Travis
Texas

Jun 29, 2023

Pros: Weight, Ease of Opening, Handle Material, Pocket Clip, Blade Material, Overall Quality, Blade Sharpness

Cons: None

It's A Winner

I wished I came across this knife a long time ago. I have a massive collection of knives

Joshua
Falls Church, Va

Apr 16, 2022

Pros: Weight, Ease of Opening, Handle Material, Pocket Clip, Blade Material, Overall Quality, Blade Sharpness

Cons: None

OMFG are you kidding me?

Good lord I just received this today and for the price. I am blown away. Not only with the Deadbolt lock. Which is strong, smooth, and easier to disengage than some Tri Ad locks. But the Deadbolt incorporates a small ring to avoid accidental unlocking while used in hand. And the G10 CRKT used on their handles feels so good in hand. No handle play. Great grip.And safety in the indes finger cut out which allows hard stabs without risk of slipping blade on your fingers in weak or wet grips. Great safety feature. This thing is a beast. I have zero doubts of the steel type. All I know is that the edge holds significantly longer than my Hissatu folder which is roughly an inch longer blade length in AUS8. This D2 is hard and abuse or even hard use/prying on these types of blades will result in broken blades. These are designed to be a stealth weapon first then utilitarian tool. But these knives make surprising good light to moderate EDC tools as well. All designs of this knife are very thin edged and as a result are very slicey. The lock is insanely strong and smooth operating. Action is faster than a switch blade. The only minor concern I have is blade accidentally opening in pocket being this is so smooth. But so far it has remained closed in my pocket. I may decide to tune it a bit tighter for my preferences. I do not like a drop shut blade. So here it is. If you want a weapon first knife with real world incapacitating and life taking properties. There is not a better knife series built for that purpose than the James Williams designs. If you want more discreet and city friendly or large crowd friendly environments. This is definitely not for you. I am trained only on basic self defense levels. But I can tell you this. Tread lightly and respect this knife. This is deadly and dumb stunts will impale you accidentally. THIS IS NO TOY OR BUSHCRAFT KNIFE ! Treat it as a fine knife and use it properly. This will perform admirably. Now buy it and thank me later. Build quality is excellent for this Taiwan made knife. (Taiwan is USA allies and support democracy) Taiwan is our friends and build excellent budget, mid, tier, And top grade knives. Thank you Taiwan. For offering an alternative to the Chinese dominated knife market. These are great for collecting self defense/edc use.

Joshuajoshua
Washington D.C.

Apr 19, 2022

Pros: Weight, Ease of Opening, Handle Material, Pocket Clip, Blade Material, Overall Quality, Blade Sharpness

Cons: Weight

Get it.

Just do yourself a favor and buy it. It's freaking awesome.

Robert
Bellevue, Ne

Feb 03, 2023

Pros: None

Cons: None

Favorite Williams folder

I love everything about the knife but the clip. The assisted flip is fantastic - much better than any other assisted knife I've ever tried. The button lock will drop the blade to halfway after which you can safely push it closed. Makes it very safe to close. F

Robert
Bellevue, Ne

Mar 19, 2023

Pros: Ease of Opening, Handle Material, Overall Quality

Cons: None

EDC king

I own a couple of hundred knives - from big bowies to many different pocket knives in all price ranges from cheap to expensive. This has become my EDC out of all of them. I own knives in various supersteels but D2 works. I have been working on reducing the edge bevels with my cheap diamond stones but it's slow work because the D2 is quite hard but hopefully that will translate into good retention. The main reason that this has become my go to is the lock and the spring assist. The flipper activated spring assist basically makes this a switch blade that pops open fast and strong. The deadbolt lock is very strong but easy to unlock. Unlocked, the blade only falls half closed which mitigates any threat to the old digits and allows you to safely closed and recock the blade from there. It also keeps the blade closed until you intentionally use the flipper. The G10 is grippy enough but won't tear up pockets and the neutral handle shape allows a wide variety of grips. The only thing I would wish for is a deadbolt flipper version of the Otanashi. That would be the ne plus ultra version of a pocket defensive knife.

Joshua
Falls Church, Va

Apr 19, 2022

Pros: Weight, Ease of Opening, Handle Material, Pocket Clip, Blade Material, Overall Quality, Blade Sharpness

Cons: Weight, Handle Feel, Lock Type

Pretty nice. Bit odd handling

Great solid built knife. Let's get that out of the way. I am leaving the Autolawks out of this debate as I knew what I was buying before I got it. And Autolawks don't personally bother me. My one indifference on this knife. And thereby dinged a star. Is the assisted opening on mine seems a bit too stiff. IDK if that will break in or result in possibly cutting my flipper thumb. IDK honestly. I do love the knife and strong heavy handle build. But IDK if I keep it or send it back. Opened it a total of 3 times. Put back in box with protective plastic and freshly washed hands. My nitpick is not the tools fault but possibly mine. Or perhaps I just need to quit over thinking it and fidget with it a bit more. It shoots out strong. And has no blade play. Solid built. So I am thinking on it and may or may not return for refund.

William
MA

Sep 12, 2022

Pros: Handle Material

Cons: Weight

Hissatsu 2.0

First and foremost this is easily the best-looking James Williams folder in existence. All of the usual corny stuff and billboarding has been removed for a look of pure elegance and class. It's hard to tell from pictures but the pattern of the G-10 has been made much finer and looks+feels great. Lettering on the blade is minimal and the lack of the traditional thumb pad looks nice. The clip is finally plain which is perfect. The blade sits almost entirely inside the frame, almost like an OTS auto, and deploys with the discrete but effective index flipper. Just a very sleek and modernized look now. There is also no jimping, anywhere, but if you actually understand how to hold a Williams knife you would understand why that's irrelevant. I saw an Amazon reviewer complain that your thumb touches the Deadbolt when you hold it in a hammer grip, index finger through the cutout; a great example of someone who has no clue how to hold the blade. The action is great. Like you would expect from an assisted, it flies out with authority. I haven't had to mess with it at all. Some assisted knives have issues with requiring too much tension/hurting the finger; not the case for me here. The IKBS ball-bearing pivot is to allow for tight pivot tension while maintaining buttery smooth deployment. Closing is easier two-handed, which IMO is not a problem for this type of knife, but if you need every fidget dimension fulfilled then you may not like that. I'm sure many people will try to de-assist this knife however, as you would then have a ball-bearing flipper that drops shut via Deadbolt. D2 is a controversial choice. A tougher steel makes more sense, as this is clearly not a workhorse knife. On the other hand, it could be argued that the thin geometry on the Osoraku type blade weighs in far more than a comparison of D2 vs AUS-8. It's a geometry designed to pierce+slip, not bash into things, and I think you will get the same result bashing it into the same sorts of things regardless of steel. As such, I still would trust this knife to do the thing it's supposed to do. On the plus side, if you do occasionally use it, the edge will last longer... which is good because sharpening this blade type, in my experience, is no fun! In my case, the factory edge was perfectly razor sharp; a nice change from my Otanashi that couldn't cut paper. This knife weighs a lot for a folder this size (6.2 oz). That's almost the same weight as the larger Otanashi. The steel liners are not skeletonized at all. To some knifeheads this will seem cheap. I think Williams might claim that the heftiness allows it to more easily function as a potential kubaton and also adds impact strength to an attack; take it or leave it. Much like Williams' earlier knives (Shizuka, Goken, Otanashi etc.), the handle has a fairly long neutral section from which it's actually meant to be gripped. This too adds to the weight. It's certainly not enough that it will sag your pocket or otherwise be terribly noticeable, but still worth taking into account. Overall, very pleased with this knife. If you are looking for a handsome light tasks + defense-oriented AO knife with a strong point, neutral handle, and incredibly strong lock; look no further. If you are looking for an EDC to cut lots of boxes, fruit, get dirty etc. this is not the one, and it's definitely not worthing paying the new technology tax + the Williams tax pricewise.

Chris
MA

Sep 03, 2022

Pros: None

Cons: Lock Ease of Use

1 Step Forward, 2 Steps Back

I love James Williams designed knives. Sure, they are often a bit pricey given the blades are almost never made of super steel or anything, but that's because you're paying for the sincere vision of an expert in Japanese martial arts/edged weapons. The Otanashi No Ken and Shizuka No Ken are great examples of this; CRKT clearly said "James, do as you will," and so he did. It pains me to say that the Inazuma is not such a knife. To me it's very clearly a knife where CRKT said "James, okay, we need you to please...": ...make the knife in D2 because our consumers think AUS-8 is a trashy steel. Nevermind that AUS-8 is a tough steel, D2 is a brittle steel, and that these Osoraku-style blades are for combat and not cutting boxes all day. Our consumers will not pay 100+ for AUS-8 so we need it to be at least D2. ...put the G10 on both sides. Nevermind that the old asymmetrical design was great for not getting snagged/eating up your pocket; we need to the pocket clip to be reversible for our consumers. ...give it IKBS ball bearings and assisted action. We need to showcase our tech to the consumer. Why would an assisted knife even need a ball bearing pivot? So that it drops shut easier? ...drop the tactically superior thumbstud deployment you've always used for a flipper. Our consumers think the blade is more aesthetically pleasing without thumb stuff on there. The Inazuma is a neutered Williams design; it wants to appeal to the "EDC consumer" while still trying to be a weapon and it comes up short as both. Also it was made in China instead of Taiwan unlike all of his previous designs. Pros: Deadbolt is great. A shame it went to waste here. Aesthetically the blade does look nice with no thumbstud. Also aesthetically the knife is no longer a trashy billboard; no silly kanji covering the blade, no big CRKT in white on the pocket clip. This gives me some hope for whatever the next iteration ends up being.