CRKT Inara Frame Lock Knife Black G-10 (2.75" Satin) 7140

I legitimately couldn't be more impressed with this knife. CRKT (for me) seems to consistently deliver on form and function. I find myself grabbing this knife as my #2 almost daily. My primary knife is always something with a little more "flair" - typically matches my EDC of the day, or is something fitting for whatever occasion I'm going to. I have a leather pocket organizer where I keep a Big Ideas Ti Click pen, a small flashlight, and 9 times out of 10, the Inara. It's slim, lightweight, perfect for opening boxes or packages, had a sharp edge out of the box and has been a breeze to keep it that way. The shape is kind of unique and being able to set it blade facing the table (but not touching) is awesome when doing repetitive tasks. I can't say enough about bang for buck on this one. If you're on the fence, I really don't think you'll be disappointed - go for it!

This is a great little knife. It shares the same designer as the CRKT CEO and that's probably the closest knife to compare it to. The Inara, however, is lighter, shorter, and thinner than the CEO. It's extremely light, and while not quite deep-carry, is very discreet in the pocket. The blade is small at 2.75" and the wharncliffe-like profile doesn't look "pointy", so it's not likely to frighten anyone in an office if you open it up to cut tape on a box, cut a cable tie or open an envelope. Open it slowly though if easily scared people are a concern, because the Inara, although unassisted, flies open on its bearings. The factory edge on my Inara was very sharp, I didn't even need to hone it so I'd say unusually sharp, although YMMV. It's a small, fairly thin blade so you won't want to use it for cutting cardboard all day or skinning a deer, but as a low-profile office edc or even a "gentleman's knife" this seems like an excellent choice.

This is a pretty neat knife, and for the price makes this attractive. The QA is pretty bad, I bought two and both arrived with a mediocre edge and the pivot screw so tight that it was impossible to open the knife with one hand. More on this in a sec. On the plus side, the blade shape is handy, it's a great size, and I love that it leans into the utility role instead of playing at being a combat knife. It looks nice. It is really slim and vanishes into the pocket, even in fitted clothing. The frame lock is solid. The major design problem here is that thumb stud is extremely minimal and positioned too close to the pivot. Because this is a frame lock and you have almost no leverage on it to open it, the pivot tension needs to be just so– too loose and the frame lock deflects the blade into the handle, adding friction and making it impossible to open, too tight and you don't have enough leverage to overcome the friction of the pivot itself. The stud is worthless with even thin gloves on. It does open really nicely when it does open, with a satisfying assist snap, but my experience has been that it requires too precise a movement for my work-worn hands. Anyhow, this is not a great knife by any means, but for this price, it is pretty cool.