Kershaw Cryo Speed Safe Opener, designed by Rick Hinderer

[Grant Lamontagne]

Well the title pretty much says everything- this is the Cryo knife from Kershaw, designed by Rick Hinderer and featuring the patented torsion bar assisted opening mechanism that Kershaw called Speed Safe.



My first attempt at using a Speed Safe opener was anything but safe- it was many years ago when they were just hitting the market and Kershaw was the only company offering them and everyone was trying to decide if they were illegal or not, and I was at my usual haunt at the time- S & R Knives in Toronto.  Whoey might have been there, I can't recall.  Anyways, what I do recall is not knowing that the knife was going to fire open, and my thumb continued on the usual opening path despite the blade already being in position.  This was in the day before flippers, and you guessed it, I pushed my thumb pad right down on the blade. 



Luckily that's a mistake an idiot like me usually only makes once, and since then I have had more than a few assisted knives with relatively few accidents, which is amazing considering they get opened and closed a few dozen times more often than a regular folder because they are just so much bloody fun to play with- no pun intended.



The Cryo features a low riding pocket clip that can be put at either end on either side.  If it's on the pivot end it rides nice and low, and if it's at the other end it lets just enough of the handle stick out so that the lanyard hole is accessible- very handy if you plan to have a lanyard attached to it.



The blade features a nice flipper to make it easier to open which also functions as a nice guard to ensure that your widdle fingies don't slide up onto the blade when dispatching ninjas with it.  Ninja blood is entirely slippery as it contains 30% teflon, which is why the little buggers are so sneaky.



The blade is quite broad, which I like, although I find the handle (relative to the blade) to be a bit small.  This makes for a blade forward design that is popular with some people, and I like the knife overall, so I suppose I can deal with the slightly diminutive handle.



The blade locks up quite securely with a frame lock type lock, which is basically a thicker liner lock that's missing the outer scale.  You can debate lock types till the cows come home, but this one seems to have (so far at least) kept me from amputating my fingers during use.

All in all, for a relatively inexpensive knife (especially when you buy it from another forum member!) I'm pleased with this one.  It's not perfect, it's not the be all and end all of folding knives, but for the price it's not a bad knife at all.

Def

[captain spaulding]

Nice write up boss. I personally LOVE the Cryo and will definitely be getting the larger Cryo II. Their is nothing off the top of my head I can think of on the Cryo I do not like to be honest. Scratch that, the jimping could be improved, but it is a minor complaint. The price is right and the fit and finish is excellent. It is definitely in the top 5 "budget" folders in my opinion. 

[Grant Lamontagne]

Glad to hear you are getting along well with it.  Knives are all about personal choice and this is a nice one.  I'm actually not a huge fan of all metal handles, but then it gets a lot colder here than it does in your neck of the woods. I'd love to see a G-10 or micarta handled version, even if I had to swap in a liner lock and lose the frame lock.

Def

Sent from my smurfing hunk of techno sorcery

[NKlamerus]

That looks A LOT like my zt566. (Duh, kershaw+rick hinderer= zero tolerance) I do plan on getting a cryo as well though. It'll be my play blade. 

[NKlamerus]

On close inspection the only differences I can spot;

Zt has spacers towards the rear instead of spread more evenly across the entire handle. When open the ZT thumb studs hit the handle for added support. ZT is Elmax (not sure about cryo).

Kinda makes me wish I had one sooner for better comparison!

[captain spaulding]

Glad to hear you are getting along well with it.  Knives are all about personal choice and this is a nice one.  I'm actually not a huge fan of all metal handles, but then it gets a lot colder here than it does in your neck of the woods. I'd love to see a G-10 or micarta handled version, even if I had to swap in a liner lock and lose the frame lock.

Def

Sent from my smurfing hunk of techno sorcery

They actually do make a G-10 version of the Cryo now. It only has G-10 on one side though.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I'll have to check that out.  I loved textured g-10 in a handle.

Def

[jekostas]

I so very much wanted to like the Cryo, but too heavy for the size for me.  The G10 version is a little better but still on the weighty side of things.  Also, I've been getting away from carrying assisted openers lately, I don't think I have any left in my collection at this point.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I had been without an assisted opener (except the Crucial F.A.S.T.) for a while as well, which is why I grabbed this one and the Scallion when they came up for sale here on the forum.

I figured I'd been between assisted openers for too long.

Def

[kmanct3]

sorry for the lousy pic

[Grant Lamontagne]

Nice collection you have there.  Whoey's little sister started collecting Kershaws a while ago and ended up with most of mine.

Def

[kmanct3]

That's funny, I think out of my collection the Kershaws would be the last to go

[Grant Lamontagne]

I'm sure my SAKs and multi would last a lot longer than my Kershaw knives, but it's safe to say that the Kershaw ones would last longer than some others.

Def

Sent from my smurfing hunk of techno sorcery

[sawman]

I've got one word. Heavy. What can we do to lighten it up a little 

[kmanct3]

Not sure I would sacrifice weight, I like having that heft feel when I'm cutting into soggy rope at the marina

[NKlamerus]

Not sure I would sacrifice weight, I like having that heft feel when I'm cutting into soggy rope at the marina

X2. I feel like I have much more control.

[Grant Lamontagne]

That depends on the knife.  I like the heft of some knives but others I like the way they disappear in your hand.  The Spyderco Q weighs next to nothing and I really like that about it.

Def

Sent from my smurfing hunk of techno sorcery