Half Knife, Half Axe: CRKT ‘Razel-Nax’ Evaluation

Many moons in the past, Jon Graham got down to fill a void on the earth — so he put a knife edge on the aspect of a chisel. That one modern concept would result in a profession as a famend knife-maker and the launch of a sequence of knives generally known as “Razels.”

Graham handed away in 2022, forsaking a legacy of instruments that modified how individuals work, play, construct, and discover.

CRKT labored with Graham for years, and as of proper now, the model has seven totally different Razel fashions to select from. I’m going to give attention to probably the most utilitarian of the bunch, the Razel Nax. Based on CRKT, that is what you get whenever you “cross a knife with an axe.” 

I’d say that’s fairly spot on. The mix of a knife and a hatchet could be extra correct. Both method, within the Nax, you have got 11 inches of 1075 carbon metal with Micarta-style handles, so that you higher make room in your toolbelt (or in your backpack).

In brief: If you happen to’re on the lookout for a utility software to get myriad cussed duties finished all through all elements of your energetic life, the CRKT Razel Nax is an efficient handful of instruments multi function. This factor is significantly addicting, and you’ll find duties for it to dispatch.

CRKT Razel Nax Evaluation

Design and Options

The Razel Nax is an 11-inch lengthy, full tang utility software made out of stonewashed, 3/16-inch thick, 1075 carbon metal. It options each a knife edge and a chisel. The knife edge measures simply over 4.5-inches lengthy. And the face of the chisel measures 1.5-inches lengthy. 

In comparison with software steels like 1095, A2, and D2, 1075 carbon metal presents a softer different. Mostly in comparison with 1095, 1075 gained’t maintain an edge as lengthy, however it’s a lot harder. This makes it nice for knives and instruments utilized in purposes like these the Nax will sort out.

I’m unsure why CRKT refers back to the deal with scales as “Resin Infused Fiber,” as they carefully resemble Westinghouse canvas micarta. Both method, it has a improbable grip and appears becoming and weather-beaten, juxtaposed towards the coated, stonewashed blade.

First Impressions

My first Graham knife was the CRKT Ringed Razel. The day I acquired it from CRKT, I used it to pry up all the ornamental trim in each room of the home I had simply purchased.

Then I used it to scrape all of the paint off that trim as a result of my spouse simply needed to reuse all of it. So, I knew what to anticipate from the Razel Nax. 

Or so I believed.

The Nax has all the elements of a Razel that I’ve loved over time: chisel grind, knife edge, and distinctive tip — a results of two grind edges assembly up.

However the leverage … that despatched the Nax over the moon. The software may pry and chop simpler, making it a shoo-in for all of my antics out within the woods, at work, round the home, and within the yard.

As somebody who finds himself all the time constructing or renovating one thing, I had a sense the Nax would discover a spot in each my toolbelt and my daypack. I used to be proper!

It’s a kind of instruments — for those who’re not carrying it with you, you’ll inevitably run right into a process the place you can use it.

Although you’ll be able to apply that idea to plenty of knives and instruments on the market, I can’t consider a greater hybrid software to have by my aspect.

Within the Discipline

Nonetheless, the Nax stays distinctive. It might do many issues many alternative methods, and throughout a various number of settings. It’s a blue-collar utility software for 9-to-5, Monday-Friday people that moonlights as an environment friendly outside software on nights and weekends. 

As such, I introduced it with me for some spring household adventures. My daughters and I went out round our New England house seeking some spring peepers. I used the Nax to flip over rocks, so I had my different hand free to softly seize a kind of little tune frogs. It proved so efficient that now I’ve to purchase a bag of crickets each weekend to feed our new pet. 

On one other event, I used the Nax to rise up into the deck of my garden mower to pry out a rock. The additional leverage from the Nax deal with made all of the distinction and saved my neighbors from listening to a inventive mixture of me cursing and throwing the mower throughout the yard.

Just like the Ringed Razel earlier than it, I do know the Nax goes to come in useful once I rise up to camp in a couple of weeks. The spring thaw all the time brings challenges, like swollen doorways and home windows. Having one thing just like the Nax will enable me to make precision changes to the wooden in order that I push/reduce off the correct quantity of fabric with out creating a big hole when the wooden dries out and shrinks in a couple of months. 

Notice on the Sheath

I wasn’t a fan of the leather-based belt loop on the sheath at first. It’s designed to snap round your belt, and my concern was the snap wouldn’t be substantial sufficient to remain in place when eradicating or reinserting the Nax again into the sheath.

To date, I’ve been unsuitable. Whether or not I’ve the knife place with the deal with dealing with up or down, I haven’t run into any points.

However given how tight the world is across the belt loop and the way I take out or put again the blade, I’m positive I’ll reduce the loop in some unspecified time in the future. At which level, I might want to exchange it.

Total

I had the pleasure of speaking with Jon Graham a couple of occasions. Like so many different knife-makers, he was a blue-collar man who noticed the necessity for a selected software to make his life simpler.

Is a Razel-style knife your subsequent EDC? Perhaps not. However apart from not having a conventional knife level, it’s onerous to search out something unhealthy to say about how efficient that is at slicing, reducing, prying, shaping, scraping, and chiseling. 

I spend as a lot time figuring out within the woods as I do taking part in. So, I have to deliver alongside a software that may act as many instruments in a single. Within the case of the Razel Nax, CRKT created a hybrid of a knife, hatchet, and chisel and finally created one thing extremely helpful. 

CRKT Razel Nax: Conclusion

If you happen to’re somebody who finds your self doing plenty of handiwork round the home or within the outback, the Razel Nax could possibly be the most effective problem-solver you carry with you.

I’d suggest any of the Razel-style utility instruments to somebody who likes to tinker or construct issues. With its elevated leverage and skill to get into tight areas, the Nax is the final word problem-solver.

The sorts of issues it would resolve are solely restricted by your creativeness.