I just got the CRKT K.I.S.S. Assist from GPKnives.com. The box is a nice cardboard with the CRKT logo neatly prin... Just kidding. Here's my $0.02...
My initial impression is that it is clean and smooth like other CRKT knives I have had. Fit and finish is what I have come to expect with no burrs or rough edges and the blade has no play in it. Notice that the bottom corner of the blade is not sharpened which I noticed would probably snag or cut my thumb on closing the blade. The matte body coating is exactly like my Snap Lock but the blade is more polished and a little thicker. It is obviously flat on one side to sit flush on the body.
My initial impression is that it is clean and smooth like other CRKT knives I have had. Fit and finish is what I have come to expect with no burrs or rough edges and the blade has no play in it. Notice that the bottom corner of the blade is not sharpened which I noticed would probably snag or cut my thumb on closing the blade. The matte body coating is exactly like my Snap Lock but the blade is more polished and a little thicker. It is obviously flat on one side to sit flush on the body.
The blade sits just a whisker above the body, but unless I was really trying to would not likely cut myself on it even running my finger directly toward the blade. Not that this is not sharp. I would definitely say that it is sharper than my Snap Lock; and almost as unique. The carbon "sticker" is reasonably attractive, but appears to just be for looks and the little black piece of plastic covers the blade where it would likely snag or cut in a pocket or while in my hand. It also has a pretty large pocket clip that I like (more on the neccessity of that large clip below).
To open the knife, push the little button on the blade and nudge the blade open; according to the instructions. This takes some getting used to and a fair bit of finesse, however. Given, some of my difficulty may come from my fingernails on my right hand (I play classical and fingerstyle guitar and prefer nails over picks), I have to push the button by rolling my thumb into it and push directly in line of the blade's axis otherwise the spring only partially opens the knife. In other words, if much flesh on the tip of my thumb is on top of the button or touching the blade itself, the blade fails to open all the way. Even after messing with it for the biggest part of the morning I can probably only open it fully 60% of the time even "flicking" it open. Hopefully, this will continue to improve and even partially opened, I can easily open it fully with a light flick of my wrist. Basically, the spring is only moving the blade about a third of the way open; letting momentum push it the other two-thirds. If you cut the momentum at all it does not open fully. The lock on the blade seems sturdy but would like to see it built up just a bit more. Looks like any kind of preassure could push the blade over the block. I may just be picking nit on this. Incidentally, the spring can be removed to make it a traditional opener. As smoothly as this thing closes, this could be a viable option, but just get the K.I.S.S. then, right? One thing is for sure, though: the large pocket clip is absolutely neccesary on this knife. Body and blade are so narrow, I don't think I could hold onto this thing or close it without the pocket clip. I would likely take off the tips of my fingers or the inside of my thumb.
To close this thing, there is a little button on the body just below the blade that, when depressed, moves the block out of the blade's way. My fingernails actually make closing this knife much easier. The blade drops very easily and smoothly to the point where the blade jumps open when opening. Keeping my fingers on the edge of the the pocket clip, I can close it with my thumb. There is a small "click" when it is fully closed.
To open the knife, push the little button on the blade and nudge the blade open; according to the instructions. This takes some getting used to and a fair bit of finesse, however. Given, some of my difficulty may come from my fingernails on my right hand (I play classical and fingerstyle guitar and prefer nails over picks), I have to push the button by rolling my thumb into it and push directly in line of the blade's axis otherwise the spring only partially opens the knife. In other words, if much flesh on the tip of my thumb is on top of the button or touching the blade itself, the blade fails to open all the way. Even after messing with it for the biggest part of the morning I can probably only open it fully 60% of the time even "flicking" it open. Hopefully, this will continue to improve and even partially opened, I can easily open it fully with a light flick of my wrist. Basically, the spring is only moving the blade about a third of the way open; letting momentum push it the other two-thirds. If you cut the momentum at all it does not open fully. The lock on the blade seems sturdy but would like to see it built up just a bit more. Looks like any kind of preassure could push the blade over the block. I may just be picking nit on this. Incidentally, the spring can be removed to make it a traditional opener. As smoothly as this thing closes, this could be a viable option, but just get the K.I.S.S. then, right? One thing is for sure, though: the large pocket clip is absolutely neccesary on this knife. Body and blade are so narrow, I don't think I could hold onto this thing or close it without the pocket clip. I would likely take off the tips of my fingers or the inside of my thumb.
To close this thing, there is a little button on the body just below the blade that, when depressed, moves the block out of the blade's way. My fingernails actually make closing this knife much easier. The blade drops very easily and smoothly to the point where the blade jumps open when opening. Keeping my fingers on the edge of the the pocket clip, I can close it with my thumb. There is a small "click" when it is fully closed.
I am not very rough on these types of knives generally. Usually used them to cut small wires or string, open boxes, light wittling, as scissors, etc. Nice just to always have a knife on hand. I like this little knife. Like many CRKT designs, it is uniqe and attractive in a practical kind of way. It is also reasonably priced ($35) so I can afford another one should I lose it or break it. Being as thin and light as it is, it sits flush in my pocket, unnoticed too. If I had to score it on a scale of one to ten, I would probably give it a seven. Maybe angle the button away from the direction the knife opens to make it open easier or have the spring push the blade open more, give the body the same polish as the blade and put more of a block on the blade lock to get it to a ten.
Author: quickvfr