Crkt Clever Girl - Confidence In Your Hand 5w4i5s

FOG HORN

April, 2016 Twobirds Flying Publication

Columbia River Knife and Tool Clever Girl Confidence in Hand

Copyright 2016, Towbirds Flying Publication. All Rights Reserved.

CRKT Clever Girl

2016

CRKT Clever Girl – confidence in hand By: Sal Palma business. The Clever Girl™ was created so you can grab it, use it if necessary, and then return to your family.

Calling a fighting knife “Clever Girl” is interesting to say the least but not inappropriate given the very classy flowing curves of this, new for 2016, fixed blade knife from Columbia River Knife and Tool, CRKT. Clever Girl is a collaborative effort between Austin McGlaun, an Army veteran and its designer, and the folks at CRKT. After returning home from Iraq, where he sustained several injuries, Austin ed the police force but the annual salary of $36,000 was insufficient for him and his family. It was then he decided to pursue knife making, something he’d done and started in his garage. As part of the Forged By War™ program1, Austin McGlaun of Columbus, Georgia, designed Clever Girl™. It aligns with his philosophy that a knife is more than a tool. It's a psychological deterrent very different from a gun and tells your attacker, very quickly, that you mean

Clever Girl is an interesting design with a blade profile credited to Middle East origins2, very much like the Yemeni Janbiya, but formally Clever Girl’s blade profile is a trailing point design. The curve along the spine terminates in a tip that extends above the spine resulting in a sweeping belly that gives this knife amazing slashing and slicing power. Don’t get me wrong, Clever Girl also has a menacing point with tremendous piercing ability but this baby is a slicer from the ground up and simply a thing of beauty!

CRKT used SK5 for the blade material which has excellent harness and edge durability.

1

In 2013, Ryan Johnson of RMJ Tactical, designer of elite, military, tactical tomahawks, approached CRKT with the news that he had been working with a few combat veterans that had returned from war with varying degrees of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). To help work through their challenges, they have been deg and forging steel into custom tools. Drawing from their experience earned in combat situations, they have been creating tools they wished they had available to them in the battlefield.

SK-5 is the Japanese equivalent of American 1080, a high carbon steel with carbon between 0.75%-0.85% and 0.60%-0.90% manganese. As 2

CRKT describes it as Persian

Copyright 2016, Twobirds Flying Publication, All Rights Reserved

CRKT Clever Girl

quenched, it has a hardness near Rc 65 and produces a mixture of carbon rich martensite with some small un-dissolved carbides. The excess carbide increases abrasion resistance and allows the steel to achieve an ideal balance of blade toughness with superior edge retention. With that little bit of metallurgy, I’ll continue with Clever Girls’ hollow ground 4.6 inch long and 1.58 inch thick blade sharpened to a razor’s edge. This is so characteristic of CRKT excellence. I have never experienced a dull knife edge from CRKT and Clever Girl is no exception, you can shave with this edge, and that is no spoof folks.

CRKT has also included a black powder coat finish for enhanced corrosion resistance and tactical application. Handle design is important in any class of knife, but in a fighting knife, a properly designed handle is everything. It determines how well and how controlled you’ll draw and use your blade and Clever Girl’s handle is worthy of a dedicated review highlighting its numerous exceptional qualities. It’s here where Austin’s military experience is evident. Clever Girl uses a full tang design with a beautifully sculpted G10 grip creating a natural

2016

hand-filling curvature with finger coils forward and to the rear of the grip. All edges are rounded and nothing bites into the hand, gloved or not so it’s extremely comfortable to grip. With this type of handle design, the will find that both a saber grip and reverse grip work extremely well. Even an icepick edge out hold feels natural due to the handle design and a flattened surface along the lanyard hole at the end of the tang.

Carry options are also important when considering a fixed blade fighting knife. CRKT meets that requirement by including an excellent MOLLE compatible glass-reinforced nylon sheath that securely holds the knife in any orientation.

Austin McGlaun and CRKT have created an impressive tool with many of the boutique features but without the boutique price point. Copyright 2016, Twobirds Flying Publication, All Rights Reserved

CRKT Clever Girl

2016

Clever Girl is a knife possessing all of the attributes credited to excellent fighting knives. Its tenacious blade profile, razor sharp edge, full tang design and superb handle make her a formidable deterrent. Clever Girl’s spirit is best captured by William Congreve’s, English playwright and poet, "Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned," spoken by Zara in Act III, Scene VIII from “The Mourning Bride.” And it’s yours for a very modest $125 MSRP. Check it out! Manufacturer Specifications Dimensions Open Overall Length Weight

10.125 inches 6.3 ounces

Blade Length Thickness Material Blade-HRC Finish Grind Style Edge

4.6 inches 0.158 inches SK5 54-56 Black Powder Coat Hollow Persian Plain

Handle Material

G10

Carry Carry System Weight

Glass-Reinforced Nylon 1.6 ounces

Copyright 2016, Twobirds Flying Publication, All Rights Reserved