Steel Will Cutjack Knife Review – Crazy $49.99 MSRP!

By John Crump

Steel Will Cutjack Knife in OD Green
Steel Will Cutjack Knife in OD Green
John Crump
John Crump

U.S.A.-(Ammoland.com)- No one should be without a good knife. A knife can be many different things to many different people. It can be used for opening boxes, wood carving, defense, and many other things.

The easiest type of knife to carry for everyday use is a folding pocket knife. There are plenty of folding knives to choose from and I just happened to be in a the market for one when an opportunity to test one out popped up.

At this year’s SHOT Show in Las Vegas, Steel Will debuted their new “Cutjack” knife. It immediately caused a buzz through the internet due to the specs and [the low] price point.

Steel Will made a lot of promises and people seem to wonder at the price point that the Cutjack was debuting at if Steel Will would be able to come through with all those lofty promises. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on one and find out for myself.

Steel Will Cutjack Knife

Even though the Cutjack (model: C22-10D) will start to ship in April 2017, I was fortunate enough to get one early when Steel Will made it available to AmmoLand News to test out. I told Steel Will that I would give it an honest review and would not guarantee any conclusions until I got my hands on it. Their response was “good”.

The knife arrived and decided to put it through a rigorous test right away, but before we get into the testing we did we must first talk about what we were testing.

The Steel Will Cutjack uses a liner-lock system to lock the blade open. That system should be familiar to most people that carry a pocket knife. When the knife is fulling opened a metal liner moves over towards the center of the blade to lock the knife in the open position. To close the knife the user pushes the metal liner towards the outside of the knife. Then they are able to close the the knife.

The Cutjack uses D2 high-carbon, high-chromium tool steel which makes for a very durable blade. Another advantage D2 steel has over other types of the steel is the edge retention on the blade. Where other brands of knives will dull, the Cutjack will hold it’s edge. The D2 steel blade of the Cutjack is also very resistant to scratches and abrasions. D2 steel is so durable it is used to cut other softer metals.

Steel Will Cutjack Knife Folded in Blue
Steel Will Cutjack Knife Folded in Blue : Cutjack Mini with blue G10 handle and black spacer. The blade rides on stainless steel ball bearings and is deployed quickly and smoothly with the flipper. Made in Italy.

The Steel Will Cutjack has a rating of 58 to 60 on the Rockwell Hardness Scale (HRC). This is about the same rating as a high end Spyderco knife, and is harder than a lot of other knives that are at a similar price point. Hardness is something that is overlooked by a lot of people until they try to put their knife to work and it gets ruined due to a soft metal blade.

The Steel Will Cutjack is 8 inches when it is fully opened. The blade on it is 3.5 inches long, which is about the blade size that I prefer in a folding knife. With a weight of 3.8 ounces the knife is pretty light and not really noticeable clipped to the inside of my pant’s pocket with its durable metal clip.

The handle of the Cutjack is made of FRN (fiberglass-reinforced nylon). FRN is high strength plastic that is used by a lot of knife manufactures for their handles. The handle is made by injection molding using a nylon polymer mixed with glass fibers. FRN is used especially in folding knives because of it’s lightweight and durability.

The handle of the Steel Will Cutjack felt great in my hand. This is probably due to it’s ergonomic design. It felt sturdy yet comfortable. I had a few other people try out the grip and we all agreed that it was very well designed. The knife has a feel of a knife north of $200. Steel Will put a lot of time and effort into the grip.

The Steel Will Cutjack was a very sharp knife right out of the box. I tried the paper test by holding a sheet of people up and slicing across the paper. Since I am not going to attacked by paper I decided to step up the testing a bit. I used the knife to prepare my dinner by slicing a steak into multiple strips for stir fry. The knife did great and cut as well as my usual knife that is built to slice meat.

It was time to move onto the next step. I took the Cutjack and found a piece of aspen wood that was given to me and started cutting away at the wood. The knife moved easily through the wood. I also grabbed a 2×4 and started craving that as well with the same results. This would be a good knife for someone who liked to whittle wood.

The Cutjack has so far been pretty durable too. I used it to open multiple boxes as well as spending about 30 to 45 minutes a day craving various pieces of wood. After a week of using this every day the knife was still just as sharp as when it was new, without scars from all the work I put the knife through as I torture tested it.

Steel Will Cutjack Knife in OD Green Left Side
Steel Will Cutjack Knife in OD Green Left Side

The Steel Will Cutjack I received was in OD green, but it also comes in black and blue. The blade of the knife was very shinny. I usually prefer black blades, but this blade looks great and goes surprisingly well with the OD green handle. I love the look of the OD green knife and would suggest anyone who wants a Cutjack to get the OD Green knife.

The one thing that I did not like about the Cutjack is the tightness of blade when it is folded in. It requires a little more flick of the wrist to open the knife than I am used to, but overall it isn’t too bad. I easily got used to this tightness. Most people probably wouldn’t mind the tightness at all, but I am pretty anal retentive about my knives.

The best part of the Steel Will Cutjack Knife is it’s price point. It will debut with an MSRP of $49.99.

This has created a lot of buzz. It puts a high quality knife, that is on the level of knives 4 times its price point, within the reach of a lot of people who can’t, or won’t, spend $200+ on a knife.

Overall the Steel Will Cutjack is a very good knife, and for the price it is a great buy. I would recommend this knife 10 out of 10 times. This is my first Steel Will knife, but this will not be my last knife by them. This has become my everyday carry knife.

Steel Will knives can be found at www.steelwillknives.com The Steel Will Cutjack will start shipping in April with an MSRP of $49.99.

You can shop Steel Will line of quality knives online at Amazon.

About John Crump

John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. He is the former CEO of Veritas Firearms, LLC and is the co-host of The Patriot News Podcast which can be found at www.blogtalkradio.com/patriotnews. John has written extensively on the patriot movement including 3%’ers, Oath Keepers, and Militias. In addition to the Patriot movement, John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and is currently working on a book on the history of the patriot movement and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss or at www.crumpy.com.

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PPP

Your other Ammoland article says the cutjack ready to ship but I think you had better let steel will know this. Also let Amazon know too. Ok my sarcasm is over but r ally when does the knife come out? Thanks for a quick reply.

Ron Jarvis

The Steel Will website lists these knives for $169 on pre-order. Not sure where $49 MSRP came from.

Jan

It’s another knives. Italian-made and M390 steel.

goosedowner

I love D2 bladed knives. I pre ordered one of these but was surprised and not happy to see a $10 shipping fee added

alc

I concur with GomeznSA re. editing/proofing, as it appears there was none – “craving” for carving, etc. Additionally, though I don’t mean to be insulting, and the article is informative, it is very amateurishly written – early high school level – surprising, given Mr. Crump’s writing background and interests! He may come across very well in a classroom or presentation environment, but the written word does not appear to be his forte.

Bill

I also like a spring assist blade for defense. Also the liner lock is a completely turnoff for me. When I have to interrupt my foxes and look for the liner in low light, that interrupts my focus and keeps me from sue along my surroundings!

GomeznSA

AmmoLand, can you please have some one edit the articles (NOT just this one) – use of terms like “shinny” (did the author mean skinny or shiny?) detract from an otherwise informative article.

Fredy

John,

The size and shape of the ‘Cutjack’ knife is very similar to my SOG Trident Elite folding pocket knife, with a similar price point ($65.) BUT, with one major exception. Instead of having a “tightness of the blade…requiring “a flick of the wrist to open..” my SOG has a spring-loaded, single hand opening action, which is one of the main reasons why I purchased and carry my SOG with me everyday, EVERYWHERE….;)