If you are looking for a nice little no frills knife, the
Ripple is an excellent contender. With an MSRP of about $60 I would expect the street price to be around $40, and for that, this is a great deal.
It's inexpensive, it's very slim, small and lightweight so you won't even know it's there until you need it. Sure it's not a fancy Super Steel, but until they come up with Super Envelopes or Super Stray Threads I think I'll be happy with 8CR14MoVLMNopQRsTuV803.11 or whatever the heck goes into this one.
The aluminum handles provide a very strong feeling knife despite it's size and they come pre-worn right out of the box. I like that. I'm not one for buying those artificially worn jeans, but on this it looks nice, and it means those first few EDC scratches you get will be less noticeable, so you really feel like you can put this one to work.
But this one is just a bit cooler than most- as you can see, this was the Giveaway from the 2012 SHOT Show. See?
I told you I'd post pics of it soon!
I know liner locks bring out a bunch of different feelings in people, but this one is recessed enough that you aren't likely to disengage it, but not so recessed as you can't find it or reach it when you want to put the knife away. I have a few knives like that- they are nice, high end, expensive knives but for the life of you there's no bloody way to fold them. I hate that. Fortunately this one is smooth and easy to use.
The flipper is great for firing this blade out- I have yet to have one "flip" where the blade didn't open enough for the lock to engage fully. If you didn't know any better you'd swear this was one of Ken's assisted opening designs- which it isn't.
The handles on this one are actually quite amazing. They really strike me as a 50's or 60's era futuristic sea creature, like the Rocketeer's robot fish sidekick or something. This knife would be perfectly at home in something like a Lincoln Futura.
For those who aren't familiar with the Futura, it was the basis for the Adam West Era Batmobile. For those not familiar with Adam West's Batman, well, stop reading because I'm not sure I want to talk to you any more.
But I digress- how bad is it that I am derailing this thread before I even finish posting it?
The jimping on the back of the blade perfectly lines up with the jimping on the handle- something a lot of companies try but don't really succeed at, especially if they contract out the manufacturing like CRKT does. Good on CRKT for watching the QC and taking the time to make this knife perfect.
Speaking of perfect, I wasn't even going to include this photo as my camera decided to focus on the wrong part, but you can still see that the blade is perfectly centered in the handle. One of the drawbacks to a liner lock is that the lock bar often pushes the blade into one of the handles, as anyone with a Leatherman Charge has probably noticed. CRKT has managed to center this blade perfectly.
That's about it for this one. Unlike some of the other goodies I have been posting lately, the Ripple is still in production and widely available. If you are looking for a decent knife that you can wear in a pair or work jeans or that would disappear nicely into suit or casual pants, the Ripple just might be the right knife for you.
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