- Joined
- Oct 27, 2015
- Messages
- 198
Today I am reviewing my CRKT Elishewitz F.T.W.S, this was my first nice knife and my entry into the world of high end knives. F.T.W.S stands for "for those who serve", Allen Elishewitz designed it with the military in mind, it is about the price point of a tops or esee but you can find it a little cheaper, lets call this an entry level tactical/survival knife. The knife is made from sk5 carbon steel and has a 6.25 inch blade and is 11.625 inches overall. It is .23 inches thick with removable zytel handle scales. Now that the specs are out of the way lets get to the review. First, the sheath it is a nylon sheath with a plastic blade insert, molle backing, and a pocket/pouch on the front, it came with a leg strap that sucked so I removed it, other than that the sheath is good, not great though. It holds the blade without the snaps but you can use them anyway, it rubs on the blade and has worn the coating near the tip. I give the sheath 3/5.
[/URL][/IMG] Now the handle, the zytel scales are checkered and very grippy, it has four finger choils, a thumb ramp, and parrots beak sub hilt, also there is another choil for choking up that is very handy.
[/URL][/IMG] the handle is very ergonomic in hand with or without the choil and you get a nice solid grip
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[/URL][/IMG] It also has a tapered tang that is really cool, this is something you don't really see on production knives
[/URL][/IMG] The blade is double edged but the secondary edge is at a very wide angle and is made to be used for more abusive tasks you don't want to dull your good edge with but the dual edge doesn't go all the way up so you still get a strong tip
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[/URL][/IMG] if you hold the knife so as to chop wood with the secondary edge the choils will bite into your hand so I just chop with the primary edge and it holds up fine
[/URL][/IMG] the one thing I use the secondary edge for is if you rub it on wood it will create kind of a powder or VERY thin curls for fire starting
[/URL][/IMG] the primary edge makes curls and feathersticks with no problem, chops well for a knife of its size and takes batoning without complaint and asks for more (although that dual edge can kinda cut up the baton and dull the secondary edge but I don't care as I don't use permanent batons and I don't need the dual edge to be very sharp)
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[/URL][/IMG] The blade is nice and thick so it can handle tasks like digging these wild trout lily onions although serious digging with any knife is not advised.
[/URL][/IMG] The balance point is right at the hilt so it would make a decent fighter
[/URL][/IMG] Well that about sums it up overall it is a really nice entry level survival knife and I enjoy using and would definitely recommend it, the sheath is only okay and it does have a few downfalls but the pros far outweigh the cons. This is my first review and I am new to knife photography so any tips would be appreciated and questions or comments are welcome and I will try my best to answer any questions about the knife so feel free to ask.
