Chris Reeve Mnandi

Reviewed 01/16/2014 by Shawn

-Price Paid: N/A
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for Greater than 1 year

Comments:

1st impressions, it's a beautiful knife. Love the feel, light but very sturdy. Out of the box sharp, shaved my arm hair like a hot knife through butter.

On the negative side, the blade doesn't hold it's edge as well as some other harder steels. That being said, it's pretty easy to re-sharpen.

Reviewed 04/27/2013 by Bill

-Price Paid: $305.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for Greater than 1 year

Comments:

I have been collecting over 50 years. I believe it more difficult to build a great small knife ( under 3 inches). Being a "suit" can't carry a Rambo knife in NYC and I believe this best non- custom little knife on the market that does not feel like a rock in the pocket of your suit pants. Only complaint is wood scales don't give grip G-10 or carbon fiber sand blasted would provide.
Chris if you ever read this please consider grippier scales on this great little knife

Reviewed 03/06/2010 by SteelSnob

-Price Paid: N/A
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for Greater than 1 year

Comments:

The Mnandi is a great EDC. Where do I begin? Perfect F&F, insnanely close tolerances,beautiful looking,very tough for a knife it's size, top notch materials,very pocket friendly,very light and pocket friendly weighing in around 1.5oz, the nicest looking pocket clip I've ever seen, very easy to maintain and comes with a tool to take it apart, pivot bushing eliminates the need for locktite or pivot adjustment after reassembly, smooth action,backed by CRK CS which is one of the best and if bought on the exhanges on the different knife forum they can be found pretty cheap.

Now the cons... I would prefer a harder HT that 58-59 of S30V for a gentleman's folder or any folder for that matter and while they can somewhat refurb it like a Sebenza they can't reblast the back of the handles like they can the Sebenza's Ti slabs so if the sandblast texture scratches of it stays off. The Damascus blades do have much better performance IMO at $300 some may not have or want that option.

To sum it up even with it's slight drawbacks IMO it's the ultimate gentleman's folder combining toughness with elegance and percision. Another knife that exudes CRK quality.

Reviewed 01/02/2010 by OJ

-Price Paid: N/A
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for Less than 1 Month

Comments:

Because of the short time I have owned this knife, this can be considered more of an impressions write up rather than a detailed review. I can say that as one would expect from CRK the fit and finish on this knife are top notch. The high tolerences are noticeable in its smooth opening and the attention to detail is excellent. The 2.75 inch, S30V blade has a polished hollow grind that is very sharp out of the box. Since it is new I have not sharpened it yet. The inlays on my particular knife are madagascar rosewood and look very elegant. Other inlays are available to suit different tastes. It is very light weight weighing only an ounce and a half. The intergral lock is very solid and the titanium pocket clip is not only secure but nicely detailed as well. The clip allows for a deep pocket carry and can be removed or reversed for left of right handed carry. Opening it one-handed via the thumb nicks is easy enough although it might be more difficult with larger fingers and definitely more difficult left handed because of the lock. It's a gentelman's folder and as such its smaller size could be a problem for those with larger hands but for the simpler tasks for which it would likely be used, the size is quite approptiate. I can't say I have found any flaws or things to complain about. It has clean lines without some of the ornate and decorative touches of some other knives in the same catagory. Overall this is a very classy and functional smaller/gentlemen's folder and certainly worth considering if you are in the market for this kind of knife.

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