Ok, Give Me The Lowdown, CRK&T, Junk?

Sulaco

Sulaco

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Nov 15, 2003
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I have owned exactly one (1) CRK&T knife and I liked it. It was the M-16-04Z which is a damn big tanto folder. I don't know what kind of steel the blade was but it was scary sharp. And once I put it on the strop, it got sharper. And sharper. And sharper. I shouldn't have gotten rid of it.

Oh well, now I want another one but since I am smarter now than I was then, I want to know if it is worth it. I have heard of people having problems with the liner lock and the new lock system, while seemingly a good idea, sort of makes me wonder about the strength of the liner lock to begin with!

Give me some honest opinions here. I want to hear from people who know from firsthand experience. I don't care about your friend who hacked his leg off with one! :D
 
They work just fine... most complaints come from "steel snobs" and knife "torturers and interrogators" but if it's cutting you want cut it will.

The strongest? No. The longest edge holder? No. But then again, those answers are still open to debate here.

Some pointers though, the Zytel handled one comes with inferior steel than the remaining models, not that it won't work, as you found out, but still considered "inferior".
 
I would say they are OK knives for the $30-$50 range, but are pretty "average" overall, but then again, they are better than some $10 P.O.S. you might get at some hardware store. Then again (again), they do not really hold up to the likes of Benchmade. So they are not excellent, but just good average knives in my opinion...
 
I have never owned a CRKT folder because, upon examination, the liners on are the knive I examined were quite abit thinner than those on a Benchmade. CRKT also uses a cheaper steel than other makers. I believe it is because AUS6 is so soft that it easy to sharpen. I have some Cold Steel knives in AUS8 and they are plenty sharp and easily sharpenen too...just don't stray too far fron you Sharpmaker because they don't hold an edge.
 
Willieboy said:
I have never owned a CRKT folder because, upon examination, the liners on are the knive I examined were quite abit thinner than those on a Benchmade....
Click to expand...

I have a Benchmade 910 and a CRKT M16-13Z and the liners on the CRKT are just as thick as the BM.
 
I have a few CRKT knives. I have both the large and small Crawford Kasper folders. They are excelent. the small is more handy in my opinion. I carry it often. I have the Prowler, I got it for $15 from www.eknifeworks.com. I love it, (I just polished all the beadblasted surfaces), It is the beefiest folder they have ever made. I have the original m-16 in the spearpoint with aluminum handles (they changed the blade grind on the newer ones. All of them are aus-6 steel which is 440a Not the best steel, not the worst either.

Excelent quality for the price. (I have never paid over $36 for one of their knives)

Check out the website I gave and request a catalog from them They will often put discontinued or soon to be discontinued crkt knives on deep discount. They had the Tige tac folders on sale for around $18 about a month or so back.

On some of their newer knives they are using something called aus4 steel, I have a feeling this is 420hc steel. In my opinion, If you are paying more than $15 for a knife with a 420 steel blade you are being robbed.

Some will tell you Buck's 420 is good, and they are entitled to their opinion, I have compared an old 110 and new 420 steel 110 side by side the new 420 steel 110 does less than half the work. In short from my own expierence even Buck's 420 steel, like everone elses, is rubbish.

Not that I have completely gone off the topic let me finish by saying CRKT with aus6 steel, pretty good knife for the price, with aus8 steel a little better. They made one a couple years ago with a ats34 blade and titanium handles that was excelent.
 
CRKT makes a WIDE variety of knives; MANY different models. (Also they have discontinued many more which are still on dealers' shelves.) Different steels, different places of manufacture, different opening and locking systems, plus other differences as well.

So it would be inaccurate to characterize all of their knives in any one way.
 
The only CRKT I own is the Van Hoy Snap Fire. It actually just arrived today, so I can't tell you too much about it but I'm not too impressed.

Positives:
Nice looking

Negatives:
TONS of blade play, wheels feel cheap, holes drilled in blade are not alligned, difficult one-handed opening
 
I've been carrying an M16-10F and an M18-12 every day for a couple of years. The blades have only been touched up a couple of times. They seems to hold an edge well. I also have several other M16's and M18's. I am very happy with them. I would suggest that if you want another M16, get one with a carbon fiber, titanium or aluminum handle so that it has an AUS 8 blade(well, I think the compact carbon fiber M16's have AUS 118). A friend gave me a new M16-13Z that doesn't seem to hold an edge very long. I suspect it is one of the newer ones with an AUS 4 blade.
 
I carry an M21-04 in AUS-8 at work and I have no complaints. It is not the greatest steel but for the $ you won't be disapointed.
 
Ilovetoolsteel said:
If you are paying more than $15 for a knife with a 420 steel blade you are being robbed.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. Check out the Boker/Magnum Subcom Folder.

It's a 420 blade, but the edge geometry is so superb that it cut's like good AUS-8, and out lasts many companies inferior AUS-8.

Done right, any steel will be good. But 420 just doesn't give any bragging rights like the super steels.
 
I had an AUS8 M16 on impulse. There was nothing wrong with it, but I didn't really like it afterwards. It is pretty light for a knife that size, though, and the style might be appealing. I'd be much happier with a mini-grip instead.

Then I got a F-4 neckknife in 420J2. The steel is as bad as it sounds. It is embarrasing when other manufacturess use the same material for their handles or liners.

Overall, I think their lineup has a lot of questionable designs (in terms of functionality) made with 2nd or 3rd rate material.
 
My first was an M16-LE that I bought used on e-bay. It was a good blade but was a little loose. I sent it to CRKT to see if they could repair and a week later I got a NIB via FedEx at no charge and no questions asked. Needless to say I was very impressed.

I later bought the older smaller Crawford Kasper which is still one of my favorite folders. It's a good user and I still rotate it and a Ryan 7 between my BM 635 and 630.
 
i think CRKT knives are very good value for money even with all the problems - liners,steel etc.
 
I have 3 CRKTs and they've all been great. Fit and finish is better than Spyderco and comparable to Benchmade, although much cheaper.

For the most part, the materials don't come close to Benchmade and Spyderco.

Their real "weakness" isn't their steel--there are plenty of AUS8 and 154CM models to choose from that people out right ignore.

I imagine it's the liner lock paranoia that's popular right now. If they were an EXTREMELY similar frame lock, I think they'd sell a lot more.

Heck, even I know all of it is BS and I'm still inclined to greatly prefer framelocks to liner locks.

But, for what it's worth, they really should be offering more choices among lock types. CRKT's line up is dying for diversification in general. They don't offer any genuinely high end knives at all.

They've got one awesome design and a few good ones. Time to start experimenting like Kershaw.
 
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