Columbia River Knife and Tool:

CRKT knives and tools

Columbia River Knife and Tool, CRKT knives is a fairly new company as far as knife companies go. They are only nine years old as of 2003. Paul Gillespie and Rod Bremer, founded CRKT in 1994 having originally worked and developed expertise in the knife manufacturing field while employed for Kershaw knives. They left Kershaw knives to found CRKT knives with Pete Kershaw’s best wishes and support, which means a lot in this business.

We at Knives Plus ® have carried Columbia River Knife and Tool products virtually from the beginning. Early on we sold many of their designs, but it wasn’t until 1998 when we knew that Columbia River Knife and Tool was going to make it big in the knife industry.

CRKT Knives, KISS folder

With the introduction of the KISS folder (Keep It Super Simple) designed by Custom knife maker (and ABS Master Smith) Ed Halligan at the 1998 Shot Show (the Shot Show is a major trade industry buying fest where major knife and gun manufacturers show off their new offerings), that CRKT’s future was assured. This little knife was so well received that the entire years production was sold out in the first opening days of the Shot Show, and in fact it sold out at about 4-5 times the original production numbers. CRKT had to double and triple their production efforts to keep pace with the sales of the little KISS knife.

Since the introduction of the KISS folder, Columbia River Knife and Tool has had success after success with their new offerings and has continued to offer fresh designs from well known Custom knife makers, utilizing modern and high tech material at a modest price.

Columbia River Knife and Tool, products

The links to the left represent the Columbia River Knife and Tool products. We also have many discontinued items from past years.