The CRKT Ripple: Why I Didn't Buy It

J

JNieporte

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Nov 1, 2004
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I found two new deliveries at my local knife shop; the new CRKT Ripple in charcoal and blue handles. These were designed by Ken Onion and use his IKBS ball-bearing system coupled with a flipper to get the blade flying open. The steel is Acuto, a stainless at 59-60 on the Rockwell scale. The handles are stainless steel frame locks in anodized colors. The pocket clip is removable and is set up for right-hand tip-down carry, but it's not movable to any other position on the knife.
The blade is 2.7 inches long on this version, and there's also a 3.125" long version. Both versions are also available in partially-serrated edge, and all of them are available in either charcoal grey or blue handles.

CRK400BXP.jpg


CRK400KXP.jpg


The Ripple is made in Taiwan as far as I know (pretty sure the CRKT box said Taiwan on it). I like everything about the Ripple, so much that I handled every one in the shop to see if I could find the "best" one in terms of lock-up and blade deployment speed. So, why didn't I buy one if I like everything about it? The price. The Ripple is $66 locally, and while that's not much to some, it's a lot to me. I was expecting a price range of $35-$50, and I really think that $45 or so would've been fair, but I can't afford $65 for this design. It just doesn't say "I'm worth $65" like my 110V Shallot or FRN Stretch do.

Maybe I'm still a bit prejudiced at CRKT for putting out so many crappy knives that ended up in my pocket, I don't know, but the Ripple is overpriced to me. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the design; it's nearly perfect. It's the price that kills it for me. While I hope this hasn't discouraged you from checking out the Ripple, I also had to mention why I've not bought it as there have been a few people asking what I thought of it.
 
considering you can get a american made benchmade or spyderco for that price, i wouldnt pay that for it either.
 
"American made" is just about lowest on my list of priorities for a knife. If I knew more about Acuto steel, I might get one-funds are limited though, and I have other knives lined up.
 
Meanwhile I received 2 comments (on my newly uploaded video review of the Ripple), that the steel should be like a somewhat improved 440C. Hence, it should be pretty decent.
I think it's a quite special knife, that stands out from current production. It's well finished, and I do think that quality/price is ok.
 
Dagon said:
Meanwhile I received 2 comments (on my newly uploaded video review of the Ripple), that the steel should be like a somewhat improved 440C. Hence, it should be pretty decent.
I think it's a quite special knife, that stands out from current production. It's well finished, and I do think that quality/price is ok.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the nice review Dagon
 
After watching the two videos I would think this knife is a bargain at $66.00

I has all the features one would want in an edc.
 
They are beautiful knives. I'm not the world's greatest fan of flippers but if it's done like the JYD II I can live with it.
65$ for a well-made framelock folder isn't too bad, if the rest of the knife is up to par. I'd like to know more about Acuto though.
My biggest hit on these knives: they're too small. I'd like one with a blade of 4" or so. I'd buy that for sure.
 
Dagon said:
Meanwhile I received 2 comments (on my newly uploaded video review of the Ripple), that the steel should be like a somewhat improved 440C. Hence, it should be pretty decent.
I think it's a quite special knife, that stands out from current production. It's well finished, and I do think that quality/price is ok.
Click to expand...

No, the steel should have a bit lesser edge retention than 440C because it has a lower carbon content. The edge retention should be between that of AUS8 and 440C.

Listing the median amount of each element, the compositions look like this:
____440C_____Acuto
C___1.05_____0.92
Cr__17.0_____17.5
Mo__0.75_____1.40
V____0.0_____0.15

My experience has been that, while the addition small amounts of Vanadium does seem to enhance the performance of a blade alloy, the Vanadium does not make up for a lesser amount of Carbon.
 
I handled one and was impressed with the finish, but, the steel is the killer here. What is worse is that the Ti Framelock Eros is coming out at a shade over $100 and still used the same steel. IMO, if Spyderco can send decent steel to Taiwan (S30V) and deliver a very reasonably priced knife (Cat,Chicago,Sage I, Sage II, Bradley)....then so can everyone else. Why bugger up a knife design that requires quite alot of tooling by cheaping out on the steel to save a few bucks? :confused:
 
Thanks for clarifying. Hence, a decent midrange steel. I think the knife is worth consideration in its price-range, especially if you are looking for something different from the usual.
 
Dagon said:
Meanwhile I received 2 comments (on my newly uploaded video review of the Ripple), that the steel should be like a somewhat improved 440C. Hence, it should be pretty decent.
I think it's a quite special knife, that stands out from current production. It's well finished, and I do think that quality/price is ok.
Click to expand...

Excellent review. Thanks for taking the time to do it.
 
My thought on the Ripple- they took an absolutely gorgeous, meticulously designed and impressively machined knife, and slapped on one of the ugliest clips ever inflicted on a production knife. Seriously, that clip is vile. Otherwise, the knife looks great. Kershaw made a big mistake when they let Ken Onion go.
 
moonwilson said:
My thought on the Ripple- they took an absolutely gorgeous, meticulously designed and impressively machined knife, and slapped on one of the ugliest clips ever inflicted on a production knife. Seriously, that clip is vile. Otherwise, the knife looks great. Kershaw made a big mistake when they let Ken Onion go.
Click to expand...

Oh wow--I had never paid attention to what the clip on that looked like until you mentioned it. It looks like a piece of mangled scrap metal. If they just put something simple on it it'd be golden, but that thing is nasty. :o
 
Thomas W said:
You may want to get your facts straight prior to posting these kinds of words.

Please refer to post #69 http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7485821#post7485821
Click to expand...

The statement "let Ken Onion go" can be interpreted differently. It could mean involuntarily or it could mean a mutually agreed upon decision.

If you do not want to "let someone go", there could be incentives to prevent their departure making their decision to leave more difficult.

Anyway, you seem to be overly sensitive to that statement.
 
Daniel said:
The statement "let Ken Onion go" can be interpreted differently. It could mean involuntarily or it could mean a mutually agreed upon decision.

If you do not want to "let someone go", there could be incentives to prevent their departure making their decision to leave more difficult.

Anyway, you seem to be overly sensitive to that statement.
Click to expand...
Hard to argue with you Daniel. Seems you know more than I.

Sorry for the thread drift, carry on.
 
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