CRKT Keydashi Fixed Blade Knife (2″ Bead Blast) 2280

Over the years, CRKT has produced a number of successful minimal personal fixed blades, each conceived by their favorite knife designers in the quest to make a knife smaller, lighter, and easier to access. Now Brazilian knife designer Flavio Ikoma takes this design challenge to the next step with his new Keydashi keychain knife.

CRKT translated Flavio’s custom design into the affordable production version you see here. The knife itself is a full-tang skeletonized piece of high-carbon 1.4116 stainless steel. The 2.0″ blade is hollow ground on the right side to a full curved skinner profile with a Razor-Sharp edge and bead-blast finish. This is a versatile shape which is useful for hundreds of daily cutting tasks. Best of all, the knife alone weighs only 0.8 ounce, making it the lightest fixed blade we have ever produced. Flavio’s genius comes through in the integrated design of the blade and handle, which allows a secure and comfortable grip that is rarely found in such a small knife. He achieves this through the use of carefully-thought-out details: a deep wrap-around index finger groove, a castellated notch at the thumb, and a slight handle swell with dark green injection-molded Zytel scales.

To provide additional control, a braided nylon fob extends into the hand. Most knives of this type use a locking Kydex or Zytel sheath, but Flavio came up with a stainless steel sheath plate that locks against the flat back side of the blade, safely sealing the blade edge. He used two studs which mate with holes and notches in the blade. To release the sheath plate, simply press the top of the plate with the thumb, and the knife is free to slide off the studs. There are no moving parts, no plastics to wear out with use, so it is simple and safe.

An 8 mm split ring is provided so you can attach the Keydashi to your keychain, or to your favorite neck chain or a nylon paracord (not included.) Oh yes, we forgot to mention the small notch at the base of the finger choil. With the sheath plate locked in place (very important) this notch can be used as a bottle opener when the knife is inverted. It proves once again that really good things come in small packages.