Would you say Reate is close to CRK quality?

aleforme said:
Like a Knife Art Exclusive CF Sebenza or Inkosi?
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I am aware of those. Still don't quite get it done. But CRK is what it is. I bought one for my wife and it's great.

Which again is why I am so tempted by the Crossroads (I love scale/bolster).
 
jceckrosh said:
I am aware of those. Still don't quite get it done. But CRK is what it is. I bought one for my wife and it's great.

Which again is why I am so tempted by the Crossroads (I love scale/bolster).
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I can't say enough good things about the crossroads. If only they made it in micarta, I got marbled carbon fiber so I'm happy with it.
 
I recently picked up my 1st Reate, a Field Duty. Quality is definitely on par with CRK.
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I have the new torrent, mini D.warrior2V2 and some Sebenzas.. the closest would be the warrior 2V2... the other Reates are nice no doubt, but the warrior matches the CRKs is elegance and refinements. Nothing wrong with the Torrent and mini D mind u, but the CRKs has got years of consistency behind them, and that’s a hard thing to achieve by itself..
I recently got a Inkosi, and the tolerance is so tight I had to remove every screws and pivot and blade before I can take it apart! Now try to beat that!
 
I’ve got a bunch of Reates under various brands including Liong Mah and Todd Begg. I also have a few CRKs ranging from 21’s, Mnandi, Inkosi and a Zaan.

In terms of overall build quality I agree with what’s been said of Reate quality approaching that of CRK. Reate makes a great knife and I’m on the record ranking them at the top of the current bunch of midtech Chinese imports.

Where Reate falls down in my opinion is in the little things. Several of my Reates just don’t do a good job doing what they’re made to do; cut things. Reate tends to use very thick blade stock. They have shallow grinds so they tend to be very thick behind the edge. I’ve even gotten a couple that came with a bad edge, something that’s unacceptable in a knife at that price.

Of course there are exceptions. The Star Boy and Prism are decent cutters. That’s probably more of a Bharucha effect than a Reate effect. More than once I’ve put away a Horizon or a Lanny and grabbed a Spyderco when I knew I had to have a knife that cuts.

My other gripe with Reate is in disassembly. One of the most beautiful and unique thing about a CRK is you can take it apart and it always goes back together the same. You can almost do it with your eyes shut after a few times. That’s not the case with Reate.

More than once I’ve found crappy, soft hardware in a Reate made knife. That, combined with their use of permanent thread locker, makes them almost unmaintainable.

Although Reate is close to CRK in manufacturing excellence, they still have a ways to go before they catch CRK in being a lifetime tool that can be used for years before passing on to a new owner.

Again, I’m not bashing on Reate nor drinking CRK koolaid, just trying to convey a glaring difference that isn’t all that obvious at first look.

I also agree with evilgreg that the Mini Bodega is a marvel of production knife manufacturing. It’s also one of the biggest turds in hand that I’ve ever tried to use as a knife-like-object:p.
 
Hackenslash said:
I also agree with evilgreg that the Mini Bodega is a marvel of production knife manufacturing. It’s also one of the biggest turds in hand that I’ve ever tried to use as a knife-like-object:p.
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I agree--it's like the perfect execution of a questionable plan.

It is really well done, though. Mine feels indestructible. There's barely any space between the blade and the hand slabs. It's centered perfectly, ground evenly, and has just about ideal action.
 
I agree, it's a bit annoying that Reate hasn't made anything with thinner blade stock whereas WE Knife for example seems more responsive to feedback.
 
Hackenslash said:
I’ve got a bunch of Reates under various brands including Liong Mah and Todd Begg. I also have a few CRKs ranging from 21’s, Mnandi, Inkosi and a Zaan.

In terms of overall build quality I agree with what’s been said of Reate quality approaching that of CRK. Reate makes a great knife and I’m on the record ranking them at the top of the current bunch of midtech Chinese imports.

Where Reate falls down in my opinion is in the little things. Several of my Reates just don’t do a good job doing what they’re made to do; cut things. Reate tends to use very thick blade stock. They have shallow grinds so they tend to be very thick behind the edge. I’ve even gotten a couple that came with a bad edge, something that’s unacceptable in a knife at that price.

Of course there are exceptions. The Star Boy and Prism are decent cutters. That’s probably more of a Bharucha effect than a Reate effect. More than once I’ve put away a Horizon or a Lanny and grabbed a Spyderco when I knew I had to have a knife that cuts.

My other gripe with Reate is in disassembly. One of the most beautiful and unique thing about a CRK is you can take it apart and it always goes back together the same. You can almost do it with your eyes shut after a few times. That’s not the case with Reate.

More than once I’ve found crappy, soft hardware in a Reate made knife. That, combined with their use of permanent thread locker, makes them almost unmaintainable.

Although Reate is close to CRK in manufacturing excellence, they still have a ways to go before they catch CRK in being a lifetime tool that can be used for years before passing on to a new owner.

Again, I’m not bashing on Reate nor drinking CRK koolaid, just trying to convey a glaring difference that isn’t all that obvious at first look.

I also agree with evilgreg that the Mini Bodega is a marvel of production knife manufacturing. It’s also one of the biggest turds in hand that I’ve ever tried to use as a knife-like-object:p.
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These are great points.

In addition and mainly in comparison to the Chinese made knives, I have found that once I start spending over $300, I really prefer to spend it on mid techs, customs or semi customs that I know I can call, email or message the maker and handle any issues that might come up easily. Those tend to be American made and smaller companies. I'm not bashing Chinese made knives in any way with this. It's just a reality that it's easier to deal with the servicing of American made knives if you're living in the US. I know there are some knife companies/individuals (Liong Mah) that will handle things themselves but this isn't the norm right now.
 
AF said:
I agree, it's a bit annoying that Reate hasn't made anything with thinner blade stock whereas WE Knife for example seems more responsive to feedback.
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The new 2019 Liong Mah lineup actually has some thinner blade designs. Better for slicing than most previous reate designs overall.
 
I have been in this game a while. Bought my first Sebenza in 1996 and have owned maybe 15 CRK knives since then along with all the other high end manufacturers. Back before the term mid tech existed lol

Plus more Hinderers, Striders, etc etc than I can count.

Currently I own 5 Reate Knives, 1 We knife, 1 ZT knife, and 0 Chris Reeve knives. It’s not an accident that I own 5 Reate Knives they are every bit as good as CRK and a top tier company when it come a to attention to detail, fit and finish, etc. It’s my opinion that are probably the best quality of any company putting out the volume of knives they do.

To those saying they use soft hardware, it’s because the hardware is all titanium. Some makers use heat treated steel screws. Unfortunately CRK uses soft stainless hardware and I have stripped more CRK hardware than any other brand over the years.

To the guy who said the Reate knife had an uneven swedge. I have never seen this and its something I check my knives for. I do know Reate Knives have hand ground and finished blades, so maybe there’s some higher chance of a blade having some unique personality instead of being a machine ground clone lol
 
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For the money , the Field Duty seems like a hell of a bargain. I like how the space between the lock bar and frame is very tight (tolerances?). Reminds me of the Chaves Redencion in that way.

But the sheer variety of different designs available on Sebenzas is a big plus for me. I like to have options.
 
evilgreg said:
At the risk of summoning the cult with their torches and pitchforks I'd that that if anything I think the quality of my Reate-made Mini Bodega is higher than the quality of the CREWK knives I've owned (a handful of Sebenzas).
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That's some tempting bait there, evil. Yer jes lucky my torch went out and the pitchfork is in for a tune-up.
 
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