Columbia River Knife and Tool's M16-14SF Big Dog Aluminum Tanto Blade Combo Edge Knife

Bought the M16-14, and I have carried it every single day since then.I have its little brother too, which is the same shape but 3” instead of 4”. The smaller version does not have the additional locking mechanism. The 4” has the same sleeve lock mechanism as the 3”, but with the addition of a little red nub that must be moved before the sleeve lock can be disengaged. This is a fantastic locking mechanism that is super easy to open and close one-handed once you practice with it. I prefer the bigger knife for lots of reasons: fits my hand better, less likely to get dislodged from my pocket due to longer clip and heavier knife, less likely to cut myself (the short one made it harder to safely open and close for me, maybe I have large hands), and the bigger knife flicks open much easier and faster. It’s also got more components and parts, which are all beneficial additions, like rough textured outer handle material instead of anodized aluminum like the smaller version. And the blade hinge mechanism is better in my opinion. The weight of the larger 4” blade is sooo much easier to flick open.This knife is super sharp and holds a good edge. As a bartender, I’ve had to use it many times to cut fruit in a pinch, and it always performs flawlessly.The serrations are really great. There are different versions of the Veff Serrations on different versions of the M16, but I think the M16-14 Veff Serrations are the best. They are all the same size, so easier to sharpen, and they are at a slight diagonal angle instead of perpendicular to the length of the blade. This diagonal angle aims the serrations towards your hand, so that as you pull the knife towards yourself, the serrations get a nice bite into the material you’re cutting. Whereas perpendicular serrations would sort of require a motion similar to whittling a stick, these angled ones just seem to really effectively dig into the material, whatever it may be, making precise cuts in difficult materials like a hot knife through butter.One thing you may not like about this knife is the dual blade guard. There are two protrusions at the base of the blade that prevent your hand from sliding down the kife. This is tactially advantageous for a few reasons. If you have to use the knife for defensive purposes, you are less likley to cut yourself on your own blade while striking your attacker. The blade guard protrusions are also the fastest way to open the knife. Specifically, I use my index finger to flick the back blade guard on the spine of the knife, which is actually the blade side, but it’s positioned on the backside or spine of the knife when closed. With a strong, sharp flick and a nicely oiled blade hinge, it opens 100% of the time for me, and is just as fast as a switchblade. You can slightly loosen the axle screw if it’s too tight to allow the knife to open 100% of the time on the first flick. The blade guard also helps you remove the knife from your pocket if you pinch both protrusions of the blade guard between your fingers instead of pinching the knife in the axle direction as you probably normally would (just imagine how you would pinch a knife to retrieve it from your pocket if it had no blade guard. Now imagine twisting your hand 90 degrees, then pinching the knife and removing it. This is the orientation I use. I just slide my fingers down into my pocket along both sides of the knife, thumb on the spine of the blade, and index finger on the spine of the handle. Then pinch or pull against the blade guards and out comes the knife. Get your grip right, then flick! It’s a little different if you’re not used to folding knives with blade guards.But the major drawbacks of the blade guards are threefold:1) rough ridge texture on end of blade guard will rub your hand if you stick your hand in your pocket, which hurts. So need to remove knife from pocket to painlessly retrieve items deep down inside.2) if you’re not careful, anything that catches the blade guard can pull the knife open. Other reviewers have complained about this, but I say you just need to be smart about how you use the knife. Make sure that neither items in that same pocket or your fingers or clothes have tugged on the blade guard and opened the knife. Be especially careful when removing other items from the same pocket. If the knife opens too easily in your pocket, slightly tighten the blade axle screw. Anyone who got cut because it opened in their pocket is an idiot who failed to adequately understand this dangerous implement they chose to shove down their pocket. Don’t buy the version with blade guards if you aren’t willing to make sure you’re not using it wrong. Don’t be dumb, you will cut yourself or your clothing. However, for me this has not been an issue. I am aware that if I tug upward on the blade-spine-side blade guard, I may accidentally open the knife in my pocket. So I check it frequently by squeezing the knife from outside my pants to ensure it is closed, or by pressing down on the blade-spine-side blade guard to ensure blade is fully seated in closed position. Also, I like to make sure the handle-spine-side blade guard is stuck just above the fabric of my pocket. If the blade guard on the side of the handle spine can’t move down, then the knife can’t rotate open in your pocket. Also, the pocket clip can be removed and placed on the other side of the knife, making left or right handed orientations possible. You should use some LOCTITE to set the screws in place. You will need a star bit for the clip screws. Depending on which pocket you keep the knife in, you can place the clip on the side that would orient the blade of the knife against the edge of your pocket, further ensuring it won’t open. Personally, I don’t do this because I haven’t had any issues. My knife sits in my right pocket with the spine of the blade aiming to my left, and the spine of the handle to my right. The spine of the handle sits flush against the far right edge of my pants pocket. I have had zero issues carrying this way for months and months.3) the blade guard may catch on your pants pocket as you try to remove it, unless you grab it, as i mentioned above, by pinching the blade guard instead of the axle. But again, this is a non issue for intelligent users. Dumb people will cut themselves with this knife or dislike its features because they don’t take the time to learn how to use it. Do not buy a folding pocketknife with protruding blade guards if you are too dumb to avoid cutting yourself. Buy the version with no blade guard if it concerns you. Personally I would recommend the blade guard version because I think the benefits massively outweigh any perceived drawbacks to this design.Anyway, buy this knife if you want a solid tool that will keep serving you faithfully for years.

Really nice knife and feels big, weighty, and solid, no blade play at all and I like the double locking system, its easy to disengage one handed. The veff serrations cut really well and I find myself using them more than the rest of the blade. The coating gets dirty very easily but looks very nice, the knife feels very strong and can definitely handle being beat and the blade deploys quickly but maybe just flick your wrist with it a little when opening. Mine came used and had a beat box with what looked like blood on the inside but that was just one so good knife:) heres a picture of it next to my very used CRKT M16-01KS

I'm in construction and I use this knife for work. I have had it over a year and it has been very durable.

Oregon USA ,,excellence,

Very, very quality knife

This is my "favorite" EDC knife, but I need to put "favorite" in quotes because really I mostly like the design. It's large, strong, safe. Physically impossible to accidentally close on your fingers. Easy to flick open one-handed.However, the edge grind from the factory and the steel is very non-ideal. The edge was very uneven. I know these are supposed to be an asymmetrical half-chisel grind, but even with that in mind, the edges were wobbly and uneven, and one edge was actually at 25-30 degrees with a taper towards the end which is barely an edge at all.I did set a new edge and sharpen it myself after I saw the state of things. It took about 2 hours and at the end... Well it's decently sharp. It's better than "$5 Walmart mystery knife sharp" which is basically how it arrived. I consider it a decent edge now. However the steel is also just not the easiest to sharpen or the most durable. It's just not a great knife at actually getting sharp or staying sharp.Again, the knife *will* cut stuff with the factory edge. It's not unusable. Just nowhere near how other $75 factory knives will cut.The real perk here is the design. I trust this knife to carry more than others because the lock-up is very unique and strong, impossible to close on your fingers even under a very strong impact. And the cross guard prevents your fingers from slipping, and it's really a smooth and easy knife to deploy rapidly for such a large knife (after you break it in for a few days).With this knife you merely tolerate the steel, and enjoy the operation and heft.If you want something similar but with better steel, the regular serrated versions all use Aus8 or 12c27 steel which is much better and generally arrives with a better grind as well. The Veff serration versions are all 1.4116 steel, which I have found to be rather inconsistent, wherever they get it from or machine it. Unfortunately most of the Aus8 or 12c27 versions either lack a large cross guard or have inferior handle materials (ie, nylon instead of g10). So it's preference which you'd rather have; the better steel or the better handle.