Just got my hands on CRKT’s new
Seismic with the ‘Deadbolt Lock’ developed by Flavio Ikoma. It’s a beast!
It weighs in at 6.3 ounces with a 5.5 inch handle holding a 4 inch
blade. I like knives with slightly over
sized handles. You need a big handle to hold
and use a big blade.
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| CRKT's Seismic |
Flavio Ikoma has become one of
Brazil’s top knife designers. Growing up
he was fascinated with the varieties of Japanese swords. Encouraged by his father and having access to
the tools and materials in his father’s shop, he made edges. This interest spurred him to learn metallurgy,
work with other knife makers and become a knife innovator.
The Seismic sports his IKBS ball
bearing system as well as what has been described at the strongest lock on the
market, the Deadbolt. There are always a
lot of claims of the strongest lock and they seem to depend on the test
methodology. Still, the Seismic locks up
with one hell of click.
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| The bowtie at the pivot point is part of the deadbolt lock |
To release the lock you press the
knurled ring around the pivot. This
pushes a large bowtie shaped bar of metal out the back of the knife and unlocks
the blade. Impressive!
Here are some more stats:
The 0.6 inches thick handle is
G10 overlaid on a sketalized metal frame that.
The G-10 has a grippy feel to it, almost enough to give you the
fingernails-on-chalk-boards feeling.
(Assuming you know about chalk boards.)
The blade steel is a ground slab
of 1.4116 stainless steel 0.15 inches thick.
This steel is reportedly used in Swiss Army knives. The blade is a drop point with a high
shoulder, flat grind. A shallow false
edge decorates the blade. The sweeping
edge reminds me ever so slightly of a skinner.
This steel is reported to have a
RHc of 55-57. While many consider that
too low to retain an edge, let me remind you of three things:
- That hardness resharpens quickly with simple stones;
- Steels in this hardness range tend to bend instead of snap when misused;
- Ernie Emerson once said a knife with a bent blade is still a knife, a knife with a broken blade is junk.
What’s in 1.4116 steel? The composition is relatively simple, 0.45%
carbon, 14.7% chromium, a sprinkle of vanadium at 0.17% and a smattering of
elements common to modern steel manufacturing.
Reports from the field suggest 1.4116 steel shows good corrosion
resistance. That’s important to me as
I’m a bit careless with my tools.
You can find your Seismic at https://www.crkt.com/seismic.html. Mention this blog for blank stares and verbal
“Huhs?” The suggested retail is $150.00
