Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Like New Again

So, my CRKT Carson Design M16-10KZ (which is a really long name for a knife btw CRKT, more on that later) came apart, mostly, in my pocket today at work. Nothing was damaged, just the main screw had worked itself loose and the blade had popped free from its pivot point. So, I took this as a sign that it would be a good time to take the knife completely apart* and clean it.

Now, its always important to maintain your gear and while I do sharpen the high carbon blade from time to time, I do admit that my everyday carry knife (EDC) does get a little less loving than some of my other backpacking, outdoors, fishing, camping, etc equipment. I just don't normally think about it, honestly. It goes in my pocket every morning with my wallet and cell phone and gets dumped in my wallet box every evening when I come home from work. I use it almost daily at work, giving it un-dignified work such as opening packages and mail.

Well, I was once again amazed at the quality of craftsmanship that convinced me to buy the knife originally. After cleaning all the parts and re-assembling it (I did have a little trouble getting the brass and the teflon bearings back in place) the knife works as good as new and I have a big smile on my face. 

I've had it over 3 years and have been very pleased with the blade and the feel of the handle; many folders feel loose or slippery in your hands and can lead to you cutting yourself, this model just "fits". This good grip allows me to be confident when I am using it for something other than packing tape and I have yet to nick myself with it. As far as EDC's go, this one gets 4.5 stars (I would give it a full five if it had an easier name).

As for the name (CRKT Carson Design M16-10KZ), CRKT has a number of (Kit) Carson Design blades and they have a number of variations named M16-##XX, so many so that I have long since forgotten what my designation actually means, although I assume it refers to the tanto style blade. A simpler name might have been the CRKT M16 Tanto. For a company that does a really good job with their own acronym (CRKT stands for Columbia River Knife and Tool and I pronounce it "cricket") you think they would find a way to make saying the names of their knives a little less hard. Spyderco's habit of giving their knives one word names comes to mind. Its kind of like Ford vs Lexus. While a Mustang may be lacking in certain specs when compared to the IS F11, I would much rather tell people I owned a Mustang versus admitting to owning the Lexus alphanumeric mouthful. Just MHO.

*I didn't take the zytel scales off the steel frame as I saw nothing to be gained doing that, it would likely just loosen the factory screws forever and I also didn't take apart the nifty CRKT Auto-LAWKS safety as I figured that was just asking for re-assembly hell.

For anyone shopping for an EDC, I would highly recommend you at least glance at the knife in question, its about $25 on Amazon and no I don't get any money from Amazon for sending you there, I turned off all the commerce settings on my blog months ago.

Dimensions
Open Overall Length7.125 inches
Closed Length4 inches
Weight2.3 ounces

Blade
Length3 inches
Thickness0.08 inches
Material8Cr15MoV
Blade-HRC58-59
FinishEDP
GrindHollow
StyleTanto
EdgeTriple-Point Serrations

Handle
MaterialZytel
Liners2CR13

Lock
TypeLocking Liner
Safety SystemAutoLAWKS

Carry
Carry System1 Position Clip   


Here is Kit Carson's M16® Every Day Carry (EDC) with our Zytel® InterFrame build. Our knife users told us, "We want an affordable work knife that we can give hard use without feeling guilty, and one that won't break us up if we leave it on a job site or drop it in the river."

We heard you. So we set about to make the Zytel EDC the best value in the work and sport knife world.

That starts with textured Zytel® scales and a dual 2CR13 stainless steel liner InterFrame. Assembled with Zytel back spacers and Torx® fasteners, the result is amazingly rigid. Zytel is a fiberglass-filled nylon that offers excellent toughness and resistance to solvents. Teflon® bearings at the blade pivot and an adjustable pivot screw allow for perfect blade action.

The blade is 8CR15MoV high-carbon stainless steel which gives an ideal combination of toughness and edge-holding ability in a work knife, and also allows easy field-sharpening.

The M16®-10KZ features a dual hollow grind Tanto-style blade with Combined Razor-Sharp and Triple-Point Serrated edges similar to our "Big Dog" M16 models. The result is maximum blade strength and ability to saw through cord, webbing, nets or vegetation quickly. It has a black EDP blade, black frame and hardware for a non-flective tactical look.

Of course, it features the Carson Flipper, which speeds opening of the blade and acts as a blade guard when the blade is open.

The real breakthrough was our ability to engineer our patented* AutoLAWKS knife safety into all models, which automatically actuates when the blades are open, making these folders into virtual fixed blades when locked.

Add to these features the standard removable Teflon®-plated stainless steel clothing/gear clip plus the CRKT limited lifetime warranty, and you have one of the truly great knife values of our time.

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