Enotka
USA

Jan 19, 2021

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

Cons: None

Great folding karambit

This is a self defense knife. The most important properties of this knife are ease of deployment, sharpness of the blade, reliability, and feel of the knife in your hand. I think all that checks out great in this knife. I find it much better than other folding karambits. It opens as quickly as an assist opener. That surpasses all manually opening karambits. There are some models that open when you pull them from the pocket, which can be arguably faster options, however with this knife you are always in control. You can pull it closed and open fast when you need it. It is difficult to be objective about sharpness without special equipment, but it feels like it is razor sharp out of the box. The kinematic mechanism is unusual, but it is very simple (and very cool!). I have this knife for less than a month and opened that maybe 500 times - so far so good. I don't expect it to fail unless damaged. I have a medium size palm and it feels just perfect. I would say if your palm is not wider than 4 inches you should be fine. Something less positive to note: This is a right handed knife. You can open it with left hand, no problem, but carrying it in the left side is awkward and impractical. The pocket clip is made for the right side. I am ambidextrous and I really hope CRKT considers building a left handed version of this knife. Sheath doesn't come with the knife. Looks like you can order it separately.

Ryland
, Florida

Oct 16, 2021

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

Cons: None

One of the best designed karambits

I have several karambits, all of them with some type of wave feature, and the issue is with those is that if you draw it reverse grip, or blade down, and the wave doesnt deploy the blade them you really have no other good option but to use your other hand to open the knife. That makes you drop your defense. The provoke may deploy a fraction of a second slower but you never have to worry about having to drop you defense to deploy. I am speaking strictly from a self defense perspective. Of course you could deploy the blade as it draws from your pocket bit then you risk slicing your pants and leg since the blade would still be in your pocket. The ONLY issue with this knife is the position of the ring. It should be more forward to align the knuckles better, and be more ergonomic.

Lb
Utah

Apr 30, 2019

Pros: None

Cons: Pocket Clip

Lbunnell

Great knife but pocket clip could be better design. Thanks

Sam
Oneonta NY

Apr 03, 2019

Pros: Weight, Ease of Opening, Overall Quality, Blade Sharpness

Cons: None

Truly Unique Knife - Fantastic!

Joe Caswell is a true GENIUS! This knife is perfect and really changes the whole idea of a karambit - this is not a novelty, folks. Flawless in and design and execution!

Chris
USA

Sep 20, 2023

Pros: Blade Sharpness, Ease of Opening, Handle Feel, Handle Material, Lock Ease of Use, Lock Type, Overall Quality, Pocket Clip, Sheath, Weight

Cons: Blade Material

Best Folding Karambit

This design is genius, and super fun to flip. It is the only karambit I know of that can be both opened and closed with one hand. To the other reviewer who said you cannot close it with one hand, I recommend the following: Open the knife with your index finger through the hole (i.e., normal karambit grip). To close the knife, spin it 180 degrees upward and stop it there with your thumb, such that you are now holding the knife just between your index finger (inthe hole) and thumb (on the outside of the hole). Then use your thumb to hit the lock, slightly swing the knife downward and away from you, and the blade will snap closed. A few moments of practice and you can flip the knife up and close it in less than a second, with one hand.

Tim
Ohio

Jan 15, 2019

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

Cons: None

Great knife

Works perfectly, fit and finishe are excellent, came sharp no issues.

Lisa K.
Florida

Jul 17, 2019

Pros: Ease of Opening, Overall Quality, Blade Sharpness

Cons: Pocket Clip

CRKT Provoke

I love the design of this knife. It came sharp out of the box. It's fun to open and close and easy to open and close and I have small hands. I see they made a sheath for it now, I may pick one up because of the weight, when I wear loose shorts it hangs a bit. Overall, I give it an A+!

M.C
Southeast Asia

Sep 25, 2019

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

Cons: None

Solid, well made, well designed.

I intend to use this kerambit mainly for self-defense/hiking/camping. This is a very solid, well made and well designed product. The overall quality of this kerambit is very, very good. It came out razor sharp out of the box. The size of the kerambit is a bit large for me, but it does not impede my movement in any way. Good and firm grip. The overall construction is very solid. The opening mechanism needed a bit of "warming up", but after a few times opening and closing it, the kerambit worked smoothly. Personal opinion: The blade could be made to curve in a bit more to give maximum hook//grip/damage to the intended object/subject. Overall, this is a well made, well designed kerambit that has a lot of potential.

Nathan
Edmonton, Alberta

Jun 02, 2021

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

Cons: Handle Feel, Pocket Clip

Know how to use a Karambit before buying a Karambit

So I've seen a lot of reviews on many sites claiming this folder is hard to close. It is not. If you are familiar with how to use a Karambit, you'd know the standard grip would be a reversed or ice pick grip. When held in this orientation, performing a flail (look it up its too much to explain) positions the Karambit in a manner where your thumb is free to interact with the lock disengage to retract the blade. Also, performing a flail while retracted will deploy the blade incredibly quick, plus it sounds and looks pretty fancy. Basically if you know how a Karambit is used in Silat martial arts you'll be proficient with this knife, both in a general handling and defensive aspect. About the knife; heavier than you'd think (not a bad thing at all), great ergonomics, fun as anything to fidget with while at the same time practicing handling skills. Only reasons for 4 stars are the handle material and belt clip. Handle material itself isn't the issue, it's how smooth it is that's the problem. If you have slightly damp hands from sweating or whatnot, this knife has a tendency to spread its wings and fly out of your hand with a little help from the oversized retention ring. The belt clip is just incredibly tight. Had to bend it up slightly to allow it to guide onto my waistband. Also the flush carry design of the clip negates the Quickdraw advantage of the retention ring, let alone is freaking hard to get out of your pants without using two hands. All in all it's a super fun, attractive and sturdy knife to own. I find myself wanting to use it as a tool just to have it on me as much as possible (Canadian law states self defense is not a valid reason for carry, must have a utilitarian purpose).

Frank
N.Y

Jan 24, 2019

Pros: Ease of Opening

Cons: Lock Ease of Use, Lock Type

Nice. Except for lock

Very nice knife ,very good fit finish ,but I formed blisters on my thumbs from unlocking knife , very tough to unlock so I might return it. Not sure yet

Kitty
California

Sep 13, 2019

Pros: Ease of Opening, Overall Quality

Cons: Pocket Clip

Fun Factor

I was looking at it for awhile and finally decided to go for it. To be quite honest, I purchased it mostly for the fun factor. It's an awesome karambit to have fun with opening and closing it (mostly opening). Several reviews claimed it was hard to open and/or close. Mine was flawless. It's smooth to open and easy to close. The only so so part is the clip. Great idea of the clip sitting flush but it's hard to clip onto jeans or other thicker materials. As for the $199 price tag? Not so much but then again, it's the first of the kind.....

Sanghyuk
Fort Worth, Tx

Jan 16, 2019

Pros: Blade Sharpness

Cons: Lock Type

good but .....

good but not so sure... because it is so hard to close the knife. easy and cool to open it but so hard to close the knife. it is not good for woman user.