- Joined
- Aug 27, 2004
- Messages
- 12,955
First off I apologize now for the length of this post. It is actually two posts in one.
Second. This knife is one great user. Since trading for it I have used it to field dress and skin out one beaver, several rabbits, one squirrel and two deer and I can tell you it does what CRKT and Mike Franklin say it will.
The little 4.5" fixed blades that function as scales until needed are quite useful and very easy to manipulate. The AUS6A steel seems to be better than I had thought it was at keeping an edge. I never knew much about this steel before this purchase but it seems to be a good one to me after utilizing the knives some.
The Serengeti is so advanced in the machining that it makes it a great one to show off. It is surprisingly accepted in public for being such a big knife. The cops I've shown it to have been more intriqued than worried. FWIW, it is perfectly legal where I live to carry this knife concealed or open.
It measures over 8" in length when open and at its widest measurement it is 1.75" or more. The sheath is over 2.75" in width which makes it my widest ever folder sheath. I don't like the way the saddle clips of the knife hang on to the inside of the sheath when trying to extract the knife to use it. It gets hung up at times which has been quite frustrating. Once it caught so good that I nearly dropped the whole knife on the ground.
Because of this recurring problem with the sheath I am in the process of making a leather sheath for this knife and in doing so, I intend to make it sit lower on the belt too. That is another complaint I have about the sheath. It sits too high when carried vertically. Also, it has velcro instead of a snap which I find not so great personally.
Overall the knife is great. I like the LAWKS safety feature for the frame lock to make it virtually a fixed blade when the main blade is opened. It is an ingenious lock mechanism and easy to use. Almost akin to moving the safety of my Marlin 22 bolt action on and off in the way it works by using your index finger.
Other than my complaints about the sheath and how it sits and catches the knife when pulling it out to use it, the whole package is unbelievable for the money. I fully expected this knife to be well over $100 when I first saw it. My dealer where I traded for it had it for sale for $56. I traded him a knife I had like $35 in so I am quite happy with this purchase.
Overall the Serengeti works very well. The small knives that act as scales until needed will scratch the surface of the body of the knife when taken on and off but other than this I cannot see any other signs of undue wear already from use. The box included a note from the manufacturer warning about this though so it is to be expected.
The close tolerances of the blades and the snug perfect fit of the smaller scale knives prevent the chance of accidentally cutting your hand. They really engineered this thing. I will be curious to see how it does after sharpening these two little blades some though.
This next segment is a cut and paste from a review post I made after the above over at the knife forum. I added them together here for convenience.
I have made a new sheath out of leather using the original as a pattern to follow. (see pic below)
The nylon sheath that came with it offered vertical or horizontal carry which was really the only thing I liked about it. I've never been a big fan of nylon or velcro but this sheath made it very difficult to get the knife in and out of the sheath with one hand.
Actually the blame for this may lie in the saddle clips on the body of the knife. The nylon just isn't stiff enough to keep them from grabbing instead of sliding. A couple of times upon extracting the knife from the nylon sheath the saddle clips pulled out stitches from the seams and as I pointed out almost made me drop the knife.
I learned to live with that for a bit but the fact that the original sheath sits so high on the belt bothered me more than anything else. I didn't like the way it poked into my waist when sitting, driving or bending over. I like my sheaths to sit a bit lower than the original did.
I fixed this problem with the new sheath I put together for it. And the knife slides in and out easily with one hand now with no fuss or catching the sides of the sheath. Now that it is molded good to the shape it actually fits like a glove.
I figure if I really want to carry the knife in a way other than vertical I'll just have to opt to use the nylon sheath that came with the knife on those days.
As for the knife and what I've learned. Man I really like this knife guys! It is one heavy duty user and CRKT workmanship is just beyond belief. Everything about this knifes screams quality! It has one of the strongest locks in my collection. I know this now from some pretty tough use this hunting season in two states.
The caper blades that attatch as scales are great. They stay sharp and they actually work well in the hand. I'm a fan of this AUS6 steel now I can tell you that. I've found it took a while to adjust to the one sided edge thing on the smaller blades but this seems to just make it that much easier to touch up the edge when the time comes.
For the money this big user has to be one of the best deals in the folding knife world at this time. I rate it number two for best buys behind the Dozier Folding hunters from Kabar for under 20 bucks. For the 56 or so bucks (well, actually 35) I have in this CRKT masterpiece I think it rates pretty high in the folding hunter forum of knives being offered as of this date in 2005. Well worth looking at for sure if you are a hunter.
Also and finally. I think this knife can be bought safely without having to hold it or play with it in person first. I've bought so many CRKT knives now and none of them have had any flaws at all. In fact they are all flawless perfection from what I've seen. I'm pleased to report that the only real flaws I've seen in this knife were in the sheath. And I think I fixed those now.
If there is any flaw at all in the knife it is this. I did notice once that when 'white knuckling it' without the scales on the body and during one job it did make it a tad uncomforatble in my hand. No worse than some of my other knives though. Just enough to let you know it was there and that you needed to slow it down a bit. While it can be used easily without the scales on it I have found that it is more comfortable to use the main blade with the scales put back on the body than to use it without.
Again I am sorry for the long post. I just wanted to share my feelings about this great folding hunter by CRKT. I highly recommend it to any sportsmen out there.
Second. This knife is one great user. Since trading for it I have used it to field dress and skin out one beaver, several rabbits, one squirrel and two deer and I can tell you it does what CRKT and Mike Franklin say it will.
The little 4.5" fixed blades that function as scales until needed are quite useful and very easy to manipulate. The AUS6A steel seems to be better than I had thought it was at keeping an edge. I never knew much about this steel before this purchase but it seems to be a good one to me after utilizing the knives some.
The Serengeti is so advanced in the machining that it makes it a great one to show off. It is surprisingly accepted in public for being such a big knife. The cops I've shown it to have been more intriqued than worried. FWIW, it is perfectly legal where I live to carry this knife concealed or open.
It measures over 8" in length when open and at its widest measurement it is 1.75" or more. The sheath is over 2.75" in width which makes it my widest ever folder sheath. I don't like the way the saddle clips of the knife hang on to the inside of the sheath when trying to extract the knife to use it. It gets hung up at times which has been quite frustrating. Once it caught so good that I nearly dropped the whole knife on the ground.
Because of this recurring problem with the sheath I am in the process of making a leather sheath for this knife and in doing so, I intend to make it sit lower on the belt too. That is another complaint I have about the sheath. It sits too high when carried vertically. Also, it has velcro instead of a snap which I find not so great personally.
Overall the knife is great. I like the LAWKS safety feature for the frame lock to make it virtually a fixed blade when the main blade is opened. It is an ingenious lock mechanism and easy to use. Almost akin to moving the safety of my Marlin 22 bolt action on and off in the way it works by using your index finger.
Other than my complaints about the sheath and how it sits and catches the knife when pulling it out to use it, the whole package is unbelievable for the money. I fully expected this knife to be well over $100 when I first saw it. My dealer where I traded for it had it for sale for $56. I traded him a knife I had like $35 in so I am quite happy with this purchase.
Overall the Serengeti works very well. The small knives that act as scales until needed will scratch the surface of the body of the knife when taken on and off but other than this I cannot see any other signs of undue wear already from use. The box included a note from the manufacturer warning about this though so it is to be expected.
The close tolerances of the blades and the snug perfect fit of the smaller scale knives prevent the chance of accidentally cutting your hand. They really engineered this thing. I will be curious to see how it does after sharpening these two little blades some though.
This next segment is a cut and paste from a review post I made after the above over at the knife forum. I added them together here for convenience.
I have made a new sheath out of leather using the original as a pattern to follow. (see pic below)
The nylon sheath that came with it offered vertical or horizontal carry which was really the only thing I liked about it. I've never been a big fan of nylon or velcro but this sheath made it very difficult to get the knife in and out of the sheath with one hand.
Actually the blame for this may lie in the saddle clips on the body of the knife. The nylon just isn't stiff enough to keep them from grabbing instead of sliding. A couple of times upon extracting the knife from the nylon sheath the saddle clips pulled out stitches from the seams and as I pointed out almost made me drop the knife.
I learned to live with that for a bit but the fact that the original sheath sits so high on the belt bothered me more than anything else. I didn't like the way it poked into my waist when sitting, driving or bending over. I like my sheaths to sit a bit lower than the original did.
I fixed this problem with the new sheath I put together for it. And the knife slides in and out easily with one hand now with no fuss or catching the sides of the sheath. Now that it is molded good to the shape it actually fits like a glove.
I figure if I really want to carry the knife in a way other than vertical I'll just have to opt to use the nylon sheath that came with the knife on those days.
As for the knife and what I've learned. Man I really like this knife guys! It is one heavy duty user and CRKT workmanship is just beyond belief. Everything about this knifes screams quality! It has one of the strongest locks in my collection. I know this now from some pretty tough use this hunting season in two states.
The caper blades that attatch as scales are great. They stay sharp and they actually work well in the hand. I'm a fan of this AUS6 steel now I can tell you that. I've found it took a while to adjust to the one sided edge thing on the smaller blades but this seems to just make it that much easier to touch up the edge when the time comes.
For the money this big user has to be one of the best deals in the folding knife world at this time. I rate it number two for best buys behind the Dozier Folding hunters from Kabar for under 20 bucks. For the 56 or so bucks (well, actually 35) I have in this CRKT masterpiece I think it rates pretty high in the folding hunter forum of knives being offered as of this date in 2005. Well worth looking at for sure if you are a hunter.
Also and finally. I think this knife can be bought safely without having to hold it or play with it in person first. I've bought so many CRKT knives now and none of them have had any flaws at all. In fact they are all flawless perfection from what I've seen. I'm pleased to report that the only real flaws I've seen in this knife were in the sheath. And I think I fixed those now.
If there is any flaw at all in the knife it is this. I did notice once that when 'white knuckling it' without the scales on the body and during one job it did make it a tad uncomforatble in my hand. No worse than some of my other knives though. Just enough to let you know it was there and that you needed to slow it down a bit. While it can be used easily without the scales on it I have found that it is more comfortable to use the main blade with the scales put back on the body than to use it without.
Again I am sorry for the long post. I just wanted to share my feelings about this great folding hunter by CRKT. I highly recommend it to any sportsmen out there.
