Richard
BOUNCED EMAIL: I need to update my email address in my profile!
- Joined
- Oct 3, 1998
- Messages
- 1,742
I know Razor did a review of this knife not to long ago. I enjoyed reading it. I figured since I have a couple of them now, I will give ya my .02 cents worth. I picked these up at last weekends gunshow. I was supposed to meat Jeremy Reynolds and Maurice (both members here). I over slept and was almost an hour late. I figured I might find them inside, but this show covers 11 acres and I didnt have any luck....sorry 'bout that guys. Next time I WILL NOT BE LATE, and lunch is on me.
First off, I have handled the handmade version, however I did not use it at all as it did not belong to me. Now that I own a couple of CRKT versions, I can say that it seems to be a dead ringer for the custom in shape and feel. The grinds are very good and the edges came shaving sharp. I suspect that from a distance the custom and factory versions would be very hard to tell apart. The main difference of course is the steel and handle material. The CRKT is aus6M (I think) and the custom is avaliable in various high performance steels. There was also a limited run od damascus blades. The handles on the customs are G10 I think, and on the CRKT I think its Zytel. It works well on this knife, and probably helps keep the price down.
Note: Here is the custom version in damascus. This knife belongs to Bladeforums member Jeremy Reynolds.
Here is one of my factory versions.
The blade is hollow ground. I beleive I read on Bladeforums where somebody said it was flat ground. It would be an easy mistake to make as the hollow grind is not very noticable on a blade that is pretty thin and narrow to begin with. You can feel it though by running your finger from spine to edge and back. Also, holding a straigt edge (such as a ruler) from edge to spine, you can tell its hollow.
This is a small knife and therefore the grip is not really designed to be super secure. It does however grip well for a knife this size. The lanyard on the end also acts as a bit of a grip extension and helps a bit. I took my lanyard off as I am going to do a new one in a different color on both of them.
I took one of the knives and used it for a couple of days (not much I know). I spent some time finding things to do such as whittling on sticks, cutting up a bit of cardboard and as a steak knife (after cleaning it of course). Edge holding is nothing to write home about, but as with all of my CRKTs it is acceptable and quite good for its price range. The edge is nice and thin and cuts like a little razor (not to be confused with Razoredj
).
The sheath is typical of CRKTs recent offerings in sheaths....it works but should have been better. I think Razor covered the sheath pretty well already, but my thoughts are as follows. Its to bulky to use as a neck knife. The clip on the back, and the channel it rides in are to thick. A nice kydex sheath would have been better, perhaps with a belt loop attachment. There are slots in the sheath that could be used for belt carry, however the belt needs to be thin. I wear a leather belt, and its to thick to fit through the slots. I do however find the sheath works quite well clipped to the watch pocket of my jeans. This was is comfortable and has not gotten any strange looks. Somebody suggested on another forum that if you want to carry it as a necker, then you can use a dremel to cut the clip channel off. I dont much care for that myself, if you goof, then you have no sheath. It should have been a better design to begin with for versatility. Still, if you get one, try the watch pocket carry....works great. Again I will say that kydex would have been better, if Camillus can do it with the Arclite and still keep the street price at 20 bucks, I see no reason why CRKT could not do the same with this.
Back side of the sheath:
All around a neat little knife that is easy to carry (at least clipped to the pocket) and cuts very very well for a little knife. I doubt anybody would raise an eyebrow if you were to use it in front of them. My wifes reaction to it was...oh how cute
First off, I have handled the handmade version, however I did not use it at all as it did not belong to me. Now that I own a couple of CRKT versions, I can say that it seems to be a dead ringer for the custom in shape and feel. The grinds are very good and the edges came shaving sharp. I suspect that from a distance the custom and factory versions would be very hard to tell apart. The main difference of course is the steel and handle material. The CRKT is aus6M (I think) and the custom is avaliable in various high performance steels. There was also a limited run od damascus blades. The handles on the customs are G10 I think, and on the CRKT I think its Zytel. It works well on this knife, and probably helps keep the price down.
Note: Here is the custom version in damascus. This knife belongs to Bladeforums member Jeremy Reynolds.
Here is one of my factory versions.
The blade is hollow ground. I beleive I read on Bladeforums where somebody said it was flat ground. It would be an easy mistake to make as the hollow grind is not very noticable on a blade that is pretty thin and narrow to begin with. You can feel it though by running your finger from spine to edge and back. Also, holding a straigt edge (such as a ruler) from edge to spine, you can tell its hollow.
This is a small knife and therefore the grip is not really designed to be super secure. It does however grip well for a knife this size. The lanyard on the end also acts as a bit of a grip extension and helps a bit. I took my lanyard off as I am going to do a new one in a different color on both of them.
I took one of the knives and used it for a couple of days (not much I know). I spent some time finding things to do such as whittling on sticks, cutting up a bit of cardboard and as a steak knife (after cleaning it of course). Edge holding is nothing to write home about, but as with all of my CRKTs it is acceptable and quite good for its price range. The edge is nice and thin and cuts like a little razor (not to be confused with Razoredj
).The sheath is typical of CRKTs recent offerings in sheaths....it works but should have been better. I think Razor covered the sheath pretty well already, but my thoughts are as follows. Its to bulky to use as a neck knife. The clip on the back, and the channel it rides in are to thick. A nice kydex sheath would have been better, perhaps with a belt loop attachment. There are slots in the sheath that could be used for belt carry, however the belt needs to be thin. I wear a leather belt, and its to thick to fit through the slots. I do however find the sheath works quite well clipped to the watch pocket of my jeans. This was is comfortable and has not gotten any strange looks. Somebody suggested on another forum that if you want to carry it as a necker, then you can use a dremel to cut the clip channel off. I dont much care for that myself, if you goof, then you have no sheath. It should have been a better design to begin with for versatility. Still, if you get one, try the watch pocket carry....works great. Again I will say that kydex would have been better, if Camillus can do it with the Arclite and still keep the street price at 20 bucks, I see no reason why CRKT could not do the same with this.
Back side of the sheath:
All around a neat little knife that is easy to carry (at least clipped to the pocket) and cuts very very well for a little knife. I doubt anybody would raise an eyebrow if you were to use it in front of them. My wifes reaction to it was...oh how cute
