Hey, everyone.
David C. Andersen here coming at you from
the KnifeCenter, and today we're pitting the
CRKT Pilar against the Cold Steel Tuff Lite,
and you get to pick the winner.
Let's do this.
So these are two small everyday utility knives
that are capable and affordable, and when
we look at them they have different personalities,
but there's a lot of similarities between
them.
The blade lengths are effectively identical.
The Tuff Lite features a wharncliffe shape
with a hollow grind and AUS-8 steel.
The Pilar features nearly identical 8Cr13MoV
steel and sports a flat grind.
The sheepsfoot style blade doesn't have as
acute a point as the wharncliffe on the Tuff
Lite, but it makes up for that in other ways.
They've applied a nice swedge to the end of
the knife to keep the tip as thin as possible.
Althought the tip sweeps up on the Pilar rather
than staying straight like the Tuff Lite,
both of these knives can effectively present
their tips when performing scoring or drawing
cuts.
As you can see, both blades open with an oval-shaped
cutout, making the knife easy to open with
either hand.
And since there's no thumb studs sticking
out, the cutting area of these small blades
is not compromised in any way.
Even though these blades aren't exactly the
same, the ways that they're alike are pretty
striking.
The similarities between these two knives
continue at the handles, but we do start to
see separate identities emerging.
The Pilar features a stainless steel body
and it looks great just like it is, but there
also exists a strong modding community that
uses this knife as a platform for engraving
or embellishing.
The Tuff Lite has slightly more handle length,
but it weighs less overall because they've
used a synthetic Griv-Ex material.
This also allows Cold Steel to offer a range
of colors, from black or the muted flat dark
earth on this knife, to more saturated blue
and red hues.
These handles have a little more texture than
the CRKT as well as a long scallop that provides
a good place for your fingertips or thumb
to rest depending on your grip.
Overall, this knife feels just a little more
rugged compared to the Pilar, which feels
a little bit fancier overall.
What ties these two handles together is their
use of finger grooves and a full-sized finger
choil that increases the effective length
of the handle.
This allows them to take up little space in
the pocket, but open up and accommodate all
four fingers allowing you to put these smaller
blades to bigger jobs than you might think.
In keeping with that capability for hard work,
both knives feature strong locking mechanisms
in their handles.
The Pilar features a frame lock that holds
the blade open with no blade play whatsoever.
It operates smoothly and disengages without
any lock stick.
The Tuff Lite features Cold Steel's proprietary
Triad Lock.
It looks like a lock back, but was re-engineered
from the ground up for even tighter lock up;
there's no blade play at all on this knife
either and it's designed to last a long time.
Both knives come out of the box with the clip
set up in a right side, tip down orientation.
The Tuff Lite can be switched to left side
carry, but if you want to carry tip up, you'll
have to go with the Pilar, which can be set
up that way, although it's not drilled for
left side carry like the Cold Steel.
Both of these knives are great, but now's
the time where we decide on a winner, which
is where we turn things over to you.
Make sure to let us know in the comments which
of these knives that you prefer.
Do you go with the aggressive attitude of
the Cold Steel Tuff Lite, or the more refined
style of the CRKT Pilar?
In the meantime, to get your hands on one,
click the link in the description below to
head over to KnifeCenter.com
