up on you inside your pocket, and I've cut myself severely 2x now reaching in my pocket for it and no longer feel safe with it.
3rd find is a CKRT Homefront. I was able to buy this from the pawn shop for only $20 because they thought it was broken(blade had major wobble). But this might be the worse CKRT knife yet!
First of all this knife is a gimmick. The whole idea of it is that it's supposed to easily come apart and back together again without the use of any tools for cleaning. But is that idea worth $150? NO!
Lets get the first two major IMHO design flaws out of the way.
1) The belt clip is on the opposite end of the blade. If you read the above about the Pineapple then you will know how I feel about it. Maybe the shape and the length might make it safer but I'm not sure I want to find out.
2) It has a cheap stupid thin liner lock for a $150 dollar knife. Seriously I've seen much better liner locks on much cheaper knifes which doesn't build any confidence in the knife.
Now lets talk about the major flaw of this knife...I needed to use tools to put it back together which defeats the whole purpose.
I'm pretty mechanical and it took me close to 30mins to get this thing back together. First a tiny bit of dirt had seized the locking lever. Then the guide pin was sticking out too much and it actually fell out when I took the knife apart (Hows that for QC?) I tapped it in with a punch. But the knife still didn't want to go back together. For some reason taking the screw that holds the post in allowed it to finally click back together.
Finally I feel like this knife just isn't sturdy as a $150 knife should be, and my much cheaper CKRT knives like the ignightor and M-21 are much better finished and much stronger. The other problem is it's a knife I wouldn't want to hand someone as they might think that lever locks the blade closed and you are stuck fiddling with it again to try to get it to snap together again.
Well maybe someday I'll find a nice Spyderco or Benchmark...But I think I'm at the point it's time to move up.
1st find was another M-21!!! Normally I wouldn't buy the exact same knife but when I saw it for only $20 (cad) and I paid around $100 (Cad) I had to grab it.
Taking it home I realized that the $20 one was much older and sadly it's way better made then the one I bought new. The older one is marked Taiwan and things like the groves on the flipper are much better cut and the screws and finish are higher quality. The one I've bought is most likely made in china and is just not the same at all despite looking identical from a distance. I ended up giving the older one to my Father so we both have the same knife.
2nd Find was a CKRT Pinapple. Again it was only $20 so I had to have it. At first I loved the size and shape and I was really happy with it. But this knife has a major flaw!!!. The belt clip is on the opposite end of the blade. At first you will think this is a good idea as you can draw it faster, and you will wonder why not all knives are like this. But what happens is that it opens up on you inside your pocket, and I've cut myself severely 2x now reaching in my pocket for it and no longer feel safe with it.
3rd find is a CKRT Homefront. I was able to buy this from the pawn shop for only $20 because they thought it was broken(blade had major wobble). But this might be the worse CKRT knife yet!
First of all this knife is a gimmick. The whole idea of it is that it's supposed to easily come apart and back together again without the use of any tools for cleaning. But is that idea worth $150? NO!
Lets get the first two major IMHO design flaws out of the way.
1) The belt clip is on the opposite end of the blade. If you read the above about the Pineapple then you will know how I feel about it. Maybe the shape and the length might make it safer but I'm not sure I want to find out.
2) It has a cheap stupid thin liner lock for a $150 dollar knife. Seriously I've seen much better liner locks on much cheaper knifes which doesn't build any confidence in the knife.
Now lets talk about the major flaw of this knife...I needed to use tools to put it back together which defeats the whole purpose.
I'm pretty mechanical and it took me close to 30mins to get this thing back together. First a tiny bit of dirt had seized the locking lever. Then the guide pin was sticking out too much and it actually fell out when I took the knife apart (Hows that for QC?) I tapped it in with a punch. But the knife still didn't want to go back together. For some reason taking the screw that holds the post in allowed it to finally click back together.
Finally I feel like this knife just isn't sturdy as a $150 knife should be, and my much cheaper CKRT knives like the ignightor and M-21 are much better finished and much stronger. The other problem is it's a knife I wouldn't want to hand someone as they might think that lever locks the blade closed and you are stuck fiddling with it again to try to get it to snap together again.
Well maybe someday I'll find a nice Spyderco or Benchmark...But I think I'm at the point it's time to move up.
Exactly ! That's the maddening thing about CRKT . They are fantastic in finding great inventive and innovative new design concepts that I get all excited about ...until I start reading the reviews of the actual product , which is often worthless junk . Poor materials , bad QC , and overpriced . 
