powernoodle
Power Member
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2004
- Messages
- 11,968
I've gone through a zillions knives in my day, but as far as I can recall, this is the first Columbia River Knife and Tool. For whatever reason, CRKT never entered my view, much like Emerson and others (which I have subsequently corrected). After watching Nutnfancy's excellent review of the Ripple (deal with it 
), I decided I needed one.
The Ripple comes in two flavors. The "lesser" sports a liner lock, black aluminum frame and 8CR14Mov steel, and is in the $38 - $45 range. The more spendy flavor uses the premium "Acuto" steel [link], stainless frame and a frame lock, and generally runs in the $85 - $90 range, more or less. I went with the latter, in large part because I liked the supposed better steel and blue coloration. (Its possible that both flavors come in both colors, but I've only seen blue in the more spendy version). The Acuto version also has a nicer satin finish, which looks great, and is pillar construction vs. the usage of a back spacer on the less expensive model.
Just a few thoughts on this puppy. First of all, I am quite surprised at how much I love this knife. Its incredibly thin and ergonomic, and just feels awesome in the hand. Its thin. I don't have stats, but its certainly thinner than a Delica for example. Its a flipper design, and when I first deployed it, the blade swung out with such aplomb that I thought it was an assisted opener. This is in large part due to the ball bearing pivot, which CRKT calls the IKBS system. This pivot includes 8 ball bearings per side, which run in races milled into the frame. I haven't pulled this one apart yet, and won't unless I need to, but I can tell you that its incredibly smooth and quite a joy to open.
Adding to my fun is the fact that this knife may be the sharpest blade I have ever had in my hand. No joke. Its truly incredible, and goes through paper like a laser beam. And much like the Spyderco Caly 3.5, it packs the biggest blade length possible into the frame. This is a good thing.
Anything I don't like? The flipper is a little sharp on the finger, but this only comes into play if you open it 3,200 times in an hour like I have. I may ease that area with some sandpaper. And as Nutnfancy noted, the end of the clip sticks out just a tad more than I would like, but this is no biggy.
I got this one online for $67.63 shipped, which is in the range of $20 - $25 less than most places. But the combo of sweet looks, killer flipper, laser edge and thin profile make this one a winner.
), I decided I needed one.The Ripple comes in two flavors. The "lesser" sports a liner lock, black aluminum frame and 8CR14Mov steel, and is in the $38 - $45 range. The more spendy flavor uses the premium "Acuto" steel [link], stainless frame and a frame lock, and generally runs in the $85 - $90 range, more or less. I went with the latter, in large part because I liked the supposed better steel and blue coloration. (Its possible that both flavors come in both colors, but I've only seen blue in the more spendy version). The Acuto version also has a nicer satin finish, which looks great, and is pillar construction vs. the usage of a back spacer on the less expensive model.
Just a few thoughts on this puppy. First of all, I am quite surprised at how much I love this knife. Its incredibly thin and ergonomic, and just feels awesome in the hand. Its thin. I don't have stats, but its certainly thinner than a Delica for example. Its a flipper design, and when I first deployed it, the blade swung out with such aplomb that I thought it was an assisted opener. This is in large part due to the ball bearing pivot, which CRKT calls the IKBS system. This pivot includes 8 ball bearings per side, which run in races milled into the frame. I haven't pulled this one apart yet, and won't unless I need to, but I can tell you that its incredibly smooth and quite a joy to open.
Adding to my fun is the fact that this knife may be the sharpest blade I have ever had in my hand. No joke. Its truly incredible, and goes through paper like a laser beam. And much like the Spyderco Caly 3.5, it packs the biggest blade length possible into the frame. This is a good thing.
Anything I don't like? The flipper is a little sharp on the finger, but this only comes into play if you open it 3,200 times in an hour like I have. I may ease that area with some sandpaper. And as Nutnfancy noted, the end of the clip sticks out just a tad more than I would like, but this is no biggy.
I got this one online for $67.63 shipped, which is in the range of $20 - $25 less than most places. But the combo of sweet looks, killer flipper, laser edge and thin profile make this one a winner.
)
) -