Thanks meh! Using “K-N-I-F-E” I was able to solve today’s WORDLE in 4 tries! It gave me 2 of the 5 letters to start with. I just knew you might come in handy one day. Give yerselves a pat on the back you gnarly dudes!!
Maybe tomorrow they’ll have something completely different, like a fountain pen that’s supplied with a bottle of UV ink. Oh, wait, that would be different, nevermind.
I got the Xan a while back when this was first on sale, I think it’s worth imo, it’s really good quality, and super sharp too, but im not much of a knife guy so who knows what my opinion means.
@Vitanima I got this back in July. It’s sharp, for sure, but it doesn’t have high quality steel so it will lose its edge quicker. That just means you have to sharpen it more often. I’m not that heavy a knife user, so this probably won’t be an issue for me for a bit. But supposedly it won’t be too difficult fix up either.
My bigger complaint is the assist. It only helps with the first quarter of the blade’s opening path, and only after you get past the non-insignificant friction keeping it closed. Combined, I’ve poked myself in the palm while opening it a few times. Not enough to be painful, but enough to be aware that if I weren’t careful, it could a quite bit worse. I wish I had gotten a blade without the spring assist. You don’t really need assist, it’s no easier than this other plain knife I have
@Jonas4321@werehatrack No, you misunderstand. Yesterday (I think, the deals have been going for a couple days) was national knife day and I spent $320 on knives yesterday. $260 @ BladeHQ, $50 @ Grindworxx and $10 @ Gerber.
I got them last time they had these for sale. As someone else said, the Gulf is huge, definitely wouldn’t want to EDC it. And I’m a massive knife guy who carries 4+ knives most of the time. Anyway, the Gulf does come SUPER sharp; like easily shaving sharp - better than my Gillette. It has a very nice action - easy to open and easy to close.
The Xan is quite terrible. It’s pretty sharp - I can just barely shave with it. It doesn’t flip open the best, and closing it takes two hands. It’s a frame lock and there’s so much pressure on the lock/lever/bar that pushing on it with your thumb it’s impossible to disengage it without using another hand to either assist pulling the lock lever, or wiggling the blade to “release” the tension. It’s possible I just got a fluke knife.
@madmax82988 I have a bunch of frame locks and have never had that issue. Actually have seen the opposite problem. Your hold on the knife exerts pressure on the lock making it hard to open. Most of the time, not too big an issue. Just less pressure with index finger usually solves that problem.
@madmax82988 I also got the Xan in July, and trying to close it is a nightmare. Takes both hands and it’s still way more force than I want to be exerting while closing a knife.
@madmax82988 same problem here. I’m hoping with use it’ll loosen up, but I also plan to slap some sort of lubrication on it. As it comes though, the lock is not a one hand release.
@glarue Oh please… <rolleyes> Pocket knives are very useful tools. Yes, in the hands of a psychopath, one could be used to murder someone. So could a lamp.
@glarue I was going to murder someone using the heavy speaker with handle I bought yesterday. If only I waited a day. In all actuality, if you stabbed someone one time with this tiny knife it wouldn’t go deep enough to do much damage and would become extremely slippery for repeat use.
@glarue as long as there’s someone that needs to be killed, I don’t see a problem with it there’s a lot of no good sons of b****** out there that the world would be better off with if they were f****** dead!
@glarue If they start selling guns, I am out. Knives of course have many uses. But I will say they shouldn’t require machismo marketing. Meh-cheese-mo, ok. You Meh guys can use that if you want. I should get free Stroop Waffles for life if you do, though. On second thought, my triglycerides are already elevated.
I do have a folding knife kind of like these and a folding razor blade boxcutter for my package opening needs. The knife was a ground score and the razor was like $5 in a consignment shop. So I still said “meh” to $30 meh-cheese-mo.
@glarue I’ve carried a knife every day for my adult life. Not one of those days have I killed someone. Nor has it ever even occurred to me that I might injure anyone with it other than myself, and then only accidentally.
@glarue Perhaps since murder is so far from my typical thought processes, when I see a knife for sale I have never once thought “oh, that could be used to kill someone”. Not sure what would even motivate one to think that, unless perhaps it’s something they think about often.
@Doooood@glarue When I was 7 to 10 years old (somewhere in there, a LONG time ago), all of us boys carried pocket knives as a matter of course, including to school. The teachers and administrators knew about it and it was not an issue to anyone. Yes, there were fights, but that meant punches or rocks thrown. I do not recall ANYONE EVER being hurt with a knife in those situations. It was a matter of culture and upbringing.
The 30 dollars-ish price range for knives is really crowded. These are pretty meh knives in that crowd. Unless you really like the look, I’d keep looking.
@BethanyAnne Yeah, I have a couple of CRKT knives and they are all sort of “Meh”. I would recommend a CJRB at this price point: better quality steel, and a smoother hinge.
@alose@thechilipepper0 I have a large Feldspar. It’s amazing. The base price for the versions with D2 steel and contoured handles is $35. I got the grey one. The clip was a hotspot, but a Civivi clip fit perfectly and fixed that ($5 for 2). They are phasing out the D2 versions, so there are frequent discounts on them.
(This was the first I’d heard of stone washing for knives/metal/anything-but-denim. While I think it’s unnecessary, I do think I see the appeal of it.)
Last time I bought the Zan Carbonfiber.
DON’T do it.
Warning do not buy.
Out of the box. Poor fittment. Lock is pretty permanent. You may need your multi tool to close this one. No way this is a one hand open knife.
And what should I expect from Meh?
@rustyh3 thanks for the heads up. My opinion is if you can’t get the feel of it in a store in your own hand, then you have no idea what you’re buying and there will be issues with holding, storing, opening, and assessing basic quality in the pins, screws, etc.
The Gulf is made in the USA and the Xan, unsurprisingly, is made in China if that matters to anyone.
The Spyderco Tenacious is still near impossible to beat. Around 45 bucks for the near perfect Chinese made knife from bladehq before tax or shipping and will serve you much better than either of these.
I picked up an Ontario RAT II on the recommendation of a buddy. It may even beat out the Tenacious and at a lower price point. It is D2 tool steel and was 28 bucks and change shipped. Clearly made in China but even has nice ceramic bearings for the opening closing action. I use it as my beater knife and held up really well as I open cellophane, cut off stray fabrics, zip ties around the kiddos’ toys and tacticool ninja flips to the garage for more tendies to reload into my microwave while watching Heat.
@umbrellacorp The technical details of the CRKT Gulf on Amazon’s page says that it’s made in China. I appreciate the insight, though. Got me to look deeper into the specs.
Back when these two knives were listed here on Meh in July, there was a Kershaw over on Woot that was very similar to the Xan. The size and appearance were more appealing to me than the one here, so I grabbed it. As received, it had some of the same issues as the Xan, the big one being difficulty in getting the lock to move aside when closing the blade. It really was a two-hand pay-attention task. But since I didn’t use that blade much, I just left it alone and put up with the hassle when I needed to use that one.
Today I decided to do something about it.
A few strokes of a jeweler’s triangular file across the tab on the back of the blade where the lock engages did the trick; that eased the action of the lock just enough to make it possible to one-hand the blade if you’re careful. I still do not like this kind of lock, but now this one’s tolerable.
I suspect the Xan is similar to this one in more than one way. Here’s a photo of the back of the Kershaw’s blade when folded;
the rectangular-ish shinier bit between the scales, just below that crossbar at the top, is the part of the blade that the lock engages. Just polishing it a bit was all it took to ease the lock a bunch. Your mileage may vary; making modifications to a thing is best done by someone who knows their tools and the techniques, as it’s easy to overdo or screw up. But maybe this will point someone in the right direction to make an unpleasant thing work better.
@806D2701 I agree with your assessment. And although the Gulf is a bit on the large size, it’s a decent unit if you have any use for something that big. I really prefer blades that aren’t so wide, but sometimes the job calls for more than that. My own EDC is a modified shorty folding utility knife. No worries about sharpening, no cares about damage; the blade gets munched, I swap in a new one.
Bummed the Xan is sold out! I should stop meh’ing MEH and open their emails in the morning once in a while to ensure getting a meh product in the mail.
Specs
Product: CRKT Gulf Stone Wash or Xan Carbon Fiber Knife with G10 Handle
Condition: New
Gulf Pocket Knife Black Stone Wash with G10 Handle
Specifications:
XAN Pocket Knife with Carbon Fiber G10 Handle
Specifications:
– Front - One layer black carbon fiber with black G10 base
– Back - 420J2, bead blast finish
What’s Included?
1x CRKT Pocket Knife with G10 Handle
Price Comparison
$64.09 for Gulf on Amazon
$77.08 for Xan on Amazon
Manufacturer page - Xan
Manufacturer page - Gulf
Warranty
Limited Lifetime CRKT Knife Warranty
Estimated Delivery
Standard: Tuesday, Sep 6 - Friday, Sep 9.
Enhanced: Tuesday, Sep 6.
We’re getting back to the old Meh - knives today, speakers yesterday.
It’s been a hot minute since knives-and-speaker-docks.com had one or the other
Knives and Speaker Docks dot com
No Bluetooth? No USB-C? No want! Oh, wait, that’s the speaker rant.
Ah CRKTy, that’s not a knife mate.
Woo, throwback to July 2022, those crazy times of days gone by.
Thanks meh! Using “K-N-I-F-E” I was able to solve today’s WORDLE in 4 tries! It gave me 2 of the 5 letters to start with. I just knew you might come in handy one day. Give yerselves a pat on the back you gnarly dudes!!
@IndifferentDude yikes, Wordle spoilers. Let me try that on my DROID.
@IndifferentDude Hey, thanks so much for spoiler!
@sligett Ooh, good one with 2 vowels! Don’t like the double D’s tho.
@macromeh You’re very welcome! Come back tomorrow for another!!
@IndifferentDude I used to think Wardle liked using double letters but that led me astray today.
Maybe tomorrow they’ll have something completely different, like a fountain pen that’s supplied with a bottle of UV ink. Oh, wait, that would be different, nevermind.
@werehatrack
Photos 5-8 are confusing to me. Are you actually selling a knife with a smooth metal handle like that today?
@The_Tim The Xan model has smooth metal on the side that has the locking tongue in the frame, and black textured stuff on the other side.
@The_Tim carbon fiber scale on the show side and plain scale on the clip side
@werehatrack Ahh yes I see now that I’m looking at the photos larger on a PC. Earlier I was on my phone and it was hard to see that detail.
I got the Xan a while back when this was first on sale, I think it’s worth imo, it’s really good quality, and super sharp too, but im not much of a knife guy so who knows what my opinion means.
@Vitanima I got this back in July. It’s sharp, for sure, but it doesn’t have high quality steel so it will lose its edge quicker. That just means you have to sharpen it more often. I’m not that heavy a knife user, so this probably won’t be an issue for me for a bit. But supposedly it won’t be too difficult fix up either.
My bigger complaint is the assist. It only helps with the first quarter of the blade’s opening path, and only after you get past the non-insignificant friction keeping it closed. Combined, I’ve poked myself in the palm while opening it a few times. Not enough to be painful, but enough to be aware that if I weren’t careful, it could a quite bit worse. I wish I had gotten a blade without the spring assist. You don’t really need assist, it’s no easier than this other plain knife I have
@thechilipepper0 @Vitanima That’s a malfunctioning assisted knife, it should fully open the blade once you trigger the mechanism.
Try loosening the pivot screw slightly and/or using a little lubrication on the pivot.
The Gulf is way too big for EDC in my opinion. Here it is next to a Microsoft mouse for scale. (Sorry, no calibrated bananas handly.)
@werehatrack More of a Tuesday-Thursday carry, looks like.
@werehatrack And you do not want an 8 oz knife clipped to a pair of loose fitting shorts.
I was a bit interested in the Zan but still a bit heavy and not sure about the steel. Besides, already spent $320 on knife day deals.
@werehatrack Maybe clean that mouse? Nasty
@ponagathos @werehatrack I am (surprised, or impressed, or concerned or…) that you have a log of all of your knife purchases on deal-a-day sites.
@werehatrack Wow - that’s a very small mouse.
@Jonas4321 @werehatrack No, you misunderstand. Yesterday (I think, the deals have been going for a couple days) was national knife day and I spent $320 on knives yesterday. $260 @ BladeHQ, $50 @ Grindworxx and $10 @ Gerber.
@ponagathos @werehatrack
I got them last time they had these for sale. As someone else said, the Gulf is huge, definitely wouldn’t want to EDC it. And I’m a massive knife guy who carries 4+ knives most of the time. Anyway, the Gulf does come SUPER sharp; like easily shaving sharp - better than my Gillette. It has a very nice action - easy to open and easy to close.
The Xan is quite terrible. It’s pretty sharp - I can just barely shave with it. It doesn’t flip open the best, and closing it takes two hands. It’s a frame lock and there’s so much pressure on the lock/lever/bar that pushing on it with your thumb it’s impossible to disengage it without using another hand to either assist pulling the lock lever, or wiggling the blade to “release” the tension. It’s possible I just got a fluke knife.
Hopefully this helps someone.
@madmax82988 I have a bunch of frame locks and have never had that issue. Actually have seen the opposite problem. Your hold on the knife exerts pressure on the lock making it hard to open. Most of the time, not too big an issue. Just less pressure with index finger usually solves that problem.
@madmax82988 I agree with your Xan assessment. Exact same experience.
@madmax82988 I also got the Xan in July, and trying to close it is a nightmare. Takes both hands and it’s still way more force than I want to be exerting while closing a knife.
@madmax82988 same problem here. I’m hoping with use it’ll loosen up, but I also plan to slap some sort of lubrication on it. As it comes though, the lock is not a one hand release.
“Outburst assisted opening” – does that mean i have to be pissed to use it?
Where’s my candy corn??
@OON7 it is too close to Halloween for Meh to sell candy corn. That would be useful timing. Watch for the sale in January or February.
Sorry, selling something for a profit on your website that could kill someone isn’t cool or responsible!
@glarue That easily rules out quite a few things that are widely and legally sold.
I admire people who won’t sell dangerous items. But I also don’t look down on people who sell dangerous items in a responsible manner.
@glarue You could easily strangle someone with a USB cable.
@glarue Is there anything that can not be used to kill someone?
Sure, some things might do it easier, but I think all objects are potential suspects.
@glarue So no pencils?
@glarue
@bdb @glarue So you admire no one.
@glarue How do you open boxes? Cut your food? Gut your crazy ex? It’s just a useful tool.
@glarue @Spheyr Imagine the damage you can do with a lightening cable! I once saw a man die from a depreciated tech. It’s OK, he was pretty SCSI.
@Spheyr It turns out it’s not as easy as it seems.
@glarue Is it ok if they sell it at a loss?
@glarue Oh please… <rolleyes> Pocket knives are very useful tools. Yes, in the hands of a psychopath, one could be used to murder someone. So could a lamp.
@glarue What’s your opinion of automobiles?
@glarue I was going to murder someone using the heavy speaker with handle I bought yesterday. If only I waited a day. In all actuality, if you stabbed someone one time with this tiny knife it wouldn’t go deep enough to do much damage and would become extremely slippery for repeat use.
@glarue as long as there’s someone that needs to be killed, I don’t see a problem with it there’s a lot of no good sons of b****** out there that the world would be better off with if they were f****** dead!
@glarue If they start selling guns, I am out. Knives of course have many uses. But I will say they shouldn’t require machismo marketing. Meh-cheese-mo, ok. You Meh guys can use that if you want. I should get free Stroop Waffles for life if you do, though. On second thought, my triglycerides are already elevated.
I do have a folding knife kind of like these and a folding razor blade boxcutter for my package opening needs. The knife was a ground score and the razor was like $5 in a consignment shop. So I still said “meh” to $30 meh-cheese-mo.
@glarue Don’t be such a baby - knives are tools.
@glarue
WHICH is it: Are you the definition of a SNOWFLAKE, or just an accomplished troll?
There, I SAID IT
@glarue I’ve carried a knife every day for my adult life. Not one of those days have I killed someone. Nor has it ever even occurred to me that I might injure anyone with it other than myself, and then only accidentally.
@glarue Perhaps since murder is so far from my typical thought processes, when I see a knife for sale I have never once thought “oh, that could be used to kill someone”. Not sure what would even motivate one to think that, unless perhaps it’s something they think about often.
@glarue party pooper.
@Doooood @glarue When I was 7 to 10 years old (somewhere in there, a LONG time ago), all of us boys carried pocket knives as a matter of course, including to school. The teachers and administrators knew about it and it was not an issue to anyone. Yes, there were fights, but that meant punches or rocks thrown. I do not recall ANYONE EVER being hurt with a knife in those situations. It was a matter of culture and upbringing.
The 30 dollars-ish price range for knives is really crowded. These are pretty meh knives in that crowd. Unless you really like the look, I’d keep looking.
@BethanyAnne And to think they’re usually priced at over 2x that price.
@BethanyAnne Yeah, I have a couple of CRKT knives and they are all sort of “Meh”. I would recommend a CJRB at this price point: better quality steel, and a smoother hinge.
@alose @BethanyAnne Any CJRB in particular you like at this price-ish?
@BethanyAnne @thechilipepper0 The J1902 is my favorite of the ones I have.
@alose @thechilipepper0 I have a large Feldspar. It’s amazing. The base price for the versions with D2 steel and contoured handles is $35. I got the grey one. The clip was a hotspot, but a Civivi clip fit perfectly and fixed that ($5 for 2). They are phasing out the D2 versions, so there are frequent discounts on them.
TIL: stone wash isn’t just for denim any more.
(This was the first I’d heard of stone washing for knives/metal/anything-but-denim. While I think it’s unnecessary, I do think I see the appeal of it.)
@xobzoo Stonewashed blades have a random pattern that helps hide the inevitable scratches and dings a blade gets.
ummmm. . . . Georgia Red. Seriously considering pulling the trigger.
@jrwofuga ANY knife can be a DIY Georgia Red, if you’re clumsy. Or determined.
Last time I bought the Zan Carbonfiber.
DON’T do it.
Warning do not buy.
Out of the box. Poor fittment. Lock is pretty permanent. You may need your multi tool to close this one. No way this is a one hand open knife.
And what should I expect from Meh?
@rustyh3 I got the Gulf and it’s a rock solid knife. Easy open and close and no blade wiggle. It is huge though.
@rustyh3 thanks for the heads up. My opinion is if you can’t get the feel of it in a store in your own hand, then you have no idea what you’re buying and there will be issues with holding, storing, opening, and assessing basic quality in the pins, screws, etc.
A continuous barrage of subpar items these past few weeks. Now seriously thinking about canceling my VMP…
@pixelated it’s not an airport…u don’t need to announce your departure!
@pixelated Please don’t, you’ll hurt our feelings!
@pixelated You’re all clear for takeoff.
@TimW Just thinking out loud…
@pixelated just do it. I promise, you will not regret it.
The Gulf is made in the USA and the Xan, unsurprisingly, is made in China if that matters to anyone.
The Spyderco Tenacious is still near impossible to beat. Around 45 bucks for the near perfect Chinese made knife from bladehq before tax or shipping and will serve you much better than either of these.
I picked up an Ontario RAT II on the recommendation of a buddy. It may even beat out the Tenacious and at a lower price point. It is D2 tool steel and was 28 bucks and change shipped. Clearly made in China but even has nice ceramic bearings for the opening closing action. I use it as my beater knife and held up really well as I open cellophane, cut off stray fabrics, zip ties around the kiddos’ toys and tacticool ninja flips to the garage for more tendies to reload into my microwave while watching Heat.
@umbrellacorp The technical details of the CRKT Gulf on Amazon’s page says that it’s made in China. I appreciate the insight, though. Got me to look deeper into the specs.
That’s not a knife. This is a knife.
Kershaw Strata XL: 5.4" blade, a foot long overall. $75.
Not assisted, but ball bearing pivot, so it opens with a flick of the flipper.
Totally absurd, and that’s exactly why I bought it.
About the lock on the Xan…
Back when these two knives were listed here on Meh in July, there was a Kershaw over on Woot that was very similar to the Xan. The size and appearance were more appealing to me than the one here, so I grabbed it. As received, it had some of the same issues as the Xan, the big one being difficulty in getting the lock to move aside when closing the blade. It really was a two-hand pay-attention task. But since I didn’t use that blade much, I just left it alone and put up with the hassle when I needed to use that one.
Today I decided to do something about it.
A few strokes of a jeweler’s triangular file across the tab on the back of the blade where the lock engages did the trick; that eased the action of the lock just enough to make it possible to one-hand the blade if you’re careful. I still do not like this kind of lock, but now this one’s tolerable.
I suspect the Xan is similar to this one in more than one way. Here’s a photo of the back of the Kershaw’s blade when folded;
the rectangular-ish shinier bit between the scales, just below that crossbar at the top, is the part of the blade that the lock engages. Just polishing it a bit was all it took to ease the lock a bunch. Your mileage may vary; making modifications to a thing is best done by someone who knows their tools and the techniques, as it’s easy to overdo or screw up. But maybe this will point someone in the right direction to make an unpleasant thing work better.
XAN sold out…will there be some left over for VMP at 4pm, or is this VMP benefit another one of the many to bite the dust?
The Gulf in Stonewash is the better of these two in my opinion.
CRKT makes some great quality products, If you like the looks of these you’re likely to be very satisfied, especially at this price.
You can pay more for a knife (lots more) but this price range should let you feel free to put the knife to hard work right away instead of babying it.
This is a nice offering for someone who needs a pocketknife.
@806D2701 I also did a bit of checking and (to me at least), the 8Cr13MoV (in the Gulf) seems like a better steel than the 1.4116 used in the Xan.
@806D2701 I agree with your assessment. And although the Gulf is a bit on the large size, it’s a decent unit if you have any use for something that big. I really prefer blades that aren’t so wide, but sometimes the job calls for more than that. My own EDC is a modified shorty folding utility knife. No worries about sharpening, no cares about damage; the blade gets munched, I swap in a new one.
Bummed the Xan is sold out! I should stop meh’ing MEH and open their emails in the morning once in a while to ensure getting a meh product in the mail.