Testing a Group of CRKT Knives

A few months back I received a box of knives from CRKT. Upon opening it I found several that are excellent for law enforcement carry, a couple that I wasn’t too sure about, and one that presented me with a conundrum. Let’s take a look at the five knives and their design features. At this point, for testing purposes, I’ve carried each on a daily basis for a week or more. As EDC blades two of these super shine, two are good (for me) and one still intrigues me but I haven’t figured it all out yet.  Let’s start with that one.

The CRKT Provoke

The Provoke (photo is primary for this article) I have has a safety orange main handle and black moving parts with a black coated blade. The Provoke is a folding karambit. For those of you unfamiliar with a karambit knife (as I was a few years back), think of a tiger’s claw with a handle on it. I’ve seen some edged weapons masters wield one of these knives with spins and hooks and the cutting blade can be truly devastating when used properly. For me however… “used properly” stops at I managed not to cut myself with it. There is a large ring at one end meant for your index finger. With your finger through the loop and the rest of the grip laying down through your palm, you wrap your fingers and the blade itself is pointing down and forward. It’s hooked (like a claw) and can do some devastating damage. The CRKT Provoke is a folding version of this (normally) fixed blade design and functioned flawlessly in all testing. It opens and closes smoothly, only when pushed to do so, and has a positive locking device to keep it open when you want it that way. The 2.5” blade has a plain edge and is 1/5^th of an inch thick. Folded closed the knife measures just under 5” and it weighs just about ¼ pound. While the knife does have a super strong steel clip on the side, CRKT makes and sells a separate kydex type sheath for it. Understand that this knife is an excellent design and functioned flawlessly as designed. That said, I was trying to find a way to deploy it with my support hand, reversed in my hand from its intended deployment (so blade up and forward instead of down and forward) for use as a defensive weapon if attacked by multiple assailants trying to get my sidearm. I haven’t mastered it yet, but I continue to work on it. If you’re into the unique and different type of knife, this is for you. If you’re a “knife guy” and like to master movement with different types of blades then again – this is for you.  MSRP is just under $100 with another $30 for the sheath. CRKT’s website shows these knives as out of stock as this is written.

The CRKT Seismic

The second blade I pulled out of the box was the Seismic; a folding lockblade that uses a new (to me) locking system called Deadbolt®. I would carry this knife every day except that, for me, it’s too big to do so comfortably. I have medium sized hands, stand 5’10” tall and weigh just under 200 pounds. This knife, in my opinion, is better suited for the men over six feet with large hands. The grips are about 5.5” and the blade is 4”. Locked open this knife measures 9.5” long. For daily carry, for a guy my size, that’s a lot of knife. My test unit has what CRKT calls Veff Serrations^TM in the blade near the choil. The blade is 1/6” thick and has a flipper opening mechanism. The grips are manufactured from G10 and provided a secure grip even when my hands were wet with water or sweat. There is also a lanyard hole through the grips for those who like to add a loop of paracord or attach a retracting device (some folks hate to lose a knife if they drop it). The pocket clip is reversible for right or left side carry. The knife weighs roughly 1/3 of a pound. I carried this knife for a couple weeks, every day, and it performed every cut/task without fail. The Deadbolt® lock is a slick design, proved strong enough and is easy to use. Again, my only challenge was the size of the knife. When I sat down with this knife clipped into my pocket it would dig into my leg a bit or get pushed out of the pocket a bit. Something had to give. MSRP is just under $100 and CRKT shows these in stock.

The CRKT P.S.D.

Of the five knives I received to test, this was my second favorite. It’s the perfect size (for me) for a folding lockblade that clips in my pocket. Folded closed, the knife measures 4.6” concealing a 3.6” blade. Overall length when locked open is just over 8”. The blade is flipper opened with a spring assist so it opens FAST and locks out positively. The liner lock engages with authority and didn’t slip or move at all under pressure. The blade is approximately 1/6” thick and sits between grip slabs manufactured from G10 but with a layer of carbon fiber added on top of them. The aesthetic result, with the checkerboard appearance of the carbon fiber, is pretty neat looking. The grips are pretty ergonomic and fit my medium sized hands very well. The upswept spearpoint blade is efficient and the soft belly curve of the cutting edge can be leveraged by thumb-press locations easily found by touch in the spine of the blade. There is a good size lanyard hole provided and the pocket clip can be positioned for tip-up or tip-down carry – but both on the right side of your body. Interestingly, P.S.D. stands for “particle. Separation. Device.” Put simply, per the CRKT website, the PSD is made to slice. I carried this knife for a couple weeks, quite comfortably, and it performed every task without fail. It does cut clean and the high carbon stainless steel blade was easy to maintain. CRKT puts the MSRP on this model at just under $100 and the website currently shows it out of stock (as this is written).

The CRKT Bona Fide

Now to my favorite of the knives I received to test. If any of you remember it, I wrote a review on the CRKT HomeFront EDC knife a couple years ago (officer.com/12316595). This knife incorporated one of the coolest features I’d ever seen in a folding lockblade: The ability to be field-stripped into major components without having to use a single tool. It could be cleaned, maintained, whatever and then reassembled – again, without any tools. To disassemble the closed knife you turned a grooved nut on the butt of the knife and then moved a lever at the pivot end. CRKT has improved even upon that simplicity with the Bona Fide. The Bona Fide Silver (my test unit) is a folding lockblade that uses a liner lock set inside aluminum handles. The flipper-opened D2 steel blade is just over 3.5” long. Added to the handle length of 4.7”, and remembering the slight overlap of blade and handles for security and pivot point, the overall length when locked open is 8.25”. The knife weighs just about ¼ pound. Field stripping the Bona Fide is a simple matter of pressuring the through-lock mechanism lever back, up and forward. It’s spring-loaded and doesn’t “fall” out of the locked position, but can be moved easily with focused intent. In my perfect world, the Bona Fide would use G10 scales like the Homefront does, but I suspect that’s not possible due to the through-lock mechanism. I suspect the very mechanism that holds the knife together and allows for such easy field-stripping requires the strength of aluminum grips to be dependable. Such is a small price to pay for the convenience of simplistic field strip and maintenance capability. With an MSRP of just under $100 I’m pretty sure CRKT is going to sell a lot of these. I carried my test unit for well over a month (and still do on a regular basis). The clip is not movable but there is a large lanyard hole if you desire to use such.

The CRKT CEO Flipper

This last blade was quite a surprise to me. In the world of “tactical” anything, you’ve no doubt seen shirts with pockets on sleeves for pens, flashlights, etc. Now there’s a knife that fits in a lot of those “pen” pockets: The CRKT CEO Flipper. Weighing under 2 ounces (less than 1/8^th of a pound), this locking folder has a 3.35” blade inside of a 4.35” grip body, and folds out to a total length of 7.7”. The blade is manufactured from AUS8 steel, a high carbon stainless steel that is easy to maintain and holds an edge well.  The flipper opening moves the blade out efficiently to be locked out by liner-lock that engages with authority. Opened, this knife reminds me of a small straight razor. It’s small – but not inconveniently so – sharp and efficient. The grips are made from glass reinforced nylon and the pocket clip attaches directly to the end. It is reversible for right or left hand carry. With an MSRP of under $40, the CEO Flipper is the perfect blade to carry when you need a capable knife but want to have it be a bit less… noticeable.

For more information on any of these knives, visit the CRKT website. Their search feature at the top is very efficient.