Some Ken Onion Ripple pics...

Smooth is one thing , is there any blade play ?

I am not one to jump on a wagon and start knocking knife companies for the sake of tooting my own opinion and I own several older CRKT's...

My concern is this.

Seems as though CRKT is really trying to get back some of the folks who would not think of buying their knives again , things like sharp machined edges tend to turn people off no matter IKBS or not. It's like CRKT is going half-assed on this one as usual...

It does look like a nice knife in pictures.

Tostig
 
Tostig said:
Smooth is one thing , is there any blade play ?

I am not one to jump on a wagon and start knocking knife companies for the sake of tooting my own opinion and I own several older CRKT's...

My concern is this.

Seems as though CRKT is really trying to get back some of the folks who would not think of buying their knives again , things like sharp machined edges tend to turn people off no matter IKBS or not. It's like CRKT is going half-assed on this one as usual...

It does look like a nice knife in pictures.

Tostig
Click to expand...



The IKBS on the CRKT ripple doesn't seem THAT smooth, definitely not smoother than a well made phosphor bronze or teflon washer knife, but it does fly open much more easily than those. it still feels cheaper in terms of quality when compared to an osborne series benchmade or the endura 4 g-10. there are sharp edges and the tip was ground kind of strangely on the one i have

edit: there is no blade play as far as I can tell on mine.
 
Last edited:
Great pictures Chuck. One question: is this from the lighting, or does the bevel have an issue in this picture? It looks almost like its scorched.

ripple.jpg
 
Tostig said:
Smooth is one thing , is there any blade play ?

I am not one to jump on a wagon and start knocking knife companies for the sake of tooting my own opinion and I own several older CRKT's...

My concern is this.

Seems as though CRKT is really trying to get back some of the folks who would not think of buying their knives again , things like sharp machined edges tend to turn people off no matter IKBS or not. It's like CRKT is going half-assed on this one as usual...

It does look like a nice knife in pictures.

Tostig
Click to expand...

No blade play Tostig. Lock-up is SOLID on mine. :thumbup:


tf8s said:
The IKBS on the CRKT ripple doesn't seem THAT smooth, definitely not smoother than a well made phosphor bronze or teflon washer knife, but it does fly open much more easily than those. it still feels cheaper in terms of quality when compared to an osborne series benchmade or the endura 4 g-10. there are sharp edges and the tip was ground kind of strangely on the one i have

edit: there is no blade play as far as I can tell on mine.
Click to expand...

Mine is noticeably smoother than any of my phoshor bronze or teflon bushing knives. All with teflon lube. And I ain't lying! :p

SPXTrader said:
Great pictures Chuck. One question: is this from the lighting, or does the bevel have an issue in this picture? It looks almost like its scorched.
Click to expand...

You made me look at my Ripple again. It is my lighting. :o Bevel is perfectly fine.
 
This is a IKBS powered production knife?! Wow!
My guess is this is one of those knives that look
a lot better in person. The photos look great, but
I'll be it's a stunner in real life. I like the direction
CRKT is going. Awesome. May have to become
a CRKT fan now.
 
RKH said:
It 's made in Taiwam and is marked on the box not the knife. Some kind of change in law allows it to be marked on box instead of knife. go figure.

RKH
Click to expand...

Not to get too far off track of UpChUcK's post but the Law does not state any change to the marking of imported knives.

I will post this in knife law to find out other information.
 
Sorry if I made a mistake on law change. I thought I might have read that on another thread about Ken working with CRKT. Either way the Ripple is a nice knife. The sharp edges on the knife I will try to fix with a Sharpmaker ceramic rod. The Ripple is a very well made Frame Lock that locks up just about perfect on my knife.

RKH
 
How does the IKBS on this compare to a hand made knife? I own an actual Korth. The IKBS is smoooooooth.... Do you think that it is a mass produce changed the quality of the IKBS versus one done by hand?
 
This is my first and only IKBS but I would think the Handmade Korth would be smoother than a factory knife. The Ripple is very smooth and I am impressed by this knife, especially for the price.

RKH
 
yeah I'm wondering the same thing. the ripple I was referring to was actually one I gave to my brother as a gift, but I'm on the list for a ken onion mid-tech ripple, and I'm wondering if the action will be improved at all
 
I just got a Ripple today and can certainly second the smoothness. The blade swings open faster than most assisted openers. I have A LOT of knives, many with bronze phosphor bushings. This is faster and smoother. I thought my Benchmade Dejavoos were the smoothest knives I have ever owned until I got the Ripple. I was wondering when makers were going to start using bearings in the pivot rather than bushings, as rolling friction is much less than sliding friction. The knife is a little smaller and much thinner that I originally thought. I like the frame lock and think this knife would be an excellent EDC / gentleman's folder.
 
I just wanted to make a note here. a lot of people are referring to phosphor bronze washers as phosphor bronze bushings. a bushing is a precision-fit (or should be) hollow cylinder that fits through the pivot hole on the blade, allowing the pivot screw to be tightened completely while not creating an excessive amount of friction. not many knives have phosphor bronze bushings. I know the chris reeve sebenza and mnandi, the scott cook lochsa, and (I think) kevin wilkin's knives have it. I'm sure there are others. I've heard the buck 110 has some sort of bushing system, and I think spyderco might have one knife wit ha bushing system, but it's not very common.

when I made my statement about smoothness compared to phosphor bronze washer knives, I was comparing it to high end folders like the umnumzaan. the way people were hyping up the smoothness of the knife made it seem comparable to high end productions or custom knives, and it's not. it does flick open very very quickly, compared to most knives I've seen, BUT I wouldn't call it smooth. the CRKT ripple lacks a uniformity in the action of the knife that higher end, yet standard, washer-based knives have. while it opens up very very quickly, i dont think it should be confused with smoothness.

bottom line: you'll have no problems flicking this knife open what-so-ever, it flies open. just don't expect a uniformly-smooth folder for 70$.
 
I dunno. Mine is buttery smooth. I even open it really slowly and with 2 hands and it feels like it is floating on air. There is not a hint of mechanical action and I'm looking for it. It's like there is a cloud in the pivot. :confused: Although I don't have the CRK knife you mentioned, if it is smoother than this, than I would be absolutely floored. As it is now, my CRKT KO Ripple is significantly smoother than any other knife I have felt, fondled, used and/or owned.
 
UpChUcK said:
I dunno. Mine is buttery smooth. I even open it really slowly and with 2 hands and it feels like it is floating on air. There is not a hint of mechanical action and I'm looking for it. It's like there is a cloud in the pivot. :confused: Although I don't have the CRK knife you mentioned, if it is smoother than this, than I would be absolutely floored. As it is now, my CRKT KO Ripple is significantly smoother than any other knife I have felt, fondled, used and/or owned.
Click to expand...

there's a chance this one is slightly off. it does open very easily, probably as fast or faster than any of the othe knives ive used, but you can feel the ball bearings and hear it if you listen carefully. the chris reeve umnumzaan opens much smoother but the CRKT opens much easier. maybe the smoothness will come during break in.

what knives are you comparing it to (just out of curiosity)? to me it seems smoother than my endura 4 g10 (because of the lockback mechanism) and probably my benchmade 960 also (you could sort of feel very rubbing against the axis lock, which is unavoidable). obviously it glides open much easier than both of those.
 
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