I'm going to go into a little more detail about the transition from the old nick style to the current. It took a bit of time to get all the variants, but here they are. First up, all 5 design variants of the production Mnandi. As you can see 4 have the old nail nick, the last one has the new. But only the oldest has the older, larger pivot.
Now, the 4 steps of the transition in more detail.....
As I said before, the first thing to change was the pivot. The newer is smaller, and sits slightly below flush with the surface of the inlay....
The next change was the most subtle. While still using the old style clips, CRK allowed themselves to run out of the solid head body screws in anticipation of changing the clip..
Next the clip itself was changed...
And lastly, the nail nick was changed. At the same time, the bladesteel changed from SV30 to S35VN, and CRK changed the finish on the blades, got away from the polished flats.
The transition began in mid 2011. I have one from early 2011 that entirely the old style, but the next 2 shown are all late 2011 to early 2012. Here's the line-up that volunteered for todays pic session
African Blackwood/gold/diamonds, entirely old design, Mid 2000's
Desert Ironwood, Old nail nick & clip with solid head screw/new pivot
Macassar Ebony , Old nail nick & clip with allen (open) head screw/new pivot
Box Elder, Old nail nick/new clip/new pivot.
Honduran Rosewood, entirely new design.
Both transitionals, Bocote and Macassar Ebony.
Old style with Black Palm, transitional Mammoth Bark.
And just because. 3 are the new style, the rest are older versions. No transitionals.
