SHOT Show 2013: CRKT, Spyderco, and Kershaw
EDITOR'S NOTE: One last SHOW Shot piece before a guest review of the S10 Baton.
Well, not a lot of big flashlight news out of SHOT Show as Surefire continued their parade of vaporware, so vapory in fact that it was much the same line up as last year with emitter upgrades. That's a sign--when your products take so long to get to market that the PROTOTYPES get an emitter upgrade while still prototypes, there is a problem. But, alas, don't be sad because I think this installment just might be the most interesting of the all (tied with the ZT installment).
CRKT
They came ready to rumble and boy did they ever. They brought a massive Ken Onion designed fixed blade (over Ken Onion designs...he is straying into Brian Tighe territory with his unnecessary flourishes), two tomahawks, and a slew of new blades. The first blade that caught my eye was the Enticer (yep, they have product pages already, awesome):
The trick here is that the blade is relatively large, 3 1/4 inches, but the knife only weighs two ounces. TWO OUNCES. It also carries a new steel for CRKT 1.4034. CRKT also has a few Sandvik blades as well, showing the calls for new steel were not ignored. There is the Endorser, a pretty plain jane blade, but sometimes in a world of recurves plain is welcomed. They also released a new flipper, the Carajas, by Flavio Ikoma. It clocks in at 3.12 inches and is a bit more staid than the normal, flamboyant Ikoma designs. They have a Persian style blade, but Persian blades bore me. The have a few new Liong Mah designs, all of which are slip joints (no!!!!!). The final knife they have is the Swindle by...Ken Onion. I know, I know I said his stuff was boring, but boy is this a cool looking blade:
The spine riding pocket clip is a first for a production knife (so far as I know) and the flipper/framelock combination is quite popular right now. This is a sweet looking knife with a 3.2 inch blade.
A very, very good showing by CRKT.
Spyderco
I thought that there was nothing coming out at SHOT Show and then Sypdercollector started releasing videos. His last one is probably the most interesting but least news like--an interview with Ed Schempp about the Balance and Equilibrium. Each one is more enticing than the next. First there was the Sprint Run Goddard, which is pretty nice, but a bit big for me. Then there is the really unusual Jot Signh Khalsa. They have two new Emerson openers--a karambit and the Matriarch (which looks even more aggressive if that is possible). But the show stopper is this little blade, the Domino:
It is hard to be more stoked for a blade than this. A Spyderco leaf shaped blade with a flipper AND a framelock. Somehow Spyderco intercepted by prayers to the knife gods and made this blade. Hopefully it comes it at or around 3 inches. It looks close in the video. The blade steel is the awesome CTS-XHP (called stainless D2 by Sal). Could be the knife of the show.
Kershaw
Here is the video from Blade HQ:
Knife Jen is an awesome spokesperson for Kershaw, the best in the business so far as I can tell. She is quite knowledgeable and is comfortable enough to drop the street prices in the videos. There is a small knife that looks choily and competitive with the DF, if not on the steel level, at least on the size level. The Ti button lock flipper looks nice, but with 8CR13MoV steel, the MSRP of $99 is SUPER STEEP. I like the Rexford from Kershaw, better than the ZT version, as the black looks very nice and it is not an assisted opener (as almost all of the Kershaws are). The new Hinderer looks nice as well, and yes there is a larger Cryo coming. I think it will weigh 9 pounds and people will rave about it, well everyone but me.
Remember you can order or preorder your blades through Blade HQ and the sales benefit the site. Here is a link to Blade HQ, where you can find most of these knives, and all proceeds benefit the site when you purchase things through this link:
Blade HQ
Well, not a lot of big flashlight news out of SHOT Show as Surefire continued their parade of vaporware, so vapory in fact that it was much the same line up as last year with emitter upgrades. That's a sign--when your products take so long to get to market that the PROTOTYPES get an emitter upgrade while still prototypes, there is a problem. But, alas, don't be sad because I think this installment just might be the most interesting of the all (tied with the ZT installment).
CRKT
They came ready to rumble and boy did they ever. They brought a massive Ken Onion designed fixed blade (over Ken Onion designs...he is straying into Brian Tighe territory with his unnecessary flourishes), two tomahawks, and a slew of new blades. The first blade that caught my eye was the Enticer (yep, they have product pages already, awesome):
The spine riding pocket clip is a first for a production knife (so far as I know) and the flipper/framelock combination is quite popular right now. This is a sweet looking knife with a 3.2 inch blade.
A very, very good showing by CRKT.
Spyderco
I thought that there was nothing coming out at SHOT Show and then Sypdercollector started releasing videos. His last one is probably the most interesting but least news like--an interview with Ed Schempp about the Balance and Equilibrium. Each one is more enticing than the next. First there was the Sprint Run Goddard, which is pretty nice, but a bit big for me. Then there is the really unusual Jot Signh Khalsa. They have two new Emerson openers--a karambit and the Matriarch (which looks even more aggressive if that is possible). But the show stopper is this little blade, the Domino:
It is hard to be more stoked for a blade than this. A Spyderco leaf shaped blade with a flipper AND a framelock. Somehow Spyderco intercepted by prayers to the knife gods and made this blade. Hopefully it comes it at or around 3 inches. It looks close in the video. The blade steel is the awesome CTS-XHP (called stainless D2 by Sal). Could be the knife of the show.
Kershaw
Here is the video from Blade HQ:
Knife Jen is an awesome spokesperson for Kershaw, the best in the business so far as I can tell. She is quite knowledgeable and is comfortable enough to drop the street prices in the videos. There is a small knife that looks choily and competitive with the DF, if not on the steel level, at least on the size level. The Ti button lock flipper looks nice, but with 8CR13MoV steel, the MSRP of $99 is SUPER STEEP. I like the Rexford from Kershaw, better than the ZT version, as the black looks very nice and it is not an assisted opener (as almost all of the Kershaws are). The new Hinderer looks nice as well, and yes there is a larger Cryo coming. I think it will weigh 9 pounds and people will rave about it, well everyone but me.
Remember you can order or preorder your blades through Blade HQ and the sales benefit the site. Here is a link to Blade HQ, where you can find most of these knives, and all proceeds benefit the site when you purchase things through this link:
Blade HQ