Today I want to talk about the toughest folding knife I have ever seen. If this CSAR-T wasn’t a knife it would be an Abrams main battle tank. It is unbelievably well built and solid. Even more unbelievable is that its price tag is under $100. This is the only folding knife I have ever seen I thought that could pry up a manhole cover and not hurt it any. If you ever wanted a seemingly indestructible pocket knife you could someday pass onto a son and then his son then read on.
A joint venture between two well known knife makers, Buck and Tops Knives, brings us the Buck/Tops CSAR-T. That stands for “Combat Search And Rescue Tool.” The CSAR-T is easily the most impressive folder I have ever used. It’s “fixed blade, military” tough. There are not many field tasks I can think of where this folder won’t do every bit as good as a good fixed blade. So lets go over some of the impressive qualities this knife has.
CSAR-T from BuckTops
The lock, how many times have you opened a folder only to have a bit of blade wiggle? Even in supposedly “good” knives like SOG, Gerber, Cold Steel and CRKT. Often times you will have a bit of wiggle to them. I own many and most of them do. NOT with this one. That lock snaps in hard and that blade is totally solid. No wiggle anywhere, whether it be side to side or up/down. NONE! It’s perfectly built and assembled.
The blade, it’s made of ATS-34 steel. A high quality stainless I believe made by Hitachi in Japan. It has been an industry standard for a lot of well made and expensive knives for some time now. It has a great blend of qualities, corrosion resistant, strength and edge holding ability. All in all an excellent knife steel. The blade is .175 inch thick and 3.5 inches in length. That is really a thick heavy duty blade. It has what they refer to as a “modified tanto point.” Meaning it has the Tanto style point’s piercing qualities but doesn’t make the usual sharp turn from the main part of the blade up to the point. It has a more rounded appearance. I would think that makes things a bit easier for fine cutting too. The blade has useful dual thumb studs as well.
CSAR-T from BuckTops
The handle is G-10, the stuff used to make a whole bunch of knife handles now. Nothing seems to rot the stuff and it maintains an excellent grip. No matter if wet or oily. The “Rocky Mountain” scales that Top’s carves into this G10 handle really do afford an excellent grip, besides that they look very nice too. There is also a heavy duty clip on one side for your pocket or clipped to your vest/gear.
CSAR-T from BuckTops
Going on to the “frame.” It is several layers of steel underneath the G10. With a .065 inch thick liner. The frame of this CSAR-T is every bit as strong as the rest of it. The rear of the knife has a hex hole in it for a tool set of 1/4 inch bits that can be purchased separately. So you could use sockets, torx bits, screwdriver bits, any bit that’s 1/4 inch. So that adds like a million tasks you could do with this knife in a pinch.
So what is left? Are there any downsides? Well, it is heavy. Personally that doesn’t bother me but it might some for day to day carry. If I had another deployment coming this would be my folder of choice beyond any doubt. I’ll take the few extra ounces for the strength this knife exhibits. My last deployment I used a Cold Steel Recon folder as my folding blade. There’s no way I’d use that knife again after getting the CSAR-T, there is just no comparison in how much stronger built this knife is. If you wanted it for day to day civilian/LEO carry and thought it was a bit heavy that is fine, they make a light weight version too! I can’t speak on it as I don’t own one. I can’t say enough good about this heavyweight folder though. You are really not going to appreciate it until you hold one. Then you’ll know why you want this knife. The knife is impressive to say the very least and it is made in the USA. At the price of under $100 it is in my opinion “THE” folder to have for the military/LEO guys and gals as well as any knife lover, sportsman or ANY job requiring a solid knife. This is a keeper and I’ll be passing it on to somebody someday.
As always thanks for reading and train often.
By: Cary Kieffer
Cary Kieffer
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Thanks Buddy, that is a great knife! Do ya have one?? I see them on ebay sometimes auctions go under 75$. You can’t beat that thing. Awesome.
Great write-up Carey! Love the new “Blades” Category on the site.
Webmaster,
Mike.