CRKT AUS 6M Steel

[Teofilo]

Just got this CRKT knife with a AUS 6M steel blade.

[edap617]

Nice new EDC knife Gene.

[asupernothing]

That is a nice looking and minimalist blade! Its a neat effect on the steel, I might have to get one just for the sake of having it...

[J-sews]

It looks far too pretty to use

[shecky]

Be thankful you found a K.I.S.S. in AUS6. They're all 420J2 now.

I bought a regular 420J2 K.I.S.S/P.E.C.K. on closeout at Fry's because I wanted to compare it with the Sanrenmu knockoff of the same knife. I also thought it was possible that SRM was the actual manufacturer, as they seem to be for several other company Chinese lines.

There was no comparison. The CRKT was more expensive, made from inferior steel, came with a thick, obtuse, and dull edge, and had a curiously wobbly pivot that the instructions indicated was supposed to be that way. The smaller P.E.C.K. was the same, with an edge bevel thick and obtuse enough to look like it might have been on a hardware store hatchet rather than a tiny, keychain sized folding knife.

The Sanrenmu was less than half the price of the K.I.S.S., used better steel, had a sharper, cleaner, thinner and more acute grind, and had a pivot that wasn't sloppy. The knockoff was better in every way. If I were designer Ed Halligan, I'd be pissed, not that my design was copied, but that CRKT has my name on such mediocre knives. If Sanrenmu manufactures CRKT's K.I.S.S., they retooled to make their own version, as the two knives, though functionally identical in design, were definitely not from the same factory line.

[Teofilo]

There was no comparison. The CRKT was more expensive, made from inferior steel, came with a thick, obtuse, and dull edge, and had a curiously wobbly pivot that the instructions indicated was supposed to be that way. The smaller P.E.C.K. was the same, with an edge bevel thick and obtuse enough to look like it might have been on a hardware store hatchet rather than a tiny, keychain sized folding knife.

Shecky, could you show some pics of the CRKT 420J2 K.I.S.S.? just curious. Thanks

(Can anyone confirm which steel the blade is made from. Many sites say AUS 6M yet others say 420J2)

[jekostas]

Shecky, could you show some pics of the CRKT 420J2 K.I.S.S.? just curious. Thanks

(Can anyone confirm which steel the blade is made from. Many sites say AUS 6M yet others say 420J2)

If it was made any time in the last 3 years or so, the steel will be 420J2.  Some of the early KISS models had the steel type laser inscribed on the blade somewhere (I had a Sampson's KISS like this), but if not the only way to know will be sharpening.  CRKT's AUS-6M, because they add Molybdenum to the chemistry will take a VERY fine edge, where as 420J2 will not be as fine.

However, I think you may have lucked out because I don't think CRKT has used red print on their boxes in quite a long time.  The last few CRKTs I've bought have all had black print.

Note to CRKT:  You know how to really piss off your customers?  Make an iconic, well-liked blade design (KISS, PECK, Point Guard, M16 series) and then cheap out and make the steel WORSE as times goes by, instead of making it better like just about every other manufacturer on the planet.