Brand in Focus: CRKT
If your folding knife opens with a small tab sticking out of the back of the blade, you are using an idea a retired Master Sergeant from Kentucky drew for CRKT. The Carson Flipper is on knives from half the industry now, and that is roughly how this company works: find a custom maker with a good idea, then build it at a price that does not need a savings plan.
Two men from Kershaw and a start in Oregon
Columbia River Knife & Tool was founded in 1994 by Paul Gillespi and Rod Bremer, both of whom had been at Kershaw. The company still sits in Tualatin, Oregon. The first years were quiet. That changed at the 1997 SHOT Show with the K.I.S.S., a stripped down frame lock folder drawn by Ed Halligan. Keep It Super Simple was the idea, and a year of planned production went in the opening days of the show.
The model has not changed since
CRKT has no single in house design language. It licenses designs from independent makers and puts its own engineering behind them. The names read like a who is who of the American custom scene: Kit Carson, Ken Onion, Michael Walker, Ron Lake, Alan Folts, Lucas Burnley, Richard Rogers, Joe Caswell, Flavio Ikoma, Jesper Voxnaes, T.J. Schwarz. If you have ever wanted a knife from a maker with a two year waiting list, this is usually the closest you get.
Locks, safeties and openers
Several mechanisms in wide use today came out of that habit. LAWKS, short for Lake and Walker Knife Safety, is a switch developed with Ron Lake and Michael Walker that blocks the liner lock once the blade is open, so the folder behaves more like a fixed blade under load. AutoLAWKS engages by itself as you open the knife. Veff serrations, licensed from Tom Veff, are the large serrations set at a steep angle that saw through rope instead of skating off it. Then Outburst assisted opening, the DeadBolt lock, Field Strip for taking a folder apart without tools, and Kinematic.
M16-14 Special Forces: the one with two flippers
Kit Carson designed the M16 series and it is still the knife most people picture when they hear the brand. A 10 cm dual grind tanto in AUS-8, aluminium handle, liner lock with the automated liner safety. 23,5 cm open, 159 grams, no attempt at being subtle. What makes it a Carson design is the open build with a flipper on each side of the pivot, forming a real hilt once the blade is out. Carson went into the Cutlery Hall of Fame in 2012 and the M16 is a large part of why. More in this direction under folding tactical knives.
Provoke: the folder that has no pivot
Joe Caswell's Provoke throws out the hinge entirely. The hawkbill blade rides on two articulated arms and swings out parallel to the handle before locking, which CRKT calls Kinematic. A recessed lever releases it again. D2 at 5,3 mm thick with a titanium nitride coating, 6061 T6 aluminium scales, 6,2 cm of edge, 173 grams. A genuinely new mechanism in a category where most novelty is cosmetic. It sits with the rest of our folding karambits.
CEO Flipper: the one nobody notices
Richard Rogers drew the CEO to disappear in a shirt pocket, clipped like a pen, and this version adds a flipper tab. An 8,5 cm AUS-8 blade, black coated, 2 mm thick, on ball bearings behind a liner lock. 19,5 cm open. If your working day is meetings and parcels rather than woodland, this is the shape that fits. See also our gentleman knives.
Redemption: made in the USA with MagnaCut
Ken Onion built this one from his Deadman's Hand custom and it is his first CRKT design with a crossbar lock. Made in the USA together with Hogue Knives, which puts it at the top of the range in every sense. CPM MagnaCut, 10,3 cm of blade at 3,8 mm, 23,3 cm open, stainless steel bolsters against G10 scales. MagnaCut is the steel that stopped forcing you to choose between edge holding and rust resistance.
HZ4: when a folder will not do
James Williams spent decades teaching combat tactics and it shows here. The blade follows the outline of a Japanese hira zukuri sword, scaled down to 12,1 cm of SK-5 carbon steel at 3 mm, black coated, on a textured G10 handle that holds with wet hands or gloves. 22,5 cm overall, modular Kydex sheath. SK-5 is a plain carbon steel, so keep it dry and it will keep taking a very fine edge. Browse the rest of our fixed blade knives.
Where would we start?
Take the M16 for the design that made the brand, the CEO if the knife has to stay out of sight, the Redemption for the steel and the American build. The Provoke you buy because nothing else works like it, the HZ4 for when the job is too big for a folder. The Squid, the Minimalist and the Pilar sit further down the price list and are worth a look if you are starting out.
The whole range lives in our CRKT collection, or pull everything up under search for CRKT. Still deciding? Our EDC knives are a good place to browse.
