I received the first production samples of the new MOLDED RSK Mk5 sheath at Outdoor Retailer this week. I hope you'll agree the wait was worth it. Below find some quick images I took this morning. The RSK Mk5 should be shipping to retailers in the next couple weeks, I'll advise as soon as I know a firm availability date and will update the RSK Mk5 web page soon.

As always, a portion of the proceeds from the sale of all Doug Ritter Gear goes to support the non-profit Equipped To Survive Foundation.

Looks great!
Slim, and light weight.

very nice!

Looking forward to it - keep us posted!

Great news!!!!!!

Doug,
Looks great. Looking forward to playing with one.

-Joe

Oh yeah, that looks nice!

Nice - fit in places where others won't

Will it be street legal in California if not carried openly,
say in a pocket survival kit?

Very nice. Standing ovation for an outstanding job!!

Very nice. Can the sheath be worn around your neck on a lanyard and still hold the knife securely upside down?

Yes. That's what the lanyard hole is for. Designed to fit a typical ball-chain as used for dog tags, etc. I wore it on a lanyard for three days at OR. I wouldn't say it's the most secure sheath ever done for a neck knife, but it is on par with similar designs. It's not going to fall out by accident. How well it would hold up to daily use, with hundreds or thousands of ins and outs I can't really say, but it'll be fine for any reasonable length survival circumstance.

Not sure I understand the question. It was specifically designed to go in the Pocket Survival Pak Plus which includes one in the kit. It comes with a tin and instructions to assemble your own "Altiods" tin pocket survival kit. http://www.dougritter.com/pp/pic2043.htm

Hey Doug just dropping a note for the OR. my bus company was doing the shuttle for the hotels and I was kinda hoping to see you since I worked all but two days of the shuttle, (Thurs, Fri)got to see the new Ford Fiesta, and the Coleman "Evolution Camper" by Coleman very nice.
BTW I ordered Two CRKT knives what is approx ship date?


Mike

As I understand, what with California's laws being complex,
sheath knives of any kind cannot be concealed unless participating
in a hunting/fishing or similar activity on private or federal
forest land. It being a felony to carry a sheath knife concealed
while in incorporated areas. Folders are okay, and guns only
a misdemeanor in some cases.

I didn't know if size mattered? As a neck knife one would have to carry it outside the shirt?

I was mostly thinking of carrying it in my survival kit in
the glovebox of my car or in my daypack on my way to hiking
etc.

No idea. <shrug> Kalifornia allows 2-inch switchblades, BTW. I certainly wouldn't worry about it myself as part of a survival kit, but then I choose not to live in Kalifornia, and travel there as infrequently as possible, so my concerns would not be the same as someone stuck with living there. I guess the only cautious advice I could give is the same as with all knife carry laws, ask an informed local attorney (and NOT a LEO who often are not nearly as knowledgeable about such laws as you'd expect).

Funny, I feel the same way about Arizonah...Is this part of the "you never know who's reading the forums philosophy..."?

Are we really gonna go down this path?

Just now received the e-mail notice from CRKT that my two Mk5 knives are in route.

Doug -- I'm very excited to see these in person after all these months of anticipation.

I very much appreciate your philosophy that it can't help you if it's not with you.

I expect I'll be ordering more, for myself and gifts.

Will post pics when mine arrive.

:-)

Dagnabit, mine is still showing backordered...

Yahooo got e-mail yesterday mine shipped on the 10th of Aug should be here in 3-5 days

Mike

They have arrived
Now DW and DD want one

Mike

Two quick questions:

How secure are the tin lids? Will they stand up to being stuffed in a cargo pocket on hiking pants without opening, or would a rubber band or the like be a good idea?

Also, anyone know who has these in stock yet? I usually get stuff from Knifecenter, but they're listing them as backordered still.

The tins are similar to an Altoids tin. The lid is restrained from opening easily, but I would say they are just a tad easier to open than an Altoids tin.



Sorry, no idea, but should be very soon now.

Thanks

Just got mine 2 min. ago and it's all kinds of awesome. I didn't expect the tin or the nice instructions from Doug on rolling your own survival kit.

Thanks for the very cool Design Doug.

AG Russell has them, I just ordered mine!

I havent heard back from CRKT yet...starting to get antsy, and a little upset...

I just got mine from AG Russel about 15 minutes ago.

The knife rocks, for such a small blade, the curve of the handle makes it sit in your hand great and it's razor sharp.

The sheath is OK, but the fit is way to loose. As a blade cover in the tin or a PSK, I guess it's fine, but I had planned to wear it as a neck knife, but the blade rattles around in the sheath and if held inverted, falls out very easy.

Gonna look at some ideas to tighten it up and see what I come up with.

They were fast with mine, you should contact them.

AG Russell is cheaper and also fast so perhaps you could cancel your order with CRKT.

Good luck.

I emailed them two days ago-giving them till tomorrow. Then I will cancel & go with AG Russell. thanks for the heads up on that!

I suspect, but don't know for sure, who passed it along to them, but I just got this email from CRK&T's customer service dept.


_________________________________________________________________
Hello!

We heard through the grapevine that your sheath is a little loose on your Ritter knife. We would be happy to send you a replacement if you are interested? The knife is easy to remove from the sheath but should remain in the sheath if inverted. Please send your mailing address to us and we’ll have a new sheath sent to you right away!

Thank you for your support!

Lindsey Phelps
__________________________________________________________________

Whoever you are, thanks for the help, it's great to see a company really jump in to stand behind their products!!

Hey Doug,

I'm kind of surprised I didn't see any obvious mention of the Mk5 on equipped.org. You may want to add it to the drgear area.

Just a thought.

I ordered two of them this evening!!

Thanks,

Ken

Hi Chris, I am the "grapevine" in this case. Got an email notice of your post as I am subscribed to this thread just as I stepped onto an airline flight, so quickly forwarded it to CRKT before we had to turn off our phones, with the prompt results you saw. I am very pleased with their quick response, that's the sort of customer service that I expect of a partner and one reason I partnered with them.

I was very enthused to read the first part of your post, then my heart about dropped when I came to the part about the sheath. <~> I have carried the RSK Mk5 in its sheath on a ball chain around my neck for a couple weeks with no problems, so I knew something wasn't quite right. While we didn't really design it as an EDC, per se, it still needed a sheath that was reasonably secure. A small inexpensive knife such as the RSK Mk5 always involves some compromises, but I made sure it was safe and reasonably secure before we allowed it to go into production.

As it turns out, seems like more than a few customers are actually EDCing it, which is quite a surprise to me, but I am very pleased they think enough of this little blade to want to do that. We'll have to see how this sheath holds up long term. Thanks for your compliments on the RSK Mk5 and I hope the sheath issue is solved and simply one of those things that happens once in a while with a mass produced product. I and CRKT are committed to making a quality knife that represents a good value and fills the survival kit knife niche I was aiming for.

Thanks. Just a little behind on that, due to significant ongoing and unexpected obligations with Knife Rights and this battle with Customs having sucked up a lot of my time on an ongoing basis. I have redone/updated the pages for the RSK Mk5 and the PICO Lite, which was the most urgent thing I needed to do, next step is to add them to the DR Gear pages and home pages.

Thanks again.

I kinda thought it might be. I have already received a second email from CRKT to let me know my new sheath will go out tomorrow!

The design of the curve in the handle just makes a world of difference between the MK5 and a few other "micro" knives as I call them.

Thanks. Ergonomics of small knives, what I call two-finger knives, is a very difficult part of the design and inevitably involves trade-offs. It's nice to get that sort of feedback that we did okay in that regard.

I have to give credit for that to David White and Dr. Osborne as they were the ones who are most responsible for that part of it. I changed it a bit, finessed it perhaps is a better word, but the whole curvy handle part was part of their original concept.

I received mine in about 5 days from AG Russell (great price). I love the design and I appreciate the tireless work Doug put into it.

Quibbles:

1) The sheath is extremely loose, it almost doesn't hold on at all. I'm going to soften it up with a hair dryer and try to press fit into a tighter hold.

2) The edge is not particularly sharp. My sharpening skillz aren't that great but I'm going to touch it up with a diamond stone.

3) The knotted cord as a virtual grip extender is cool & functional, but the supplied cord is IMO too stretchy. Once you adjust the knot position to butt up against the base of your fist, the cord stretches & you lose some control. I replaced it with orange 550 cord and made a fatter knot; works great now. Not a big deal, just a tweak.

Again, please don't take this as dumping on the product. I am very grateful to Doug and CRKT for going the distance on this unique tool.

How is the fit with you large-handed folks? I usually have problems with wee tools and grips and tend shy away from them. but these look great. Anyone?

I've purchased two and have the same problem .I like the knives but do not trust them to stay in the sheaths.

One thing I did with mine (I cancelled the old order, and placed a new one through AG russell, who got it to me in 5 days), was to run my dog tag chain through the cord loop-that way, should it come loose, it doesnt get lost. It isnt weighted enough to cause any real harm other than a scratch, should it come loose...

Good idea I"ll give it a try.

We have discovered that a small percentage of the RSK Mk5 production sheaths do not secure the knife properly due to tolerance stack-up. If you are concerned that your knife is not retained properly in its sheath, an easy test is to lift a standard 12 oz. beverage can by the lanyard and see if the knife is retained (see images below or video at: <http://www.dougritter.com/video/RSK_Mk5_Sheath_Test.wmv>). A paper clip, as shown below, is an easy way to connect the lanyard to the can's pull ring. Do NOT jerk the knife upward as that invalidates the test. If the knife slips out of the sheath when the can is simply lifted up gradually and smoothly, then CRKT will be happy to replace your sheath.

WARNING: Use caution when performing this test to avoid injury. Conduct this test on the floor so that if the knife does come unsheathed, it will not drop or bounce in an unsafe manner. Wear shoes and take appropriate precautions to protect yourself if the knife comes unsheathed.




If your sheath does not pass this test, please contact CRKT at the contacts below to receive a replacement sheath. CRKT is retooling the sheath to allow for the tolerance issue, so please allow 30-60 days for the sheathes to be redone. In the interim, some owners have found that heating the empty sheath with a heat gun or hair dryer and squeezing the opening for a tighter fit provides a temporary solution (use care not to burn yourself on the hot plastic when doing this). We apologize for any inconvenience.

CRKT Contacts:

Email: info@crkt.com
Phone Toll Free: 1-800-891-3100