An Award-Winning Designer’s Affordable New Knife Offers a Rare Deployment Method

This CRKT knife combines two popular knife styles with spectacular results.

CRKT Viento knife closeup of pivot on pink background

Published January 13, 2025

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Knife designer Richard Rogers is on a bit of a tear. Not too long ago, his Persian Frame Lock was honored at Blade Show West as the Best Factory Imported knife.

Now, he’s back with another exceptional knife — one that’s much more affordable but no less spectacular. Called the CRKT Viento, this approachable EDC cutting tool combines two popular knife styles with exceptional results.

CRKT Viento knife on pink background — The gentle curves of the Viento’s silhouette make it a gorgeous, cohesive mashup of styles.

A masterful mashup

The Viento is a serviceable, respectable knife boasting a D2 steel blade and G10 handle. Its materials make it a hard-working cutting tool that should serve its users well across almost every daily cutting task.

However, it stands apart from similar knives for several reasons, one of the biggest being its silhouette (and overall appearance).

The chunky sheepsfoot blade harkens to cleavers, whereas the understated handle is more akin to gentleman’s knives. You’d expect the disparity between the styles to make for an awkward overall design. But its gentle curves — inspired by the winds of New Mexico, Rogers’s home state — help make it cohesively beautiful.

CRKT Viento knife closed on pink background — Alongside the flipper, the Viento’s blade-length fuller is an alternative nail nick-like deployment.

The fuller, the better

A windswept silhouette isn’t the only thing that makes this knife special. In addition to a speedy flipper deployment, it has an alternative manual flipper you might not expect.

Just below the spine of the Viento’s blade and measuring its full length is a concave channel known as a fuller or blood groove. This feature is common in fixed-blade knives but serves a dual purpose in the Viento.

While it saves material, making the blade lighter overall, it also functions to deploy it. Like nail nicks commonly found on classic manual pocket knives, the fuller provides a point of friction, allowing users to grip the blade better when removing it from the handle.

It’s a subtle but welcome quirk that speaks to Rogers’s eye for detail and design prowess.

Pricing and availability

A part of CRKT’s massive early 2025 knife drop, the Viento is now available for an affordable $75 when buying directly. However, you can save $10 by shopping at Blade HQ, where it’s priced at just $65.