The CRKT Squid is a small folding knife — a Lucas Burnley design with a stonewashed blade a hair over two inches, a stainless frame lock, and a price that usually lands around $25. One has been riding in our pocket since 2017. Nine years later it's still the knife we reach for every day, and it has earned a GoodKit recommendation about as thoroughly as a product can.
Just the right size
The Squid gets the size exactly right: compact enough to drop in a pocket and forget, with enough blade and handle to do real work. The shape is the other half — a short, wide blade and a rounded handle that just feels good. Some knives make you adjust your grip around them. This one you don't think about at all.
Nine years in
The steel is 8Cr13MoV — a budget steel, and we don't care. It holds a working edge, and when it needs a touch-up it sharpens easily. The action has held up the same way: opens smoothly, frame lock still locks up with no wiggle. Nothing has loosened, nothing rattles, nothing needs babying. It just keeps being a knife.
The knife we pick over the expensive one
Here's the part that says the most. We own nicer knives, including a beautifully made Böker Plus Panchenko — similar size, a lot more money. And heading out the door, we grab the Squid every time. When the cheap knife beats the expensive knife in the only test that matters — which one you actually carry — that's the whole review.
The bottom line
Around $25 for nine years of daily service and counting. It joins a running theme around here — like our plastic calipers, it's the affordable tool that outperforms the fancy alternative in real use. Easy recommendation, and a GoodKit pick.
- Nine years of daily carry and still going
- Beats knives three times the price
- The everyday-carry knife we actually recommend
- Budget 8Cr13MoV steel — sharpens easily, just not premium
