The Razel is all business. This knife is supplied with a durable Kydex sheath.

 

By Robert Campbell

 

It is my business to test tools. The tool may be a self loading rifle, a pump shotgun or a rugged knife. Very seldom have I came across anything as useful as the Columbia River Knife and Tool Razel.   Rugged, well made, resistant to the elements, the Razel has it all. It is also large and heavy but we do not wish a lightweight hammer or chisel, do we?

 

The Razel is not only a rugged tool for outdoors use, it is areal conversation maker among hobbyists and hard working journeymen. The Razel is one of many creations of Jon and Josh Graham, innovative and task oriented knife makers. Their knives not only have to look good they have to work right first. The Razel SS7is a product of a collaboration between Columbia River Knife and Tool and the Graham brothers.

 

The collaboration has been a good one for all concerned. We are able to purchase a knife that works and embodies the features of a true custom without the price and a years long wait. Not that a true Graham isn’t worth the wait.

But the knife on my desk if not a true Graham is a true Razel.It is well made of good material and will accomplish any reasonablefield task. Sometimes the difference between life and death is agood tool. Battles against nature and against the elements areevery bit as dangerous as battles against our protein fed ex concriminal class. A good tool is peace of mind.

 

I have never seen a more everyday useful knife than the Razel.The main advantage of the knife that is immediately noticeable isthat the Razel features two points. The knife’s name, Razel, comesfrom the confluence of design in designing a knife that will do thework of a large razor and a chisel. Hence, Razel. The knife blademay be used to scrape gaskets, plane, scrape stickers from glassand cut things that are a bit hard to get to. The Razel has beenused to chisel and pry in my time with the knife.

 

Normally knives make poor pry bars but in this case the knife was designed as a pry bar and the application is useful. I have also cut rubber hose, Para cord, and tubing.

 

The Razel is especially proud to perform in push cutting that is used against objects out of reach of a knife designed for draw cutting. In the end here is a daring design. It looks utilitarian but it works in a wide variety of chores. For such a wild design to fall flat would have been ruinous to the maker, but the Razel has performed beyond expectation.

 

The cutting ability of the Razel was put to the test- and the test was passed on all occasions.

The blade combines in a meeting of chisel and razor and offers a choice of using two points. The points are on either side of the forward cutting edge. There are also patented Veff serrations on the top of the blade. These serrations take some getting used to as they differ significantly from others I have used. But the fact is different is good in this case and the serrations work well. This is a knife with more practical features than are evident when you first heft the piece. Even the butt of the blade has received attention.

 

No useful steel surface is left to chance. Any area that may be useful is utilized.  The butt or pommel features a combination of tools. The first is a bottle opener. This is pretty obvious, but the bottle opener may also be used as a can opener. A small teat on the very end of the pommel is an efficient glass breaker if need be. There is also a lanyard h*** for securing the knife in a hostile environment.

 

The Razel is supplied with a quick release Kydex sheath. Kydexhas proven itself impervious to the elements. Oil, solvent, snow,ice and water simply do not affect Kydex. There is little point in looking to another material. While I like leather, Kydex is a proven hard use material. The sheath carries the Razel firmly, with no rebound and little excess motion of any type. This is good kit.

 

When using the Razel the solid feel and full tang construction give a good heft in the hand. The Razel weighs in at 13.8 ounces.The knife is of course full tang construction. There is no light rattail fit into a handle here, the steel is present from the tip to the pommel.

 

The main working part of the blade is  .125 thick, with a7.25 main cutting edge and a 1.7 inch blade forward. At the top,the blade offers 3.7  inches of cutting area. The jigged serrations truly work.  The choil and the butt are well designed. The hand is stabilized by the bottle opener during some cutting chores.  The handle sports modest finger grooves and you certainly have a guide for the fingers.

 

After using the Razel for a few weeks, cutting, scraping and finding myself in awe of the blade, I elected to place the Razel as the top of the list in my alarms and excursions gear. I do not like to be naked in times of trouble and I like my position at the top of the food chain. The Razel is a good tool for a thinking man.

 

Another knife I have come to regard with some affection is the Stubby  Razel. This is not simply a reduced size version of the full size knife but a reduced sized knife with full attention to the work a Mini size knife may be put to. This small size Razel is a very neat little knife with a 2.15 inch long blade that is 1.18 inch thick. The Stubby Razel weighs but 3.9 ounces.

 

This is a truly neat little knife that has many uses. As an example, there is a particularly tight door in my home that is always difficult to open. It is opened perhaps once a week as it is basically a storage room. I keep the mini Razel handy in to pry this door open. While this isn’t a critical use, it is an important use for me.

 

After some time with the type I find the Razel is afforded more than a clean bill of health. It goes to the top of the list along with other hard use gear. This gear includes a Jeep CJ 5 with the dirt tough 258 CID engine, a Remington shotgun, a Springfield M1a1rifle, a Springfield TRP .45 caliber pistol, a Surefire light, a Coleman lantern, a Linder machete and a set of Craftsman wrenches. That is as good as it gets. CRKT has done well.