- Joined
- Jan 1, 2019
- Messages
- 340
This New Year's Eve, I had resolved to buy no new knives in 8Cr13Mov. I thought I was going to be okay with that but there were a few designs left out that held a little interest. One had been the sheep's foot version of the Ruger LCK by CRKT. I had handled one briefly and remembered liking it. Memory can be a tricky thing though...
I recently lost an older Chinese Kershaw and around the same time, I got a $25 gift card from a relative. So I said "what the heck". I ordered the Ruger LCK. I opened it with a little excitement in my heart... only to end up very disappointed. It felt terribly uncomfortable in my hand. The clip presents a major hot spot. The toothy jimping on the stiff liner lock bites into my thumb when I depress it. It also teams up with a sharp corner of hard, thin scale around that unusually small finger relief to chomp on my index finger during use.
The flipper tab is pokey. The decent detent is foiled by a sluggish action. I could feel it starting to break in a little as I kept working it. I started thinking about how it would be improved by cleaning out the internals and adding some quality lube. Then, I was interrupted by the knife flipping out of my hand! My middle finger would normally be resting against the clip but this clip is short and digs into my finger tip when I do that. So I tried to hold around it. However, the scale surface is slippery against dry skin. The grip lines actually channel in the direction of the flipper motion and then terminate in a ramp. So the handle slid along the channels and resulted in a pinch grip between my thumb and middle-finger knuckle on that slippery ramp... (If you spent time flicking and flinging objects as a kid, you'll understand what I'm talking about here.)
The blade shape looks good. The grind is nice and even. It came paper-slicing sharp. I'm guessing the edge will last as long as I'm used to on similar knives in this steel. The spine seems pretty thick though. So I cut up a cardboard box, alternating cuts between this, a Civivi Naja, a Tangram Amarillo, a Ganzo FH11, and a Kershaw Clash. The LCK definitely had the most drag. (Not surprisingly, the thinner blades of the Naja and Amarillo had the least.)
So overall, I'm not impressed. The question is, would I have been a year or two ago? Within the last year, I've been exposed to Civivi, Ruike, Tangram, and more. I feel like I've gotten used to better quality. Yeah, those cost a little more but at this level, it feels relative. I got the Amarillo for like $22 when it first came out. The FH11 was about the same price as the LCK but slices better, locks up a little tighter, and is more comfortable in hand. I also remember seeing the LCK up in the $30 range when it first came out. So is this just a case of the LCK being behind the curve in an evolving market or me growing as a knife hobbyist?
I recently lost an older Chinese Kershaw and around the same time, I got a $25 gift card from a relative. So I said "what the heck". I ordered the Ruger LCK. I opened it with a little excitement in my heart... only to end up very disappointed. It felt terribly uncomfortable in my hand. The clip presents a major hot spot. The toothy jimping on the stiff liner lock bites into my thumb when I depress it. It also teams up with a sharp corner of hard, thin scale around that unusually small finger relief to chomp on my index finger during use.
The flipper tab is pokey. The decent detent is foiled by a sluggish action. I could feel it starting to break in a little as I kept working it. I started thinking about how it would be improved by cleaning out the internals and adding some quality lube. Then, I was interrupted by the knife flipping out of my hand! My middle finger would normally be resting against the clip but this clip is short and digs into my finger tip when I do that. So I tried to hold around it. However, the scale surface is slippery against dry skin. The grip lines actually channel in the direction of the flipper motion and then terminate in a ramp. So the handle slid along the channels and resulted in a pinch grip between my thumb and middle-finger knuckle on that slippery ramp... (If you spent time flicking and flinging objects as a kid, you'll understand what I'm talking about here.)
The blade shape looks good. The grind is nice and even. It came paper-slicing sharp. I'm guessing the edge will last as long as I'm used to on similar knives in this steel. The spine seems pretty thick though. So I cut up a cardboard box, alternating cuts between this, a Civivi Naja, a Tangram Amarillo, a Ganzo FH11, and a Kershaw Clash. The LCK definitely had the most drag. (Not surprisingly, the thinner blades of the Naja and Amarillo had the least.)
So overall, I'm not impressed. The question is, would I have been a year or two ago? Within the last year, I've been exposed to Civivi, Ruike, Tangram, and more. I feel like I've gotten used to better quality. Yeah, those cost a little more but at this level, it feels relative. I got the Amarillo for like $22 when it first came out. The FH11 was about the same price as the LCK but slices better, locks up a little tighter, and is more comfortable in hand. I also remember seeing the LCK up in the $30 range when it first came out. So is this just a case of the LCK being behind the curve in an evolving market or me growing as a knife hobbyist?
