What do you think is the coolest CRKT knife?

fulloflead

fulloflead

Joined
May 3, 2002
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CRKT has had it's ups and downs in my view, but they've always been popular. They've been bouncing back and forth over the "good-value-for-the-money" line since they began. I know. I've been paying attention. Over the years I've been buying or not buying CRKT depending on where I felt there were on that line.

In any case, I've been following their product line since their start and I have a few that I love and hate.

Love: (in order)
#1 Commander line - simple. GREAT price point. I carried one for years.
#2 Urban Shark - a WAY cool design. Confident sharpening angle that works. Can't go wrong with Lightfoot.
#3 Ryan Plan B - A nice tough neck knife with a really great Bussy-like crinkle-coat coating and great ergonomics.
#4 Mirage series with the aluminum handles. Hammond. Not too shabby!

Hate: (in order)
#1 The Komodo Gold and Cobra Gold series. Weren't those stupid? Huge handles and cheaply made.
#2 Wrangler series. Well, since I got one for a penny when I bought my first Mirage, that pretty much says it.
#3 Point Guard. I've never seen Zytel done so poorly. What a mess!
#4 Apache. If they priced it for HALF as much, maybe. Basic design. Not worth what they were charging at the time.

Borderline/undecided:
#1 M-16 Thumb studs are good forn nothing. Use the flipper or forget it. If you flip one open HARD you need a prybar to unlock one.
#2 Summit Series. If they didn't bead-blast the darn things they might have had something. Great craftsmanship and design and they just HAD to go the cheap route with the blade.
#3 Tighe Tac. It looks nice, but gentleman's knife with Zytel handles? I just don't know.
#4 Wasp. Once again. Good looking, but for the materiels and price? I just don't know.

Just my opinions. Just thought I'd start an argument here.;)
 
Personally, I like the Lake Series, the D.O.G. folder, the Mirage Grey Ghosts, and the Wasp. They have allot of great knives, but these are my favorites.
 
Whoa, what happened to the CRKT/Crawford KFF Pro? I just got my gray-handled one (not that cheap looking silver) and it immediately earned a spot in my EDC rotation. Good size, great feel in the hand, useful blade shape and a secondary lock for the liner. What's not to like?
 
I have followed CRKT in much the same way as fulloflead.
My favorites are as follows:

#1)Lightfoot M1 - my EDC, heavy build, very fast
#2)G.W. Hawk D.O.G. - very cool knife, heavy build
#3)Grey Ghost Wharncliff - great cutter

Here are the others that I don't really carry anymore:

Apache's
S-2's
Urban shark
Navajo
Fixed falcon
P.E.C.K.
Pikes peak
Crawford/Kasper

I should be getting a Crawford/Kasper Pro this week. A new favorite I hope.
 
My current fav is the D.O.G., but I also like my M18, the KFF, and my wharncliffe mirage is one of the better deals I've had. Bladelock 2 is not bad either.
 
I love the small spearpoint CF M16.

A close second will be the KFF Pro and a close third would be the Bladelock.
 
Lately, I've been floored by their new offerings. The Teflon-plated (Gold/non) KISSes look pretty stylish, though as it is, I have a PECK on my keychain... not terribly useful, just fun to play with.

The Kommer Pro Hunters aren't really my style, or even CRKT's, but they really caught me off guard. Very nice looking knives. I'm always amazed at what CRKT will sell as a "production" knife, and at such a low cost, no less.

So, enough NOT answering the question...

I think Corkum's First Strike is the coolest of all the NEW offerings. I'm a sucker for Japanese styles, and modern design/materials, so the tsuka-maki'ed grip, along with the Americanized tanto tip, and Zytel sheath really caught my eye. I have to see one of these things in person. The pointed pommel also reminded me of Snody's Overlord, which is a big plus in my book as I'm a big fan of his work, but he's stopped taking orders.

I still think the all-time coolest CRKT knife is Ryan's Model Seven though. It's on the large side, but small enough to carry everyday (well, for me...), fits my hand like a glove, the blade can be locked open, and everything about it is built hefty and tough. Top it off with Ryan's eye for aesthetic design, and you have my favorite of CRKT's knives.

A bit long winded, but I figure half of my production knives or better are CRKT...
 
I played around recently with one of the Carson flippers with the LAWKS lock and was actually impressed with the knife at this pricepoint. Flipper works great, the knife had no blade play, the liner lock engaged the blade very nicely, not sticky as someone else mentioned, the blade was actually centered in the handle, and that LAWKS thing really does prevent the liner from disengaging, also, to my surprise, smooth as SILK action. Add a nice blade in a decent steel and for the price, i think its a great user. Hmmm, i think i just talked myself into getting one. :) I need a relatively cheap user since my little Kershaw Chive mysteriously disappeared while i was away on my honeymoon. Came home and its gone. Do knives spontaniously combust? :eek: Well, i suppose its conceivable that i dont remember where i put it, but the spontanious combustion thing still needs some looking into...
 
I personally liked the Apache LE the best. That thing lasted awhile and through a lot of work.
 
fulloflead,
Don't know what you are talking about when you say you need a prybar to unlock a CRKT M16 after flipping it open hard. Must have been a bad apple knife. I've flipped mine way, way harder than necessary many times and it always unlocks with the same minimal effort. Very sweet knife. I just wished I would have waited and got a plain edge. I hate 50/50 blades!
 
I have a M16Z that would lock HARD if flipped with too much force. Needed two hands to disengage it. Tightened it down and reduced the problem. My father reported that his new Compact M16 EDC would occasionally over lock as well.

Just my experiences.

Regards,

Shaun.
 
Originally posted by Drew66
fulloflead,
Don't know what you are talking about when you say you need a prybar to unlock a CRKT M16 after flipping it open hard. Must have been a bad apple knife. I've flipped mine way, way harder than necessary many times and it always unlocks with the same minimal effort. Very sweet knife. I just wished I would have waited and got a plain edge. I hate 50/50 blades!
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I've had the same experience. I've probably flipped my M16-13Z about a ten-thousand times, and it's settled into not locking too far over. The first 20 or so times, I needed to unlock it with a quarter. But after that it's been great. I suggest that people try flipping it at least a hundred times before coming to the conclusion that it will always lock hard.

I also need to get a plain edge... the serrated part of the 50/50 (or 70/30 in the case of the M16-13) is absolutely useless for my purposes.
 
My Large M-18 is great
Plan B -- great feel, good knife
First Strike -- don't have it yet, but love it already!
 
I bought my first CRKT knives last Friday. I was always kind of put off by them because they seemed a little cheesy to me but after handling quite a few last week I was impressed by some of the designs and the value.

I picked up a Walker Bladelock and a Neck Peck. The Blade Lock is a very cool design and smooth as butter although a little heavy. The grinds are very clean and it's not bead blasted like so many other CRKTs. Check it out if you can.

The Neck Peck is going to be my main carry for a while. Super light and fits very nice in the sheath. I understand they are not making it anymore which is a real shame - it's a great neck knife. For $13 I couldn't resist!

I really liked the M1, VERY comfortable but I really didn't need another tactical design.
 
I kinda like the m16 myself... I've never had too much trouble flipping it open to hard. And I'd have to agree that the commander series was quite nice, carried one of them myself for quite a while. I've got one of the Carson F4s too, which I really like. I just wish the sheath wasn't as bulky.
 
I have a large CRKT/Viele Wasp and also the Apache III, the wasp just sits there looking cool, and the Apache III is one of my "hard use" small folders its got good ats-34 steel that I have sharpened up like a razor blade.

The wasp is my favourite of all the CRKT knives i've handled, and I've handled a couple because thats all the knife store carries around here :(
 
Originally posted by sophijo
What do you think of that CRKT, is it the CS2?....small titanium frame lock?
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I've got the smallest one, and it's really small. The handle is way longer than the blade, and the blade width is just completely out of proportion to the rest of the knife. The shape of the forward end of the handle makes the blade shorter than it could be. The clip is cheaply painted, looks like plastic. I'm not sure if it is though. Haven't sharpened the thing yet, because I just don't plan on using it. :barf: Does anyone know if the name is supposed to stand for "CRKT Sebenza, Take 2" (after the Eddie Bauer Zytel-handled Chris-Reeve collaboration Sebenza)?

They did get one thing right though, it's the comfortable and large thumbstud. I love the feel of using them, they're just like the CRKT Mirage thumbstuds. Oh, good lockup too, which is pretty hard to screw up on a framelock...
 
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