CRK Shadow 1

M

Muaddib1116

Joined
Dec 26, 2010
Messages
1,091
Well, here she is. My priciest knife to-date. My first fixed-blade. I am in serious like with this beast.:D

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I bought it from Caine last week (thanks man!). He says he's never used it and that he bought it new at a Florida gun show in 1993-1994, so at this point the Shadow 1 had been around for a while (according to Nyefmaker's sticky:D). 20 years later, the knife is in fantastic shape. The edge looks factory to me (at least similar in profile to what I've seen on my Sebenza's, but almost a mirror edge), but sharper by far than any CRK I've handled. The coating is even and attractive (I think it's Gun-Kote?). The round steel grip is interesting. It doesn't automatically orient the blade in your hand, but if I choke up a bit I can use the guard to help. Even though the large ricasso doesn't have a choil, it allows me to choke up past the guard for more control. I'm either going to have to wear gloves while using this knife heavily, or I'm going to have to suffer through some blisters and build up callouses. I'm thinking gloves. The balance is good, so the heft doesn't seem awkward.

The sheath seems well made, if basic. It does show signs of age. No leather rot or cracking, but the plating on the rivet heads near the opening has bubbled and peeled, exposing what I assume to be non-stainless steel. The copper/brass(?) snap on the securement strap also shows some age/patina. It seems that something was done to the backs of the securement snap and belt loop snap so that they don't scratch up the blade. It's nice that the sheath is symmetrical, allowing options for edge orientation. The only problems with the sheath so far is that in addition to the stitching holding the stacked leather edge together, it appears that a lot of waxy glue was used. This builds up on the blade and is a real pain to get off. I spent some time "cycling" the knife in the sheath, in both orientations, while I watched TV yesterday, scraping off the waxy-goo buildup periodically and it seems to be diminishing. With each cleaning it, sheathing and un-sheathing becomes easier. Since there's only one carry option with this sheath, I might look into making or buying a custom kydex sheath that could be carried/mounted in various orientations.

Time for some questions/issues I could use some advice on.

The blade is a little over 1/4" at the spine, but it has a very deep hollow grind. I haven't been able to find much on the web about people using their CRK OPK's. Most of what I found was some very controversial discussion of the Green Beret's S30V and it's "shortcomings". To me, this blade's shape and size (almost 9" from guard to tip) makes it a camp knife, so what type of punishment should I feel comfortable subjecting it to? I assume this is A2, which has a good reputation for toughness. Should I be able to chop and baton hardwoods with confidence? I don't intend to abuse it with ridiculous sheet metal and brick cutting tests, but I do want to use it. I just don't want to have to coddle it and tiptoe around with it. If I ever feel the urge to play tacticool and test some limits, I'll buy something cheaper to be foolish with.

My other question has to do with a slight, but noticeable, curve to the blade. Holding the knife, with the spine facing me, and the tip pointed away from me, it bends slightly to the left. Is this a usual possible condition for CRK OPK's or fixed blades in general? I assume that the blade was machined prior to heat treat, so maybe they get slightly warped? I can't imagine that it would be detrimental to the effectiveness of the knife, but it makes me curious.

Thanks for reading and for any advice or comments!
 
That's a very cool, knife. I have always liked the spear points CRK do with that long swedge. The Shadow I is a superb example of that. :):thumbup:

I have been using CRK one piece knives for a number of years now and have yet to have any problems. The larger knives would benefit somewhat from a high flat grind over the hollow as far as chopping. For an all rounder though the hollow grind does give you bit of other worlds but perhaps not the best of them. I found the large OPKs to work pefectly well but they are not suited to any one particular task and that is infact the whole point of a combat knife like the Shadow I you have there. I use the smaller OPKs much more and have a designated chopper or axe for chopping or splitting.
 
Thanks for the reply Haze. It's good to know that people actually use their OPK's.

Yeah, I'm not expecting it to be a fantastic chopper, certainly I wouldn't expect it to chop in the same league as a Busse BM, Esee Junglas, Ontario RTAK II, etc. I just want to have confidence that I can use it to chop/baton some kindling without fear of it snapping in half or chunking out pieces of the blade.

Also, have you noticed any curve or bend to your OPK blades? I took some pictures to show what I'm talking about.

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Have you seen this before? Is it normal/within expectations?
 
Truly going to miss that knife. One day I will replace it when times are better for me
 
Sorry things are so bad you were forced to sell it... but not that sorry:D I can't stop fondling it. I'm gonna have to take it down to my parent's house to give it some exercise.
 
The warp in that blade is not normal and it shouldn't be there. That said it should make no difference to the performance of the knife. :)
 
Its a great knife and the Shadow I has long been my favorite of the OPK that I have owned. I had 2 of them, but sold the one I had that looked just like this. The one I had had a finer edge and was mirror polished like you said. It had the black/slightly transparent KG Gun Kote a well. Had the same style sheath too.....The one I have now has the newer black/greenish KG Gun Kote and the newer style sheath CRK used before they were discontinued. Out of the two, I liked the second better because of the thicker blade edge and sheath, so I sold the older one.

A2 is a tough steel. In the CRK Exquisite Blade video, you see Chris chopping wood and even standing on it I believe when pounded into a tree. A2 is tough stuff. Some of the OPK were made from D2 when A2 was unavailable, but are unmarked as far as I know. Only way to tell would be the BD card, which does not come with many of these old gems. The first one I had had a very thin deep edge ( meaning the mirror polishing was close to 1/4'' ). It was the sharpest OPK I ever had. To me, these edges are not as durable as a thicker edge. It was say 20 degrees compared to something like 30 degrees. I did not buy it new obviously, so its very possible it was honed down to this edge. My second one had the much thicker edge, which I preferred.

I have used my OPK with great success. I have never done anything foolish with them, just use them for chopping and cutting for what they were intended for. Without gloves, they do tend to roll in hand slightly, but so does any knife with a round handle. The knurling helps keep it in place. When doing short sessions, it was fine, but when doing extended chopping, I would wear cloves just to avoid hot spots from the knurling.

As said, I prefer the newer styled sheath compared to these early ones. With the new style, if you accidentally cut the retaining strap, you could get a new one as it screwed on separately and was not part of the main sheath itself. Plus it was way beefier. Sheaths like this one accompanied all the CRK made at the time. These were made by El Paso. Later CRK switched to Gffellar. I am assuming it was when he made his move to the US or shortly thereafter.

As for the bend in the blade. This is the first time I have seen such a thing and I have had Several OPK. Its something that will not effect its function and is just cosmetic. Though I guess its a kind of a bummer, its nothing to worry about. Figuring that you got it for just a tad above what they went for New when they were discontinued, I would be ecstatic....!!!

Use It & Enjoy It. I have had so many CRK over the years that I just admired and never used. That trend is breaking now and I am using and enjoying what I have from time to time. I am at the point where I am not selling any more CRK and just selling others that I don't use. I have sold some CRK that I deeply regret.....no more, those days are over. I have tried many of the other major brands out there and I ALWAYS come back to CRK. The only company that I would rank up there with CRK would have to be Hinderer. Everything else is a very very distant 3rd...!!!
 
Thanks for sharing your experience Haze & Nyefmaker!

nyefmaker said:
A2 is a tough steel. In the CRK Exquisite Blade video, you see Chris chopping wood and even standing on it I believe when pounded into a tree. A2 is tough stuff. Some of the OPK were made from D2 when A2 was unavailable, but are unmarked as far as I know. Only way to tell would be the BD card, which does not come with many of these old gems. The first one I had had a very thin deep edge ( meaning the mirror polishing was close to 1/4'' ). It was the sharpest OPK I ever had. To me, these edges are not as durable as a thicker edge. It was say 20 degrees compared to something like 30 degrees. I did not buy it new obviously, so its very possible it was honed down to this edge. My second one had the much thicker edge, which I preferred.
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That is pretty comforting, I'll have to find and watch that video. While my Shadow 1 is an older example, the edge bevel is nowhere near 1/4", even at the widest at the tip it is not even 1/16" (1/4" is huge, do you mean 1/8"?), so I think yours must have been reprofiled, or CRK did different edges at different times.

I have used my OPK with great success. I have never done anything foolish with them, just use them for chopping and cutting for what they were intended for. Without gloves, they do tend to roll in hand slightly, but so does any knife with a round handle. The knurling helps keep it in place. When doing short sessions, it was fine, but when doing extended chopping, I would wear cloves just to avoid hot spots from the knurling.
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Yeah, I'm definitely not planning on being foolish with this, but I do want it to be a user. The most extreme use that I could see myself using it for would be to chop and baton (wooden baton) through some small logs. Definitely no cement and steel hammers! I just bought a used Junglas, so if the stupid-urge hits, I'll use that.

As said, I prefer the newer styled sheath compared to these early ones. With the new style, if you accidentally cut the retaining strap, you could get a new one as it screwed on separately and was not part of the main sheath itself. Plus it was way beefier. Sheaths like this one accompanied all the CRK made at the time. These were made by El Paso. Later CRK switched to Gffellar. I am assuming it was when he made his move to the US or shortly thereafter.
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Yeah, it's pretty easy to slice that strap. I tagged it a couple times, fixed it with a dab of superglue, and decided since the sheath is symmetrical, I'd just store it with the spine facing the strap.

As for the bend in the blade. This is the first time I have seen such a thing and I have had Several OPK. Its something that will not effect its function and is just cosmetic. Though I guess its a kind of a bummer, its nothing to worry about. Figuring that you got it for just a tad above what they went for New when they were discontinued, I would be ecstatic....!!!
Click to expand...

I'm not really concerned with the bend affecting function, it's good to know whether it's normal or not though. I'm definitely pretty pleased with the deal I got. In a couple weeks, I might send in a couple Sebenzas and my Zaan to get spa'd, I might send this in too to get re-certified. If I do, I'll ask them what they think about the bend.

Use It & Enjoy It. I have had so many CRK over the years that I just admired and never used. That trend is breaking now and I am using and enjoying what I have from time to time. I am at the point where I am not selling any more CRK and just selling others that I don't use. I have sold some CRK that I deeply regret.....no more, those days are over. I have tried many of the other major brands out there and I ALWAYS come back to CRK. The only company that I would rank up there with CRK would have to be Hinderer. Everything else is a very very distant 3rd...!!!
Click to expand...

I'm having the same sort of feeling. I've been getting rid of a lot of my non-CRK knives while expanding my CRK collection. I used to be a Spyderco nut, but I haven't been excited by any of their designs since stepping into the sucking vortex that is CRK.

Thanks again for all the helpful comments and advice!
 
I have a Shadow II that I have used in various woodcraft roles, including making firewood, and it has proven rock solid (I also have a Shadow IV that I've been keeping as a NIB safe queen). It batoned, it whacked off tree limbs, it dug catholes, it made fuzz sticks, and then it lit fires with a fire steel. Solid. It's a little big for me to use regularly in the woods, but I really like the Shadow.
 
The Shadow II is basically the Project 1 without serrations. Very tough to find. CRK did make a Project 1 later on without serrations as well, but most you see did have the serrations. I have both the Shadow II and the Project 1. Great knives.
 
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