The CRKT Goken was designed by martial arts expert James Williams to combine the grace of a falcon and the grit of a warrior. James Williams is a revered and respected martial artist who brings that discipline and unrivaled know-how to this stunning tactical design. It's outfitted with CRKT's field strip technology for no-nonsense cleaning and maintenance. Take your EDC to the next level with the CRKT Goken.
Features:
I love this knife. It's unique & would excel in a personal defense role for sure. This sucker comes super/danger sharp. The geometry of the grinds are beautiful & unique but it does affect the trajectory or "pull" of the knife as it cuts/slices through material. It creates more shallow slices in paper for example making it more difficult to obtain "deep" scallops out of the paper for example. That's not a bad thing...it make sense due to the non-continuous curvature of the edge due to the deep tanto type change mid-blade. This thing slices well nonetheless & is an amazing penetrator. The handle secure & the flipper will blow your balls off. Lock up is good to go which I was concerned about due to the field strip construction. Turns out this thing is all ACES. Highly recommended.
Not a huge fan of folders but man this is something, excellent all around blade shape makes slicing open packages, fruit, and meat a cinch. Field strip took a little finagling but works great
This knife is a great update to the CRKT/Williams designs! It feels great in hand and grip feels great in all positions (edge forward and reverse). My favorite has been the frame lock Shizuka noh Ken, the Goken is just a little bit larger, it still carries nice and discrete though. Biggest plus for this design is the new field strip tech! A literal tool-less break down. The flipper is also a welcome change, I am just not a big fan of the thumb disc. By the way, Williams made the original "Kwaiken".
It's awesome to see the field strip technology on a James Williams design. I was a little disappointed with the steel but I still love this knife. It's slightly smaller than the Hissatsu folder making it almost the perfect size. I still prefer the Shizuka Noh Ken but this blade is a close second. It's solid, super ergonomic, and the field strip function is fun to play with however the pocket clip and the G10 scales are liable to tear up your pockets.
The design on this knife is cool. The breakdown of the blade and field strip is awesome. The knife itself is a little cheap feeling. The handle material feels clunky and cheap. The blade doesn't flip out very quickly and requires a little bit of a wrist flip. It's cool and I'm happy I have it but I would buy something else next time.
The lock for the hexagonal knife pivot mechanism absolutely does not work. Despite numerous careful attempts at trying to disengage the field stripping it will always come apart very easily, making it completely useless as a knife.
The lock for the hexagonal knife pivot mechanism absolutely does not work. Despite numerous careful attempts at trying to disengage the field stripping it will always come apart very easily, making it completely useless as a knife.
I love almost everything about this knife, but I regret purchasing because of one critical flaw that renders the knife unreliable. The take down (disassembly) switch. Because of this flaw I consider it nothing more than a very nice stylish novelty. When opening the knife with your right hand it is too easy to accidentally hit the disassembly switch and have the knife literally fall apart in your hand. To open the knife like a flip knife (I realize a lot of folks don't consider this a full on "flip knife", but seriously, who wouldn't use it like one?) you must press down and slightly back with your index finger on the opening lever. Your thumb will naturally rest in the grove between the closed blade and the disassembly switch. Since pressure is applied when "flipping" the knife open, it is easy for your thumb to slip out of the groove and pass directly over the disassembly switch rendering the knife ready for take down. If I'm paying close attention to my actions while flipping open the knife this is easily avoidable. However generally speaking when I'm opening my knife I'm focused on the task at hand, not on the mechanics of my knife. All it takes is a little sweat on your hands and this happens very easily. I'd compare this to there being a 1 in 50 chance of hitting the take down lever on a pistol every time you pulled the trigger. Yea... not good. I wish this knife didn't have this flaw because I really like everything else about it. I'm one of those clowns that sits on his couch driving his girlfriend crazy flipping his knife open and closed 500 times a day so I've really put a ton of wear on mine. I can tell you this happens often enough so that I feel I cannot rely on the knife. If CRKT fixed this one flaw (perhaps a more recessed switch or detent pin?), I'd recommend it to anyone.
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