CRKT Could Eat Spyderco's and Benchmade's Lunches

cbrstar said:
A M-21 was my first knife when I got into knives and it served me well for many years. But I feel like the quality has got worse and not better.
I bought my nephews a M21 each for Christmas (They were on sale) and compared to mine they almost felt like knock offs! Mine was made in Taiwan and there's are made in China. I just couldn't believe the difference.
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I had a similar experience, but with the "Viele Wasp". I had one back in the day, made with good steel and kewl looks. It was pricey for a CRKT at the time, I think over $40, but was a real nice knife. I regretted selling it. I bought one more recently for old times sake. It was under $20 at a big box sporting goods place, made in China and not even close to being as good as my old one.
 
Crkts liner locks in my experience are unsafe to use. Unbelievable slippage. Believe there was other issues too. I don't really like any of their designs either. Probably won't ever buy another one again. Too many other good solid companies to choose from. The worst liner locks ever had were crkt, junglee, and emerson. Locks so bad they were unsafe to use.
 
dgaddis said:
The modern Corvette is one of the very best sports cars money can buy, at any price level. It's not as sexy as some of the Italians, but it has better performance than all of them.
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This has nothing to do with the topic but I will chime in to tell you that you are wrong on this point.
 
GronK said:
. . . and if yer papa grew boobs he'd be yer mama.

Seriously, CRKT is doing just fine as near as I can tell. I suspect they sell more knives than most if not all the top quality brands. Also, they're a good gateway knife for future aficionados. My early production Kaspers, a Polkowski FB and big Crawford folder (in aus-8 if memory serves) got me started on this hobby and are still the most ergonomic knives I own.
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Not if he's still got the papa pluming. And I'd wager KAI sells far more product than CRKT....
 
Back in the late '90s I bought some CRKTs. The best one was my first one, a Jim Hammond-designed Mirage (the large size). It was my first quality Taiwanese-made knife. It was solid in use and nicely-executed. Other CRKTs I got later felt 'mushy', meaning with enough cutting pressure, the liner locks would often move in, with some give in the stop pin area.

Admittedly, I haven't bought a CRKT knife since the very early 2000s, and don't plan on buying any more, but they did make some pretty decent knives when I did buy them. I wouldn't know about now, though.

Jim
 
Sharperthansticks said:
OP here.

I have many Spydercos, 1 ZT (because, while I respect ZT, their stuff usually doesn't appeal to me), several Benchmades, a couple of We's, an Olamic 247 (that I "designed" and purchased directly from Olamic; "sorry" for the pic link, but I can't help but show off that knife when I get the chance), several Massdrop Ferrum Forge offerings, and more. I also have the following from CRKT:
  • Pilar in S35VN
  • Large Pilar in D2 (with black DLC)
  • Ruger LCK
  • Caligo
I like all of these CRKT knives, and they appear to be well built with good fit and finish and solid lockup, though of course none but the Pilar has an upper-tier steel. The one CRKT knife I purchased that I didn't like was the Crossbones, because the liner lock was too sharp for my taste. I guess I'm in the minority in that I've been quite pleased with almost all of my CRKT purchases.
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Nothing wrong with being a CRKT fan, we all have favorites here from a variety of makers. Very cool Olamic btw, thanks for sharing.
 
Ulf Krogstad said:
Crkts liner locks in my experience are unsafe to use. Unbelievable slippage. Believe there was other issues too. I don't really like any of their designs either. Probably won't ever buy another one again. Too many other good solid companies to choose from. The worst liner locks ever had were crkt, junglee, and emerson. Locks so bad they were unsafe to use.
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I think the best CRKT I've owned was the M16 and that thin liner lock definitely wasn't confident inspiring,didn't care for the lock safety either. Ended up gifting to member here that collected that model.
 
Sharperthansticks said:
If CRKT would upgrade its blade steels and handle material (from aluminum to titanium), I think they would eat the hell out of Spyderco's and Benchmade's lunches. Your thoughts?
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Bought three CRKT products, all below discounted / outlet prices, as I observed a lot of returns and left over inventory for sale. First a small CRKT hihi 2900 for 16 bucks, loved it enjoyed it gifted it, and shortly thereafter it got lost. Next, gifted a Carson M21 for 28 bucks, and it ticked off all the right boxes for an 11-year-old boy. Interesting to note it is, even today, a favorite, even though quite a bit of material is missing from the blade as it has had many sharpening sessions for one in training. I would never consider buying a replacement as it was bought as a trainer, now filled by other Taiwan manufacturing.
As part of my EDC, I bought a Hissatsu for 47 dollars more then it was worth, as I was completly disappointed after allowing for appropriate break-in: fails = action, geometry, material and lock; then the clip failed completely, rotating around the ONE screw's axis. CRKT did not offer any satisfactory service or replacement options, so it sits in the kitchen drawer because the AUS 8 has some utility. Without this experience and atrocious customer service, I would've been interested in the Shizuka noh Ken, but today the Benchmade Fact 417 could fill that role. In fact, some tools used by freemen can be considered heirloom quality because they last longer then our dusty sojourn. Cost always factors differently for training, immediate need and budget, and heirloom products. In the end, it seems like the suits at CRKT are driven differently (pause and consider the 750.00 CRKT, as corporate expression in the light of their current catalog), than say Medford or Reeves or Buell or Jobs or Wozniak or Rutan or Musk or Ford or Honda or ..., you get the idea, or not.
 
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craytab said:
Think about all the different types of cutlery kai sells. I'd say the two aren't all that close.
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That may very well be correct. If we compare apples to apples though I think it would be close. Staying with the OP, I don't think a set of steak knives is going to bump off Benchmade or Spyderco. :D
 
I think their earlier stuff was pretty good like that grant hawk d.o.g., the lightfoot shark model that titanium S2,and a few others. the only one I have is that kommer full throttle. has a nice mirror polished blade, with gold fileworked backspacer and some kind of anodized dark blue scales.
 
It is a let down on both companies. I have a personal love/hate with Boker and to be honest I have recently purchased a few Boker Plus that were pretty well made. Even German made Bokers have had major issues. It is definitely wise to learn and move on but at least you learn. I will be buying the new Boker Leviathan in due time!

Mo2 said:
I dunno what's worse boker or crkt. I suspect they use the same factories in china tbo. They both made me get better knives cause I disliked how they visually made me want them but got a bad product once received. I can't say I enjoyed being put into that situation. If only I knew better or had saved money instead of buying in my price range at the time.
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