I like knives, all kinds of knives, big or small, or everything in the middle…even “ugly” knives are a sight to behold if you ask me. However, I’m not sure where the CRKT Ripsnort comes into the play. To be sure, it is a big knife – well, mostly big…and some would say its an ugly knife – I’m not sure where this fits into my idea of ugly – maybe it is, maybe it isn’t.
I’ve been covering CRKT products since their second year in business, and one thing for certain is, they produce a wide variety of knives – something for everyone. And, they are having their knives produced at very affordable price points. Please note that the knife under review is produced in mainland China for CRKT. Over the years, I’m sure I’ve tested literally hundreds of CRKT knives, and was never disappointed with any of them. However, this time around, I’m a little puzzled by the Ripsnort. No doubt about it, it’s an outstanding design, and one that will have a lot of utility purposes. Still, I’m not sure about this one.
I can usually be caught carrying two folding pocket knives on my person, one in each of the front pockets of my cargo pants. And, when I reach for a folder, I don’t always reach for the one in my right front pocket – just depends on things. I have a lot of keys in my left front pocket, so it is already crowded in there. So, big knives don’t always fit neatly in that left front pocket.
So, with that in mind, I placed the rather large Ripsnort in my right front pocket, and the other thinner, smaller folder in my left front pocket. Still, the Ripsnort took up a lot of room in my right front pocket, but not a deal-breaker at all.
The specs on the Ripsnort are as follows: Blade length is 3.25-inches long – yeah, it doesn’t sound “big” to many readers. However, the blade and the entire knife is wide – beefy, to say the least. Takes a lot of room in a pocket. It is only available with a plain edge – no serrations. The blade of the main Ripsnort model is 8Cr13MoV steel – a pretty nice stainless steel, that doesn’t cost a lot, yet it holds an edge a good long time, and is easy to re-sharpen. One of my past editors at a knife magazine once told me that a knife can’t both hold an edge a long time, and be easy to re-sharpen – he was wrong! Overall length of this folder is 7.75-inches, when opened and closed 4.47-inches – still doesn’t sound “that” big, does it? The entire package weighs in at 5.80-ounces. That still doesn’t sound too big, or too heavy.Continue reading“CRKT Ripsnort, by Pat Cascio”
