Flying the (Un)Friendly Skies

[Lone_Wolfe]

So you all know me as collector of Sebenzas and Mnandis, with an occasional side of Zaan and Ti-Lock. But today, I had a Aviator come my way. Please tell me what you know about this little south African piece of CRK history. And because of my paid membership, estimates of it's value are allowed and appreciated.

So educate me!

 

[Lone_Wolfe]

Nice! The aviator was my first OPK and easily my favorite. I believe I read somewhere that the aviator was intended for use in aircraft emergencies as it is capable of "cutting through the skin of an aircraft." Great find!

I remember that much. I have no doubt this knife could do just that!

And thanks!

 

[Jackal87]

Very beautiful model.. I have already written to you on Facebook some information. A small clarification, on Arizona there is an Aviator with serial #613, and the certificate says September 1988, then your serial #538 in my opinion It may have been produced at the beginning of the year 1988!
Anyway, do you want to sell it? Or you have just bought it?

 

[Steven65]

I would guess that this one was imported into the US in late 1987 through to 1988.

A shipment of knives that came into the US in mid '87 was stopped by customs and they required that all the knives be marked "Made in South Africa" (because of the prevailing politics of the time) These knives are easy to spot because the font is a cursive style font which went through the Kal-Gard and exposed the steel.
As I recall there was only one batch of these.

This one was marked in South Africa by Chris and then Kal-Gard'ed. So it was from a later batch. These were all marked this way until Chris moved to the US and began finishing them in the US.

The sheath that this one has is an evolution sheath from the earlier production Aviators. The earlier sheath (just a year or so earlier) had a more ergonomic pleasing look. Chris changed the design for production reasons.

Are you going to re-finish it?

 

[Lone_Wolfe]

I would guess that this one was imported into the US in late 1987 through to 1988.

A shipment of knives that came into the US in mid '87 was stopped by customs and they required that all the knives be marked "Made in South Africa" (because of the prevailing politics of the time) These knives are easy to spot because the font is a cursive style font which went through the Kal-Gard and exposed the steel.
As I recall there was only one batch of these.

This one was marked in South Africa by Chris and then Kal-Gard'ed. So it was from a later batch. These were all marked this way until Chris moved to the US and began finishing them in the US.

The sheath that this one has is an evolution sheath from the earlier production Aviators. The earlier sheath (just a year or so earlier) had a more ergonomic pleasing look. Chris changed the design for production reasons.

Are you going to re-finish it?

Thank you for that, very interesting. Definitely not going to refinish it, I'll leave that for the next owner to decide. I probably won't keep it.