… CRKT Pilar’s …
Nice! I have the CRKT Squid, a recent acquisition. I really love this knife, because the size is so EDC friendly. And while it’s a short knife (2.25” blade), the body is pretty wide, about what you’d expect with a 3.5” bladed knife. It’s even wider than my Asher Nomad. That wideness makes it so easy to handle. I had noticed the Pilar and I’ve been thinking about picking up one of those two. Quite the finger choil on that one, which is great for a knife this size. Where’d you pick up yours?
New to the new styles of knives, so i had not heard about the pocket opening and finger cuts issue before, guess i better be careful.
i just got a “striker” made by threat response solutions dot com, and sold by some tacsticles and survival patriot website
It has a little hook piece sticking out on the back side of the blade toward the hinge, which they call a “Quik-draw pocket hook”—“the secret to blazing fast blade deployment” [in your pocket?]
No instructions on how it works.
Also has a Spring Assisted Open—“Speed-freak feature that makes a switchblade look like slow motion”… 
Hmm...
Mixed reviews on Amazon.
I mean, 4.5 stars out of 5 is very good, but if you read the customer reviews, there are plenty of complaints.
Yep … nice knives. I snagged these from Blade HQ.
This picture is from their actual website? It’s $40 and the thread is finished like this? On a show piece?
Wow, a good reason to avoid the brand and get one from China right away.
My advice: hard pass. I took a look at the company’s website and it is full of tacticool nonsense. Seriously. This kind of garbage might have gotten a pass marketing to mall ninjas twenty years ago but I’d hope we all know better now. For instance, the second choice under “personal combat DVD’s” is “Combat Tai Chi”. Forgetting for a moment that UFC has pretty much demolished the validity of such a thing, consider the description: “Learn the secret Death Blow move in a matter of hours and transform your hands into deadly weapons when the time comes to defend yourself in a life or death confrontation.”
The only “death” something like that is likely to cause is your own if you try to use it in a real-life defensive scenario.
They sell the knife in question but it costs $65 and runs 7Cr17Mov. That’s hard to justify at the $20-something level in 2022. In one of the top reviews on Amazon, the reviewer got it on special for like ten bucks and the spring broke in short order. It’s junk, plain and simple. You can get a great manual action that opens just as fast, with fewer moving parts that can fail, far better fit and finish, and much better materials for like $40. The pocket-opening feature is based on the Emerson Wave. It is available on various better-quality knives if that matters.
I’m not into weapons these days (words get me in enough trouble) so I can’t remember what that little hook is called anymore, but it’s very common these days and can be found on plenty of other knives.
The Emerson wave flipper, so you can more easily damage your pants and cut yourself. 
I keep an eye out on their sales periodically… but sometimes they seem to discount on a random basis. I really like the Pilar. But I’ve been enjoying the Squid a lot, to the point where I decided I’d pick up another. Found one off eBay at the lower (earlier) discounted price had at Blade HQ.
Thank you :laughing:
While 8cr13Mov and 7cr17Mov are workable steels, any knife with them shouldn’t cost more than $25. I’ve come across some nice looking knives priced around $60 that drew me in, then… spotted “8Cr13Mov” or “Aus-8” and desire was immediately dashed. I don’t know why some companies put all that effort into nice micarta scales, quality frame, machined clip… only to finish off with an 8Cr13Mov blade.
How much is a knife worth, what determines the price—is it based upon the alloy composition? or the cost to produce?
Is it just a tool or a piece of artwork.
Like many products these days, the advertised [specs/rating/material] may not match the reality. Especially in the case of high-volume low-cost items like flashlights and knives.
There are various varieties of stainless steel available, but unless a knife has been tested in a materials lab with the equipment to determine composition and heat treat, then we don’t really know what it is. And can’t tell by looking.
It seems we are left at the mercy of the advertising by the vendor/manufacturer.
With knives it is not that bad. Knives are not complicated things so the quality is easy enough to evaluate and there are many reviews out there, and several knife nerds check steel composition and quality. The result is that it is well-known which brands are good or at least honest, and which are not. There are many brands nowadays that are trustworthy about their products, among them a variety of budget brands.
Could you please share some sources for that? F.e. some reviewers that make good analyses? I’m new into that and would really welcome such pointers.
I’m also fairly new to knives, but I do watch reviews. I must confess that knife reviews are often boring and not very informative, as opposed to flashlight reviews that are also often boring but tend to be more informative. I can not recommend any particular knife reviewer that has the best information, information is diffused, some comes from video’s some from blade forums, some from BLF.
I liked reading the information on knifesteelnerds.com (was it you who provided a link to that site?), a guy who is a metallurgist and does an awful lot of tests. But that is mainly on steels, not really on knives. It is like we have HKJ who is the battery and charger god.
Absolutely. The recent wave of releases from Kershaw, CRKT, and Buck are full of overpriced knives in obsolete steels. For instance, CRKT just released an assisted opener in 8Cr13Mov with an actual retail price over $70! That's insane. You can get a Civivi or Sencut under $50 with great manual action, better fit and finish, and 9Cr18Mov with an excellent heat treatment.
Of course, brands like that aren't there to compete at the sporting goods counter at Walmart. Steels like 7Cr and 8Cr won't feel obsolete if you don't know that you can get a lot better for less.
Just for fun, here is a quote from Buck's description of one of their 2022 models: "A drop point, 7Cr steel blade provides the ultimate performance." :FACEPALM:
Yes, it was me. 
Not mentioned: I have a small collection of EDC knives now (no, nothing compared to my flashlights, they fit in one tiny drawer) and those gave me a lot of information too, not on steels, sharpness or anything else that needs testing equipment, but ergonomics, how it carries, how does it suit my everyday needs etc. Some appeared pretty unhandy while not much about that is found on the internet. Being lefthanded for instance causes challenges with some knives. And blade steel is often so thick that the knife performs lousy for many tasks. So I’m developing a personal taste and it is pretty different from what the average (US) knife reviewer likes; I like designs that are very tailored to the actual real life uses while I get the impression that many knife owners always have self-defence/the zombie apocalypse in the back of their minds.
I have learned a lot from this single knife, the Ganzo F759M (a Spyderco clone). I do not really like the looks of it but I bought it in a deal for 8 dollar shipped. So extremely budget, and a steel (440C) that is classic quality but is not a fancy new steel. The blade is relatively thin (slicy) and the (G10?) handle has thin steel liners that go to about halfway the scales. The lock is a classic backlock. So there is all the reason to expect this knife to be mediocre, and I did not find that to be the case. Because it was cheap and ugly, I abuse it at work for anything, of course opening packages but also cutting things to size, wood cutting, and I scraped raw bones clean for hours with it which is very tough and applies a lot of force on the knife and the edge (why would I scrape bones?: I demonstrate bone strength to school children, I work as a teaching assistent). The knife handles all that extremely well, the edge is still sharp without any sharpening and the construction holds up fine with no blade play. It has gained my respect over time.
This Ganzo knife is known to be good value, but it did teach me that to want more expensive knives is mostly for sentimental reasons, I’m sure that almost no one really needs that extra quality and performance that expensive knives certainly will have.
(not my picture btw, I’m not at work atm)
Most knife reviews are far too long, IMHO. I absolutely cannot stand it when you’re over 5 minutes into the review and the knife hasn’t even been taken out of the packaging. Or, the reviewer spends about 10 minutes comparing the knife to other knives. Some reviews stretch on for 30 minutes! Frankly, I can’t see any good reason for a review to go for more than 10 minutes, unless it’s a really unusual piece with a very interesting back story.
Design. Materials. Performance. Ergonomics. Test runs… Then summary with good, bad, ugly, and exceptions.
Some reviewers have an entertaining style and they can make it enjoyable, but for the most part I do a lot of skimming. Usually when I’m interested in a particular knife, I’m going to zero in on the negative points being raised, make note of them. And then see if more than one reviewer brings it up. Sometimes negatives are on an early example that doesn’t exhibit the problem and the reviewer never came back to make an update, or even revise the description. Case in point, Nick Shabazz didn’t like the CRKT Squid and dinged it on a number of points that were addressed later on.
Reviews can be useful. I’m glad people make them. But I really appreciate it when they provide an index so I can skip around on the long ones.