Leatherman 8601140 Crater c33L Straight Blade Knife

This knife is the best bang for your knife buying buck. I have purchased three of these and they simply are the best. They come razor sharp out of the box and hold their edge very well even with moderate to heavy use. I like the kick start feature as the blade can easily be fully deployed with just a flick of the finger. One handed operation is a snap. The removable clip offers excellent retention. The knife has a good heft to it and feels good in the hand. The auto lock secures the blade in place when open and allows zero slop. The lock also releases with one movement and requires only one hand to close. This knife offers superior value and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for an everyday carry blade.

I had an e33l until losing it recently, and since Leatherman discontinued the Expanse series my options for a replacement became somewhat limited. For the price, the Crater series does the job--but it's half a step down from the Expanse.From a design standpoint, the c33l and the e33l are basically identical except for the cladding on the e33l handle. They are roughly the same weight, have identical dimensions, and even look similar. Really the only major difference is the blade, but it's a pretty big difference. I haven't put the 420HC blade through its paces yet, but if it behaves like every other 420 steel I've ever used I have a feeling I'll really miss the 154CM steel on the Expanse. Keeping an edge is important, and while I'm reasonably proficient at sharpening knives I don't like having to do it very often.Otherwise, everything else I liked about the Expanse is there: slim profile, deep pocket clip, good size to the blade for various tasks, even the bronze bushings on the pivot. It opens and closes smoothly, and the carabiner / bottle opener brought me back to Leatherman when I started looking at other brands. It's just so darn handy.It isn't perfect, but for most of what I use it for it's pretty great.

Beware, the so-called blade launcher does not work well but, more importantly, the frame of the knife is very sharp and when you apply pressure to the launcher, you can cut yourself on the frame.There are many great leatherman products - this is not one of them.

Pretty well made for the price. Steel seems good, very sharp out of the package. I ordered 2, both were extremely stiff, I loosened one and put a tiny bit of Hoppes Elite on the hinges and it's great now, flip now works awesomely. The other however I should have returned as the quality controls seem like they're not existent. It was stiff after I managed to loosen it, they used a massive amount of high strength Locktite in it, so much that it squished out into the hinge and made its way between the brass washers and literally glued it all together. AND on top of that they obviously used a press and pressed the pin into the handle, disfiguring a brass washer in the process. I cleaned it up and fixed the washer problem and put it back together with blue Locktite like it should have had and it's great too. A tiny bit of blade wobble where I have it loose for fast deployment but it's good and its not going anywhere. I would have given 5 stars if it had ball bearings instead of brass washers. But that would also up the price. I also think the flip should push the blade further than it does rather than depending on momentum and letting the blade coast the last bit of its travel, but that may be a legal issue, the horrid "switchblade".... which is bs.

very unhappy with this knife I had the same one years ago and lost it so figured I would pick up a new one and I should have spent my money else where. the assisted open design doesn't work, the handle is loose and one of the screws holding the pocket clip on is cross threaded and sticking half way out all cockeyed. if you look closely at the edge on the knife its very choppy and has what looks like dozens of dings running the entire length of it and the handle is much cheaper feeling with rough edges.

I got this because i recently bought the c33 from Amazon. the c33l is described as having assisted opening. this doesn't work. the c33 opens easier and you don't have to pay the extra couple of bucks. tonight i'm gonna take the c33L apart and remove the "assist opening" device. One positive thing about ALL the leatherman knives i have (now 2) is they are incredibly sharp upon arrival. I'm a knife collector the these babies are sharper than anything else i have received.the reason for three rather than five stars is the non performance of the assist opening. I give my c33 five stars all the way