Review - CRKT Lake's P.A.L knife

[JPD1998]

I’d been interested in CRKT Lake's P.A.L knife for a while and even considered buying one a few months ago, but the price was always the deciding factor. Well this past week I got an opportunity to buy on at a very good price so I picked one up.

Some stats from CRKT:

- Blade Length: 2.75" (7.0 cm)
- Thickness: 0.14" (0.35 cm)
- Steel: AUS 8, 56-58 HRC
- Handle length: 3.75" (9.5 cm)
- Overall length: 6.625" (16.8 cm)
- Weight: 4.9 oz. (139 g)

I really like the marriage between modern and traditional styling. Also the open design and the tank-like build is really appealing for a small knife. While this knife is marketed as a pseudo Gentlemen’s pocket knife, it is a little on the heavy side and probably would be better if designed with a pocket clip instead of the included leather pouch. The leather pouch is really too big for inside a pocket but it has a belt loop too.

Every part of this knife is “overbuilt” and the result is a very stout little folder. Some might not like the thickness and weight of this knife, but it looks like a quality product without being excessive. The blade size and shape would make this perfect whenever a larger knife is needed but not practical to carry.

The button lock is very cleverly designed, the single post serves as a lock and also has a notch cut out to keep the blade closed. The lock post also serves as a stop pin.

The blade has two large nail nicks, for left or right handed use and they’re deep enough to be used as a stud.

The fit and finish is excellent, lock-up is solid with no obvious blade play. I could only find one nit picky thing. There was a burr sticking out where the bone handle was fitted to the frame, I almost cut myself, but it was easy to remove with just my finger nail. The blade came very sharp, but not razor sharp and the edge is a little thicker than some of my other CRKT knives.

The bottom line is I’m quite impressed with this knife. Considering I bought two other knives over the last month and only took time to write about this one…. well I guess subconsciously I like this one the best ( but I won’t tell the others).

The picture is from CRKT

 

[Cliff Stamp]

Thanks for the commentary. For what uses do you see yourself requiring that level of stoutness in such a small knife?

-Cliff

 

[JPD1998]

Thanks for the commentary. For what uses do you see yourself requiring that level of stoutness in such a small knife?

-Cliff

I haven't really found any special use for it yet, but most smaller knives usually barely fill the hand, yet you can pretty much grip this one as if it was a full sized folder.

 

[Bob W]

That knife is on my shopping list too - I handled one at AG Russell's showroom and really liked it. If I ever see them on sale somewhere I'll finally be motivated to push the button.

-Bob

 

[JPD1998]

That knife is on my shopping list too - I handled one at AG Russell's showroom and really liked it. If I ever see them on sale somewhere I'll finally be motivated to push the button.

-Bob

That's pretty much how it happened. I was undecided about ordering one and then I got an email offer at a very good price.

 

[sasafrass]

I like this knife so much that I have three of them. A standard PB folder, and two auto conversions 1 combo and 1 PB. The conversions are done very well and have strong springs which open with a healthy snap.

There's something about the traditional look of this knife that appeals to me, along with the stoutness of its build. Marry that to the modern piston lock, which is unique in its own right, and you have a pretty dandy knife for EDC. I carry the manual and the autos live in my safe as part of my collectors.

-Dan