I've owned a couple of CRKT folders in the past that I've used for utility purposes and I've had good experiences with them. Which is why I got to say I was a little dissappointed with the Bear Claw.
Don't get me wrong I love the knife itself... if you shop around you can get it for around 25 bucks, and I can't remember the specs atm but I do remember I was getting a good value for my money. I bought this knife for its original intended purpose: a small and easy to use means of defense since I'm just now getting seriously into tactical knives. Part of my attraction to this knife was the vaunted carry options.
And that's where this product fails. The sheath does do an excellent job of retaining the knife, but the carry options as it comes from the factory suck.
First of all for neck carry they give you a length of paracord that's just exactly long enough to be too short. In the second place the last thing I want is a good stout piece of rope around my neck that someone could choke me with (remember I bought this for defense). I replaced the cord with a small chain, which is much more low profile, the appropriate length, and stong enough to hold up to my pulling the knife free of its sheath while being weak enough to break if it ever gets caught in anything.
CRKT should replace the lanyard with such a chain from the factory imho.
Then I decided to configure it for belt carry. I tried feeding the belt through the webbing strap holes first, but no go. The pity here is that if these slots were 1/8" or so wider it would not add to the profile of the knife and you could put it on your belt that way. So anyway I figured the clip would be a more convienient way of putting the knife on the belt anyway so I could overlook that little drawback.
Using the screws and the allen wrench that came with the sheath, I mounted the clip top down (so that the "open" side of the clip faces the blade of the knife, not the handle). I just snugged them up since I was still testing. I clipped the knife on my belt and found that when I pulled the knife out, I got the sheath with it about every third try. I figured it was just because the clip was loose. I put an extra 3/4 turn on the screws and two of them broke off. That pissed me off. Those were some el cheapo piece of shitake mushrooms screws.
Luckily I've got a decent assortment of tools and hardware, and I was able to fix it and find three screws that matched the thread pattern and shorten them to the appropriate length. I found I had to mount the clip the other way ("open" side up) and slide the sheath onto my belt in reverse. With this setup, when I pull the knife from my belt, the clip acts to catch the sheath against the belt and I don't get the whole rig, just the blade.
Overall I think this is a clever knife, especially if you like the "chubby" handle, but on the carry system I expect better from a manufacturer like CRKT. The original version of this knife (plain edge, sharp tip) is a self defense tool and the carry rig should reflect that. This knife should come with a better, safer lanyard or at least a longer one, and some real hardware. Seriously, I think a custom sheath that allowed for horizontal belt carry would be better than the substandard carry rig that comes with it.
The only thing I found about this carry system that I think is neat is that the whole thing makes a banana shape, and if you have the clip mounted "upside down" like I do, you can clip it upside down in a left hand pocket and it's very low profile. Tactically it's not the best carry option, but I found I could, in the dark with gloves on and not looking at my hands, quickly pull the sheath free with my left hand with the knife still in it, and then immediately use my right hand to free the knife of the sheath. If you have to be very low profile it's actually not a bad idea. But once again horizontal belt carry would be better.
Don't get me wrong I love the knife itself... if you shop around you can get it for around 25 bucks, and I can't remember the specs atm but I do remember I was getting a good value for my money. I bought this knife for its original intended purpose: a small and easy to use means of defense since I'm just now getting seriously into tactical knives. Part of my attraction to this knife was the vaunted carry options.
And that's where this product fails. The sheath does do an excellent job of retaining the knife, but the carry options as it comes from the factory suck.
First of all for neck carry they give you a length of paracord that's just exactly long enough to be too short. In the second place the last thing I want is a good stout piece of rope around my neck that someone could choke me with (remember I bought this for defense). I replaced the cord with a small chain, which is much more low profile, the appropriate length, and stong enough to hold up to my pulling the knife free of its sheath while being weak enough to break if it ever gets caught in anything.
CRKT should replace the lanyard with such a chain from the factory imho.
Then I decided to configure it for belt carry. I tried feeding the belt through the webbing strap holes first, but no go. The pity here is that if these slots were 1/8" or so wider it would not add to the profile of the knife and you could put it on your belt that way. So anyway I figured the clip would be a more convienient way of putting the knife on the belt anyway so I could overlook that little drawback.
Using the screws and the allen wrench that came with the sheath, I mounted the clip top down (so that the "open" side of the clip faces the blade of the knife, not the handle). I just snugged them up since I was still testing. I clipped the knife on my belt and found that when I pulled the knife out, I got the sheath with it about every third try. I figured it was just because the clip was loose. I put an extra 3/4 turn on the screws and two of them broke off. That pissed me off. Those were some el cheapo piece of shitake mushrooms screws.
Luckily I've got a decent assortment of tools and hardware, and I was able to fix it and find three screws that matched the thread pattern and shorten them to the appropriate length. I found I had to mount the clip the other way ("open" side up) and slide the sheath onto my belt in reverse. With this setup, when I pull the knife from my belt, the clip acts to catch the sheath against the belt and I don't get the whole rig, just the blade.
Overall I think this is a clever knife, especially if you like the "chubby" handle, but on the carry system I expect better from a manufacturer like CRKT. The original version of this knife (plain edge, sharp tip) is a self defense tool and the carry rig should reflect that. This knife should come with a better, safer lanyard or at least a longer one, and some real hardware. Seriously, I think a custom sheath that allowed for horizontal belt carry would be better than the substandard carry rig that comes with it.
The only thing I found about this carry system that I think is neat is that the whole thing makes a banana shape, and if you have the clip mounted "upside down" like I do, you can clip it upside down in a left hand pocket and it's very low profile. Tactically it's not the best carry option, but I found I could, in the dark with gloves on and not looking at my hands, quickly pull the sheath free with my left hand with the knife still in it, and then immediately use my right hand to free the knife of the sheath. If you have to be very low profile it's actually not a bad idea. But once again horizontal belt carry would be better.
I'll have to try that carry style someday.