CRKT has Fired a Shot

For the record: I own (or have owned) many Spyderco products, including: 4 Militarys, 3 Starmates, 3 Centofante C25s, 1 C50 and countless FRN and stainless clipits, etc. I think they are usually great products.

Now -

No offense, but in your criticisms of CRKT you all seem to have forgotten about the 1st generation Military, a knife that was touted as one that you would want to "send your son to combat with", or something along those lines. How many changes were made to the Military to make it a safe design (i.e., Spyderco made a product that didn't live up to its hype)? I'll start - tighter weave G10, eccentric pivot, new clip design, new liner material, different serration pattern, removed notches from the choil, etc. Sal, I'll be happy to put a Company "A" 1st gen M16-14F (matte carbon fiber handles, carbeurized locking surface, 98-120 out the door) against the company "S" 1st gen Military (G10, United Cutlery quality liner lock, what 125-165 out the door when they came out?) any day of the week in regards to bang for the buck...

How many complaints have there been about sub-standard locks on the Starmate, Centofante C25/50, and Military? I know I've had 4 with vertical play. The eccentric pivot is meaningless if they get out the door fitted improperly. FRN Vesuvious with removable inlay? No thanks, I'll pass. Sorry guys, but even Spyderco isn't worth the money sometimes.

In Spyderco's defense, they usually correct their problems, as the current gen 2(3?) Military is a toure de force.

I see other companies blowing Spyderco's doors off in design and lock development areas. The CRKT M16, and KFF are excellent reproductions of their custom counterparts. Benchmade's 770 and 450 have no equal in the Spyderco line. The Axis and even Walker's LAWKS are improvements over the compression lock, although mainly because they are still EASILY manipulated with one hand only. Spyderco's current designs seem dated and stale compared to other product lines, IMHO. The Lynx is a step in the right direction, but I'm not placing any bets until the final version is released.

Please don't take this the wrong way Sal. I really enjoy most of your products, however to say that CRKT can't deliver a bigger bang for the buck than Spyderco is ludicrous. I feel that the M16-14F proves my point.

Donning flame retardent gear... :)

Chris
 
Hi Chris. Thanx for the input.

First of all, I need to say again that company "A" was not aimed at CRKT. Just any other company for the purposes of trying to show all of you that there are often hidden or unknown costs associated with some companies making product (Spyderco being one).

That does not say that any other company "A"'s are not making good knives. CRKT does make a good knife. In fact, "for the price" one cannot fault the Chinese copies.

You make a good point on our early Military. Although I might add that there were others that were not as good as they could have been out of the chute. We learn and improve. On the other hand, I could also show models made by a number of company "A"'s that needed help after initial introduction and they never did improve.

On the locks, I can say the axis is an excellent lock. I haven't broken an M16 yet, but even if we do, I would not publicize our results, not my place or job. I've not seen any linerlocks come close to the compression lock in strength though.

When I see Company "A" using an exotic steel (which is quite expensive to use) on their Models, then we can compare apples to apples. Until then the "buck" is greatly affected by the materials used.

I guess if you are going to compare CRKT to Spyderco, (which I'm really not intersted in doing here), We can take their new FRN model and compare it to Spyderco's Native (if that's their target market) and analyze piece by piece and see why the Native costs more. I have nothing to hide in what we do.

And BTW, Chris, there should be no need for "flame retardent gear" here.

sal
 
Sal,

Thanks for the quick response. I wasn't aiming my post at you in particular, as I know you were speaking in general. I realize some of my previous post may seem harsh, but I really care for Spyderco (I've been a big fan since 1990) and would like to see some more earth-shattering designs come out of Golden. The Compression lock and the Lynx are steps in the right direction and I hope the Lynx helps to establish the lock better in the market.

Chris
 
Well said Sal, on this forum we don't need to fear flame wars as long as a person is fair and reasonable:p . Makes a nice change. I have to say I found myself agreeing with some of CPR's points, but as far as I see Spyderco still lead the pack with blade materials and usable designs. Oh and the QC is far better than any of the rivals. I have had very few problems with my Spyderco knives and the only serious one is being sorted (as soon as I get the time to contact a UK dealer, which is not easy when you work 8-6 every day bar the weekend).
 
Wayne,

I agree with you on the QC issue. The 1st gen Military really just needed some tweaking to make it a superior knife. Most new knives do go through an evolution of upgrades and tweaks. I still buy Spyderco knives sight-unseen, something I can't say for many other major and niche production knife companies. :)

And yes, Spyderco definitely leads the pack with their variety of premium blade materials. I wish others would follow suit.

Chris
 
Yep I also like Chris Reeve products buy Spyderco unseen. I wound never do this without a very cool dealer with certain makes... I am sure you are aware of the candidates to which I refer one begins with B and the other begins with E
 
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