I just figured out the best way to sharpen this knife, so I’ve been dragging it around for a few days. This was my first of many knives from CRKT, its a discontinued unit the CRKT Convergence.
So first up this guy is a little bigger at 3.5″ at the blade. Also the blade offers a very long thin profile making it seems more like a fillet knife than a utility bade. Still it has a nice thick spine and a combo edge so that does indeed make it VERY useful, and also the narrow taper could give added benefits. Also you can see a lock right above the tip. This lock is very simple, and can only be engaged manually. As a rule I flip the blade open, and only engage the lock if I plan to have the knife open for any period of time, or I’m doing some heavy cutting that might put strain on the frame-lock.
The clip is functional, but nothing impressive. It works. And that’s about it.
Now let’s talk about the handle. It has some very generous scales made out of Zytel that have a golf-ball like stippling in them. This not only allows for a positive grip, its also VERY pleasant to the touch and I find myself just handling this knife for the sake of handling it. The frame is of an open design and the two halves of the frame are held apart by three machined spacers and the hinge of the blade. This makes the two halves of the handle wide open when the blade is locked allowing for minimal collection of dirt and pocket lint, as well as easy cleaning.
You’ll notice the knife has no thumb stud, or thumb hole, or a flipper. It opens a bit odd. The shank of the blade extends a small bit above the handle when closed, and this has gimping along the top. I believe you’re supposed to put your thumb on the base of the blade and rock it free of the detente and then flip it open. I personally just push on the very base of the spine that sticks above the handle to quickly pop it free. This operation only partially opens the blade and you either need to flick your wrist or pull the knurled base down with your index finger. Its complicated and a bit odd, but its a VERY positive motion and its very hard to not open this blade when you want to. Also since the blade travels very smoothly between its locked positions, giving me a bit of a ballisong feel as I flip it open. Now here’s a cool part, the knife uses a frame lock, but unlike most frame-lock knives, the frame lock is flush with the scales. It CAN be actuated by the traditional method, but this is a bit difficult. So how does one close this blade?
That little widget under the blade travels in a cut channel at the base of the blade and its machined so as you push it down it impinges on the frame lock, and both unlocks the blade but also pulls the blade down. Thankfully this also only partially closes the blade (as your hand would be in the way) and you must then close the blade with your index finger pushing the base of the blade up, or your thumb pulling the blade into the handle. While one might be nervious pulling the blade down in the direction of your thumb, but by the time the blade is low enough to cut you the nub has retreated into the frame keeping the blade clear of your hand. I’ve actually attempted to cut myself (the point of contact would be my thumbnail so I decided to do some tests in the name of science) and I found that the nub simply doesn’t offer you enough leverage to slam the blade closed, and if you are vigorous enough to get the blade really moving from open to closed your thumb will slide halfway down the handle…well clear of the blade.
So a REALLY cool blade. My one issue is it doesn’t come out of the box very sharp, and the blade is only ground on one side. Still I found that if I sharpen the ground side, then strop both sides with a ceramic bar the edge becomes VERY sharp, and maintains that sharpness VERY well. It took a little work, but this blade also has the CRKT crazy sharpness.
So its a discontinued unit at CRKT but you can still find them around. Give them a look, they’re really odd in a neat way, and VERY functional.
