CRKT Tool

[Grant Lamontagne]

We stopped in for our meeting at CRKT today- my good buddy Tom Stokes had hinted that he had a new tool coming out this year, and so I was really looking forward to it.  I was actually really impressed with this one, although the name sounds a bit unexciting- the CRKT Tool.  It was also a collaboration between Tom and Ed Van Hoye.



It is actually pretty compact, and feels solid as a rock.  On one side there's a one handed opening, liner locking utility type blade, and on the opposite side is a liner locking, one handed opening wood saw.





The screwdrivers on each side are springloaded- switchblade screwdrivers, released by pressing the buttons.  They snap open to 90 degrees so they work as T-handles for added torque.







Each of the tools locks open with a liner lock, the wrench cutouts have metric on one side and Imperial on the other, and the phillips screwdriver has an adaptor to take on standard hex bits.



It looks really neat, and I'm looking forward to playing with this one. 

[Bruce909]

Nice design work.  What are the 4 holes in the handle just above the " CRKT Tool"?  Looks like wire strippers?

Bruce

[Grant Lamontagne]

Good eye- those are wire stripper/cutter holes.  Open the blade, slide the wire through and close the blade on it to either strip or cut the wire.

By the way, list price on this one is $49, but expect to see it at Wal Mart, Home Depot etc for somewhat less.  Oh, and one of the wrench sides has an additional cutaway that also allows it to function as a bottle opener. 

Def

[jekostas]

That's pretty cool.  Idea on size?  Juice size?  Bigger, smaller?

[Grant Lamontagne]

About the same length as a Juice but not as wide.  I didn't think to take any comparison shots, but hopefully I'll be able to when I get home.... 

Def

[mvyrmnd]

I like the look of it, especially the little nut wrench bit on the side, but I despise T-handle screwdrivers!

[scrappy]

Looks pretty decent. Better than the flux which had so much potential.

[jzmtl]

One of the buttons is really close to pocket clip opening, wonder if you would poke yourself with the driver after clipping to pocket.

[Ashley]

Thats neat looking. But would I buy it? 

[Max Archer]

I'm not so sure about this tool, but that's honestly a sentiment I often have about CRKT's products. It's a really cool design with some original thinking, but it looks way too large and thick for the amount of functionality it has. Maybe I'm misjudging the size from the pictures, but it looks almost as big as a small conventional plier MT. I often find that CRKT's tools are way more toward the "innovative" end rather than the "practical" end of things.

Also, I know this is kind of a stupid concern, but I hate the finish they put on the blades on their tools, it makes them look like cheap gas station knives.

[J-sews]

Another critically important function that the new CRKT Tool has is a bottle opener. The side of the hex wrench cutout has a slight overhang engineered into it, right next to the little "bottle" icon: 

[jekostas]

According to the CRKT website, the steel for the blades is 5Cr15MoV which is analogous to 420HC.  If this is a Juice sized tool count me in - I like it already.  Maybe not a full "multitool" per se, but it should give the Leatherman folders with included tools a good run for their money, plus the entire thing can be used with one hand.

The only change I would make is what jzmtl pointed out - the buttons for the screwdrivers need to be recessed so they don't spring accidentally.

[Mr. Whippy]

Agree!  I really like this design.  Definitely in on this one!

[BIG-TARGET]

That concept has merit

[50ft-trad]

This looks like a very well thought out tool. I don't think it's something I'd have call for, but I can see this doing quite well for itself