Shadow III is a spearpoint version of Chris Reeve Knives Mountainer I. As I have
already mentioned in my review of the Shadow IV I wanted to have the smallest one in CRK fixed blade spearpoint family. After using Mountainer I for some time, found it to be a very versatile, small utility knife. For utility purposes & to make my collection more complete I needed
Shadow III. So, here it is.
There's not much difference between those two knives, I am referring to Mountainer I and Shadow III here. Blade geometry - spearpoint on Shadow and clip
on Mountainer I, plus handguard (Mountainer is missing the upper guard, but has notching instead). I do like the single guard format, so later I was able to obtain special version
of Shadow III with the single guard and notched spine. I like it a lot better than the standard double guard
version. Therefore as I expected the performance was similar to that of Mountainer I. Which like I have already mentioned in Mountainer I review was
really impressive. Of course the different blade geometry, clip point vs. spearpoint will play a role here, but mainly nothign significant. Still, spearpoint is more strong for
prying & stabbing, clippoint is a better fit for many cutting applications.
Handle
- The only thing I didn't like on Shadow III is the handle, personally I find Mountainer I's single fingerguard plus notches on the blade spine much more comfortable, since I have rather large palms. So, ideally I wanted Shadow III with missing upper finger guard and notched spine. Well :) The world is not without nice, small surprises & after posting a message on the BladeForums.com I found that CRK made that kind of Shadow III as well :) It has it all :) Single upper guard, notched blade spine. Now I am happy. To see both Shadow IIIs click here :).
Sheath - High quality leather, however I don't really like the default Pancake sheath Shadow III comes with, once again CRK showed that they think of all their customers :) In other words, they have an optional sheath, that can be ordered as an option when purchasing a knife from them, or separately for 35$, which is very nice of them.
- Specs:
- Model - Chris Reeve Shadow III;
- Blade Length - 4"(101 mm), non-reflective Kalgard® coating;
- Blade Thickness - 0.177"(4.5 mm);
- Blade Width - 0.865"(21.97 mm);
- Overall Length - 8"(203 mm);
- Weight - 6 oz. (170 g);
- Material - A2 Tool Steel hardened at 55-57 RC;
- Warranty - Lifetime;
Last updated - 06/20/08