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- Dec 31, 2002
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Cutter's Knife And Tools Bengal Karambit
By Ryan Schuckel
Cutters Knife and Tool is a new company owned by Tom Kyle that started about 2 years ago making high-end production knife collaborations. They released the first ever production dual action frame lock folder designed by Walter Brend along with a manual action version and variants of the model. Recently Cutters released a collaboration with Reese Weiland called the Bengal Karambit based on his popular Raven custom. I have had discussions with Reese about the knife and later was given the opportunity to write a review.
First impression.
I first saw the knife and was immediately impressed with all of its high-end features. The Bengal is the first production frame lock karambit to ever be released. This knife is from their first production run and is completely sterile and has no serial number. The frame lock was the coolest factor, it has never been seen on a production karambit before. When I received the knife my expectations where met quite well! It was a little smaller that I expected, very SLIM being only 3/4 the size of my Emerson karambit, this is nice for the pocket and my hand but may not be favored by those who like more hand filling knives. The fit and finish of the knife are first class and I have to say I really like the anopeen finish they put on everything but the back spacer/ring (It was anodized black and left a smoother machined finish). The anopeen was a lot more refined and smoother in texture than a lot of bead blasting I have handled but it still provides good grip. The back spacer stretched nicely along the spine creating a very strong structure. The only cosmetic imperfections I spotted on the knife were a few small marks on the inside of the index ring where the anodizing was rubbed or scratched off by something during assembly or packaging. Its a small imperfection and may be left unnoticed. Its over all construction was super solid and with only 4 screws it was quite simple in assembly. The Bengal had absolutely ZERO blade play, I am a very selective about blade play and I usually note small amounts. The knife's action was extremely smooth and cycled with almost no effort. It was smoother than a lot of the customs knives I have handled and that was impressive. I was impressed with the well-designed frame lock. Some frame locks I can get stuck if pressed in or if the blade is opened to quickly. This is not the case with the Bengal. The lock disengages smooth as silk no matter how hard or fast I open it. The frame lock engages securely about half tang in but I had to see about lock strength so I went ahead and did a series of "spine whack" tests. "Make sure to not leave to much oil on the locking surface or it might slip on tests which I had happen once." With a cleaned lock area I could hit the spine continuously and not get it to slip at all.
The blade has a nice oval shaped opening hole that works comfortably; although it looks small I am able to open the knife smoothly and with authority. I was able to open the knife by just flicking my wrist a bit, this is a big plus for me and for a lot of people since a defense based knife should be able to be deployed as quickly as possible. The pocket clip was set up for tip up forward saber grip deployment but can be changed for reverse grip. It has the best clip tension I have ever seen and I am able to deploy it smoothly in both clipped positions with no dragging or sticking. In the pocket the knife is comfortable and I seem to forget its there. The karambit is not very discrete in clipped position like other folders but the exposed ring makes it quick to get your finger in for a strong grip. Make sure to re-Lock Tite the clip screw or it will become lose occasionally causing the clip to slide back and fourth.
Blade.
When you have a karambit you sacrifice some utility for fighting in the blade shape, some cutting tasks call for a flat edge therefore there are a lot instances when a standard blade is more practical. The karambit blade is an aggressive 2.75" "hawk bill" shaped blade. The first thing I noticed about the blade is it has a lot more downward curve than my Emerson karambit. This is a great for self-defense and will definitely hook on to more flesh and make deeper cuts, which I will test in this review. As for the edge it came scary sharp out of the box, I was able to shave hair both ways no problem. The tip was sharp as needle but the shape keepd it very strong. The part I really liked about the blade was the grooved thumb ramp. In saber grip, it allows me to fully rest my thumb over the blade and it strengthens my whole grip as well as gives me more control in cutting and slashing. I started to use the knife as soon as I received it. I started with small cutting chores like gardening and in the kitchen. It cut through plastics, plants, meat, cardboard ETC, smoothly and with no problems. When I made some cuts into free hanging paper it made very clean and quick cuts and left no rips or tears. The sharp pointy tip makes it perfect for poking into things to open or start a cut. On the harder cutting jobs I wanted to see its ability to cut through water filled plastic bottles. I put the bottle on a flat wooden fence post. The first swing left a clean cut that was about half the bottles width and I did this several times with the same results. I did a stab test in to a phone book. This knife is not as good a stabber as much as it is a cutter, it uses the sharp tip of the blade to puncture and then the curve and edge to dig it self in. But to do an out right stab it was awkward with the karambit, the stabs went through about 70 pages each and the tip was unharmed. The next test I performed was slashing into free hanging jeans. It cut into the material faster than I expected, once again due the useful shape of the tip. I cut the pants to shreds in about a minute and I made slashes ranging from three inches long to two feet long. I also went after some small tree branches in the back yard. It trimmed the smaller ones easy but being a small knife with a plain edge it was quickly limited on how thick it could go. Other than the tests I used the knife as normal as an edc until the edge would not shave. When it came time to sharpen the knife I pulled out the crock sticks because the round ceramics work great with curved blades. It only took about 20 slow passes (10 on each side) on the lightest rods in the 25* setting and it was sharp as new and able to pop hairs right of my arm. And as for the coating of the blade aside from holding in the dirt from cutting it did not scuff or mar at all. I used Rem oil to clean the blade, which didnt require as much hard rubbing as I thought to get the blade completely cleaned. The blade was made of 154cm at RC of 60 154cm is becoming less and less used by makers and being replaced with the ever popular S30V. Nonetheless 154cm is a fine blade material and the knife gave me no problems.
Handle.
The titanium handle felt good and there were no sharp edges anywhere except for the steel clip, it was sharper than I would like especially at the corners by the screw. This proves to be uncomfortable. I notice the clip when maneuvering the knife around and when holding it in reverse grip. I have found Sharp clips among a lot of knives (first to come to mind are Microtechs.) The handle screws were very discrete and blended in very well when using the knife. The handle ergonomics were comfortable and allowed me to hold the knife in the common karambit holds both standard "saber" grips, reverse retracted and reverse extended. Moving from standard grip to reverse was easy by flipping the knife in saber grip backwards in your hand and then maneuvering the knife upside-down into reverse grip. But moving from reverse to reverse extended was awkward due to the point at the rear break. This was no problem at all, what I do is when flipping the knife to reverse extended is I raise my middle finger a bit to make clearance for the break. In reality the point helps secure the extended grip by resting between index and middle finger. The index ring was the most interesting part of the handle it was kept machined and smooth, this makes for a comfortable grip and smooth handling when maneuvering with the ring. The handles design seems to allow for a greater difference in hand sizes then on my Emerson karambit. This is mainly due to the down sloped thumb rest, this allows you to stretch out your thumb nicely over the knife. During cutting tests the handle remained comfortable during hard pressing and dragging. The handle-performed great for utility and maneuvering and in my opinion Reese really knows good ergonomics.
Overall.
It is a good thing to have a production karambit made to such high standard. I would compare Cutters Knives to Chris Reeve and Microtech in quality. Reese Weiland and Cutters made a really great, well thought out knife. I called about the sharp clip and Tom said that they would be tumbling them on further models. As for the price of 269.95 retail, its worth every penny. You are getting a very functional high quality frame lock karambit. The Bengal is a very versatile and hard working knife, it can take tons of abuse and will last several lifetimes. I recommend this knife highly to the fast growing karambit populace, you will be very pleased and if you have ever handled or owned one of Reeses custom karambits you will be right at home with this. CKT will be releasing a fixed blade karambit also designed by Reese Weiland. If anyone has a Bengal karambit and wants to share his or her thoughts please post them below!!
Karambit Specs.
CUTTERS KNIFE AND TOOL BENGAL KARAMBIT
Karambit Design by Reese Weiland
Blade: 154-CM; .148" Thick; RC 60
Blade Finishes: Anopeen, Diamond Black, Satin
Overall Length: 6.1"
Length Closed: 4.7"
Blade Length: 2.36"
Handle Thickness: 0.42"
Handle: 6AL4B Titanium
Pocket Clip: 301 Full Hard SS
Handle Lock: Frame Lock
Weight: 2.9 oz. approximately
100% Made in America
Lifetime warranty
MSRP. $269.95
Website: www.cuttersknifentool.com
By Ryan Schuckel
Cutters Knife and Tool is a new company owned by Tom Kyle that started about 2 years ago making high-end production knife collaborations. They released the first ever production dual action frame lock folder designed by Walter Brend along with a manual action version and variants of the model. Recently Cutters released a collaboration with Reese Weiland called the Bengal Karambit based on his popular Raven custom. I have had discussions with Reese about the knife and later was given the opportunity to write a review.
First impression.
I first saw the knife and was immediately impressed with all of its high-end features. The Bengal is the first production frame lock karambit to ever be released. This knife is from their first production run and is completely sterile and has no serial number. The frame lock was the coolest factor, it has never been seen on a production karambit before. When I received the knife my expectations where met quite well! It was a little smaller that I expected, very SLIM being only 3/4 the size of my Emerson karambit, this is nice for the pocket and my hand but may not be favored by those who like more hand filling knives. The fit and finish of the knife are first class and I have to say I really like the anopeen finish they put on everything but the back spacer/ring (It was anodized black and left a smoother machined finish). The anopeen was a lot more refined and smoother in texture than a lot of bead blasting I have handled but it still provides good grip. The back spacer stretched nicely along the spine creating a very strong structure. The only cosmetic imperfections I spotted on the knife were a few small marks on the inside of the index ring where the anodizing was rubbed or scratched off by something during assembly or packaging. Its a small imperfection and may be left unnoticed. Its over all construction was super solid and with only 4 screws it was quite simple in assembly. The Bengal had absolutely ZERO blade play, I am a very selective about blade play and I usually note small amounts. The knife's action was extremely smooth and cycled with almost no effort. It was smoother than a lot of the customs knives I have handled and that was impressive. I was impressed with the well-designed frame lock. Some frame locks I can get stuck if pressed in or if the blade is opened to quickly. This is not the case with the Bengal. The lock disengages smooth as silk no matter how hard or fast I open it. The frame lock engages securely about half tang in but I had to see about lock strength so I went ahead and did a series of "spine whack" tests. "Make sure to not leave to much oil on the locking surface or it might slip on tests which I had happen once." With a cleaned lock area I could hit the spine continuously and not get it to slip at all.
The blade has a nice oval shaped opening hole that works comfortably; although it looks small I am able to open the knife smoothly and with authority. I was able to open the knife by just flicking my wrist a bit, this is a big plus for me and for a lot of people since a defense based knife should be able to be deployed as quickly as possible. The pocket clip was set up for tip up forward saber grip deployment but can be changed for reverse grip. It has the best clip tension I have ever seen and I am able to deploy it smoothly in both clipped positions with no dragging or sticking. In the pocket the knife is comfortable and I seem to forget its there. The karambit is not very discrete in clipped position like other folders but the exposed ring makes it quick to get your finger in for a strong grip. Make sure to re-Lock Tite the clip screw or it will become lose occasionally causing the clip to slide back and fourth.
Blade.
When you have a karambit you sacrifice some utility for fighting in the blade shape, some cutting tasks call for a flat edge therefore there are a lot instances when a standard blade is more practical. The karambit blade is an aggressive 2.75" "hawk bill" shaped blade. The first thing I noticed about the blade is it has a lot more downward curve than my Emerson karambit. This is a great for self-defense and will definitely hook on to more flesh and make deeper cuts, which I will test in this review. As for the edge it came scary sharp out of the box, I was able to shave hair both ways no problem. The tip was sharp as needle but the shape keepd it very strong. The part I really liked about the blade was the grooved thumb ramp. In saber grip, it allows me to fully rest my thumb over the blade and it strengthens my whole grip as well as gives me more control in cutting and slashing. I started to use the knife as soon as I received it. I started with small cutting chores like gardening and in the kitchen. It cut through plastics, plants, meat, cardboard ETC, smoothly and with no problems. When I made some cuts into free hanging paper it made very clean and quick cuts and left no rips or tears. The sharp pointy tip makes it perfect for poking into things to open or start a cut. On the harder cutting jobs I wanted to see its ability to cut through water filled plastic bottles. I put the bottle on a flat wooden fence post. The first swing left a clean cut that was about half the bottles width and I did this several times with the same results. I did a stab test in to a phone book. This knife is not as good a stabber as much as it is a cutter, it uses the sharp tip of the blade to puncture and then the curve and edge to dig it self in. But to do an out right stab it was awkward with the karambit, the stabs went through about 70 pages each and the tip was unharmed. The next test I performed was slashing into free hanging jeans. It cut into the material faster than I expected, once again due the useful shape of the tip. I cut the pants to shreds in about a minute and I made slashes ranging from three inches long to two feet long. I also went after some small tree branches in the back yard. It trimmed the smaller ones easy but being a small knife with a plain edge it was quickly limited on how thick it could go. Other than the tests I used the knife as normal as an edc until the edge would not shave. When it came time to sharpen the knife I pulled out the crock sticks because the round ceramics work great with curved blades. It only took about 20 slow passes (10 on each side) on the lightest rods in the 25* setting and it was sharp as new and able to pop hairs right of my arm. And as for the coating of the blade aside from holding in the dirt from cutting it did not scuff or mar at all. I used Rem oil to clean the blade, which didnt require as much hard rubbing as I thought to get the blade completely cleaned. The blade was made of 154cm at RC of 60 154cm is becoming less and less used by makers and being replaced with the ever popular S30V. Nonetheless 154cm is a fine blade material and the knife gave me no problems.
Handle.
The titanium handle felt good and there were no sharp edges anywhere except for the steel clip, it was sharper than I would like especially at the corners by the screw. This proves to be uncomfortable. I notice the clip when maneuvering the knife around and when holding it in reverse grip. I have found Sharp clips among a lot of knives (first to come to mind are Microtechs.) The handle screws were very discrete and blended in very well when using the knife. The handle ergonomics were comfortable and allowed me to hold the knife in the common karambit holds both standard "saber" grips, reverse retracted and reverse extended. Moving from standard grip to reverse was easy by flipping the knife in saber grip backwards in your hand and then maneuvering the knife upside-down into reverse grip. But moving from reverse to reverse extended was awkward due to the point at the rear break. This was no problem at all, what I do is when flipping the knife to reverse extended is I raise my middle finger a bit to make clearance for the break. In reality the point helps secure the extended grip by resting between index and middle finger. The index ring was the most interesting part of the handle it was kept machined and smooth, this makes for a comfortable grip and smooth handling when maneuvering with the ring. The handles design seems to allow for a greater difference in hand sizes then on my Emerson karambit. This is mainly due to the down sloped thumb rest, this allows you to stretch out your thumb nicely over the knife. During cutting tests the handle remained comfortable during hard pressing and dragging. The handle-performed great for utility and maneuvering and in my opinion Reese really knows good ergonomics.
Overall.
It is a good thing to have a production karambit made to such high standard. I would compare Cutters Knives to Chris Reeve and Microtech in quality. Reese Weiland and Cutters made a really great, well thought out knife. I called about the sharp clip and Tom said that they would be tumbling them on further models. As for the price of 269.95 retail, its worth every penny. You are getting a very functional high quality frame lock karambit. The Bengal is a very versatile and hard working knife, it can take tons of abuse and will last several lifetimes. I recommend this knife highly to the fast growing karambit populace, you will be very pleased and if you have ever handled or owned one of Reeses custom karambits you will be right at home with this. CKT will be releasing a fixed blade karambit also designed by Reese Weiland. If anyone has a Bengal karambit and wants to share his or her thoughts please post them below!!
Karambit Specs.
CUTTERS KNIFE AND TOOL BENGAL KARAMBIT
Karambit Design by Reese Weiland
Blade: 154-CM; .148" Thick; RC 60
Blade Finishes: Anopeen, Diamond Black, Satin
Overall Length: 6.1"
Length Closed: 4.7"
Blade Length: 2.36"
Handle Thickness: 0.42"
Handle: 6AL4B Titanium
Pocket Clip: 301 Full Hard SS
Handle Lock: Frame Lock
Weight: 2.9 oz. approximately
100% Made in America
Lifetime warranty
MSRP. $269.95
Website: www.cuttersknifentool.com
I like that mantra "got to collect them all" It seems to be fit for some of us dosent it !?! I cant wait to see spydercos karambit. I am sure they have a unique idea up there sleves they always do,(i smell a collaboration maby?) As for cutters web site it is just a bsaic information on there knives and company. I am sure as the company grows so will the web site. 