CRKT M16-01S Outdoor Folding Knife with Frame Lock, Black, M16-01S

I had the original K.I.S.S knife from CRKT. I also have a small CRKT fixed blade knife. They are both great knives. Recently, I decided I'd like another CRKT folder. The M16-01S is another win for CRKT. Well made and study, yet small enough not to dominate your pocket. The minimal handle makes it light weight and discreet when it's in your pocket. It came factory sharp out of the box, which is fine. But I honed it to a finer edge. Now, it's really sharp and seems to hold the edge well. I really like the combination of compact, with a full three inch blade. The look of it is nice too. Tactical, but not "tacti-cool", you know. The only issues I have with the knife are the liner lock and the thumb stud. The knife is made so that it doesn't snag in your pocket, which is great, but that makes the thumb stud difficult to articulate. The tab on the back makes up for it, but I'm so used to opening a knife with my thumb, that it seems unnatural. The liner lock works well, but again, it tucked way in as to make it difficult to access easily. This is not to say, however, that I'm not happy with the knife. All in all it's really nice. I expect, as it wears in, it will become easier. Plus, I'll get used to opening the blade with my index, instead of my thumb over time. As with all knives, adjust the pivot screw to make blade deployment easier. Mine came pretty snug, and I had to back it off a bit to make it work smoothly.

I bought this knife for everyday carry when wearing dress clothes (suit/dress slacks). I bought the more 'aggressive' version with the tanto point/serrated blade to wear with jeans/casual clothes (M16-10KZ). Both knives could be carried in either situation as they are extremely lightweight and thin. This knife is slightly thinner than the M16-10KZ, but you could wear either in suit/dress slacks with no issue. Both fit/clip on the inside coin pocket of dress slacks to completely conceal them while leaving them accessible. I choose to carry the slimmer version with dress clothes just as a matter of personal preference. Also, if I had to use it at work to open a box, etc., it wouldn't seem so out of place. I am not a knife expert, so will leave it to others to comment on the technical aspects. From an everyday carry standpoint, I don't even notice I am wearing it. The blade length is sufficient for 'urban' self defense situations and would appear to be strong enough for that application if needed. The blade was extremely sharp right out of the box. The flipper works great and is not too tight nor too loose. Some have expressed concerns about the "sharpness" of the flipper, but the knife I received does not feel sharp at all. The thumb stud could be a little taller, as it is more difficult to open if you rely on that alone. If that is your preferred method, you may want to look around. However, with the flipper being so accessible, not sure why you would even need the thumb stud. The flipper serves as a hand guard when the knife is open and is one of the features I really like on this knife. This knife does NOT have a safety button to keep it locked open. With that being said, when it is open, I don't see any reason why it wouldn't stay that way. With a little practice, you could become proficient at closing with one hand if you wanted to do so. For $20+/-, I can't imagine finding a better quality knife that is so reasonbly priced!

Excellent. Own the larger version as well. Retains an edge, great to carry for gutting fish at the river as it dries out very quickly

Second time buying the same knife. Great little edc. However, this time it came so dull I had to double check if I bought a trainer.

This is a handy and slim knife, I’m not a fan of liner lock knives but had to give this feature 5 stars as on this blade has ambidextrous thumb studs which lock into the aluminum scales when the blade deploys, this prevents blade play and makes for a solid lock up. Ergonomically this is fine, it’s a bit small for my hand and has a few hot spots, such as the excellent pocket clip. It’s an amazing value a slick thin package which disappears in a pocket, great EDC. It’s not assisted open, but flicks out fast. Great design, decent steel that takes a good edge it’s no s30v so it will need to be kept sharp if you use it much. For the price I’m very impressed, I may look at some of the larger blades in this family.

Great knife. I have used them for years.

This has got to be the most unique knife in my collection. Usually, if I were to imagine the specs of a 3" blade with steel frame lock, I'd imagine at least 4oz, probably veering on 5oz. I think I've read that this thing weighs in at 2.56, and I believe that to be very accurate. This doesn't feel flimsy like larger blades with nylon bodies because the weight is distributed over a small body. CRKT managed to fit a 3" blade into a gentleman carry style thin body. It is slim because of the frame lock instead of a liner. I was hesitant on the "tactical" look M-16 body on an EDC/gentleman style blade, but in general, I feel it is not overdone enough to matter. The blade came dead center with a bronze washer and nylon spacer. There is zero play in the blade when open. The blade itself is very nicely made and came extremely sharp. The fit and finish of the body and blade are excellent for this price range. There are a couple minor QC issues, but honestly, the fit and finish are on par with blades I have in the $30-70 range. The blade has both a Kershaw style finger pull as well as thumb studs. Both have excellent texture, but I feel like the thumb studs are more for aesthetics and/or blade stoppers than true release mechanisms because they are nearly flush with the body when closed. The blade has good release. It isn't spring assisted like a Kershaw, but it nearly fully deploys with a pull on the tab, and with a very minor flick of the wrist, it is a very quick release blade. The jimping (spelling?) on the back of the blade is very nice with clean cuts, but again, probably more for aesthetics as it is too flush when open to provide much grip. The blade is a tiny bit on the thin side (height wise), but not terrible, similar to the front half on a Kershaw Leek. The body, which is where they saved a lot of weight and put this into a gentleman knife category, at least in size and weight, is decent length, but very thin in height. This means that it doesn't give a lot of surface area to grip when open. However, the decent heft of the steel body helps and in general, it feels well balanced and despite being small, feels substantial. My only con is really like others have said. The release mechanism on the frame lock is too flush with the opposite side and mine came too aggressive/stiff. It has about a 90% catch when open. I've never seen one that goes over that much, I usually am happy with 50-60%. With a steel frame lock this size without much purchase for my thumb and grabbing that much onto the blade, it is difficult to release the blade. Even once I have the blade "unlocked", it still pushes against the blade through half the motion due to being so far over. I find that i have to keep pressure on it for a little bit of the motion if I want one handed close. This can be dangerous since it puts your thumb in the path of the blade if you aren't careful. In general, I would not suggest one handed closure unless your copy has a slightly looser frame lock or this opens up some with use. I would have preferred a Kershaw style speedsafe lock, but even on their gentleman knives, they do not put this on. I'm guessing it adds weight and/or size, and I also would imagine it might be patented. I also would have preferred a deep carry clip. All that said, what really knocks this blade out of the park is the value for price along with the ingenious design. You get a solid 3" blade in a tiny discreet body that is well made for sub $20! For whatever reason, this blade is priced at $19.84 for the silver blade on black stainless handle. That is a steal for this quality. If you are in the market for a smaller EDC that still manages to give you a 3" blade, grab this before they realize that the price might be a glitch (their other models in the same M-16 1s range are around $25-35). Edit: 5/21/20 I like this knife, but one huge flaw is making me drop this knife down to 3 stars. Like some others have mentioned, the lock bar is WAY too tight and engages at around 95% on mine. Because of this, when trying to close one handed (something I have no problem with any of my other knives), you have to put a ton of pressure on the release bar with your thumb AND push the blade forward with your index to prevent it from just relocking. This has chipped my thumbnail several times because of the amount of pressure required. Also, this can cause the blade to come flying into the closed position and has sliced my thumb a few times as your thumb is naturally in the way on a thumb lock. For a knife this size, one handed open and close is an expectation, but I just can't safely do it with this one. The frame lock is just too tight and the metal too thick for this sized blade.

The CRKT M16 series are my favorite small, inexpensive knives. They fit the hand, lock very well, and the blade stays sharp with real world usage.. I bought my 1st one abut a year ago, and carry it daily. It has killed a whole lot of tape seals, cut up a bunch of lunches, and stripped a bunch of wire, among other things - still quite sharp and the size is very handy. It's easy to keep clean and so far hasn't needed sharpening, in spite of daily use. So, since the 1st one was good, I bought this one to replace another EDC knife that got eaten by snakes or some such, and needed to be replaced.

Aningen liten

SUPER edc wie das 10kz behält die scharfe obwohl man sagt das 8cr13mov oft nazuschleifen ist und wer nicht sehr große haende hat wird damit zufrieden sein verschwindet in der Hosentasche man merkt nichts davon dass man ein edc messer dabei hat manche laufen ja mit nem pm2 herum das is def ein Unterschied und das beste ist obwohl es so klein ist aufgeklappt ist es ein vollwertiger folder da die Klinge perfekt in dem Griff schalen liegt und dann is die Klinge und griff gleich von der lange geraden Kit carson und crkt echt gelungen m16 is nicht umsonst deren Flaggschiff

コンパクトサイズでポケットに入れていても気にならず実用的なナイフです。粒度〜#5000の砥石で仕上げてカミソリのキレ味！コピー用紙やトマトのスライスも完璧。１本は持っておきたい ナイフです。M16-01Zとは仕様が違いますので要注意(赤いストッパーの有無 ⇨ 個人的には無い方が使い易いです)

Das Messer hat alles was ein gutes EDC-Messer so braucht. Clip, Trägt nicht auf, Super Scharf schon Out-of-the-Box, Günstig, Klasse gearbeitet, Perfekte Größe, Nochmal: Klasse gearbeitet, Leicht... Einfach schön. Leider ist es aber nicht Paragraph 42a konform weil es einhändig zu öffnen ist, deshalb darf man es nicht mitführen... Bleibt trotzdem einfach weil es so ein tolles Messer ist!

Too small to be comfortable in hand (which in of itself may not be a con for someone else), poor flipper mechanism, no spring assist makes opening more cumbersome than it should have been (why even have a flipper when it's barely usable?), it did however improve somewhat by adjusting the corresponding tightening screw, but is still less than ideal and introduces wobbling to the blade and misaligns the centering when blade rests in the handle. Poor linerlock mechanism that, though stable, makes closing it one handed too cumbersome compared to other similar knives. From afar the construction appear decent, but closer inspection shows sloppy metalwork with little to no attention to detail, especially by the flipper. Perhaps some of the mechanical flaws might be alleviated somewhat with some lubrication, but that it's not already in perfect condition straight out of the box are clear signs of poor quality. Product page says made in Taiwan but box says China. Blade itself has no information about steel or where it's made, so I think it's pretty safe to say it's the cheapest garbage they can get away with calling steel that's being used. The blade looks pretty cool, but I wouldn't trust it for any utilitarian purposes.