circleshooter
Ultimate Member
It seems that much of the "knife talk" in this forum is about pocket folders with blades in the 3.5" - 4.0" range. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with this as I love them, carry them, and enjoy using them. Great tools.
But, as someone who wears "business casual" 3 days a week and scrubs the other 2 days it's not always practical to carry a fairly substantial pocket folder around. Here's where small folders shine! Seems like they get called key-chain knives nowadays but I prefer the traditional term - penknife. I've always loved penknives and got my first one, a Buck, from my father on my 13th birthday. I currently have a number of traditional penknives as well as a Kershaw Scallion I carry. But I just got this one. It's the CRKT Shrimp.
The Shrimp was designed by Gerry McGinnis, not as a toy, but a small knife with a big knife build. The difference is that this little guy has a 1.75" blade and is only 2.5 inches closed!
From CRKT:
"Take the blade, for example. It is made of premium 8Cr13MoV stainless steel in a high satin finish. Although short, it is fully featured, with a modified drop point shape with recurve. It is high hollow ground and has a slight swedge on the top edge. It is opened by a large CNC-milled nail notch. There are aggressive friction grooves on the spine for the thumb. But most impressively, the blade is a full 0.125" (3.2 mm) thick, a width common on much larger folders.
The Shrimp has a frame-lock build, eliminating the need for separate liners. The right side frame is 3Cr13 stainless steel on all models. The left frame is 6061anodized aluminum on the colored models, and stainless steel on the bead-blast model 1181. The left frame is skeletonized to save weight. To aid grip, there are two finger choils and the frame has a rounded contour."
CRKT has added a keychain loop (which I removed) and a back spacer made from "moon glow" plastic - which actually does glow in the dark.
The Shrimp is small but it really does have a big knife feel. The blade is pretty thick (3.2mm) and opens solidly. The lock mechanism is solid and holds the blade in place well. The blade is incredible sharp out of the box and doesn't need any touch up. It's going to be great little knife to carry in the pocket of the gym shorts I wear under scrub pants. And I think it would make a fun knife to use as money clip those times you want to travel light.
So, overall, I think this is an interesting design offering from CRKT. Small and light weight but able to actually perform a cutting job. And at $12.95 it's kinda hard to beat!
But, as someone who wears "business casual" 3 days a week and scrubs the other 2 days it's not always practical to carry a fairly substantial pocket folder around. Here's where small folders shine! Seems like they get called key-chain knives nowadays but I prefer the traditional term - penknife. I've always loved penknives and got my first one, a Buck, from my father on my 13th birthday. I currently have a number of traditional penknives as well as a Kershaw Scallion I carry. But I just got this one. It's the CRKT Shrimp.
The Shrimp was designed by Gerry McGinnis, not as a toy, but a small knife with a big knife build. The difference is that this little guy has a 1.75" blade and is only 2.5 inches closed!
From CRKT:
"Take the blade, for example. It is made of premium 8Cr13MoV stainless steel in a high satin finish. Although short, it is fully featured, with a modified drop point shape with recurve. It is high hollow ground and has a slight swedge on the top edge. It is opened by a large CNC-milled nail notch. There are aggressive friction grooves on the spine for the thumb. But most impressively, the blade is a full 0.125" (3.2 mm) thick, a width common on much larger folders.
The Shrimp has a frame-lock build, eliminating the need for separate liners. The right side frame is 3Cr13 stainless steel on all models. The left frame is 6061anodized aluminum on the colored models, and stainless steel on the bead-blast model 1181. The left frame is skeletonized to save weight. To aid grip, there are two finger choils and the frame has a rounded contour."
CRKT has added a keychain loop (which I removed) and a back spacer made from "moon glow" plastic - which actually does glow in the dark.
The Shrimp is small but it really does have a big knife feel. The blade is pretty thick (3.2mm) and opens solidly. The lock mechanism is solid and holds the blade in place well. The blade is incredible sharp out of the box and doesn't need any touch up. It's going to be great little knife to carry in the pocket of the gym shorts I wear under scrub pants. And I think it would make a fun knife to use as money clip those times you want to travel light.
So, overall, I think this is an interesting design offering from CRKT. Small and light weight but able to actually perform a cutting job. And at $12.95 it's kinda hard to beat!
