hey everyone David C Andersen here coming at you from the KnifeCenter and
today we're pitting two gentlemen's EDC pocket knives against each other
it's the CRKT CEO versus the CIVIVI Chronic let's check them out
both of these knives are narrow office EDC's barely larger than a nice ink pen
they're gentleman's knives with long narrow blades and they fall firmly into
the executive knife category and both of them are affordable enough for just
about anyone to carry at this point in time the CRKT CEO comes in at 40 bucks
while the CIVIVI Chronic is just a few dollars more at $48.50
although you can option it up to $78.80 for the more premium version that I've
got in my hands right here the blade length is very similar between the two
as well about 3 and 1/8 of an inch on the CEO and 3 and 3/16 on the Chronic
when you measure them from the tip to the leading edge of the scale but the
CRKT manages to pull ahead on the amount of usable edge now in one of those weird
twists that you see in the knife world now and then because the heel of the
edge goes farther back than the front of the handles it actually has a full three
and three sixteenths of an inch of sharpened edge which is a full sixteenth
inch more than it's supposed it blade length that's just one of those things
it makes it actually defining blade length a challenge these days looking
back to the other knife because the CIVIVI Chronic features a large coil here in
front of the finger tab which isn't quite big enough to fit a full finger
and by the way this knife only features about two and seven eighths of an inch
of edge that's more than a quarter inch behind the CEO but because of the blade
steel that they use here it's probably going to last longer
that's because the CEO comes with 8Cr13MoV steel an entry-level stainless
it's easy to maintain and it does give solid performance for the money in the
meantime the Chronic actually comes with two different steel options when we look
at the base model here the blade is made from 9Cr18MoV steel now admittedly
that does sound awful similar to the 8Cr13 that you see in CRKT but it is a
different steel and you should get more edge retention with the 9Cr to put it
in terms of steel you may be more familiar with or terms that may be
easier to compare you can think of 8Cr as being equivalent to AUS-8 while the
9Cr is more like 440C and you'll be in the ballpark now as an upgrade the
Chronic can be had with a stainless Damascus blade and according to our reps
the base of their formula for this Damascus is also 9Cr and they tell us
that the performance again should be similar to a well heat treated 440C
blade just with the added good looks of the pattern welding now as far as
cutting performance between the two let's take a look at their edge
geometries a little closer the CRKT CEO starts with a thinner blade
stock it's about 0.09 inches thick and it features a mid height flat grind and
a long swedge on a very narrow blade the CIVIVI Chronic's blade starts a
little bit thicker about point one two inches thick and the blade profile is
wider too and they grind it with a high hollow grind this keeps the thickness
behind the edge itself thinner than on the CEO and with that hollow grind your
initial slicing performance is probably gonna be a little more effortless since
the CEOs blade is slightly more wedge-shaped now it's not to say that
the CEO really drags all that much and for any sort of cuts where you need to
go around a corner the narrower blade is going to be able to more easily make
those transitions aided there to buy that long swedge along the spine which
removes a bit of drag now the initial sharpness on both of these knives are
excellent by the way both of them were hair popping sharp right out of the box
the tip on both knives should be very useful too for any sort of day-to-day
tasks now obviously they're not going to be strong enough to stab through a car
door and you know if you want something like that go buy a Cold Steel but
they're thin and acute and great for opening packages and letters
now the Cronic achieves this with a nice clip point shape while the CEO features a
straight back blade and in fact along with the straight handle it definitely
gives off a kwaiken style vibe now the blade on each when folded up nestle's
very deep into the handle with only the flipper tab and just a hint of the spine
visible on the CIVIVI and only the thumb stud visible on the CRKT
the blade disappears completely on this this helps them maintain a low visual
presence and helps them stay unobtrusive when they're in your pocket - on that
note both knives feature a deep carry clip right in line with their mission of
being unseen or unnoticed until you need to cut something the Chronics clip keeps
the blade in a tip-up orientation and you can reverse it to either side of the
knife and carry it on either side just as easily while the CEOs clip is a right
side tip down carry only and it should be even
easier to slide into your pocket when you're putting the knife away - for one
thing the screw heads are kept flush with the surface of the clip so that
they're not sticking out to potentially snag on anything and it also features a
small ramp molded into the handle itself to guide your pocket hem over the clip
and that keeps the edge of the clip from snagging as well
now the Chronics clip on the other hand features no such ramp and the screw
heads are sticking up a little bit so depending on the thickness of your pants
it may take a little more effort to fully seat the knife really though
that's only a comparison when it comes to these two knives it's certainly gonna
carry very easily despite that and there's a lot of knives out there that
do it just this same way now as far as the handle materials the CEO makes do
with glass reinforced nylon it's got a bit of a contour on both sides - which
helps it to feel not so blocky in the hand it also features a repeated radial
pattern and for one thing this does give it a hint of texture so that it isn't
slippy but it also creates a nice look it's not quite like carbon-fiber
although the vibe is very similar and it feels very classy as a result now the
base Chronic models featured g10 and you can get them in a few different colors
it's got more of a workhorse vibe with a little bit more texture than the CEO but
if you want to stay on the classier side the Damascus version features a g10
laminate that has a top layer of carbon fiber now the handle shape on the cronic
is definitely a little bit blockier but it's not uncomfortable for one thing
it's a little bit wider than the CEO and secondly each of the edges features a
wide chamfer it creates sort of an octagonal handle shape now when you
combine that with the clip point blade you can kind of think of the Chronic as a
folding bowie knife kind of a funny observation there since the Chinese
company is emulating an American blade while the American company takes its
cues from an Asian knife pattern now the handle space is a little shorter on the
Chronic there's about three and three quarters of an inch behind the flipper
tab and it's just enough for me to get a full grip but if you want more the CEO
does offer more length a full inch more in fact definitely plenty of length
there to get a large grip on now one more difference between the two comes
into play at the end of the handles the Chronic features a small G10 back spacer
that sticks out of the end just slightly and combined with a hole there and a
small pocket in the handles they leave a nice spot to attach a little lanyard
either for convenience or for style now the CEO lacks any kind of lanyard hole
and instead it places a small steel pommel at the end of the handle now when
you combine that feature with the narrow profile of the CEO overall the knife
actually reminds us a lot of an old doctors knife you know the old slip
joints that you'd see from the folks like Case Knives because the pommel
there would make a great pill crusher now that construction that solid piece
of steel back there eliminates the need for any other kind of back spacer or
standoffs which keeps the back of the CEO open and easy to keep clean and
actually both knives ought to be pretty easy to clean even though the CIVIVI does
have a back spacer it is pretty minimal alright let's get back to the blades
because that's what we're here for right each one is held open with a liner lock
but they diverge a lot when it comes to their opening styles now it comes to the
Chronic this is definitely not a two hand opening knife it's a one hander
only it's the flipper way or the highway because there's only a little bit of the
spine sticking out there's pretty much no way you're gonna be able to grab the
blade with your offhand although if you were really trying I can get just the
tip of my finger nails in there and pull it out but it's really deliberate and
you're really not going to want to be doing that now it comes to the flipper
the action is excellent so we've got a nice set of ball bearings and the pivot
makes for fast and easy deployment now the CEO lacks a flipper and instead it
comes with a single thumb stud which nestle's here in a cutout in the handle
now in addition to one hand opening this also enables two-handed opening if you
found the need to be less flashy or more discreet when you're opening the blade
because some of the folks you might be around may not appreciate you flicking
your blade around now in the pivot we also see ball bearings with this knife
it's CRKT IKBS bearing system and even though it lacks a flipper that does
not hold this knife back the CEO actually thumb flicks in very satisfying
fashion thanks to that thumb stud placement the leverage is perfect for
sending the blade out in a snap so in the end setting apart the differences in
the designs with similar action the biggest differentiator between these
knives are the materials but that's only part of the equation in the end what a
company does with those materials makes a big difference although the CIVIVI comes
with arguably premium features such as the layer of carbon fiber and the
Damascus option the CEO while it certainly feels a little quote unquote
cheaper does not feel cheap each of these knives is
well-built and tightly executed so at this point only one question remains
which one of these knives would earn a place in your pocket you go for the
narrower and less expensive CRKT CEO or would you go for the flippin satisfying
Chronic and would you go for the base model or step up to the damascus carbon
fiber version or maybe something else in a similar vein be sure to let us know in
the comments and to get your hands on either of these great knives we're gonna
leave links in the description below to take you over to KnifeCenter.com and I
say it a lot but make sure you're signed up for a KnifeRewards program while
you're there because we're gonna buy one of these knives anyway might as well
earn some free money for your next one i'm David C Andersen from the
KnifeCenter signing off see you next time