The CRKT TSR Terzuola Survival Rescue Knife Review

Columbia River Knife and Tool company was founded in 1994 in Oregon. This is an American Company that is known for its distinction in design, selection, and quality. For over two decades, CRKT has put innovation and integrity first, making a commitment to build products that inspire and endure. CRKT operates on a simple principle: that the creates thing they can give their customers is Confidence in Hand. To achieve this principle, they collaborate with the best knife makers and designers in the world. Some of these collaborations have been with Ken Onion, Harold “Kit” Carson, Allen Elishewitz, Pat Crawford, Liong Mah, Steven James, Greg Lightfoot, Michael Walker, Ron Lake, Tom Veff, Steve Ryan, and the Graham Brothers. While they have been collaborating with these greats, they have racked up the patents that they own. They are now up to fifteen patents, including the Outburst assist opening mechanism, the Lock Back Safety mechanism, and Veff Serrated edges.

At this point in time, CRKT produces a wide range of fixed blades, folding knives, multi tools, sharpeners, and carrying systems. It seems as if they have everything down pat and they have been around the block quite a few times at this point. However, it did take a couple of years for this company to truly take off. It wasn’t until 1997 at that years Shot Show that CRKT started to gain traction. It was there that they released the K.I.S.S knife (Keep It Super Simple). This is a small folder that had been designed by Ed Halligan and it was a raging success. Within only the opening days of the Shot Show, they sold out the years’ worth of products.

CRKT has recently released another home run of the knife: the TSR Terzuola Survival Rescue Knife.

 

The Designer:

Bob Terzuola, who is from Albuquerque New Mexico, made this knife. When CRKT is talking about Bob, they say, “Look up ‘tactical folding knife’ in the dictionary and you’re likely to see Bob’s picture next to it. After all, he virtually invented the category and continues to specialize in knives for professional use, like the BT-70.” He was born in New York and has had many adventures before he designed to settle into design in the early ‘80s. It was in 1981 that he joined the Knife Makers Guild.

 

The Blade:

The blade on this knife is made out of 8Cr13MoV steel. This steel comes from a Chinese series that has many different formulas in it. The best quality formula of this series is the 9Cr steel, but the 8Cr steel does fall closely behind. If you were going to compare this steel to another more popular steel, the most similar steel would be AUS 8 steel, however 8Cr steel is the inferior of the two steels. This is considered a stainless steel, so while it can resist rust pretty well, you do steel need to keep on your cleaning and oiling of the blade. Even some of the higher quality stainless steels will rust if left in the worst conditions. This steel has a hardness of HRC 56-58. Because this is a softer steel, it is a total breeze to sharpen and can get a crazy fine edge on it. It also holds this edge longer than you would expect with such a soft steel. The biggest feature that this steel boasts is how inexpensive it is. However, this is steel an average steel so while it will be able to take on most tasks, it does not excel at anything.

The steel has been finished with a satin finish. This finish is created by repeatedly sanding the steel in one direction with increasing levels of a fine abrasive, such as sandpaper. This steel is created to showcase the lines in the steel and gives you a very classic look for your blade. This is an average steel finish; it does cut down on glares and reflections up to a point, but it is in no terms matte.

This blade has been carved into a drop point style. This style of blade is one of the most popular because of how great of an all-purpose blade shape it is. The shape is created by having the back edge of the knife run straight form the handle to the tip of the knife in a slow curved manner, which creates a lowered point. The lowered point helps to add strength to the tip and control over the tip. One of the most common places that you are going to find this blade shape is on hunting knives. This is because the tip is so easily controllable, so you can easily avoid nicking the internal organs and ruining the meat. Clip point blade shapes and drop point blade shapes are often confused. These two shapes are similar in terms of how popular and versatile they are. However, the tips on each of the blade shapes are pretty different. The clip point does have a lowered point, but it is thinner, finer, and sharper than a drop points point. This has a few advantages, the biggest one is that you have total stabbing capabilities. However, it is a weaker tip and prone to breaking. The drop point style is lowered and broad, which means that you won’t have many stabbing capabilities. However, you have so much more strength behind this tip. Because of that strength and the ability to hold up to heavy use, drop point blades are very popular on tactical and survival knives, such as this knife: the TSR Terzuola Survival Rescue Knife. Another one of the reasons that this blade shape is so versatile is that it has a large belly that is perfect for slicing. The belly provides plenty of length that will make slicing a breeze for you. If you choose a knife with a drop point blade shape, you are preparing yourself for almost any situation that you could get yourself into.

The edge of this blade is a plain edge. On the spine of the knife, near where the blade meets the handle, there is a row of shallow jimping. This jimping will give you a better grip when you are performing those heavy duty tasks or if you are trying to use this knife in a wetter situation. On the bottom portion of the blade, there is a small hole drilled into it. This so that it might be attached to a wooden shaft and become a hunting spear if needed.

 

The Handle:

The handle on this knife is made out of Glass Reinforced Nylon, or GRN. This material is crazy strong, very resistant tot bending and abrasion, and practically indestructible. And as an added bonus, it’s also very cheap. Something that makes this material unique when compared to similar materials is the ways that the fibers have been arranged. In GRN, the nylon fibers are arranged haphazardly throughout which results in it being strong in all directions. Similar materials such as G 10, Carbon Fiber, and Micarta have all of their fibers arranged in one direction. This means that those materials are extremely strong in that direction, but cannot be stressed in other directions without becoming brittle. GRN can essentially be stressed in all directions without breaking apart. This is a cheaper material because it can be injection molded into any desired shape and textured in a multitude of ways in the production process. These characteristics lend well to high volume manufacturing and the low cost. However, many knife enthusiasts did not warm up to GRN because they felt like it feels cheap and somewhat hollow. And, GRN does tend to be slightly less grippy than G 10 is.

The stainless steel tang is hollow and the glass reinforced nylon handles can be easily removed to reveal fishing line, fishing hooks, and dental floss, which is surprisingly useful and versa-tile when you find yourself in a backwoods pinch. “This handle comes with a powerful secret…in the form of an entire survival kit. Even though a skilled survivalist could fashion just about everything they would need from woodsy resources, sometimes a magnesium edge, a reflective stainless steel plate, and paracord can make a Darwinian difference.”

There is a lanyard hole at the butt of the handle that comes with a paracord lanyard tied through it. This lanyard will help you keep track of your knife; keep it in arms reach, yet still out of the way; and in a survival situation, you can utilize the paracord for a variety of uses.

 

The Mechanism:

The TSR Terzuola Survival Rescue Knife is a fixed blade. For a survival and rescue knife, a fixed blade is almost essential. There are so many different benefits to fixed blade, it seems like the list never ends, so we’ll go over a couple of the big advantages. Fixed blades are bigger and stronger than a folding knife. You can really get a fixed blade in any size that you need, this ranges from small but powerful to absolutely monstrous. For most fixed blade needs, you really only need a medium sized knife, but there are situations when you would need the larger kind. And, you aren’t going to be able to get such a big folding knife. This leads us to our next advantage: fixed blades don’t’ break. This is because there are no moving parts on a

fixed blade. And, because the blades are usually thicker (read: stronger), you can take on those heftier tasks without worrying about blade snapping. This is advantage is closely related to our third advantage: the easy maintenance. Because there are no small, moving, or inward pieces, all you have to do is quickly wipe the blade and handle down and oil the blade every once in a while. The cleaning process is much more straightforward and simple. With a folding knife, to get it completely clean, you would have to take apart the knife and work with many small and fragile pieces. Fourth, fixed blades are superior in terms of tactical use. Fixed blades can be brought into play much faster than a folding knife in a tactical situation. All you have to do with a fixed blade is draw it from its sheath and it is ready. If you are in the same situation, but with a folding knife, you have to pull you knife out, then deploy the blade, and then it will be ready to use. The last and in my opinion biggest advantage for this knife is that fixed blades are superior survival tools. Because of all of the previous advantages, fixed blades offer more versatility for your tasks such as: cutting, digging, splitting wood, first aid tool, food preparation tool, hunting weapon, hammering, and even a prying tool.

 

The Sheath:

The sheath is made out of the same material as the handle: Glass Reinforced Nylon. It also comes with a black paracord lanyard. The sheath that comes with the TSR Terzuola Survival and Rescue Knife has a variety of extra features. It sports a ceramic sharpening edge, a magnesium edge, and a reflective stainless steel signal plate.

 

The Specs:

The blade on this knife is 4.350 inches long with a blade thickness of 0.115 inches. The overall length of this knife is 9.25 inches long. This knife weighs in at 4.3 ounces.

 

The Conclusion:

CRKT’s description for this knife was excellent, “A survivalist’s best friend, Mother Nature’s worst enemy. The TSR™ (Terzuola Survival Rescue) fixed blade outdoor knife doesn’t just stop at that—its handle comes with a powerful secret…in the form of an entire survival kit. Even though a skilled survivalist could fashion just about everything they would need from woodsy resources, sometimes a magnesium edge, a reflective stainless steel plate, and paracord can make a Darwinian difference. World-renowned knife-making pioneer Bob Terzuola designed his namesake knife in his shop in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He channeled years of experience serving in the Peace Corps in Guatemala and directing war damage surveys in Central American jungles to dream up the ultimate survival knife. It’s hard to imagine a single knife that’s worthy of his famous name, but the Terzuola Survival Rescue™ delivers with a modified drop point blade and a clean satin finish. There’s a small hole bored into the base of the blade so that it might be attached to a wooden shaft and become a hunting spear if needed. The stainless steel tang is hollow and the glass reinforced nylon handles can be easily removed to reveal fishing line, fishing hooks, and dental floss, which is surprisingly useful and versa-tile when you find yourself in a backwoods pinch. No space on the injection-molded sheath is wasted. It comes with extra paracord for wrapping, has a ceramic sharpening edge on one side, and the other boasts a magnesium edge to help start fires when the temperature drops. Lastly, one panel on the inside of the sheath has a reflective stainless steel plate for signaling aircraft or approaching parties when you need to get bailed out. Survival of the fittest is the name of the game. When the stakes are high, you’ll want to keep the TSR™ close.” Pick yours up at BladeOps today.