|
You could think of the CRKT Shrimp as a big key chain knife, but it’s
really a small rugged utility folder that glows in the dark.
The category of "key chain knives" has been around for a long time. In
most cases, these are little pen knives, with thin blades and slip joint
pocket knife frames. Gerry McGinnis had a radically innovative idea,
which is why this knife is in the Columbia River Knife & Tool (CRKT)
catalog. He calls it the Shrimp.
The revolutionary idea is this: make a small knife with premium quality
materials and big knife build. The Shrimp is not a toy, but a real sport
and work knife. The only difference is that it has a 1.75" blade and a
2.5" handle.
Take the blade, for example. It is made of premium 8Cr13MoV stainless
steel in a high satin finish. Although short, it is fully featured, with
a modified drop point shape with recurve. It is high hollow ground and
has a slight swedge on the top edge. It is opened by a large CNC-milled
nail notch. There are aggressive friction grooves on the spine for the
thumb. But most impressively, the blade is a full 0.125" (3.2 mm) thick,
a width common on much larger folders.
The Shrimp has a frame-lock build, eliminating the need for separate
liners. The right side frame is 3Cr13 stainless steel on all models. The
left frame is 6061 anodized aluminum on the colored models, and
stainless steel on the bead-blast model 1181. The left frame is
skeletonized to save weight. To aid grip, there are two finger choils
and the frame has a rounded contour.
The combination of thick blade, solid frame lock and large blade pivot
means that this is one shrimp that doesn’t wiggle!
But there’s more to the story. Just like our larger knives, the Shrimp
has a removable stainless steel pocket clip in bead-blast finish. Torx
fasteners are used throughout. There are Teflon bushings at the blade
pivot. And there’s a small key chain loop that folds out of the frame.
And finally, we’ve added a back spacer of moonglow plastic that glows in
the dark, so you can quickly find your Shrimp at night.
We have value-priced the Shrimp so anyone can afford one as a key chain
knife, a money clip knife, a first knife, or a gift knife. And please
remember, the name Shrimp is not intended as an insult, but as a term of
endearment for a tough little guy.
About the Knife Designer:
Gerry McGinnis is a business student at North Carolina State University,
who, at age 20, became the youngest knife designer in this catalog. He
started making knives when he was 15, learning mostly from Internet
forums, and built up his equipment from hand tools to power tools. He
met Alan Folts, who he says “was very generous and helped advance my
knifemaking skills, particularly with folders.” Gerry transitioned from
mostly fixed blades to folders in about a year, and got interested in
folder designs with flippers. He has concentrated on mostly flipper
designs and perfecting the mechanism because of their ambidextrous
one-handed opening characteristics and ease of use. Gerry placed 2nd in
the 2008 Custom Knives and Guns Knifemaker Buildoff in the folder
category and has been mentioned several times in Blade Magazine as a new
maker to watch. Gerry is the designer of the Tuition, Summa, Shrimp,
Premonition, and Notorious, which to the casual observer seem to be the
work of a designer with decades of experience.
Features
The Shrimp’s stainless steel frame lock is like that on larger knives,
and gives rock-solid lockup.
Shrimp features include a moonglow back spacer, stainless steel clip,
and fold-out key chain loop.
Specifications
1180: Black Scale, Razor-Sharp Cutting Edge
Blade: Length: 1.75” (44 mm)
Thickness: 0.125” (3.2 mm)
Steel: 8Cr13MoV, 58-59 HRC
Closed: Handle length: 2.50” (64 mm)
Open: Overall length: 4.25” (108 mm)
Weight: 1.9 oz. (54 g) |
Weapons
Universe is on Facebook
