This is a pass around/lottery knife provided by A.G. Russell. I would like to thank A.G. and Dave H. for the opportunity to participate in this pass around.
DETAILS Details can be seen at A.G. Russells site -
http://www.agrussell.com/crkt/cl-5202.html
and on CRKTs site -
http://www.crkt.com/rollock.html
The pass around Rollock is the plain edged version.
OUT OF THE BOX The Rollock impressed me as a cool little knife with excellent fit and finish (especially considering its low cost). I found the Rollock mechanism was a bit awkward for the first minute or so, but I quickly got the hang of it.
LOCK - The Rollock operation is its most novel feature, so Ill start here. To open the Rollock, you push down on the rear of the blade; this tips the blade point out of the handle at a 45 degree angle. Once the blade has been tipped, it is free to slide forward in tracks in each of the steel liners (which are visible through the translucent scales). A sort of up side down lock back lever (I think of it as a lock front) locks the blade in place. To unlock, the locking lever on the underside of the handle is pushed in and the blade is slid back and pushed into the closed position.
I found that I could open the Rollock fairly easily with either hand, but for me at least, closing is more of a two hand operation. I could get the Rollock to close using the method suggested by A.G. Russell -
"with the knife open: press the lock with the third finger or if the little finger is strong enough use that. if the knife is point up the blade will fall back, if it does not then give the knife a little shake, onece the knife is back down from the lock position, while holding the knife in your master hand grasp the tip of the blade with the thumb and forefinger and pull back until the point drops into the handle. Works great!"
but Im a just little too clumsy to get it to work well consistently, especially the part about shaking the blade to get to start to close. I don't know, maybe I just need more practice closing the Rollock.
The Rollock mechanism is fairly smooth, but not as slick as many one hand opening knives. The Rollock is also somewhat noisy when the blade is slid open or closed.
I couldnt get the Rollock lock to release "accidently" in any normal grip, no matter how tight.
Based on appearance alone, I wouldnt be surprised if the Rollock held up to some vigorous spine whacking. Again, based on solely on appearances, it seems like it may be possible to break the lock (assuming that you didnt break the blade first) with a really hard stab or by pounding it into something or perhaps, with a super human chop; but even then the blade would probably just pop up with little chance of cutting the user (keep in mind that the Rollock blade dose not fold, it slides). Overall, the Rollock lock appears to be both strong and secure.
From the looks of it, this is not a knife that you want to drop in the sand the mechanism seems like it would be easy to clog and difficult to clean without dissembling. The Rollock can be taken apart for cleaning by removing 5 tiny screws; to do this youll need a T4 Torx for the 3 screws in the scales and a T6 for the 2 screw in the clip.
One potential problem with carrying the Rollock is that it is easy to tip the blade up out of the handle accidentally this rules out carrying the Rollock loose in a pocket for me. The Rollock appeared to be reasonably safe from accidental opening when clipped against the front seam of my front pocket, but I chose to carry it exclusively in a watch pocket, since that seemed to be the safest carry option.
BLADE - The 2 ¼" blade is a full flat ground drop point, with a mirror finish (which is a welcome change from CRKTs usual rough bead blast type finish). The Rollocks spine starts out at 0.087 thick just forward of the thumb grooves and tapers to about 0.022 at the tip. The thickness behind the bevel is about 0.010. The Rollocks blade geometry makes it a high performance cutter comparable to an Opinel (a No.8 Opinel has similar blade width and thickness but with about an inch more blade length).
STEEL The Rollocks blade steel is CRKTs familiar AUS6M stainless. AUS6M is fairly rust resistant and will take a very keen edge, although it dose require frequent attention to keep it sharp.
HANDLE The Rollock has very lightly textured translucent polycarbonate scales. The handle is a little small, but comfortable. The Rollocks handle is also thin (about .36 across the scales and .5 at the thickest part of the clip), making it scarcely noticeable when carried clipped to a pocket.
POCKET CLIP - The Rollock has a wide, tip down, polished steel clip with a large cutout in the center. The clip looks to be very sturdy and holds the Rollock securely in the pocket without being too tight. The Rollocks clip is not reversible.
The clip can be used as a money clip but as I mentioned above, because of the possibility of accidental opening, I dont consider the Rollock is safe to carry loose in a pocket.
The clip can also be used for attaching a lanyard; I found that a Victorinox lanyard (made of thin cord) can be clipped directly to the pocket clip or the loop end could be threaded through the clip.
SPACER The Rollock has a spacer that extends beyond the rear of the liners and scales. The spacer is another potential lanyard attachment point; there are three small decorative holes in it that (although I havent tried it) look like they could be used to attach a split ring for a lanyard.
CARDBOARD CUTTING I used the Rollock for shredding a bunch of cardboard boxes. The Rollock effortlessly sliced through the cardboard, but it didnt take very long for the AUS6 blade to loose its shaving sharp edge. Since the blade is ground thin, the Rollock continued to cut easily even when the blade started to get a little dull.
SHARPENING I used a coarse DMT to sharpen the Rollock. The DMT was probably overkill, but I wanted something quick that would give a slightly toothy edge for cardboard.
CUT TO THE CHASE The Rollock gets high marks for novelty and gadget factor; the price is right and the quality is there without any pretentious tactical ugliness. The blade geometry makes the Rollock a truly useful cutting tool. While the Rollock is not super fast to open, it is fun to fidget with and there is no worry about the blade closing on your fingers, should the lock fail (which should take some doing since the lock appears to be very strong and secure).
The one thing that I really dont like about the Rollock is the possibility of accidental opening which limits its carry options.
Overall I would rate the Rollock as a buy, and I am sure that they will sell a lot of them.
Thanks again to A.G. Russell and Dave H. for the opportunity to participate in the pass around and lottery.
- Frank
A.G. Russell Ultimate Pen Knife review -
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=2338420#post2338420
DETAILS Details can be seen at A.G. Russells site -
http://www.agrussell.com/crkt/cl-5202.html
and on CRKTs site -
http://www.crkt.com/rollock.html
The pass around Rollock is the plain edged version.
OUT OF THE BOX The Rollock impressed me as a cool little knife with excellent fit and finish (especially considering its low cost). I found the Rollock mechanism was a bit awkward for the first minute or so, but I quickly got the hang of it.
LOCK - The Rollock operation is its most novel feature, so Ill start here. To open the Rollock, you push down on the rear of the blade; this tips the blade point out of the handle at a 45 degree angle. Once the blade has been tipped, it is free to slide forward in tracks in each of the steel liners (which are visible through the translucent scales). A sort of up side down lock back lever (I think of it as a lock front) locks the blade in place. To unlock, the locking lever on the underside of the handle is pushed in and the blade is slid back and pushed into the closed position.
I found that I could open the Rollock fairly easily with either hand, but for me at least, closing is more of a two hand operation. I could get the Rollock to close using the method suggested by A.G. Russell -
"with the knife open: press the lock with the third finger or if the little finger is strong enough use that. if the knife is point up the blade will fall back, if it does not then give the knife a little shake, onece the knife is back down from the lock position, while holding the knife in your master hand grasp the tip of the blade with the thumb and forefinger and pull back until the point drops into the handle. Works great!"
but Im a just little too clumsy to get it to work well consistently, especially the part about shaking the blade to get to start to close. I don't know, maybe I just need more practice closing the Rollock.
The Rollock mechanism is fairly smooth, but not as slick as many one hand opening knives. The Rollock is also somewhat noisy when the blade is slid open or closed.
I couldnt get the Rollock lock to release "accidently" in any normal grip, no matter how tight.
Based on appearance alone, I wouldnt be surprised if the Rollock held up to some vigorous spine whacking. Again, based on solely on appearances, it seems like it may be possible to break the lock (assuming that you didnt break the blade first) with a really hard stab or by pounding it into something or perhaps, with a super human chop; but even then the blade would probably just pop up with little chance of cutting the user (keep in mind that the Rollock blade dose not fold, it slides). Overall, the Rollock lock appears to be both strong and secure.
From the looks of it, this is not a knife that you want to drop in the sand the mechanism seems like it would be easy to clog and difficult to clean without dissembling. The Rollock can be taken apart for cleaning by removing 5 tiny screws; to do this youll need a T4 Torx for the 3 screws in the scales and a T6 for the 2 screw in the clip.
One potential problem with carrying the Rollock is that it is easy to tip the blade up out of the handle accidentally this rules out carrying the Rollock loose in a pocket for me. The Rollock appeared to be reasonably safe from accidental opening when clipped against the front seam of my front pocket, but I chose to carry it exclusively in a watch pocket, since that seemed to be the safest carry option.
BLADE - The 2 ¼" blade is a full flat ground drop point, with a mirror finish (which is a welcome change from CRKTs usual rough bead blast type finish). The Rollocks spine starts out at 0.087 thick just forward of the thumb grooves and tapers to about 0.022 at the tip. The thickness behind the bevel is about 0.010. The Rollocks blade geometry makes it a high performance cutter comparable to an Opinel (a No.8 Opinel has similar blade width and thickness but with about an inch more blade length).
STEEL The Rollocks blade steel is CRKTs familiar AUS6M stainless. AUS6M is fairly rust resistant and will take a very keen edge, although it dose require frequent attention to keep it sharp.
HANDLE The Rollock has very lightly textured translucent polycarbonate scales. The handle is a little small, but comfortable. The Rollocks handle is also thin (about .36 across the scales and .5 at the thickest part of the clip), making it scarcely noticeable when carried clipped to a pocket.
POCKET CLIP - The Rollock has a wide, tip down, polished steel clip with a large cutout in the center. The clip looks to be very sturdy and holds the Rollock securely in the pocket without being too tight. The Rollocks clip is not reversible.
The clip can be used as a money clip but as I mentioned above, because of the possibility of accidental opening, I dont consider the Rollock is safe to carry loose in a pocket.
The clip can also be used for attaching a lanyard; I found that a Victorinox lanyard (made of thin cord) can be clipped directly to the pocket clip or the loop end could be threaded through the clip.
SPACER The Rollock has a spacer that extends beyond the rear of the liners and scales. The spacer is another potential lanyard attachment point; there are three small decorative holes in it that (although I havent tried it) look like they could be used to attach a split ring for a lanyard.
CARDBOARD CUTTING I used the Rollock for shredding a bunch of cardboard boxes. The Rollock effortlessly sliced through the cardboard, but it didnt take very long for the AUS6 blade to loose its shaving sharp edge. Since the blade is ground thin, the Rollock continued to cut easily even when the blade started to get a little dull.
SHARPENING I used a coarse DMT to sharpen the Rollock. The DMT was probably overkill, but I wanted something quick that would give a slightly toothy edge for cardboard.
CUT TO THE CHASE The Rollock gets high marks for novelty and gadget factor; the price is right and the quality is there without any pretentious tactical ugliness. The blade geometry makes the Rollock a truly useful cutting tool. While the Rollock is not super fast to open, it is fun to fidget with and there is no worry about the blade closing on your fingers, should the lock fail (which should take some doing since the lock appears to be very strong and secure).
The one thing that I really dont like about the Rollock is the possibility of accidental opening which limits its carry options.
Overall I would rate the Rollock as a buy, and I am sure that they will sell a lot of them.
Thanks again to A.G. Russell and Dave H. for the opportunity to participate in the pass around and lottery.
- Frank
A.G. Russell Ultimate Pen Knife review -
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=2338420#post2338420
