Columbia River Knife & Tool has always had a great partnership with custom knifemakers to bring practical and affordable to the people, straight from the muse of some of the world’s best designers and makers. The Padawan, designed by Pedro Buzetti, is a great example of that.

 

The Padawan is a framelock design that uses a 3.01 drop point or wharncliffe blade of 14C28N stainless steel. It has a flipper opening mechanism that’s fast and smooth. Which you’d expect being that it rides on an IKBS ball bearing pivot designed by Flavio Ikoma, who just happens to be whom Pedro studied under. Thus the Padawan name. Just in case you aren’t a Star Wars nerd fan, a padawan is an apprentice to a Jedi, and has come to mean in common usage an untrained or inexperienced person. Pedro may have started that way, but his designs show that he is far from inexperienced now.

Overall length on the Padawan is just over 7 inches and it weighs just 3.10 ounces. The frame is stainless steel and you can choose from either a brown or black G10 insert that adds some texture and a pop of color to the otherwise brushed satin finish on the knife. The brown G10 version comes with the drop point blade while the black version has the wharnecliffe profile. A deep carry pocket clip is provided and set up for right hand, tip up carry.

I’ve had a Padawan since January and have rotated it through my EDC lineup. It’s a comfortable knife to use and very fast to open with the flipper and IKBS ball bearing pivot. Pennsylvania finally legalized automatic knives a year or so back but honestly, the Padawan is just as fast as any auto I have.

 

I have the brown version with drop point blade and it’s a good all-around utility knife. It does the usual EDC tasks that most of us do like cutting open Amazon boxes and boxes of gun parts. Ask my wife, much to her dismay I get a lot of packages. The Swedish 14C28N steel holds a good edge, and I’m familiar with it from other knives I own and have used. It’s not one of the boutique super steels, but it’s a solid choice and works well. It’s also a lot easier to sharpen than some of the boutique steels when the time comes. I haven’t had to put my Padawan back on a sharpening stone yet though, I’ve just touched it up now and then with a loaded leather strop. 14C29N responds nicely to the strop which keeps you from having to resharpen it fully very often.

 

The Padawan carries comfortably in both shorts and jeans pockets. The deep carry clip allows the knife to ride low and securely in the pocket, but doesn’t grab so tightly that it tears up your clothes or is hard to draw. I’m particular about clips and have plenty of knives I ended up not carrying because I didn’t like the clip or how they rode in my pocket. The Padawan isn’t one of those. It’s well designed, and I appreciate the satin finish on it too that doesn’t draw the eye to it any more than necessary.

If you’re looking for a sleek, modern folder with good materials and excellent design features, then Pedro Buzetti’s Padawan from CRKT is well worth a look. It has an MSRP of $75 although you can shave a touch off of that by looking at online retailers.

 

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28 COMMENTS

  1. I have a crkt ‘neck knife’ that I wear sometimes in the boonies. It does a good job and was not too costly.

    This folder has a sleek look to it. Not bulky or protrusive. Looks nice.

      • “I think my knife drawer is too full now.”

        You have kids and grand-kids to relieve you of that ‘burden’.

        Also, I’m available for adoption… Dad… 😉

        • I got enough kids, thank you. I got a 13yo grandson that is just all in for hunting, guns, the outdoors. His mother insists that I sell, not give, him gear out of my stash. Wants him to earn it. At a penny a piece I think he gets a bargain. His mother likes knives as do several others in my immediate family.

          And yet I still have an overflowing drawer. I’m an impulse buyer. Can’t help it.

  3. That’s a handsome knife.

    I’m not the kind to spend big money on knives. If I can find one for 20 bucks that cuts whenever I need it to, without cutting when I don’t want it to, and without needing to be sharpened every time it sees something tough, well then I’ll take it. I don’t begrudge a man his barbecue knife any more than I would his barbecue gun. One of the great things about this country is that they’re available and it’s our choice whether we have such things. But to me they are simply tools.

    But that’s one handsome knife. You know, I just took possession of one of those new Contender frames from SSK that JWT wrote about last year (?), with the lynx engraved on the sides. That thing is handsome too. Mayhap it needs a friend…gonna start my Christmas list…

  4. Why do most of the knives being made now have such thin handles?
    Anyone who has used a knife very much knows that after a couple hours your hands will be cramping up.
    Takes to much grip power to hold them.
    Also wood or leather handles don’t make your hands hurt like metal or plastic.
    After skinning a couple elephants this knife would make your hand hurt.

    • This here’s the U.S. of A. pardner. Most of us won’t be doing more than stripping a slick-tail now and then.😁

    • Depends on the knife, this is more of an every day carry knife to tackle random tasks. I think people who are using a knife continuously for hours would be using one specialized to that task. This is thin so it’s comfortable in your pocket all day. Ergenomic enough to tackle the random odd cutting task throughout the day.

    • Possum, because most people want ease of comfort when they carry. Just like firearms. They don’t anticipate using them much, if at all. Not like someone who owns a Randall #7 and #15. 😉

    • Star Wars hasn’t been cool since the prequels came out, and it hasn’t been watchable since Disney sodomized it to death and started dancing around wearing its bloody skin.

  7. Artistic, good value. Site has a nice selection of serrated blades…for seatbelts just in case.

    • Yup. Gota have serrated. I cut these thick plastic pallet straps that hold corner boards at work alot.

  8. gorgeous blade designed by someone with a sense of style. a gentleman could be well dressed and this would be appropriate carry.

    • A gentle man? This is 2024 Andy.
      Dog eat
      Gentlemen?,, that’s England BS.
      If you want to speak England, join the English Army.
      This is an American tank.
      We speak American here.

  9. So no comments on the fake ass C96?
    I sure would like to have a real one. Not the Red9 version either.
    The way they are downloading everything a 7.62X25 Tokerav would work just fine.
    PriviPartizan is a good example.
    1275fps average , the 96 was made for those velocities with room to spare.
    I like a 7.62X25Tok but in my opinion it’s just a tad less effective then 9mm. And I’m no fan of 9mm. The Tok using Sellier and Beloit are fast, chek surplus rocks.
    I call it my “Pocket Rifle”
    one of the best shots I’ve made was with a Nork 54-1, sights sucked, but that bitch was a lazer.
    The Tok will outpenatrate a 9mm , but a 9 has more mass and its expanded bullet wonder is a little larger.
    IMO neither one compares to the ‘Whap’em’ that a .45 caliber has. Seems to me it’s big enough, going slow enough, that what ever it hits absorbs all the energy.
    I wish I had more experience with the .40S&W because that looks like a promising caliber/cartridge.
    10mm is in the .44 mag range, all fine and dandy if your hunting deer. In my opinion its a little over overkill for a human, if there is such a thing. Overkill might be good however what about Grandma down the street. Now you deer hunters know if your 25ft away that .44mag 180grSP zips right through both sides. How much luck do you think you’ll have with a non pass through? Us civvies don’t have qualified immunity.
    Just buy a shotgunm 👍

    If this post without moderated I’ll be surprised.
    Some peeps can run a thread and some peeps can’t.

    • Possum, like I always say – ” Anything worth killin’s worth Overkillin’ ”
      which is why a mid-loaded 45Super finds it’s way into my jeep and cold weather carry rotation, and a 10mmMagnum GP100 conversion when I’m working the black hills property.

    • +1 on the .45. As for this knife, a little small for my tastes. Last few years I’ve been carrying a Mel Pardue Benchmade Griptilian with “RidgeRunner” on the blade. Holds an edge and fills up the hand nicely, rides in the pocket well.

  12. Folders with the clip at the butt-end of the grip come out in an awkward position to open from the most intuitive draw method.

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