CRKT KISS owners beware

J

JoHnYKwSt

Joined
Mar 1, 1999
Messages
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A friend of mine recently bought a CRKT Sampson KISS (the one with a 3" blade). When I saw it I told him it was dangerous and that the lock was unreliable. This is because the knife only has one scale and a little twist of the handle would cause the lock to fail. I sharpened then his knife, he noted my concern about the lock and went about his business keeping this caution in mind. A couple of days later he stabed the knife into a cardboard box and the lock failed and the blade closed on his finger. The knife went about a third of the way into his finger. Then he pulled the knife out of his finger. The knife did not easily come out. Then his finger was dangling there like it was broken. Then he went to the hospital to get stitches. I guess the only good thing is the whole thing did not really hurt. Either he hit a nerve or I sharpened it very well.

-Johnny
 
Probably hit a nerve
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!!!



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When I die, I wanna go in my sleep like Grandpa did.... Not horrified, and frozen with fear like his passenger!!!
 
Thanks for informing us. You should email or tell crkt about this so they will change the design.

Is the kiss folders going to be the Firestone/Ford Explorer of knives?
 
I usually carry a CRKT KISS when the Stryker isn't socially acceptable, but I'm careful not to stab with it or anything where the lock might come out.


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Chang the Asian Janitorial Apparatus
 
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I own 4 CRKT knives now and plan on more in the future. Maybe I'll give the Kiss range a miss....

I stabbed myself through the trouser pocket with my Urban Shark a week or so ago. Not serious, but it concerned me that the thumb stubs managed to work the blade open in my pocket.

On a more positive note for CRKT, they sent me an extra para-cord, all the way to South Africa, for my Stiff Kiss. I normally carry it around my neck and I wanted an extra cord for the handle. I thought that was service above and beyond the call of duty
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I don't think it's a design problem as much as users needing to recognize the limitations of the design.

The problem is that for a portion of knife users, there probably isn't really much thought about such things.

DaveH
 
My sentiments exactly DaveH.

I don't want to sound unsympathetic...but, duh! Accidents happen when people do not understand the limitations of certain knives. The KISS is more of a pocket knife than a fighting folder.

It is for light/medium cutting; not hard use. Certainly, not as a bayonet!

I wouldn't bother writing CRKT. That is flagrant owner abuse. They'll reply that the KISS is not meant to used like that and they would be right. That's what the C/KFF is for!
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DaveH, I agree that users need to recognize the limitations of the design but not everybody who buys a KISS has a knife knut friend to tell them that the knife is unsafe.
 
The K.I.S.S. model, large or small is a "pocket potato peeler". Fingers beware!!! Great design is regard to blade *lock-up*, that's the only facet of this potato peeler I found decent.
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God Speed
PS
The S&W knives are junk.
 
Stabbing a cardboard box is well within the bounds of what any reasonable knife should be able to safely do, expecially one that portends to lock. If the lock is that weak, then CRKT needs to make that limitation clear.



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Chuck
Balisongs -- because it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!
http://www.balisongcollector.com
 
Gollnick. Sorry to tell you but CRKT does warn their customers:

"3. DON'T use the knife for any task other than cutting. You'll be disappointed in its performance, could damage the knife or yourself, and will void the Limited Lifetime Warranty."
-- EXCERPT FROM CRKT's K.I.S.S. information pamphlet which comes in all factory knives.

It's there in black & white (actually red and white). It says not to do anything EXCEPT cut with it. This would exclude stabbing with it.

However, my bigger argument is that you have to understand that it is a compromised design. Ed Halligan sacrificed some performance in favor of a thinner profile knife, with a little artistic flair.

BTW, I wore some motorcycle gloves and stabbed some corrugated cardboard over fifty times, heavily, and the lock on my Sampson's KISS did not slip. I even threw the knife several times into the cardboard. Perhaps the lock would have caved in at my 60th try. Who knows?

The point is that the CRKT KISS is not the "suicide knife" this thread is wrongly accusing it to be. Nor is it a perfect knife. No knife is. You just have to know it's limitations, and it has nothing to do with knife knowledge. It's common sense.

Lastly, I don't buy your theory of how every knife needs to meet some minimal requirement; like stabbing cardboard. That's overgeneralizing.


[This message has been edited by Full Tang Clan (edited 09-12-2000).]
 
I'll add my .02 to the discussion - I've had my standard KISS for a year and a half now and carry it fairly regularly - even when traveling so it's been asked to do a lot of different things which it has handled- but they all involved "cutting" I'll be the first to admitt the blade will "creep" open if pocket carried with other stuff... and can creep as you put it into your hip pocket with the clip - and that it's not for a lefty
to use ... so there are limitations - guess what folks - it's not a perfect world. At one point I had a Gerber "Pete's knife" PK=2
that sucker cut me almost weekly! but it was my fault in how I was closing it. The KISS has it's place - but know it's limitations and dangerzones. Personally I really like it.

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Don't wrestle with the hogs - they enjoy it and you get dirty !
Jonesy
 
Like they say, know the limitations. My KISS knife has done it's fair share of hard work. Quite a few steaks, electrical wires, paper cutting, coupon clipping, shingle cutting (it worked well in the 108 degree heat!) etc. No problems with it failing yet!!

Daniel D.
 
The reason I started this thread is to warn you guys. I just did not want another accident like this happening if it can be avoided. I don't blame CRKT. For opening letters and trimming nails it will do fine. I just wanted the other forum members to be aware of the knife's limitations.

-Johnny
 
the sompsons kiss just doesnt seemt to be a letter opener or nail grout cleaner-outer.i dunno,just doesnt seem to be a fitting description.
 
I have to add something about the KISS design (which I really like, but I am aware of its weaknesses).
I showed a CRKT KISS (the small one, not the Sampson) to a friend of mine who opened it, played around with and finally tried to close it. No knife-nut and not familiar with a liner lock design, he managed to push the locking bar all the way over the shoulder of the blade and above, "disengaging" the locking bar in the wrong direction and bending it. Talk about misuse! I had to disassemble the knife and bend the locking bar to make it fit the locking shoulder again. Lesson learned: Each design has its limitations, and misuse potential is great with some people
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"Peace is not without conflict; it is the ability to cope with conflict" - Leo Giron
 
Maurice, Sorry I was not clear. I did not mean to say the Sampson Kiss was a letter opener. I meant to say if a person uses the knife only for light tasks, trimming nails and opening letters then it would work fine. But for harder use where the lock may fail, people need to be more weary.
 
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