CJRB Caldera Knife (J1923-BRE) Review
Another knife by CJRB, the Caldera, is a folder with G10 handles and uses the new AR-RPM9 steel. It’s quite beefy. Read on for more photos!
Official Specs
Here’s a link to the CJRB Caldera knife product page.
Versions
There are a couple of versions of the Caldera. There’s red (seen here) and another with “blue” where the scales of this red are red. I’d say it’s more grey, though.
Price
MSRP of the CJRB Caldera G10 knife is $79.98. The Caldera is available on amazon though, for a discounted price of $47.99 in the red.
Short Review
My knife needs typically revolve around tasks that are well suited to small knives. This Caldera is (for me) a “big knife” and as such is overkill for most of my needs (like slicing apples). That said, it does slice apples very well, and will probably do your other big-knife tasks just great, too.
Long Review
Package and Manual
There is no manual.
What’s Included
- CJRB Caldera G10 handle knife
Look
There’s no denying that the Caldera has a presence! It has the look of a big angular knife, and it does that role well.
The pops of color from the G10 scales are great. The red under the pivot screw matches the G10 better than the photos show, too.
Open / Close / Lock
One of my favorite features of the Caldera is that it’s a flipper! I love flippers. Small flippers (like the Civivi Mini Elementum) all the way up to big flippers (like this Caldera). I love the thonk of these blades opening.
And the Caldera has a good thonk. It’s not quite as beefy as one of my favorite knives of all time, the Spyderco Rubicon, but then it lacks quite a bit of the blade thickness and weight, too (the grinds are different between those two).
If you don’t wish to use the flipper, there’s also the option of this gigantic hole in the blade.
The CJRB Caldera is a liner lock knife, and I didn’t have any trouble with the lockup.
Build and Feel
The knife has a nice weight. G10 usually provides a good amount of grip and that’s true on the Caldera too.
The black parts of the scales are G10, too. That little pivot screw area looks like a lock release button but it’s not – it’s just the backside of the pivot screw (which does have a Torx head.)
And here’s the pivot screw.
There’s jimping on the spine, but it’s not aggressive.
The blade is centered very nicely.
CJRB put a neat backspacer here. It appears to be anodized aluminum, and also has something resembling jimping, too.
CJRB Caldera knife Size
Blade Length: 3.5″
Blade Thickness: 0.13″
Overall Length: 8.3″
Closed Length: 4.8″
Weight 4.94: oz
Here’s the Caldera alongside some of my favorite flashlights (above) and one of my favorite knives, below. That’s the Civivi Elementum, which I’ve also made a post about.
Steel / Cut / Oats
CJRB says this steel is AR-RPM9. Again, the blade is a full flat grind and looks great.
I don’t know enough about steel to comment, but here’s what knifenewsroom.com says:
Artisan wanted a powdered steel that functions somewhere between 14C28N and D2. They wanted the corrosion resistance of 14C28 with the hardness of D2 that not only holds an edge but is also easy to sharpen. Finally, they also wanted a steel they could provide at an affordable price.
Retention
Carry of the CJRB Caldera knife is by way of a deep carry pocket clip. This clip ships attached as seen below.
Thanks to these two holes on the opposite side, the clip can be reversed if you need opposite carry.
The clip does not sit “into” the body (ie there’s no cutout in the scales) (as you can see above) but it does provide a nice deep carry.
Conclusion on the CJRB Caldera knife
Again, I wouldn’t say in general that bigger knives are my jam. As far as bigger knives go, the CJRB Caldera with G10 handles is very suited to bigger knife tasks. The build quality is nice and it seems to be a good value at under $50.
Notes
- CJRB provided this knife for review. I was not paid to write this review.
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