Whew, I saw this show up on a website, and I love the way it looked. Then I dove into the details and it seemed like the kind of knife I could perfectly justify buying, as I have nothing else like it.
This is a beast of a knife, and it’s absolutely fantastic.
Specs
Quick rundown, copy and paste style:
- CPM Cru-Wear
- Blade Length: 3.45 in. (8.8 cm)
- HRC 63-64
- Blade Finish/Coating: Cerakote
- Blade Thickness: 0.16 in. (4.1 mm)
- Closed Length: 4.55 in. (11.6 cm)
- Handle Material: Micarta front, titanium back
- Handle Color: Bronze, Natural
- Handle Finish/Coating: Dark bronze Cerakote back
- Handle Thickness: 0.53 in. (13.5 mm)
- Overall Length: 8 in. (20.3 cm)
- Weight: 4.4 oz. (125 g)
The clip on this is reversible as well.
This is also an automatic, so you push a button on the micarta side, and the blade flings open. The same button is the locking release, so you can close it. The action is quite something, and simply fantastic.
Cru-Wear is a funny steel — had Magnacut come out a couple years later, I think we would be using a lot of Cru-Wear knives. As you can see, it’s a very hard steel, and it’s not the type of steel you need to ever worry about babying. I’ve had a few knives in it, and it’s actually one of my favorite steels out there.
As with all ZT knives, the fit and finish is fantastic. All of the edges on the handle have been eased, and it feels refined.
In Use
Well, it might feel refined, but it is also a fucking tank. Whether in your hand, in your pocket, or whatever, this knife feels like a knife you cannot break, or destroy. Which is why it’s great the steel backs that up.
It’s over a half-inch thick. It’s 8″ long when deployed. It’s big.
It does not fit well in some (many) of my pants pockets.
At the same time I cannot help but want to use this, all the time, for everything. It’s both fun, and effective.
There’s only one downside to this knife: it’s big and heavy. Thus carrying it daily is a bit of a chore if you aren’t set up for it. It rides poorly at the base of your pocket, and does a good job staying out of the way when clipped. That means I don’t carry it as much as I would like, but when I am working on projects, it’s usually clipped to my pocket.
The rest of the knife is a beastly gem.
Let’s start with the action. Press the button and the knife springs open with a touch of kickback, letting you know in a very haptic way that it’s fully locked up. The opening is loud, a very audible snap at the top. To close, you press the button and hold to release the lock as you push against the spring, and you have to push it closed all the way or it springs back open. It’s not as hard as it sounds, but it’s a learning curve. About a week in, I could reliably open and close it with one hand, though most days I use two hands to close it.
The handle is a full-hand grip, and it’s quite comfortable as well. There’s nothing rough to dig into your hand, just a smooth and gradually formed handle. There’s a little jimping at the back edge of the blade, just enough for your thumb to get some extra traction.
The blade shape is simply fantastic. It’s thick enough to give you confidence it’s not giving in. And large enough to work any task. But the tip comes to a very fine point for more delicate work. The blade coating is applied very smoothly, allowing the knife to still slice nicely.
I have noticed the coating likes to collect packaging tape, but it comes off cleanly and easily, meaning the knife gets tape stuck to it, but it lifts off without the blade surfaces being gummed up. I note this because I found it a little unexpected that it cleaned up that well.
The edge retention and sharpness out of the box have been fantastic. I used this knife for months without so much as touching the edge, and a quick ceramic hone later, it’s back to razor-sharp. That’s the very hard Cru-Wear steel at work, as boxes might slightly dull the edge, but a few passes on a hone and it’s right back.
Overall
I am fairly certain that a large portion of you will not love or want this knife. However, I do think this is a really good knife. It’s my favorite Zero Tolerance knife yet. Very premium feeling, but also something I would not hesitate to take with me camping or backpacking. It’s heavy, but it’s a beast in all the best ways.
I love it.