We ran across the CRKT booth while at the Outdoor Retailer show this year in Denver and mentioned to the CRKT team that we were interested in scoping out their latest in EDC concepts. Ryan from CRKT knew exactly what he wanted to show us. He introduced us to the Field Strip technology pioneered by Ken Onion and CRKT in their Homefront and Bona Fide models. They sent us out a couple to tinker with and here are our findings.
Homefront (🪖Captain America’s Knife)
Holding the Homefront makes you feel like throwing on a floppy M14 Haversack Field Bag and slinging an M1 Garand over your shoulder. It just screams World War II, but is balanced by all the tech and materials of the modern era. The knife oozes toughness and one gets the sense that it will hold up for centuries and handle any project you can throw at it in the meantime.
What should support the service life of this tool during these years is the new field strip technology — which makes cleaning/maintaining the knife a breeze. The E2E team was impressed with how solid the knife felt despite its ease of tear down. The Aus 8 steel is proven in the field and the aluminum handles won’t be rusting anytime soon. The pronounced belly gives you plenty of slice but the stout drop point tip will give you a hardy blade tip. Seriously… if ever there was ever a reasonably-sized EDC folder that felt like a tank, this is it.
Grading Scale
1 = Terrible 2 = Unimpressive 3 = Tolerable 4 = Impressive 5 = Terrific
Ease of Deployment: 4 [Pronounced flipper and weighty blade make for an easy open.]
Safety: 4 [The Homefront sports a sturdy liner lock that will keep the blade from accidental closure but it does force you to put your thumb in the path of the closing blade.]
Craftsmanship: 4 [Rugged. Durable materials. Consistent angles and grinds.]
Check out the Homefront on CRKT’s website here
Bona Fide
The Bona Fide feels sleek despite its heft and robust build. Rusty was truly surprised at just how well this thing held up to drops and *gentle* abuse to find its breaking point. One would think that just one attachment point hold theses and blade together would be susceptible to damage, but the Bona Fide held up.
The Bona Fide is rocking a D2 blade which will take an edge and hold it (like a cat clinging to the edge of a tub it doesn’t want to go in). The handles are aluminum. The particle model we received was quit whippy on deployment, but that could be tightened up with a 1/8th turn from a Torx wrench if desired. The knife rides deep for concealment thanks to its clip position. The knife just feels anxious to volunteer for duty when needed.
Ease of Deployment: 4 [Pronounced flipper and weighty blade make for an easy open.]
Safety: 4 [The Homefront sports a sturdy liner lock that will keep the blade from accidental closure but it does force you to put your thumb in the path of the closing blade.]
Craftsmanship: 4 [Rugged. Durable materials. Consistent angles and grinds.]
Check out the Bona Fide on CRKT’s website here
Both of these models (the Homefront and Bona Fide) are novel due to the Field Strip mechanism. But both feel like they could take a grenade and live to tell the tale. Well done, Ken and CRKT. We salute you!