CRKT Hissatsu EDC Folding Pocket Knife: Assisted Opening Everyday Carry, Osoraku Modified Tanto Blade, Thumb Disk, Automated Liner Lock, Nylon Handle, Reversible Pocket Clip 2903

WOW! What a suprise when I received this blade! Out of the box, I was first impressed with the handle texture. Great finish and texture without being too "gripy" Small bead texture gives excellent grip but won't get caught up on clothing or belts. Excellent belt clip as well. Just the right amount of tension so its secure in a pocket but not tight enough that it is hard to deploy. Although I must echo other reviewers in that out of the box, the blade is tight and a little hard to open. If your like me, however, after purchasing a new knife, once you play with it a bit to get used to the feel and operation, the blade did lossen a bit and became eaiser to deploy (or perhaps I got used to it!) Excellet ergonomics. Feels great in the hand. Easy to change blade position due to its balance.The Blade....... is awesome! Razor sharp outta the box and in a traditional tanto shape. Its obvious Mr. Williams brought his wealth of knowledge to its design. It would be hard to imagine a modern day samurai NOT carrying this as an EDC! Love the double safety as well which virtualy gives this piece the strength of a fixed blade. The finish on the blade is impressive and I am sure will please those who love the "black tactical" look. I would be hard pressed to find another blade that is stonger, sharper or simply more astheticaly pleasing to the eye. All in all, 5 stars for a VERY reaonable priced knife. Excellent value for this price point. Lets face it folks, the primary use for this knife is personal protection, but I am sure it will have great utility as well. The only improvement I could envision is adding a spring assist (only because I am partial to those anyway). I just found my new EDC!

Hyper sturdy, looks sorta ninja, sharpens up nicely, and is super useful in the field. Snaps open with authority, and inspires a bit of confidence, especially if you have skills.

The media could not be loaded. There’s not much to dislike about this knife. It fits in an average sized hand like mine perfectly. It pops right open with authority if you do it right. I’ve seen a lot of reviews claiming it’s hard to open, but after playing with this knife for a few minutes I’ve had no issues opening it or closing it with one hand. I’m guessing it simple operator error on their part lol. The craftsmanship is spot on, mechanism is smooth & tight with no play in it. The lawk system on it works perfectly and leaves zero chance of accidental closures. It came with a decent factory edge that will more than get the job done right out of the box. If you want to split hairs with it, you’ll need to touch it up a little. It’s clearly built for one purpose so I wouldn't recommend it as an all purpose knife. For the price point it is a fantastic knife for self defense.

This Hassatsu folding knife by CRKT (or Columbia River Knife and Tool), is almost perfect in every way in my opinion. I think that the shape of the blade is truly beautiful and outstanding at piercing/stabbing tasks. Seriously, the point on this thing is mean, I love it. And the way it grips in my hand is one of the best feeling ones I've ever felt on a knife. It feels to me like it's part of my hand and so incredibly sturdy. And just the handle itself is so robust and hardy I thought, I've just never gripped a knife this well before.I also really like the very inventive double locking mechanism that the knife uses. And while I sort of can see how it might intimidate and annoy some folks, especially when first using the Hissatsu. Well, I have opened and closed enough times now that I can easily do so one-handed. Hopefully it will become that way for you as well. Plus, I think that because of this super heavy-duty locking mechanism, that unless you receive some factory defect knife, that this blade will never close on you at all without you initiating it. It's almost like it becomes a fixed blade essentially with this lock I thought. It gives me a real great feeling of security and safety when using it.Also, as far knives looking bad***, pardon my language please. Well, in my book the Hissatsu folding knife easily ranks in the top 70s-80s out of 100. I have quite a few Spydercos, Ka-Bars and Cold Steel knives that beat it out in terms of looking more radical, meaner, bizarre, etc, though. Still, in my book this blade looks pretty awesome and quite unlike a good majority of folding knives on sale today. And, I really dig the whole Japanese vibe and theme to a lot of the CRKT knives like this one.Now on to where I'm extremely unhappy with this model. And let me preface the following by stating that my annoyance and dislike of this may very well be user error, well, possibly. Hence why I still gave this product 4-stars instead of the 3 I was originally going to give it. But, when it comes to trying to sharpen the Hissatsu in my use, oh man does this blade ever anger me and let me down. I found that it had a sort of good factory edge on it to begin with. But that died off pretty quick for me in just opening the occasional box, cutting rope, really not much use actually. Yet, when I've tried to sharpen the knife on my Smith's Diamond Sharpening stone, the big bar version, not the pocket sized one. Well, I can't for the life of me put a really sharp edge back on this knife or one anywhere near the factory edge. It's maddening!And I don't claim to be a sharpening master like so many of my fellow Amazon reviewers. It's something I've always struggled with, especially trying to find the right angle for different blades I own. But, as I said, I just use my Smith's Diamond Sharpening stone and I've sharpened everything from a CRKT "Mah-Chete" Fixed Blade (1075 Carbon Steel), Kershaw "Blur Tiger Stripe Tanto" folding (Sandvik 14C28N), Zero Tolerance "0350TSST Partially Serrated Tiger Stripe" (Crucible S30V), various Spydercos with VG-10 steel or 8Cr13MoV steel, that Carpenter Steel I don't like in my Cold Steel knives and basically I've just had lots of success with a ton of different blades and blade steels on my sharpener.Yet, this Hissatsu just will not take anything from my the sharpener but the most basic and the most bland utility edge, if I'm lucky. And forgive me, I don't remember what kind of steel is in this knife. But it doesn't matter, it won't sharpen for me. It very well could be my technique, but I doubt it because I've tried so many different angles and techniques with this knife and nothing works. I'm sure somebody who swears their life on some tree bark or whetstone they use to sharpen with will tell me it's my diamond sharpener I'm using that's the problem. But, as I've said, all my other hundreds of blades and different steels usually sharpen razor good on this diamond stone. But this Hissatsu just won't budge when I try to sharpen it.Regardless of whether I'm the problem in this sharpening equation or not, I still am unhappy with this knife. The main reason I'm unhappy is because the knife is so awesome in every other way besides not taking an edge. That it's just such a letdown for it to be so wonderful almost everywhere and that one major part of to just be terrible in my experience and use. Who knows, though, your mileage may vary and you might be some sharpening wizard taught from the ghost's of ancient Samurai and laugh at my situation. Or, you just may have a better method that I'll never learn, I've tried pretty much all of them really though. But, I just wanted to warn folks like myself, that you may buy this totally rad looking knife and find you cannot keep a nice edge on it. To be honest it could just be terrible steel in this knife or it's not ground or built well, who knows. But, I hope it's not an issue for you and I hope my review had been helpful, thanks.