Kershaw Leek vs. CRKT Drifter: Premium Steel or Budget Common Sense
Two knives, two completely different arguments for why they belong in your pocket. The Kershaw Leek is the assisted-opening classic everyone eventually owns one of. The CRKT Drifter is the one nobody talks about until they realize it’s been riding in a jacket pocket for two years without complaint. Here’s what actually separates them.
Kershaw Leek
Steel: 14C28N · Blade: 3 in. · Overall: 7 in. · Weight: 3 oz. · Handle: 410 stainless steel · Opening: SpeedSafe assisted, flipper
The Leek earns its reputation honestly — 14C28N takes an edge fast and holds it well enough that you’ll forget it needs sharpening, and the assisted flipper is genuinely satisfying to run one-handed. It’s also the more expensive knife by a wide margin on paper: Kershaw’s own site lists this black model at $115.99 (marked down from $144.99 MSRP). Worth knowing before you shop: Kershaw’s direct pricing runs well above what this knife typically sells for through other retailers, so treat that as a ceiling, not the real number — check the live listing before you buy.
Find the Kershaw Leek on Amazon
CRKT Drifter
Steel: 8Cr14MoV · Blade: 2.88 in. · Overall: 6.5 in. · Weight: 2.4 oz. · Handle: G10 · Opening: manual thumb stud
The Drifter doesn’t pretend to compete on steel — 8Cr14MoV is a budget performer that’ll ask for a touch-up more often than the Leek’s 14C28N. What it does instead is disappear: 2.4 oz, no assisted-opening mechanism to eventually wear out, and a street price of $34.99 direct from CRKT. It’s the knife you don’t think about, which for a lot of people is the entire point of carrying one.
Find the CRKT Drifter on Amazon
The Take
If you want the mechanism — the flip, the lockup, the feeling of a knife that’s clearly a step up — the Leek is worth owning and it’s not close. But if the honest question is “which one actually earns its spot in rotation,” the Drifter’s case is stronger than its price tag suggests. It’s a third of the weight of nothing, a fraction of the cost, and it does the actual job of a pocket knife without asking you to think about it. Buy the Leek because you want it. Buy the Drifter because you need it.
