CRKT’s Best Value — The Amicus

The CRKT Amicus is the best deal in the entire CRKT lineup and probably one of the best heavy-duty folding knives under $60 ($40 at K-Var) anywhere. This is a brute of a knife. The Amicus is also comfortable, and features an exceptionally well-designed blade.

Fit, Finish, Feel, Features, and Functions

Jesper Voxnaes from Loegstrup, Denmark, designed the Amicus to excel in the outdoors under the toughest conditions he could find. The Amicus is not light; in fact, it’s pretty darn heavy at 6.7 ounces. However, the substantial heft is backed up with a lot of stainless steel making the knife strong.

Users will appreciate the heft when using the integrated pummel to hammer the battery terminal back on their trucks, crushing a few walnuts found while walking in the park, or tapping out a pin on an AR-15. From my perspective, the Amicus is a work knife, so who cares if it is twice as heavy as any of your other knives?

The one-handed thumbhole is large enough to use with gloves, completely ambidextrous. The knife also supports tip-up or tip-down carry. A miss for lefties, it only features right-handed pocket clip mounting. The CRKT Amicus is available in either plain or with partially serrated-edge options. Based on the edge holding ability of the rather incredible 8Cr18Mov steel blade, I do not see any real need for a combo edge on this very aggressive cutting steel.

The big, fat, flat-ground blade delivers enough size to spread your peanut butter easily while delivering a crazy sharp edge for cutting operations. I really liked this steel and edge geometry. Honestly, I have not seen a better cutting knife under $100. Maybe CRKT should use this steel on many more knives. Defensively, one of the things I really like is that this is a 3.4-inch blade, which is just under the majority of most city and state concealed carry blade sizes. No sense carrying a 2-inch blade when you can carry 3.4-inches.

The super-sized handle easily accommodates use with thinner work gloves and in any position. A few minor complaints are that the knife is handle-heavy balanced which is not my preference, but it all still works and delivers an extremely rugged knife. The other nitpick is that the edge grind was well defined and ground, but not quite up to the usual symmetry I have seen on other CRKT knives. For a $40 street-priced knife, the CRKT Amicus is an awesome knife that can handle any field, survival, work on-site, or just household chores.

Specifications

Available in plain edge version (5445) and the combination edge version with Triple Point™ Serrations model (5446).

• Open Overall Length | 8.125 inches
• Closed Length | 4.718 inches
• Weight | 6.7 ounces
• Blade Length | 3.407 inches
• Blade Thickness | 0.154 inches
• Blade Material | 8Cr13Mov
• Blade-HRC | 58-60
• Blade Finish | Stainless Steel Stonewash
• Blade Grind | Flat Grind
• Style | Drop Point
• Lock Type | Frame Lock
• Carry System | 2-Position Pocket Clip, tip up/down

What’s your favorite folding knife? Do you own a CRKT knife? Which model? Share your answers in the comment section.

Major Pandemic is an editor at large who loves everything about shooting, hunting, the outdoors, and all those lifesaving little survival related products. His goal is simple, tell a good story in the form of a truthful review all while having fun. He contributes content to a wide variety of print and digital magazines and newsletters for companies and manufacturers throughout the industry with content exposure to over 2M readers monthly. www.MajorPandemic.com