I HATE KARAMBITS BUT.... CRKT PROVOKE CASWELL DESIGN NEW VIDEO PG 10

I'm sure this has been talked about ad naseum, is the only function of a Karambit self-defense? Sharpening would be pretty tough.
 
sgt1372 said:
All karambits have short blades because they are designed for close quarters (inside) fighting where a long blade would be at a disadvantage. It is NOT a gardening tool!

Also, FWIW, if you miss w/the 1st swing of your 10" blade or have the swing blocked by an experienced martial artist w/a karambit, you will be severely cut up (and down on the ground bleeding, if not dying already) before you know it.

Blade shapes vary from extremely radiused hawkbills to flat wharncliffes. The Provoke blade doesn't look entirely flat but clearly is more wharncliffe than not. The Sypderco Yojimbo is a wharncliffe and is considered a very effective fighting knife.

Watching some of Caswell's promotional videos, the knife was designed, at least in part, for military use, where it would be subject to all kinds of challenges (not just cutting flesh) where prying actually might be necessary. So, the thickness and weight of the knife makes sense in terms of that.

There are all kinds of knives, just like there are all kinds of tools. If you just want a thin and light weapon, I still think the Marcaida's Pika is the BEST karambit that you can buy.

However, if you think that you may have to use the knife for more than just slashing or stabbing an arm, neck, leg, belly or chest, you may find that the Provoke may be the better tool to have on hand and certainly wouldn't be bad to have in your knife case simply to provide you w/an additional option.

In terms of fighting knives, I have a lot to choose from but none of the ones that I already have are anything like the Provoke, which is my reason for wanting to buy one.

OBTW, another good reason to have a thick and heavy karambit blade, like the one on the Provoke, is that it would be more likely to penetrate and break bone on impact (think sternum, ribs, scapula and/or skull) rather than deflect or bounce off as would be more likely with a thinner, lighter blade. This is also a good reason to have a flat pointed blade shape (like the wharncliffe) than one that is radiused.

Just saying . . . LOL! ;)
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Karambits are literally derived from gardening tools. (Agricultural tool)
 
Lapedog said:
Karambits are literally derived from gardening tools. (Agricultural tool)
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True the origin of the karambit derives from a much larger sickle type harvesting tool used in SE Asia and the Philippines but, in its smaller, compact modern weaponized form, it is no longer designed to be used as such.

Can it still be used for certain gardening (or agricultural) tasks? Of course but there are many other knives better suited for gardening/forestry work.
 
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I'm a sucker for gimmicks (not intended as negative, just unique), so this one will be hard to pass up. But the kicker really is the price point next to the letters crkt. That's going to be my mental hard sell. I have a handful of crkt's, and all of them have simply left me wanting .... even with a lowish price point.

But if the early reveiws are positive, and the talk of different blade shapes are not a far off fantasy, then I'm sure I'll get there eventually.
 
abcdef said:
CRKT Provoke $157.19
Keep the information flowing. Maybe it will reach my tipping point.
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FYI, the price just dropped a few $ on the previously referenced site to $154.32.

Canceled and reordered one for this price. You can freely cancel and reorder on that site because a charge is not posted until the knife is actually shipped.
 
sgt1372 said:
True the origin of the karambit derives from a much larger sickle type harvesting tool used in SE Asia and the Philippines but, in its smaller, compact modern weaponized form, it is no longer designed to be used as such.

Can it still be used for certain gardening (or agricultural) tasks? Of course but there are many other knives better suited for gardening/forestry work.
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There are few knives designed better for gardening than a karambit. Finding a decent modern one for the application is difficult but there are options out there.
 
sgt1372 said:
FYI, the price just dropped a few $ on the previously referenced site to $154.32.

Canceled and reordered one for this price. You can freely cancel and reorder on that site because a charge is not posted until the knife is actually shipped.
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Even lower from a site that does drops in mass (and has a paying membership here!)
 
Hmmmmm, drops in mass. We might get there yet. I'm still going to bank on another blade shape.
 
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Burke said:
Even lower from a site that does drops in mass (and has a paying membership here!)
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That's good to know.

Congrats to those who enjoy those benefits but the info provided is still beneficial to those who are not yet paying members. ;)
 
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I like it. I dig karambits (mostly nostalgically) and the mechanism is fascinating. My biggest factor is that I don't know if I can really justify dropping $150-200 on something that would largely be a curiosity piece.
 
Insipid Moniker said:
I like it. I dig karambits (mostly nostalgically) and the mechanism is fascinating. My biggest factor is that I don't know if I can really justify dropping $150-200 on something that would largely be a curiosity piece.
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Me too but that $140 drop is really testing me.

I don't have a a karambit yet.
 
The mechanism looks cool. Please someone correct me but it looks like any positive force on the blade is transferred to the lock? Can't really get a good look to confirm for myself.
 
kniferbro said:
The mechanism looks cool. Please someone correct me but it looks like any positive force on the blade is transferred to the lock? Can't really get a good look to confirm for myself.
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That's correct. However, the locking bar is a pretty thick steel lever under pressure from a spring steel bar. It takes a concise effort to disengage the lock. Just based on examining mine, I'd wager the handle would break before the lock would disengage. But that's just a semi wide guess, as I haven't disassembled mine, nor want to try. Haha
 
Even if the lock disengages accidentally or fails, it'll just close. And since it closes without the edge crossing your hand, you have essentially zero risk of injury.

Put force on it the other way, and you're basically going to need to shear the fasteners to break it.
 
Just noticed that the Provoke is now "in stock" at BHQ at MSRP. My source is still saying delivery is at least 1 month out. I can wait.

However, there's a new (to me) short video demo of the knife posted on the other site that is very enlightening about what the knife looks like and how it operates:

 
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