An amateur review of the CRKT Offbeat II

[SteadyD]

@dh1633pm bought several of these for an excellent price and kindly sent me one to keep and one to give impressions on. I am no expert (not even close) but I have been doing a lot of playing around with pocket knives with numerous lock types and steels. I will make posts as I use this knife over the next week or so to see how it holds up.

 

[SteadyD]

First impressions out of the box: this thing is solid. It has full liners and fits my hand very well. The lock is VERY solid and can be operated one handed for closing. I’m terrible with thumb studs but I can flick both knives just fine.

One blade was slightly off center but after messing with it for a minute or two I got it centered using two T8 torx drivers. One has a bit of lock stick but so do some of my $150 knives, and in my experience it wears in and diminishes or goes away entirely. I put a drop of oil on the mating surfaces and it is a bit smoother already.

It’s fully ambidextrous which I appreciate as I carry/open/close and often use my knives left handed.

The most interesting thing about this knife is the lock. It locks up just like a backlock, but unlocks differently with ambidextrous thumb studs. They are a little rough on the thumbs if you are fidgeting with the knife but for standard use it’s just fine.

If you look closely at the lock interface on the knife on the right you can see a bigger wear mark where it mates. This knife seems to have less side to side play however, and for a knife in this price range I envision a bit of a “harder” use knife, so it is the one I prefer and is also the one I sharpened up to test. It’s also the knife I will send back to @dh1633pm because I think it will wear in well and be better for some “abusive” tasks.

 

[SteadyD]

I set up the Offbeat II on my Wicked Edge system and marked the edge with sharpie to find the angle of the bevel. It was 20 degrees on one side and 19.6 degrees on the other. That’s close enough that you can’t detect the difference with the naked eye or in use.

I don’t like to set my angle that high because I like to do quick touch ups with a V type sharpening system, in my case the Spyderco Sharpmaker. I use the 20 degrees per side slots and do a microbevel for touch ups and at 20 degrees from the factory you are going to be sharpening the entire edge, not just a thin sliver at the very apex.

Because of this I set the angle to 18.5 degrees and reprofiled the edge.





I started at 200 grit then progressed through 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, and 2200 diamond stones, and finished up with strops at 5 micron, 3.5 micron, 1 micron, and .5 micron.

Most of that was unnecessary but once it was locked in and positioned correctly on the Wicked Edge I figured what the heck. It was easily cutting paper at 400 and the keenness just upped from there.

By the time I finished it was push cutting and wave cutting receipt paper and making little curly cue cuts. The edge is highly polished to a mirror finish.

 

[SteadyD]

One of the great things about budget steels is how easy they are to sharpen. I would rather do a 3 minute touch up at the end of each day than battle something like S110V once per month.

Next up I’m going to start cutting. I’ve got some spoon blanks arriving Monday so I’m going to hog off a bunch of material with it and see how well it keeps its sharpness and how well it touches up. I’ll find some other stuff to hack on as well!

 

[JShirley]

Thanks. Looking forward to your continued impressions with use.

John

 

[The Night Rider]

1. They lost me at can't reverse the clip.

2. They Really lost me at "Nick Shabazz gave it a negative review".

 

[SteadyD]

1. They lost me at can't reverse the clip.

2. They Really lost me at "Nick Shabazz gave it a negative review".

This is a newer model with reversible clip

So I watched that review and these are almost different knives altogether. There’s nothing there to compare to the Offbeat II. Almost everything he found fault with is different on this knife.

 

[dh1633pm]

Look at that edge. Wow.

 

[SteadyD]

Look at that edge. Wow.

The Wicked Edge does all the work. There is a bit of a learning curve but nothing like free handing a knife. It does make some beautiful bevels though!

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

Well, based on this review and other positive comments I went and ordered 3 of them.
Two for gifts and one for me. Thanks for helping me spend my money,again, guys...

 

[dh1633pm]

I have an original Offbeat. Like the Offbeat 2 better. Some side by side:

 

[troy fairweather]

Thanks for the review I'll order a few when I have the money.

 

[SteadyD]

Thanks for the review I'll order a few when I have the money.

I’m not done! I’m going to see how well the 8CR blade holds up after doing some cutting on materials I typically mess around with

 

[troy fairweather]

I’m not done! I’m going to see how well the 8CR blade holds up after doing some cutting on materials I typically mess around with

What kind of stuff you going to be cutting, I found cutting Bailing twine and the little bit of hay you cut tests the edge pretty well. I see a lot of test with cardboard but I don't think that's a good media, some of the cardboard from China almost have a adbrasiveness to it. And sometimes there seems to be sand inside the cardboard somehow.

 

[SteadyD]

What kind of stuff you going to be cutting, I found cutting Bailing twine and the little bit of hay you cut tests the edge pretty well. I see a lot of test with cardboard but I don't think that's a good media, some of the cardboard from China almost have a adbrasiveness to it. And sometimes there seems to be sand inside the cardboard somehow.

I whittle and carve wood mostly, and break down cardboard from deliveries. I’ll mostly be testing the stability of the edge by putting lateral force on it in wood. I expect the edge longevity to be mediocre but to sharpen and strop back very quickly.

 

[Spats McGee]

I have an Offbeat II, which I also bought for dirt cheap. I haven't sharpened it yet, but it's been sitting over by my sharpening stuff for about a week now. When it arrived it was blisteringly sharp, so I just haven't needed to sharpen it yet. That said, I've been meaning to sharpen it, just to see what the steel is like, more than anything.

Thanks for the review, @SteadyD. I'm looking forward to the rest of it.

 

[Boattale]

I'll take a SteadyD review over any I've ever seen on the youtube machine. You've got it going Sir!

 

[Speedo66]

View attachment 1084410

That's impressive!

 

[SteadyD]

So this afternoon and evening I’ve been doing a bit of cutting. I started out by cutting through a scrap of Kore buffalo belt. These have a very thick inner core made of some sort of plastic I presume. I made 9 cuts and there wasn’t any impact on cutting ability, which is basically what I expected. Still wave cutting receipt paper. Then I made some needless cuts through cardboard, but not many. Basically just a simulation of breaking down a box or two, which is something I typically do. I started to notice a slight loss of front end sharpness, which is my favorite level of sharpness because of how smoothly the knife cuts on that front end.

I strop at this point on my super steels even though it is completely unnecessary because it is still a very sharp knife. I just really like that front end sharpness and how it glides through anything. Obviously, the super steels go much longer before losing this sharpness, particularly K390. That steel is so strange. Easy to sharpen, yet is run very hard and has ridiculous edge retention. Of course, my Spyderco Stretch in K390 also cost about 7x what this knife cost.

I went out back and whittled three 15+ inch sticks of maple into oblivion, which is something I do regularly with my other knives. I could still wave cut paper and slice receipt paper, but my wave cuts were a bit rougher and didn’t go as long before ripping paper. Again, still a very sharp knife, but that ridiculous front end sharpness is now gone. So far, this steel is performing a lot like my BD1N Spyderco knives, with the exception that BD1N takes a ridiculous edge right after sharpening. Much better than many high tier super steels seem to.





Keep in mind, there is absolutely nothing scientific about any of my silly tests. This is just how I use my knives regularly. All I am giving is some anecdotal information about this blade steel. However, most folks don’t aimlessly whittle and cut stupid stuff. This may be a month’s worth of use for the average knife owner. This knife is still easily cutting receipt paper. I plan to go until I can’t wave cut printer paper at all and then touch it up on my Sharpmaker. At that point I think I’ll have a good idea on how this steel performs.

Honestly though, the super steels aren’t really necessary at all. It’s apparent already that most daily usage will still leave a knife like this plenty sharp for regular usage for a good while.

 

[hso]

see how well the 8CR blade holds up

That was what I was curious about. Putting a beautiful edge on like you did is impressive, but how well the knife performs is the "road test".

Nice "test drive" write-up.

 

[SteadyD]

Thanks for the kind words, all. My spoon blanks arrived early so I’ll be doing some carving later today.

 

[SteadyD]

I did some carving on a spoon blank made from basswood. While basswood is technically a hardwood, it’s actually rather soft. I like to bury a knife blade rather deep into it and then rotate it out at 90 degrees to the edge to see if there is any chipping. I’ve only had one knife chip, and it was 20CV sharpened at less than 13 degrees per side. I actually didn’t detect the chip for quite some time because the 20CV was still cutting paper easily.

I wasn’t expecting any issues with the Offbeat’s 8CR blade because it has a good reputation for toughness, and indeed I had no issues. I was expecting a drop in sharpness from the amount of cutting I did… but it never materialized. I don’t know what hardness CRKT runs their 8CR at but I have to say I am so far impressed. Obviously people cutting rope or other types of material may experience different results than I have using mostly push cuts, but I continue to be convinced that super steels are more of a luxury than a necessity. I have yet to strop or sharpen. I will go until I think stropping is necessary for my standards. I strop prior to a loss of paper cutting sharpness. Currently, this knife is still wave cutting receipt paper.









My Toy Australian Shepherd puppy Maple wanted to be in a picture!

 

[SteadyD]

I did some more whittling and spoon carving and still no need to strop. I destroyed another stick and took off a lot of material from my spoon blank. Honestly guys, I’m really impressed with CRKT’s 8CR. I would have guessed it would need touching up much sooner. I’m not going to quit until the darn thing needs a stropping and then a sharpening, but it will be longer than I expected!


You can see how much I have removed from the spoon blank, compared to the new one. Most of this was via small controlled cuts.

 

[SteadyD]

Dang guys, I keep whittling and carving and this thing keeps slicing receipt paper smoothly.

 

[SteadyD]

Just got done destroying a 2 foot long stick of maple and still slicing receipt paper with no problem. I’m going to fart around with this long enough to see how it responds to strops after a bit of a drop in sharpness but it’s pretty easy to make a conclusion on this knife.

It’s an excellent value. I love the ambidextrous opening, closing and pocket clip. I think the ergonomics are really good. Lots of contouring on the scales, smooth liners, comfortable in hand. The thumb studs for unlocking/closing are a bit rougher than I prefer but it’s an easy fix if one desired. The lock stick on the model I am testing is wearing in really well and it’s an easy knife to operate one handed.

CRKT’s 8CR is great on this example. I’m trying to dull this thing and it isn’t happening yet. There is some anecdotal evidence that high grit finishes do well push cutting, which is what I do with wood. There’s also some anecdotal evidence that coarser edges do well in rope and cardboard. If you plan to use your knife on those materials then I would experiment between the two finishes. I will say that the factory edge was rather mediocre so no matter what you do I would sharpen the knife straight away.

It’s crazy that there are knives of this quality at this price. QSP, Civivi and others also have great knives in this price range. Good time to be a knife buyer!