Pros: Weight, Ease of Opening, Handle Material, Pocket Clip, Blade Material, Overall Quality, Blade Sharpness
Cons: None
CruWear in a small folder? YES.
CruWear is known for extreme toughness and fantastic edge retention. It's usually prized for hard use, big choppers and a lot of people would question the utility in a small blade. And let's make no mistake, this is a very, very small blade. I'll make the case for it, though. First, however, let's look at the other elements. It's blacked out, and won't draw any attention unlike most "pocket jewelry" gentleman's folders with shiny steel and colorful accents everywhere. It simply doesn't draw the eye, and the blackout in a knife this small doesn't look "tactical", it just looks modest and discreet. Spyderco's DLC coatings are known for great wear resistance and longevity, which will also help with preserving the high carbon steel. Honestly, though, don't let it sit around wet for hours and you'll never have a problem. I typically give my high carbon steel blades a damp Ballistol rag wipedown when needed after it's been used a lot, and I've never had any rust develop. The handle fits my XL/XXL hands just fine with my pinky more than half on the handle, a great change from most small knives where I can get a 2.5 finger grip. The compression lock is terrific on a very small knife. It's easy to operate, very strong, and one-handed operation is no problem even with extra big hands. My last really small blade was a Spyderco Squeak slip-it and while I could open and close it one handed, I had to pay some attention. Now, for CruWear on a sub-3" blade. Why? What could you possibly be doing with a knife that small that would be helped by a steel that tough? Frankly, lightly abusing it. I'm not batoning with a tiny blade like this, but I will be confident in ripping through hardware store zip ties, plastic clamshells, gritty and grimy cardboard and know that it's never going to chip out on me. It'll also be easy to sharpen or strop, and the large handle to blade ratio gives you some actual leverage to apply some real force to the blade. This is the steel that gives you everything CPM-MagnaCut does except for the corrosion resistance (and is somewhat tougher if I recall correctly). Toughness means easily fixed rolls instead of chips when it's been abused. I've chipped M390 on a small blade before hitting a brass staple in packing materials or something. CruWear won't be phased by that. I can also bring it back to sharp without diamond stones and just a basic whetstone. It also lets Spyderco provide a very acute, very sharp/fine edge without worries about the edge breaking off. In short, it fits a large hand well, won't let you down if you really need to use it as hard as a small knife can be used, the handle and compression lock feel just as solid as a full size PM2, and CruWear is a great steel. This knife will also be "street legal" in far more states and major cities than anything larger. It looks utilitarian, not threatening, and it's under a 2.5" blade length. More importantly, it's completely friendly to non-knife people. No one is freaking out when you open this up. Mine arrived perfectly centered with smooth action, and I'm really looking forward to the G10 scales in the upper Midwest winter. I love my Ti Squeak, but at -30F ... better have gloves on to open it.
(
