CRKT RYAN 7 review

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Mar 23, 2006
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CR68133.jpg

Here's the skinny and tech specs:The 4-1/2" handle is covered with black, deeply textured Zytel® that gives the knife the most secure possible grip. The deep bellied, 3-1/2" modified drop point blade of 420J2 stainless steel at 54-56 Rc., can either cut, slash, or chop. The deep finger notch in the handle gives the most positive of control. This knife has a removable belt clip and large, double thumb studs for positive opening. The LAWKS® safety effectively turns this folder into a fixed blade knife when locked. It assures that the Walker-Lock cannot unlock accidentally. Weighs 5.7 oz. Suggested retail is $59.95. Made in Taiwan

This is our 1st review because quite frankly; we can't afford to destroy knives. Laughing out loud!

We put it thru a little destruction course today. With the serrated handle it hurts your hands when you try to cut anything with it. That is the main reason for our dissaproval. The knife is virtually new with one fine sharpening on a spyderco sharpener. We sharpened it until it shaved hair. We tried to rip up some cardboard like they do in the Cold Steel video. It would only slice thru about 8 inches of cardboard box before getting bound up in the cardboard. And thats really hard slashing. It took a lot of force to actually get that far. Result: It doesn't slash cardboard worth a crap. Next we tried to stab at the cardboard and it's not much of a stabber either. But, with full force it did finally stab up to the frame. Not sure if Cold Steel uses wimpy cardboard, we were using Green Giant peas and corn cardboard. We then took the sharp edge of the blade and chopped into a keystone wall bock. We were surprized that it didn't damage it as much as we thought it would. But you could tell it was distorted a little bit not bad though. It could be touched up quickly. Then with the LAWKS system fully engaged, we hit the back of the blade on a keystone block. On the fourth hit the blade lock was forced between the blade and the LAWKS lock which in turn bent the LAWKS lock out of the way. Also when the standard lock and the Lawks system failed a drastic amount of blade play was encountered. We locked it back and engaged the LAWKS again and it failed on the first hit this time. Now when the knife closes it scrubs the inside of the handle. We stopped there because I still want to use the knife as a battery cable stripper and whatever dirty job I can find for it.
 
Found out why the LAWKS failed so quickly. I hit it on the floor to observe the failure. It failed 1st hit again. The lawks lock is backed up by the plastic handle that's suppose to reinforce it. It bulged out the plastic handle letting the lock move over. I will try to post a pick of this failure. Who engineered a lawks system held in by plastic?!?! Be extremely careful using this knife!
 
the reason it doesnt cut deeply is probably because the primary grind is so small/short. The crappy blade grinds combined with the junk blade steel ensure that I would never consider buying one.
 
Very poor design indeed, in regards to the LAWKS in this knife. It's a bit strange though--the nature of LAWKS and your particular failure. When I spine whack liner locks, they move away from the LAWKS side toward the other handle.
 
BenchMyke said:
The lawks lock is backed up by the plastic handle that's suppose to reinforce it.

It is the same way on the Point Guard and M16, I have not examined the M16 under heavy use yet, but both Point Guard actually failed through the metal in the liner and LAWK's deforming readily, it would not have helped if the LAWK's was supported in those cases by metal.

Artfully Martial said:
When I spine whack liner locks, they move away from the LAWKS side toward the other handle.

If properly mated they move like that as they just wear in, however if improperly mated they can disengage and move off of the blade, hence why many liners fail impacts.

-Cliff
 
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Here's a pic of the failure. It's kinda blurry but you can see the liner lock jammed between the blade and the LAWKS. You can also see the LAWKS pushing out on the ZYTEL (plastic) handle. As far as abusing the knife; yes we were definately abusing the knife. I would never grab my custom Benchmades and beat the spines on concrete. But, I didn't have gloves on and wasn't hitting very hard with the spine whacks for fear of being cut. CRKT site claims that the LAWKS makes the knife as strong as a fixed blade. Do you believe it?
 
And by the way, you don't have to destroy the knife to do a review. Just some comments on NIB sharpness, sharpness after sharpening (if you weren’t satisfied with the NIB sharpness), ergonomics, and general satisfaction will suffice. Unless you enjoy destroying knives ;)
 
yeah i think crkt should take a look at this . as for destroying knives ? why not test thier limits. especially those stupid crkt knives , hate them.
 
This is not the first time that CRKT lock failures have been reported. Many previous threads have noted the not only the lock failures but the poor quality of the steel used.

Although I truly like the designs of their knives (especially the M16) I just can't bring myself to buying what is essentially a "Frost Cutlery quality" knife at a premium price. :barf:
 
All three of my CRKTs have been of similar quality to all of my Benchmades and exceeded the quality of my Spydercos (of which there are many).
 
Artfully Martial said:
All three of my CRKTs have been of similar quality to all of my Benchmades and exceeded the quality of my Spydercos (of which there are many).
Not to sound like a wise-a**, but that alone would be enough to prevent me from owning any Benchmade or Spyderco. :)

Seriously ..... what bothers me about CRKT in general is that they produce (IMO) inferior tools, but obviously go to great lengths to make them look nice cosmetically. The ones I've examined and disassembled left me with the feeling, "Why do they even bother?"

Thanks for the review, Myke. These clunkers need to be exposed.
 
CRKT produces good tools for the money. Certain lines of them are not as good. The M16s lockup very well. Whereas the Point Guard and Seven are two of the worst, to answer your question Cliff.

They have good products for the money. Sure, if you compare a 40 dollar knife to a 140 dollar knife you can probably say CRKT are producing an inferior tool, but then that is not a fair comparison. IMHO they have great F&F.

Sure, you can take the worst of the CRKT locks and bash it till it fails, then conclude that all CRKT knives are worthless. Some Benchmade AXIS fail very easily too, amidst all the fanfare you probably didnt hear about that. Even then is it a fair comparision? This is a liner lock. There aren't many liner locks that dont fail. Even Cliff's SERE 2000 failed. Is it a fair comparision?
 
Cliff Stamp said:
You might want to send this to CRK&T and direct them to this thread.

-Cliff
I would send it to them also. I am sure they know about how durable their locks are. They made it. Who knows, maybe a few people has complained about it already. It would be nice to let them know that it was posted on a site that literally thousands can view.
 
See, I'd have no problem with the knife. Sure it failed, but hell, that was abuse, clear and simple. Abuse anything enough and it'll fall apart
 
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