Columbia River Knife & Tool

NIRK Tighe



When Brian Tighe saw Glenn Klecker’s NIRK folder, introduced last year by CRKT, he was inspired by the elegant simplicity of its minimalist design, stamped and folded out of two pieces of stainless steel. The resulting custom NIRK Tighe won the Most Innovative Custom Design Award at the 2010 Blade Show. Now CRKT has turned that collaboration into an affordable production knife priced at just $150 MSRP.

Instead of CNC machined titanium frames, the CRKT version uses stainless steel with blue titanium nitride coating and an exterior satin finish. Like the original NIRK, the knife is a lockback folder in which the spring, release bar and lock detent are all integral with the frame structure. The blue accents and intricate details make for a beautiful and striking knife.

The 3.875 in. AUS 8 stainless steel drop point blade has a bit of recurve to it. Large geometric cutouts serve as purchase for your thumb to one-hand open the blade, or you can use the flipper, which is even easier. A caged ball bearing system allows it to swing open smooth as silk. A removable stainless clip is provided.

NIRK Novo



Glenn Klecker's latest is the NIRK Novo, a bit smaller than the original NIRK, with a 2.75 in. sheepsfoot blade of 4Cr15MoVNi stainless steel. It is available as plain or combo edge in satin finish. Right hand carry only with a single thumb stud and a deep carry clip, the latter a nice improvement over the original. The frame and back lock are still a one piece design like the original, but there's no lanyard hole in this smaller version. MSRP is $25.

Nathan's Knife Kit



Nathan's Knife Kit was inspired by Glenn Klecker's young son, Nathan. Glenn originally developed the concept for his son as a project they could build together, which evolved into a wonderful book, "How To Make Wooden Folding Knives." CRKT picked up on the idea and developed this easy-to-assemble kit for those who may find even the simple instructions for making the knife from scratch too much of a challenge or too time consuming(though it only takes a few hours effort with simple tools to do it from scratch). I'll let CRKT explain:


The kit is priced at just $9.99 MSRP to make it easy to buy and to give as a gift. If you have a son or daughter, grandson or granddaughter, niece or nephew or perhaps help with a scout troop or the like, this kit would make an excellent project and the time spent assembling and decorating this wooden knife will be fondly remembered.

K.I.S.S. ASSist



Nobody will ever accuse the folks at CRKT of not having a sense of humor. The K.I.S.S. ASSist is the latest iteration of Ed Halligan's Keep It Super Simple knife design that has been a mainstay for CRKT from its earliest days. The added OutBurst assisted opening, with their patent-pending Fire Safe combination thumb stud and safety, does take some away from the simplicity angle, but they have done a great job incorporating it all into the basic design without mucking it up or adding a great deal of weight or bulk..

As described by CRKT, "when closed, the blade is safely locked by a special cam-over pin that extends from the assist spring. It cannot be opened until the safety button on the end of the thumb stud is firmly depressed and the thumb stud is nudged outward. It is both very fast, and very safe, because simply pressing the Fire Safe button does not open the knife. You must both press down and nudge the blade outward deliberately."

The AO spring and mechanism is covered by a thin sheet of carbon fiber composite inset into the frame. A Zytel guard serves to protect the single ground edge. The satin finish AUS 4 stainless steel blade is 2.75 in. long in either a drop point or tanto point and plain or combo edge. The frame is bead-blasted stainless with a removable stainless pocket clip/ money clip. MSRP is $60.


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Columbia River Knife & Tool (cont'd)

CRKT has added some more Ken Onion designs this year.

Shenanigan Aluminum and Shenanigan PPS



A pair of flipper opening liner lock folders from Ken Onion expands his offerings from CRKT. These are essentially the same knife offered in both a value priced model and a higher end model. Both feature at 3.25 in. classic Ken Onion drop point blade with a recurved edge.

AUS 8 stainless is used on the PPS, the higher end model uses CRKT's premium Acuto+ at 59-60 HRc. The PPS model features molded handles of polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) organic polymer with an inset liner. The Shenanigan Aluminum has a cold-forged 6061 T6 aluminum alloy handles, beadblasted and with a clear anodized coating. Injected molded grippy soft textured scales are inset into the handle.

Both are set up with a removable right hand carry clip and a lanyard hole. Both plain and combo edge is offered on both models. MSRP is $50 for the Shenanigan PPS and $100 for the Shenanigan Aluminum.

Onion Skinner



Ken Onion is a enthusiastic big game hunter and helps organize hunts for Paralyzed Veterans of America. For half a decade he's been perfecting his vision of the ultimate hunting/skinning knife, sending dozens and dozens of prototypes to guides, professional hunters and hunting buddies for testing. The result is not your father's hunting knife.

I'll let CRKT explain:



The blade is Bohler K110 stainless steel with a satin finish, hardened to HRc 58-60. The very grippy handle is Thermal Plastic Rubber over-molded on a Zytel core with a textured finish of Onion's own design.

A lanyard is included, along with a very nice fitted leather deep insert sheath. MSRP is $80.

Shakaula



Ken Onion's take on a multi-function hunter's tool, the Shakulu combines two hunting blades that reach back to antiquity, a cleaver and the ulu palm knife. The 0.267 thick blade of 65MN high carbon steel, black powder coated, has a fairly high grind, providing a good slicing edge while retaining plenty of strength. A gut hook is incorporated into the spine.

You can hold the tool in a variety of grips, depending on what you want to use it for, skinning, gutting, chopping, etc. The ergonomic handle is polypropylene with over-molded dark green TPE plastic inserts. The polypropylene sheath is one of the best I've seen for this type tool, with a secure lock to hold it in, regardless of how it is carried. The lock on the sample we saw needs a bit of work to make it easier to use with cold hands or gloves on, which I am sure it will get.

CRKT notes, "the Shakaulu should not be confused with a brush cutter or hatchet. It is a much more sophisticated skinning tool, and the Razor-Sharp edge is not intended for such use." MSRP is $90.

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Columbia River Knife & Tool (cont'd)

M16-14ZER



CRKT has integrated a belt cutter and window breaker into its very popular larger frame M16. The belt cutter is cut into a somewhat larger flipper. A tungsten carbide window breaker protrudes from the butt of the handle.

The tanto ground blade is AUS 4, 3.75 inches long with a combo edge. It is equipped with AutoLAWKS safety lock. Scales are orange Zytel. The clip is reversible and can be used tip up or down. MSRP is $90.






Lefties Get Some Respect

CRKT introduced three new left-hand versions of some of their most popular tactical knives. These are the M21 G10, and 2 versions of the Special Forces M16, the M16-13SFGL and M16-14SFGL (in order below).






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ITW MILITARY PRODUCTS

ITW specializes in military accessories, including fasteners and enhancements for military webbing, especially for the MOLLE system. Normally they would not be of interest to ETSers unless you built your own packs and pouches for your bug-out-bag, but this year they have something that may be of interest – the X-Proof Protective Bags.



While they look at first pass to be large Zip-Loc bags, these bags appear built for the field and not the fridge. They have heavy-duty double locs at the top of the bags, and the bags themselves seen to be of a much heavier weight of plastic (double the mils, perhaps?).

The X-Proof Protective Bags come in four sizes: the “Administrative” size, approx. 8” x 10”, (which the ITW spokesman said was sized to fit in the cargo pocket of military BDU trousers); two “Compression” sizes, approx. 14” x 20”approx. 18” x24”, and a large “ruck” size, made as a liner for a military rucksack or backpack. The latter also has a pleated bottom (to allow for maximum use of the bag) and simple carry handles on top. The “Compression” sizes have a simple one-way air valve in the bottom of the bag that allows you to crush the bag when closed to get all of the air out.

That’s the good news. Now the not so good: We tried the one of the samples with the one-way valve at the hotel (several days of dirty shirts), and, yes, it crushed down beautifully; but it returned to it’s non-compressed state within 15-20 minutes. The small “Administrative” size, however, kept a T-shirt nicely compressed for more than 24 hours.

As these are new products, and the samples provided us may be early runs, some glitches are to be expected. Also, we may not be using the compression bag correctly (unlikely, but still…), and one test in a hotel room is not definitive (more tests now that we are home). But even in their uncompressed state, X-Proof Protective Bags appear to protect your gear in the field better than your average sealable bag designed for the kitchen.

www.itwmilitaryproducts.com

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Industrial Revolution, the folks with ‘Light My Fire’ and ‘Uco’, offered several new products and improved versions of existing ones.

‘Light My Fire’ is selling a plastic protective ‘SporkCase’ for your Light My Fire plastic spork. If this was ‘Equipped to Commute’, maybe; but in an emergency / survival situation… um, no. (But if you insist – MSRP is $6.99)



They have also tinkered with the excellent ‘Swedish FireSteel’, giving it redesigned handles and an improved striker (it did seem easier to use), plus a built-in emergency whistle. The improved version is called the ‘FireSteel 2.0’. (Writer’s note: Stuffing a teensy whistle in the handles of survival gear –be it strikers, knives and the like - seemed to be a survival gear theme at SHOT 2011.)



UCO had two new products at SHOT this year. The first was the ‘Stormproof Match Kit’. No image is available from IR/UCO, alas, so imagine the old US Army / Boy Scout heavy plastic match case on steroids and you’ve got the picture. My biggest gripe with my old green Boy Scout match case was that it held matches for only a few days of fire starting (less if you use the waterproof “lifeboat-type” matches), and this one solves that issue. UCO claims it can hold 40 “lifeboat” matches, but I think that in a real world situation 30 is more like it. That is more than double what I got in my old Boy Scout match case. Also, it is large enough to use for other things besides matches you want to keep waterproofed. The one thing I wish it had was a loop for a lanyard or dummy cord. The ‘Stormproof Match Kit’ comes in green and orange, and has an MSRP of $5.99.

The next new product is a small, collapsible candle lantern, the ‘Micro Lantern’, which uses tea candles instead of the proprietary candles used in UCO’s larger candle lanterns. I’ve owned one of the larger UCO candle lanterns for 20 years, which we have used on many camping trips and during both the power outages after Katrina and Gustav. But during the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav we ran out of UCO candles, and our local backpacking store hadn’t reopened. Oops. So the choice of readily available, and cheap, tea candles makes a lot of sense in a crisis situation. Will the ‘Micro Lantern’ light up a room? No. But it will provide enough light to tune the radio, read your MRE flameless ration heater instructions, and keep you from bumping into furniture in a powerless house. As usual, it comes in a variety of colors, and has an MSRP of $12.99.




http://industrialrev.com

Gerber has a bunch of new stuff coming out ranging from multitools to official Bear Grylls survival kits and an expanded line of his signature knives. I know you are dying to see Grylls' gear, so I'll start there.


BG-Panga by merriwether, on Flickr
Of the many new BG knives, I found the parang (msrp $50) to actually be intriguing. It has a high carbon steel blade coated with some sort of oxide protective layer. With a rockwell count of only 48, it is soft the way a machete should be so you can resharpen it easily in the field. Thankfully it has a full-tang handle. The sheath is just basic nylon with a small foldout pamphlet of basic survival info. This pamphlet will be included with all of BG's knives.

Next to it in the picture above are the two BG survival kits. The smaller orange kit contains a Mini-Paraframe knife, generic wflat whistle, a "mischmetal" fire starter & striker, waterproof lifeboat matches, snare wire, some cord, and a cotton ball for tinder.

The larger kit contains a Miniture multitool, LED flashlight, braided wire saw, signal mirror, space blanket, a "mischmetal" fire starter & striker, waterproof lifeboat matches, snare wire, some cord, waxed thread, a fishing kit, and a sewing kit. The wire saw was actually pretty heavy-duty being made of 3-4 braided wires.


BG-scouts by merriwether, on Flickr
Grylls is also bringing two folding lockback scout knives along with a folding version of his Ultimate Survival Knife. His firestarter requires two hands to use.


BG-multitools by merriwether, on Flickr
Next are BG's Ultimate and Compact multitools. Nothing overly special about them other than the grippy rubber coating and the ability to open the blades without having to open the handles.


GerberKnives by merriwether, on Flickr
Moving away from Bear Grylls and into Gerber's regular line, they have four new spring-assisted opening knives. Like most knife companies, they are adding a serrated section to the blades. Thankfully one of them doesn't have this "improvement". I don't have prices on these yet.


GerberMultitools by merriwether, on Flickr
Gerber seemed to be trying to make their newest multitools "office friendly" by making them look less knife-shaped. The gray multitool is still fairly traditional though the pliers pops straight out the top rather than the usual "butterfly" style. It contains a regular-sized bit driver and also a Gerber-specific tiny bit driver. The tiny driver has just a flat eye-glass sized bit on one end and a small Philips head on the other end which is mainly for small electronics.

The blue and orange tools contain LED flashlights, regular bit drivers, scissors, and assorted other basic tools but now pliers.

-Blast

RotaryFlashlight by merriwether, on Flickr

HDS Systems has a new twist (ha ha ha) on high-powered mini-flashlights. A knob at the cap-end allows you to smoothly adjust the brightness of this flashlight from 0 to 200 lumens. The user's choice of brightness is held constant due to the high friction of the knob. This means you can preset the brightness to a particular level and "click" off the flashlight via the endcap button switch. When you click it back on the flashlight will still be at whatever brightness level you had set it (unless you turned the knob while it was off). This is great for map reading at night without going completely blind or making people think you are weird when you light up a menu in a dimly-lit restaurant. It really is a good multi-use flashlight.

The flashlight is powered by the usual 123 battery and it felt very well built to me. An interesting feature is that the company will let you mix-and-match different parts of the flashlight to built your own custom light. You can chose between either a 200-lumen or IR illuminator LED, larger batteries, lens cover material, button type, and coating/color of the flashlight. The price for the most basic model starts over $80 and the top of the line version comes in at $199. A bit rich for my blood but it really is a heck of a flashlight.

I don't have data on runtime as that really depends on how bright you keep it.

-Blast

Benchmade

Benchmade bought Lone Wolf Knives late last year and has assimilated some of the Lone Wolf product into the Benchmade line. Benchmade is calling the Paul Knives their "AXIAL Series," which I won't cover since nothing is new except the butterfly on the blade and new names and model numbers.



The Double Action Harsey T2 Auto, one of the sweetest autos out there, has been renamed the model 3800 NTK and is available only with a Cerakote Gen II coated D2 blade in plain or combo edge. MSRP is $200.



Lone Wolf's Diablo double action auto and manual opener have been reincarnated into the HK line as the Scorch and Fugitive, respectively, with some new blade shapes in N680 high corrosion resistant steel. The Scorch adds a reverse tanto blade to the existing spear point and the Fugitive has a recurved drop point. MSRP is $160 and $130, respectively.





Benchmade is now turning Lone Wolf into an "outdoor" brand with some of the old folders and some new product.

Many of Benchmade's new knives of interest have already been announced over the past few months, though many have not yet made it into production.

From my perspective, the biggest news from Benchmade was the Model 915 Triage which Alan has covered in detail above. This was a knife that was long overdue.


Model 53 Mangus

The Model 53 Mangus is a Charles Marlowe design. Unlike most balis, the G10 handles of the 53 are fairly ergonomic, with a gentle curve that fits the hand far better than typical bali straight handles. The 3.1 inch drop point flat ground blade is D2 steel at 60-62 HRc. The blade is satin finished, uncoated. Recall that D2 is not quite stainless, but nearly so. There's a modest thumb ramp on the blade and an even more modest half guard of sorts.

The backspacer, latch and catch are CNC machined aluminum. Weight is just 3.5 oz. The tip-up pocket clip is reversible. All in all, this is one of the most practical of bali designs and would seem to make a better wilderness survival blade than most balis. MSRP is $180.




Model 581 Barrage

The AXIS assisted-opening Barrage got a nice upgrade to M390 steel and G10 handles with aluminum bolster. MSRP starts at $220. A tanto blade was added to the original Barrage, creating the model 583 with a MSRP of $140.




Model 147/148 Nim Cub II

The Nim Cub is reintroduced with Noryl GTX molded handles and 154CM blade in either a drop point or tanto point, plain or conbo edge. The sheath is molded FRN and is molle compatible.




Harley Davidson

The T-Rod is something of a novelty knife, a half-tang fixed blade that becomes a push dagger with a flick of the wrist. The 3.33 in. modified clip point blade is 440C with a full swedge on the spine. The CNC machined handle is black anodized aluminum with a lanyard hole. A button lock is recessed into the handle. Press the button and with a flick the blade swivels down to the dagger position. A nice leather belt sheath is included. MSRP is $135.




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Wenger

One look and you know these are not your father's Swiss Army Knives. Wenger introduced a new collaboration line of "climbers knives," developed with Ueli Steck, a world-renowned mountaineer and mountain climbing speed record-holder.



The blade design immediately stands out, even with the knife closed. The 65mm (2.6 in.) blade is partially serrated, with most of the strait edge serrated and just a short straight portion and the curved tip a plain edge. The blade has a large humped spine which incorporates 3 hex cutouts in sizes 7mm (M4), 10mm (M6) and 13mm (M8). No inch sizes currently planned. The spine also incorporates a large slotted driver as might be used for Dzus fasteners. The large hex serves to provide a thumb hole for one-hand opening. A liner lock, in Wengers Swiss style, locks the blade open, the release is via the Swiss Cross button in the handle, just like on Wenger's larger Ranger series knives.



The handles themselves are unique for Wenger, being made of cast Titanium with longitudinal striations and "Wenger Titanium" cast into the handle on the button. A 1/4" standard bit adapter in the butt end of the handle which can hold standard hex bits. A #3 Phillips (Not #2) and medium slotted driver are included (and stored in the knife's pouch).

There are three variations. The Titanium 1 has just the blade and bit drivers with an MSRP of $140. The Titanium 2 adds a wood saw with an MSRP of $150. The Ueli Steck Special Edition incorporates a metal file/metal saw, flat screwdriver with Wenger's safety lock and a combo tool with a cap lifter, can opener and wire stripper. Ueli Steck's logo is cast into the handle opposite the button side. MSRP is $200.





Weights are 70, 82 and 100 grams (2.5, 2.9 and 3.5 oz.) , respectively. The nylon belt pouch holds the knife and three bits.





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KeltecShotgun by merriwether, on Flickr

Keltec unveiled the prototype of there 12-gauge bullpup shotgun. It is pump action with ejection out of the bottom (lefty-friendly!!). This shotgun has two tubular magazines under the barrel and which magazine is feeding is manually selected by the shooter. This means you can fill one magazine with slugs, the other with buckshot and switch between them as needed.

Being a bullpup, the barrel is 18.5" long with a total gun length of 26". Each magazine can hold seven 2 3/4" long shotshells, plus one in the chamber makes this a whole lot of "Get off my lawn!" A Picatinny rail runs along the top allowing easy attachment of tactical lights, lasers, or chainsaw. Color choice is black or OD green. Expected price is under $800, but release date is currently Spring of 2012.


KeltecShotgun2 by merriwether, on Flickr

It was definitely a crowd-maker, but I do wonder about the plastic parts of this shotgun as they felt kind of light-weight. However, in light of the latest ATF bulletin on banning importation of shotguns with magazines capable of holding over 5 rounds, the USA-made Keltec bullpup may very likely be your only options for a high-capacity shotgun.

-Blast