CRKT Utsidihi: a Millenary EDC

August 27, 2020 - 9:07pm

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Knives

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Ryan Johnson designed this knife inspired by the flint blades that archaeologists and he himself found around where he lives. This indeed makes the CRKT Utsidihi an ancient EDC.

Utsidihi is a Cherokee word meaning "mankiller" which was the nickname of Otacity Ostenaco, warrior, orator and eminent diplomatic who dealed with the British colonial authority.

The cherokee were the original occupants of the area where knifemaker and CRKT collaborator Ryan Johnson lives. He used the flint knives he found during his outdoor excursions as a source of inspiration for this knife design, which truly makes the CRKT UTSIDIHI an ancient EDC knife in design and philosophy, if not materials. Natives always carried a knife as a tool for everyday chores and as a weapon, and it had to fulfill both roles equally well, which the Utsidihi does egregiously.

The blade has a modified spearpoint profile and is quite wide, 0.16" thick and milled out of 8Cr13MoV steel, an AUS 8 variant characterized by a very good price/quality ratio, with good edge retention capabilities, very tough and easy to resharpen, which is a bonus.

The balance between edge retention and resharpening ease is obviously a matter of personal taste but, if on the one hand a steel with great edge retention is a very good thing, on the other it usually will be near impossible to resharpen with makeshift tools, which may be a serious drawback for an EDC knife, particularly one meant for outdoor use.

The Utsidihi grip is as practical as its blade: it is a bare, milled tang wrapped in paracord, a material which offers very good gripping power and that can easily be replaced in case of wear, and that can be used as construction material, improvised tourniquet and several other useful purposes. It gives the knife a pleasant rustic but at the same time elegant look.

The scabbard of the Utsidihi is made of fiberglass reinforced polymer and has a loop for "scout" carry, but it also has an abundance of eyehole rivets that allow to rig it in various fashions to a belt, backpack strap or PALS webbing , or a Tek Lok clamp for more "technical" carry.

The sturdy shell protects the user from the blade in case of a hard fall. The knife retention of the scabbard is quite secure and, even if it lacks a latch safety, some force is required to rip the blade free, so that it's highly improbable to loose it.

The blade has large, hollow ground bevels that give the knife a very good cutting geometry, while its width forms a natural handguard that, with the modified spearpoint tip, gives the Utsidihi grat stabbing power. The grip is well proportionated to the blade, so that the knife is very effective also in long cutting chores involving tough materials.

The grip's simplicity, its shape and the paracord wrapping allow great freedom when it comes to grip choice, and the Utsidihi lends itself to a hammer grip, saber grip (helped by the nubs on the blade's spine) and reverse grip equally well, making it quite versatile as a tool and as an extreme self defense weapon.

The finish is stone washed, which has recently become more and more fashionable, and that gives the knife a pleasant worn look, like some well used and cared for tool, that adds to the looks of a rustic but effective knife that shines for versatility and simplicity.

With its practicality and a very affordable price (even if a good Tek Lok clamp is well worth the few extra bucks it will cost), the Utsidihi is a minimalist but very effective knife that offers a lot in exchange of a little of your money.