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Great review! I wonder if it's possible to order one from CRK with blasted handles. I'm not a huge fan of stonewashed handles, they're a little too slippery.
Let's talk Ti-Lock - A photo essay
- Thread starter kidcongo
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I doubt they would do a special run in bead blast, but you could ask. There seems to be some future for this design with the announcement of the gear-pattern Ti-Lock. Maybe we will see more handle finishes?
(Also, I realize I posted the wrong link to Solo's Ti-Lock review in the body of the post. I have corrected that detail now.)
(Also, I realize I posted the wrong link to Solo's Ti-Lock review in the body of the post. I have corrected that detail now.)
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I wasn't thinking so much a special run of them, but more a special order. I figure, if they can reblast your sebenza or zaan for a fee, why not blast your tilock scales for a fee? As long as they tape off the bearing race area, I can't imagine that it'll mess anything up dimensionally.
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Yes, I agree there would be no issue, other than that CRK has "its ways". Just like you can only get an Insingo with Micarta inlays, not wood, and that all Micarta scales must be bead blast, and all wood knives must have polished blades (that they will not stonewash), and you can buy a standard blade for your Insingo, but not an Insigo blade for your standard, and so on.
They seem to have definite rules about each knife, which maybe is a strength and defining feature of the brand. The rules changed for the Ti-Lock and I would be surprised if they would change them back, but it would be cool if they did that.
I believe the standard CRK answer will be "we are not a custom knife maker".
They seem to have definite rules about each knife, which maybe is a strength and defining feature of the brand. The rules changed for the Ti-Lock and I would be surprised if they would change them back, but it would be cool if they did that.
I believe the standard CRK answer will be "we are not a custom knife maker".
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It would be insignificant to get a local shop to blast the handles if that is what you want..Would or should be pretty cheap to do. If I were going to go this route, I would tape off the areas I didn't want blasted myself.
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Yeah, good points. I love their knives, definitely the finest knives I've handled, but from all reports, they aren't too concerned with responding to customer feedback.
Yeah, if I ever get far enough down my list of knives¶phernalia-to-buy and get a Ti-Lock, I might go that route.
Good review, thanks for the mention kidcongo 
The Ti-lock's differences from a "normal" integral, liner or lockback lock and its quirks are what makes it great.
It is the medium sized CRK. I agree, the blade angle gives it an advantage over the sebenza. David Boye and Matt Conable (WH knives) both have a similar bend in their pocket knives. I believe it helps make the knife more utilitarian.
I like the clip, it's a little bit harder to reclip, but it has great staying power...which is more important at this price range
When it comes to cleaning, I just use soap and water and kind of wash it in my hands with a good rinsing under the tap. After washing I've never had any debris left caught in it. I don't blow dry, just use cloth or paper towel and have had no rust.
Mine is 2011 and appears to have a finished interior, but I have not taken mine apart.
The Ti-lock's differences from a "normal" integral, liner or lockback lock and its quirks are what makes it great.
It is the medium sized CRK. I agree, the blade angle gives it an advantage over the sebenza. David Boye and Matt Conable (WH knives) both have a similar bend in their pocket knives. I believe it helps make the knife more utilitarian.
I like the clip, it's a little bit harder to reclip, but it has great staying power...which is more important at this price range
When it comes to cleaning, I just use soap and water and kind of wash it in my hands with a good rinsing under the tap. After washing I've never had any debris left caught in it. I don't blow dry, just use cloth or paper towel and have had no rust.
Mine is 2011 and appears to have a finished interior, but I have not taken mine apart.
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Note, the picture of the caged bearings.
I'm sure Chris and Co addressed this but, I just realized the pivot bearings are running on the titanium opposite the blade.
I don't suppose there could be some wear down of the titanium under the hardened bearings?
I'm sure Chris and Co addressed this but, I just realized the pivot bearings are running on the titanium opposite the blade.
I don't suppose there could be some wear down of the titanium under the hardened bearings?
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I would imagine that, similar to other ti/bearing knives, the ti will wear a groove over time, creating a strain-hardened race with greater contact area with the bearings.
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I would be worried about this inducing blade play, but I suppose if that happens there's always sending it off for a spa treatment, right?
I really really think the Ti-Lock will be my next CRK. I have a serious hole in my collection where a smaller gentlemanly ~3" folder needs to go and the Ti-Lock looks like a perfect candidate, and I love the innovation and look. My concern is I was under the impression it was a lot larger than it is. I currently have two Zaans and a Sebenza 25 and they fit my hand perfectly. I've avoided the small Sebenzas because I know they are too small for me to use comfortably. I was under the impression that the Ti-Lock was sized more like a large Sebenza until I saw your pictures. Has anyone with larger hands had an issue with the Ti-Lock feeling too small? I do like the idea of a over 3" blade in a sub-3" blade type package, with the subtle forward choil making up for the difference, seems like an innovative way to pack a larger knife in to a smaller footprint. I just worry I'm going to get one and it's going to be far too small for me and I'll have to flip it.
Another question, I was under the impression that the Ti-Lock wasn't shipped with the traditional wrenches, lube and thread lock like the other models, but I've seen some recent pictures (birth date December 2014) where they were in fact included. Did CRK change their mind about letting people disassemble the Ti-Lock? I'm a chronic disassembler, so one of the things I've loved about my CRKs is that they are OK with you taking them apart, and I thought this wasn't the case with the Ti-Lock.
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Which is why the pivot is adjustable on this knife. You can take up the slack if any slack ever occurs.
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Good review, thanks for the mention kidcongo
The Ti-lock's differences from a "normal" integral, liner or lockback lock and its quirks are what makes it great.
It is the medium sized CRK. I agree, the blade angle gives it an advantage over the sebenza. David Boye and Matt Conable (WH knives) both have a similar bend in their pocket knives. I believe it helps make the knife more utilitarian.
I like the clip, it's a little bit harder to reclip, but it has great staying power...which is more important at this price range
When it comes to cleaning, I just use soap and water and kind of wash it in my hands with a good rinsing under the tap. After washing I've never had any debris left caught in it. I don't blow dry, just use cloth or paper towel and have had no rust.
Mine is 2011 and appears to have a finished interior, but I have not taken mine apart.
Brownshoe, do you have the bead-blast finish with the brushed/shiney inside? I wouldn't call it awful to look at inside this knife, just not a ticky-boo as the inside of a Sebenza. You can seen a little overlap between the brushed inside scales and the bead blast (the bead blast wraps the corner a bit), and the brushed surface is not as nicely finished as the other CRK slab finishes (Bead Blast / Stone wash / Polished). It's pretty clear they were not that worried about it looking perfect inside. The knife isn't really designed to be broken down. I think they just chucked a quick brush finish on the inside of the slabs so what you see of them looks OK.
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As the race is created in the ti slab, it will very quickly stop wearing in, because you very quickly go from tiny contact points between hardened bearings and soft ti to much larger contact points between hardened bearings and strain-hardened ti. So, it's not as if the bearings are going to keep digging a path in the ti slab indefinitely. And as Kidcongo said, you can use the adjustable pivot to eliminate play. I would hope that CRK is anal enough in their designs to factor in this dimensional break-in, so that none of the geometry gets thrown off... but who knows.
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Another thing to remember is that the pivot hold in the blade still rides on the pivot sleeve screw like a 25 or Umnum. The ball-washers are only there to take up any side forces, which would not be the greatest forces. The tolerance of the pivot and pivot hole are very tight, so if you push directly forward on the brass thumstud (dumbell) you are transferring very little force into those ceramic balls. When you close it, likely even less. The ball washers really do nothing more than locate/center the blade for the most part. You have to remember you do not have a lockbar pressing sideways on the blade when it is being opened. Actually I don't know why they bothered with the ceramic balls and washers on this knife. I think it would work just as well with the bronze washers, but maybe it would be slightly harder to open. Who knows.
If it was any sort of issue, I'm sure we would have heard about it by now. I played with my Ti-Lock for days and opened closed it probably a couple hundred times or more, and there was no visible wear on the Ti Slabs. The photos I took were after all the initial knife flicking and fondling of the new blade!
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I too like to disassemble my knives to better understand their inner workings, & CRK knives as a whole are easily taken down, cleaned & reassembled. The CRK Ti Lock follows that same construction - it is extremely easy to disassemble & clean, and reassembly takes only a bit longer as one must be sure the ti lock 'barbells' snap onto the frame tracks. Very easy to do & really foolproof!! With the captive ball bearings, its even easier to reassemble without screw-up.
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Yeah, I took apart a Benchmade 7505 once. After that, not much fazes me.
I would still argue the Ti-Lock is not as easy as a Senenza to take down and put back together. I work with my hands, so have the dexterity to do it, but I can see how some would get frustrated trying to keep the washers in their sockets, and dealing with the lock spring. I understand why CRK gives you no tools, as I think they would be getting a few mailed back in peices for reassembly.
I will revise my initial comment to say "if you are confident disassembling knives, the Ti-Lock is no problem, but if you struggle at all, don't think it'll be as easy as say a Sebenza 25".
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I'm curious about the ease of deploying the blade on these one-handed.
From looking at it, it appears to need two hands to open it, or at least get it started.
Is this accurate, or opening one-handed is not an issue? I don't mean flipping, as I don't do that anyway, but just regular deployment. The button just seems in an awkward place for opening the same way as a thumb stud.
From looking at it, it appears to need two hands to open it, or at least get it started.
Is this accurate, or opening one-handed is not an issue? I don't mean flipping, as I don't do that anyway, but just regular deployment. The button just seems in an awkward place for opening the same way as a thumb stud.
