- CRKT Squid · Drop Point2.14″ blade · 0.11″ spine · 3.5 oz · ~0.89″ tall
CRKT Squid
The CRKT Squid is a 2.14" drop point folder in 8Cr13MoV, flat ground. The handle is Stainless, secured by a frame lock. Blade is just 38% of its 5.7" overall length, so most of what you are holding is grip.
- Blade
- 2.14″
- Weight
- 3.5 oz
- Steel
- 8Cr13MoV
- Price band
- Budget
Everyday carry in pocket-knife-restricted areas
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Specifications
Manufacturer-published figures, cross-checked against crkt.com, countryknives.
- Blade length
- 2.14″
- Spine thickness
- 0.11″
- Blade shape
- Drop Point
- Grind
- Flat
- Steel
- 8Cr13MoV
- Overall length
- 5.7″
- Closed length
- 3.5″
- Weight
- 3.5 oz
- Lock
- Frame Lock
- Deployment
- Manual
- Handle material
- Stainless
- Country of origin
- China
Why a drop point
The default hunting and EDC shape, and the safest general answer. The spine curves down to the tip in a convex line, which keeps the point low and strong and leaves plenty of belly for skinning. It is hard to make a drop point bad at anything.
Every drop point here →About 8Cr13MoV
The Chinese value workhorse, roughly comparable to AUS-8. Fine on a $30 knife, unremarkable anywhere else.
1-5 is a relative ranking drawn from published composition and hardness, not a lab measurement. Higher is better on every axis, and no steel is a 5 across the board — edge retention and toughness pull against each other. All 8Cr13MoV knives
What owners say
Drawn from 146 owner discussions of the CRKT Squid since 2024. The opinions are theirs. The specifications above come from the maker.
What owners like
- Years of daily service: one owner has carried a Squid since 2017 and bought a second a few months later, another says theirs is still going strong after about seven years, and two more report two to three years of carry.
- Coin-pocket size: owners keep it in the small jeans pocket, and one says it vanishes when clipped.
- Unthreatening in public: one store manager in Denmark uses it on the shop floor around customers and saves their Civivi Praxis for the stockroom, and another says it is small enough to open in public without being intimidating.
- Tough for the money: one owner thinks it could survive being run over by a tank, another calls it very sturdy, and one rated it clearly better made than a Kershaw Diode.
- Clearance finds are common: owners report paying $13 (August 2024), $5 (September 2024) and $7 (December 2024) at Walmart, against $45 in Canada in January 2025.
- Fits the hand perfectly for one long-term owner, who also says the blade is a great size for all their cutting.
- A cheap base for mods: two owners fit Flytanium brass scales, one adding a backspacer, another media-blasted the body, and one long-term owner laser-engraved their pair and added beaded lanyards.
- Snappy deployment: one owner says the thumb knob makes it quick and easy to open and likes how the clip holds it securely.
What owners flag
- Edge holding draws complaints: one two-year owner says the edge does not hold up, and another owner, happy after two to three years, wants better steel.
- Too small for some hands and jobs: one owner calls it almost too compact, another wishes it were a little larger, and a third finds theirs too small for their wallet setup.
- Heavy for its size: one owner says it feels too heavy, and it weighs 3.5 ounces for a 2.14-inch blade.
- The pocket clip draws criticism: one owner calls its position the worst they have used, like putting the knife in upside down and backwards, and says it half covers the grip spot; a long-term owner notes it does not carry deep.
- Too big for a keychain: one owner who bought it as a keychain knife found it far too large, moved it to pocket carry, and is leaning toward a Kershaw Diode for the keys.
- Easily outgrown: one owner sidelined theirs after buying a Civivi Mini Praxis, keeping it only for times they want the least intimidating blade.
Since 2017 one owner has carried the Squid, and they now swap daily between two of them. People carry it in jeans coin pockets, to the beach and on the disc golf course, and one store manager in Denmark keeps it for cuts in front of customers because people there are not used to knives.
2.14 inches of 8Cr13MoV on a 3.5-ounce stainless frame lock makes a dense little knife: one owner thinks it could survive being run over by a tank and another calls it very sturdy. The trade-offs are the steel, which one two-year owner says does not hold an edge, a clip one owner rates the worst they have used, and a size some find too small. It also turns up on Walmart clearance for $5 to $13.
One owner found a Civivi Mini Praxis left the Squid only for low-key cuts, another carries it alongside a Spyderco Para 3 Lightweight and wants something in between, and for the keychain role one owner is leaning toward a Kershaw Diode. It suits someone who wants a cheap, sturdy knife that disappears in a small pocket more than someone who wants long edge holding.
Is the Squid a decent first EDC knife?
Long-term owners say yes: one has carried a Squid since 2017 and now swaps daily between two, another's is going strong after about seven years, and one thinks it could survive being run over by a tank. The caveat from one two-year owner is that the edge does not hold up.
Will the Squid fit a jeans coin pocket?
That is where several owners carry it. One long-term owner says it fits their coin pocket nicely, another keeps an engraved one tucked there every day, and a store manager carries it in their right coin pocket.
Can the Squid ride on a keychain?
One owner who bought it for that found it far too large for a keychain and moved it to pocket carry; a Kershaw Diode is their front runner for the keychain instead.
What should I upgrade to that keeps the Squid's size?
One owner asking this wants the same size with a nicer blade, lock or bearings. One found their Civivi Mini Praxis left the Squid only for times they want the least intimidating blade, another wants the snap and compression lock of their Spyderco Para 3 Lightweight in something closer to Squid size, and another moved from a Squid and other budget knives to a Kunwu X-Padre in Elmax.
Does the Squid look intimidating when used around people?
Owners say no. One in Canada says it is small enough to open in public without worry, a store worker in Denmark uses it with customers, and another keeps it for times they want the least intimidating blade.
Features
- Frame Lock
- Flat grind
- Made in China
- Stainless blade
Compare the Squid
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