Let’s put my playing cards on the desk: I’m an Oregon native. I grew up in Portland, and my appreciation for the marginally bizarre but homegrown vibe that this state places out has by no means left me—particularly in terms of knives.
Perhaps it’s the rain-soaked forests, logging tradition, and a few of the greatest public, state, and nationwide parks that make Oregonians this manner, however we’re a bit of obsessive about gear that may take a beating and hold going within the outdoor. So, sure, once I heard CRKT—certainly one of Portland’s proudest exports—was scaling up the well-known Razel into one thing that straddled the road between knife and axe, I used to be already half in love once I noticed one in individual throughout a tour of CRKT’s facility proper right here in Portland, Oregon.
However love doesn’t imply I’m blind, and the CRKT Razel Nax is a instrument that has earned each my admiration and critique in equal measure. Immediately, I’ll provide you with a couple of of my ideas on this odd mating of blade types.
Knife Middle of Excellence: Portland’s Blade Legacy
Earlier than diving into the Nax itself, this assessment deserves a pause for some much-needed context. For these exterior of city, it is perhaps information that Portland isn’t simply the land of beer festivals, bizarre doughnuts, and silly politics—it’s the knife capital of the nation. CRKT, Benchmade, Gerber, Leatherman, now the all-American Steelport: these are titans of the knife world, and collectively they’ve not too long ago based the Portland Knife Middle of Excellence (PKCoE) to push and encourage innovation, craftsmanship, and—let’s be sincere—a sure pleasant rivalry. Over half the standard knives bought within the U.S. are made within the metro space, and we’ve quietly constructed a tradition the place making a superb blade is simply what’s anticipated within the Rose Metropolis.
CRKT’s origin story is pure Portland: based in 1994 in close by Tualatin, it’s the basic story of two knife business vets, Rod Bremer and Paul Gillespi, leaving the company world to stubbornly do issues their very own method. Inside a couple of years, they’d launched one of many best-selling folders in reminiscence and by no means slowed down from there. Immediately, innovation and pushing boundaries are what I feel CRKT does greatest by working with a few of the greatest and most well-renowned bladesmiths within the knife world. The Nax is a nod to the late Jon Graham, designer of the unique Razel.
First Impressions: The “Axe Knife”
Pulling the Razel Nax from its Kydex sheath, you get rapid “severe instrument” vibes – it’s freaking heavy. Image an 11-inch slab of 1075 carbon metal dressed up with resin-infused fiber handles that need to be micarta once they develop up.
As I stated earlier, the blade is a scaled-up tackle Jon Graham’s basic Razel design. As odd because it appears to be like, I feel it completely fuses the arduous edges of a chisel with sufficient sweeping stomach and mass to trace at axe-level chopping energy – you may’t assist however need to chop issues if you maintain it in your hand.
Nevertheless, as they typically say, magnificence is within the eye of the beholder, and from the few individuals I’ve talked to concerning the Nax, I’ve had fairly conflicting opinions about it. You both see a instrument for a thousand jobs, otherwise you see a Frankenstein’s monster. For somebody who likes to place knives by hell: prying, scraping, digging into soil —it was an instantaneous invitation to check its limits.
Whereas the unique end is cool sufficient by itself, I feel it appears to be like even higher after it’s been abused a bit. The already considerably distressed look it comes with from the manufacturing unit simply does an ideal job of mixing in with precise use, moderately than ruining the “curb attraction” some knives usually lose after use.
Design, Metal, and Building
The enterprise finish is over 4.25 inches of chisel-tipped edge, flat floor from 1075 carbon metal. CRKT rightly factors out that 1075 doesn’t maintain an edge fairly so long as one thing like D2 or 1095, however what you quit in edge retention, you make up for in pure resilience.
This can be a metal that permits you to beat on it, bend it to jobs that may snigger at extra brittle blades, after which sharpen it again to combating form with minimal fuss – particularly when you’ve acquired a Ken Onion Worksharp Sharpener close by and even certainly one of their helpful discipline sharpeners.
The total-tang deal with delivers the right combination of safety and steadiness, with pronounced jimping and contours that hold your hand the place it belongs—even when issues get muddy, bloody, or simply plain ugly. The deal with materials is billed as “resin-infused fiber,” which is CRKT’s advertising method of claiming micarta-esque. No matter you name it, the stuff feels heat and grippy, not plasticky.
Within the Area: Actual World Use
In a phrase? Versatile. The Nax simply laughs at jobs that almost all mounted blades wouldn’t strategy. Chopping branches, notching logs, scraping nearly any floor that isn’t concrete, splitting kindling, and hacking by all the things from cardboard to uncooked meat—the Razel Nax can do nearly all the things besides fold up small in your pocket. Did I point out this factor is sort of a foot lengthy?
That brings up certainly one of its greatest issues: this can be a large, heavy instrument (over 11 ounces), and it’s not the very first thing you seize for gentle EDC. You strap it in your backpack, truck mattress gear bin, or stuff it in a instrument roll if you’re heading out to do actual work.
The Kydex sheath is powerful, however—right here comes my greatest gripe—the retention strap from the manufacturing unit is fairly stiff and wishes a good quantity of use to develop into simple to reattach with only one hand. You might additionally most likely soak it in heat water after which re-stretch the strap that method, however for me, it took a couple of days of snapping and unsnapping the strap to get it to an affordable steadiness between retention and ease of use.
The Razel Nax, a minimum of for me, carves (pun supposed) a distinct segment for itself by being not fairly a bushcraft knife, and never fairly a hatchet, however fairly credible as each. The chisel tip shaves hearth starters, pries painted-over {hardware}, and hacks at materials that would go away lesser blades in want of a eulogy.
Chopping energy is first rate, however don’t count on to rival an precise hatchet for velocity when processing plenty of kindling. On finer slices—assume meals prep or scraping out the forged iron—the flat grind and ahead tip allow you to choke up and work element with shocking precision with an honest quantity of instrument behind it too.
That is the uncommon instrument you attain for on objective, not since you forgot the precise one. When you perceive that, the slight awkwardness in some grip positions and weight distribution is sensible.
It’s a Jack-of-all-trades, and actually, generally a grasp of none—however in a pinch, that versatility is itself a type of mastery, and it does it at a sub $100 worth, which I additionally like. I like bullet factors to..nicely.. make my factors clear, so right here we go along with the “professionals and cons” a part of the article:
What CRKT Will get Proper
Chisel/Knife Hybrid: Nice for scraping, prying, and chopping—jobs that often demand a number of instruments.
Sturdy Building: The toughness of 1075 is confidence-inspiring. Beat on it, abuse it, snigger.
Deal with Ergonomics: Truly feels nice within the hand, even by lengthy jobs, moist or dry.
The place It Misses the Mark
Sheath Carry Choices: The belt loop is finicky, and for one thing you’ll need on the prepared, this seems like a lazy oversight.
Weight/Measurement: No getting round it, this can be a heavy, pretty cumbersome knife. Don’t make it your solely blade for a light-weight backpacking journey.
Remaining Ideas: For the Proper Individual, Practically Excellent
Is the CRKT Razel Nax for everybody? Completely not. Identical to the state and Metropolis it comes from, it’s kinda bizarre and certain gained’t attraction to everybody, even when they’re a “knife individual.” However for somebody who desires a single mounted blade that handles a dozen duties and serves as the right addition to any out of doors chef’s equipment, it’s arduous to not suggest. It’s not a collector’s queen, and it’s not a svelte EDC, however it’s a purpose-built instrument for the fact of actual work within the outdoor. Simply go in eyes open concerning the weight and sheath, and also you’ll most likely find yourself loving it as a lot as I do.
Oregon satisfaction apart, CRKT’s dedication to experimentation and collaboration (with legends just like the late Jon Graham, designer of the unique Razel) is what retains them on the entrance of the pack. The Nax reveals what’s attainable when custom will get thrown in a blender with perform and a touch of Northwest stubbornness. On that notice, when you want a instrument that doesn’t know when to stop, this one is completely value a glance.
The place To Purchase
