CRKT Navajo
- Thread starter Thrawn
- Start date
I have the 2.5" model. Ergonomics for this one are bad for me, but I got it for use at work - I work at a National Laboratory, and Federal Regs limit blade carry to 2.5" here except for certain personnel. I like the stainless steel handles. The liner lock on mine tends to stick a little, making one handed closing a little difficult. I like the spear point blade - I really like spear points! The thumb studs are a little close to the pivot point, making one handed opening a little tougher on the thumb nail! Adjusting the pivot screw doesn't cure this, but it helps a little. I would like it a lot better if it was a 3.5" bladed knife, but then I couldn't carry it to work! For ergonomics, my Gray Ghost Mirage fits a lot better. The blade steel acts a bit like the AUS 6, so expect to sharpen it once in a while. The stainless handle and overall construction will take a beating, but I think the blade could be tougher material.
Hank
- Joined
- Jul 9, 1999
- Messages
- 3,316
The 3" blade model is, I believe one of Hammond's best designs to date.
Even though it is a "grey turd" type of knife, with Bead Blasted stainless steel scales and blade, the handle is very comfortable and filling in my hand. The little finger doesn't fall off the end of the handle due to a short handle. Handle has a nice ergonomic curve that fits the hand well. It is just right as far as size goes. For my hand anyway.
The blade is as smooth as all the other folders in the CRK&T line. Silky smooth and opens with a flick on the thumbstud. Some other high end folder makers should really take some lessons from CRK&T on how to make a folder operate as smoothly as CRK&T's folders do.
The liner lock is nested into one of the scales and locks the knife open like the proverbial bank vault. The locking liner appears to be a little on the thin side, but this has not compromised lock up strength on my sample. No movement in any direction when the knife is in the open and locked position and the knife passes a spine whack test easily.
The Navajo is a true open back designed folder with one stop pin and two other spacer pins and, of course, the pivot pin holding the whole shebang together. The knife has a very stiff body and does not flex under finger pressure. VERY strong for it's size. Speaking of size, the blade is exactly 3" long, the handle is 3 7/8" long and the knife is 11/32" thick sans clip.
As described in the above post, the blade is of modified spearpoint design and is made with Z60CDV14 blade steel at an Rc of 55-57.
The blade is ground with a high hollow grind and tapers down to a nice working thickness at the edge, which, BTW, is extremely sharp OOB.
The clip is tip down and I believe is teflon coated (I could be wrong here so don't quote me on that) in the same subdued grey color as the rest of the knife.
Double thumb studs for ease of opening and mine opens oh so smoothly. My one complaint about this folder is the fact that the thumbstuds come out a bit too far and snag on the pocket sometimes when pulling the knife from the pocket.
I've only done some minor mundane cutting with it so far, but it has everything that I like in a smaller working folder. It should really do well in that regard.
Hope to get more info on it as soon as I get some more time to work with it.
I hope this helps a little.
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The individualist without strategy who takes opponents lightly will inevitably become the captive of others.
Sun Tzu
Even though it is a "grey turd" type of knife, with Bead Blasted stainless steel scales and blade, the handle is very comfortable and filling in my hand. The little finger doesn't fall off the end of the handle due to a short handle. Handle has a nice ergonomic curve that fits the hand well. It is just right as far as size goes. For my hand anyway.
The blade is as smooth as all the other folders in the CRK&T line. Silky smooth and opens with a flick on the thumbstud. Some other high end folder makers should really take some lessons from CRK&T on how to make a folder operate as smoothly as CRK&T's folders do.
The liner lock is nested into one of the scales and locks the knife open like the proverbial bank vault. The locking liner appears to be a little on the thin side, but this has not compromised lock up strength on my sample. No movement in any direction when the knife is in the open and locked position and the knife passes a spine whack test easily.
The Navajo is a true open back designed folder with one stop pin and two other spacer pins and, of course, the pivot pin holding the whole shebang together. The knife has a very stiff body and does not flex under finger pressure. VERY strong for it's size. Speaking of size, the blade is exactly 3" long, the handle is 3 7/8" long and the knife is 11/32" thick sans clip.
As described in the above post, the blade is of modified spearpoint design and is made with Z60CDV14 blade steel at an Rc of 55-57.
The blade is ground with a high hollow grind and tapers down to a nice working thickness at the edge, which, BTW, is extremely sharp OOB.
The clip is tip down and I believe is teflon coated (I could be wrong here so don't quote me on that) in the same subdued grey color as the rest of the knife.
Double thumb studs for ease of opening and mine opens oh so smoothly. My one complaint about this folder is the fact that the thumbstuds come out a bit too far and snag on the pocket sometimes when pulling the knife from the pocket.
I've only done some minor mundane cutting with it so far, but it has everything that I like in a smaller working folder. It should really do well in that regard.
Hope to get more info on it as soon as I get some more time to work with it.
I hope this helps a little.
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The individualist without strategy who takes opponents lightly will inevitably become the captive of others.
Sun Tzu
Thanks, you two. Any chance that they'll make it w/ different handle materials, you think? Also, do either of you own an Apache? I would like to compare the Navajo to that, seeing as how mine has a handle slab and it's screw stripped out and as such, I don't use it anymore. I was thinking of getting a similarly nice knife (in all aspects--I was a very big fan of my Apache b/f it broke) but wanted to justify the replacement. Thanks again.
Thrawn, if you had a handle screw strip out, you might consider sending it back to CRKT. They will probably fix it or more than likely give you a new blade. I had a customer of mine who had an Urban Shark. The pocket clip screws came loose 2X's & i kept fixing it for him...well, it came loose a 3rd time so I sent it back to CRKT and they gave me a new knife
The Navajo's are not bad little blades. I would say they are not up to brutal punishment tho and even tho it has a pocket clip, I would probably just drop it dwon in my pocket.
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Knives & Things
Mike Payne
The Navajo's are not bad little blades. I would say they are not up to brutal punishment tho and even tho it has a pocket clip, I would probably just drop it dwon in my pocket.
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Knives & Things
Mike Payne
I did't very much like the smallest one, but it's OK, the one one size larger was "just right" for my hand. Unusually for a linerlock, it's got a pretty symmetric handle, with left and right slabs the same shape and the liner lock protruding just a little bit and with some grooves. If it's something I dislike about handles of linerlocks it's that they often don't give a very good grip around the first finger, but these ones do. (I haven't used one, so the rest I can't comment on.)
<small>I also noticed it seems to be made in yet another country as it said "Italy" on the blade.</small>
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Urban Fredriksson
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Can you relate hand size to your evaluation of the 2.5" and 3" sizes
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Frank Norman
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Frank Norman
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Thrawn,
As I said in another post, I'm disapponted.
This seemed to be the perfect knife for me. I like all metal knives, bead blast finishes and Jim Hammond.
Mostly I was disappointed with the quality; a blade that was not centered and got worse with use (wore it to work, had to tighten the pivot after two weeks, just so the edge wouldn't hit the frame)...three screws that I had to tighten from the factory (one stuck out almost 1/16th")...mismatched grind on the edge (completely different angles).
It's not a true liner lock, the lock is a small piece of steel screwed into a small area machined into the scale, adequate but not not for heavy use.
The worst part...I can't seem to get it sharp. It doesn't seem to come to a polished edge. I can't get it to grab the hair on my arm (something I can do with any other knife I own that cost more than $20.00)
I respect Jim Hammond (a Gray Ghost is usually a daily carry, great knife!), I love CRKT and own 10 of their other models (hope to get a Wasp soon), but...I can't recommend this knife.
Maybe I got the lemon this time.
Steve-O
As I said in another post, I'm disapponted.
This seemed to be the perfect knife for me. I like all metal knives, bead blast finishes and Jim Hammond.
Mostly I was disappointed with the quality; a blade that was not centered and got worse with use (wore it to work, had to tighten the pivot after two weeks, just so the edge wouldn't hit the frame)...three screws that I had to tighten from the factory (one stuck out almost 1/16th")...mismatched grind on the edge (completely different angles).
It's not a true liner lock, the lock is a small piece of steel screwed into a small area machined into the scale, adequate but not not for heavy use.
The worst part...I can't seem to get it sharp. It doesn't seem to come to a polished edge. I can't get it to grab the hair on my arm (something I can do with any other knife I own that cost more than $20.00)
I respect Jim Hammond (a Gray Ghost is usually a daily carry, great knife!), I love CRKT and own 10 of their other models (hope to get a Wasp soon), but...I can't recommend this knife.
Maybe I got the lemon this time.
Steve-O
- Joined
- Dec 1, 1999
- Messages
- 452
Mike Payne,
Did you try putting any loc-tite in the threads? My CRKT KFF's pocket clip just started coming loose for the first time. As soon as I track down those ridiculously small torx wrenches, I am going to try some loc-tite. Do you sell the set that Benchmade makes? How much? If you did try loc-tite, was it the red or the blue?
Jim McCullough
Did you try putting any loc-tite in the threads? My CRKT KFF's pocket clip just started coming loose for the first time. As soon as I track down those ridiculously small torx wrenches, I am going to try some loc-tite. Do you sell the set that Benchmade makes? How much? If you did try loc-tite, was it the red or the blue?
Jim McCullough