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I recently wrote a review on a CRKT Ignitor assisted-open knife. Since then, I've been carrying it everyday. I love it and it will continue to be a big part of my EDC rotation. I don't always carry a knife on my person (for instance, if I'm dressed up or if I'm headed out to a theme park for the day), but when I do, the CRKT Ignitor will be a go-to option for me. For anyone interested, you can find my review of it here.
At the same time that I purchased the Ignitor, I also purchased the CRKT Shrimp knife. I was put on a waiting list for it because it was out of stock, but it arrived today and I've had a chance to spend some time with it and photograph it.
My initial impressions are sort of love/hate. I only paid about $12 for it so I can't say my expectations were high, but I might have been slightly ambitious with my hopes for this knife.
It is appropriately named "Shrimp" because of its small size. And, possibly for it's orange color. I don't dislike the color at all, and for my intended use, which I will address later, I think it will fit in just fine. With the Shrimp opened, it is roughly the same size as my Ignitor folded (4" or so). Despite its small size, it has a good heft to it. It is not heavy, by any means, but balances very well and feels good in the hand. I don't have large hands, but my fingers are a bit long and it fits them well. My initial observation of the quality of the knife is that it is made of good materials with aggressive hardware and would appear to be durable. All of the hardware (screws and pins and what not) are metal and even the small pocket clip, which is surprisingly sturdy, has three screws holding it firmly to the backside of the handle.
The blade arrived adequately sharpened and the blade shape is good for basic utilitarian uses. The blade is satisfyingly thick for such a small knife and the slight convex curve on the back of the blade, combined with the thickness allows for a good purchase with your fingers.
The knife has a little tab on the opposite end of the hinge that would allow you to carry it on a keyring. Personally, I don't like to carry too many things on my keys because I wear them on my beltloop with a rather sturdy clip. Adding extra weight is uncomfortable for me and I long for the days that I can use my smartphone to lock my house, start my car and pay for my groceries so that I never have to carry a key or a wallet again. But I digress. It is keychain-able if you want it to be, but I think it's a tad heavy for keys. I'm not a paranoid person when it comes to heavy keys hanging off of my ignition switch, but I know some people will swear that it will just straight rip the whole tranny and drivetrain right out of a car so you shouldn't do it and this knife might just be the straw that breaks the Camaro's back. It's too heavy for keys, in my opinion.
What? Okay, so I exaggerated a little... Fine. The drivetrain stays. But the tranny is toast.
At this point you're either thinking one of two things:
A) This guy is an idiot. My tranny is fine. And nobody likes Camaros anyway.
B) You said it was a love/hate. All I see is love. Where's the hate?
If you're thinking "A", you're probably right. If you're thinking "B", you've come to the right place because here comes the hate. I hate (strong word, yes, but necessary) the way this knife opens. Actually I don't hate the way it opens, but rather the way it stays open. I like knives that positively lock open. I like to know that if I'm using a knife, that I'm not going to accidentally slam it closed on my knuckles, which is one of the most unpleasant things one can do to oneself with a knife... Ask me how I know. When this knife opens, it doesn't click positively into place. It's rather mushy and doesn't really lock tight without some finagling. This is not good. I don't like having to check, check and check again that my knife is locked securely before I go hacking on a zip tie or a plastic package standing between me and a Twinkie.
The only positive to the locking mechanism on the knife is that if you do check, check and check again, you can push the locking mechanism in so that it covers about 98% of the blade so that there is no possible way on this planet or any other that it could slam closed on your knuckles. Which, as stated earlier, is rather unpleasant (again, ask me how I know).
One neat little aspect of the knife, that might be more of a gimmick than a feature, thus my choice of the word "aspect" instead of "feature", is a little plastic area on the back strap of the knife, tucked down between the front and back plates where the blade rests when closed. I noticed after bringing it in from photographing it outside that it was glowing. Sweet. If I'm ever stuck in the dark and can't find my Shrimp because it's so small and surely to be lost at the bottom of a deep coat pocket, I can find it by way of the little glowy thing on the back. Granted, if I'm in the dark, I won't know if the knife is locked open or not and will most likely slam it closed on my knuckles, which is probably one of the most unpleasant things one can do to oneself with a knife... Ask me how I know.
How do I know? Because I did it with my very first pocket knife when I was about 12 years old. That's how. And you know what? I haven't done it since. Because it sucks.
So... That brings me to my final thoughts. Am I sad that I gave $12 for this knife? Nah. I'm not sad. Have I spent $12 on better things? Sure. DVDs, baseball tickets, kitschy t-shirts, bacon cheeseburgers, 3 gallons of gas... You get the idea. What am I going to do with such a loved and hated item? Throw it in a bag. Range bag, messenger bag (Yes, I carry a messenger bag. No it's not a man purse, or murse. No, you can't look at it. No, you can't make fun of it.), toiletries bag, some kind of bag... I'm always in need of a knife so I figure wherever this little guy ends up, it will get used at some point. Who knows, maybe I'll toss it in a toiletries bag, forget about it, get stranded on an island (with my toiletries bag) and use a shoelace to fashion a spear by strapping it to the end of a very stout stick and save the entirety of my stranded party by providing very tasty local meat from whatever is perusing the shoreline at night. Then again, I may never see it again.
I'll tell you where it's not going, though and that's in my daily carry rotation. No sir. I'm not bustin' my knuckles.
Overall rating: 6/10
Photos of the knife are below, which make the knife look very yellow/orange/copper. It is far more subdued in-person, but I think I lost some information in the highlights there somewhere and couldn't recover them. You get the idea.
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At the same time that I purchased the Ignitor, I also purchased the CRKT Shrimp knife. I was put on a waiting list for it because it was out of stock, but it arrived today and I've had a chance to spend some time with it and photograph it.
My initial impressions are sort of love/hate. I only paid about $12 for it so I can't say my expectations were high, but I might have been slightly ambitious with my hopes for this knife.
It is appropriately named "Shrimp" because of its small size. And, possibly for it's orange color. I don't dislike the color at all, and for my intended use, which I will address later, I think it will fit in just fine. With the Shrimp opened, it is roughly the same size as my Ignitor folded (4" or so). Despite its small size, it has a good heft to it. It is not heavy, by any means, but balances very well and feels good in the hand. I don't have large hands, but my fingers are a bit long and it fits them well. My initial observation of the quality of the knife is that it is made of good materials with aggressive hardware and would appear to be durable. All of the hardware (screws and pins and what not) are metal and even the small pocket clip, which is surprisingly sturdy, has three screws holding it firmly to the backside of the handle.
The blade arrived adequately sharpened and the blade shape is good for basic utilitarian uses. The blade is satisfyingly thick for such a small knife and the slight convex curve on the back of the blade, combined with the thickness allows for a good purchase with your fingers.
The knife has a little tab on the opposite end of the hinge that would allow you to carry it on a keyring. Personally, I don't like to carry too many things on my keys because I wear them on my beltloop with a rather sturdy clip. Adding extra weight is uncomfortable for me and I long for the days that I can use my smartphone to lock my house, start my car and pay for my groceries so that I never have to carry a key or a wallet again. But I digress. It is keychain-able if you want it to be, but I think it's a tad heavy for keys. I'm not a paranoid person when it comes to heavy keys hanging off of my ignition switch, but I know some people will swear that it will just straight rip the whole tranny and drivetrain right out of a car so you shouldn't do it and this knife might just be the straw that breaks the Camaro's back. It's too heavy for keys, in my opinion.
What? Okay, so I exaggerated a little... Fine. The drivetrain stays. But the tranny is toast.
At this point you're either thinking one of two things:
A) This guy is an idiot. My tranny is fine. And nobody likes Camaros anyway.
B) You said it was a love/hate. All I see is love. Where's the hate?
If you're thinking "A", you're probably right. If you're thinking "B", you've come to the right place because here comes the hate. I hate (strong word, yes, but necessary) the way this knife opens. Actually I don't hate the way it opens, but rather the way it stays open. I like knives that positively lock open. I like to know that if I'm using a knife, that I'm not going to accidentally slam it closed on my knuckles, which is one of the most unpleasant things one can do to oneself with a knife... Ask me how I know. When this knife opens, it doesn't click positively into place. It's rather mushy and doesn't really lock tight without some finagling. This is not good. I don't like having to check, check and check again that my knife is locked securely before I go hacking on a zip tie or a plastic package standing between me and a Twinkie.
The only positive to the locking mechanism on the knife is that if you do check, check and check again, you can push the locking mechanism in so that it covers about 98% of the blade so that there is no possible way on this planet or any other that it could slam closed on your knuckles. Which, as stated earlier, is rather unpleasant (again, ask me how I know).
One neat little aspect of the knife, that might be more of a gimmick than a feature, thus my choice of the word "aspect" instead of "feature", is a little plastic area on the back strap of the knife, tucked down between the front and back plates where the blade rests when closed. I noticed after bringing it in from photographing it outside that it was glowing. Sweet. If I'm ever stuck in the dark and can't find my Shrimp because it's so small and surely to be lost at the bottom of a deep coat pocket, I can find it by way of the little glowy thing on the back. Granted, if I'm in the dark, I won't know if the knife is locked open or not and will most likely slam it closed on my knuckles, which is probably one of the most unpleasant things one can do to oneself with a knife... Ask me how I know.
How do I know? Because I did it with my very first pocket knife when I was about 12 years old. That's how. And you know what? I haven't done it since. Because it sucks.
So... That brings me to my final thoughts. Am I sad that I gave $12 for this knife? Nah. I'm not sad. Have I spent $12 on better things? Sure. DVDs, baseball tickets, kitschy t-shirts, bacon cheeseburgers, 3 gallons of gas... You get the idea. What am I going to do with such a loved and hated item? Throw it in a bag. Range bag, messenger bag (Yes, I carry a messenger bag. No it's not a man purse, or murse. No, you can't look at it. No, you can't make fun of it.), toiletries bag, some kind of bag... I'm always in need of a knife so I figure wherever this little guy ends up, it will get used at some point. Who knows, maybe I'll toss it in a toiletries bag, forget about it, get stranded on an island (with my toiletries bag) and use a shoelace to fashion a spear by strapping it to the end of a very stout stick and save the entirety of my stranded party by providing very tasty local meat from whatever is perusing the shoreline at night. Then again, I may never see it again.
I'll tell you where it's not going, though and that's in my daily carry rotation. No sir. I'm not bustin' my knuckles.
Overall rating: 6/10
Photos of the knife are below, which make the knife look very yellow/orange/copper. It is far more subdued in-person, but I think I lost some information in the highlights there somewhere and couldn't recover them. You get the idea.
