When A.G. designed the first Sting in 1975, he intended it as a boot knife for hunting and personal defense. His very popular all-steel version in 1977 carried the idea a step further. We see today's CRKT Sting as a multi-purpose one-piece utility knife that is just about indestructible.  Hot forging is the reason the Sting is so tough. It begins life as an ordinary blank of 1050 carbon steel, similar to the alloy used in traditional Samurai swords, which is first hot forged and then precision ground into final shape. After heat-treating and normalizing to improve the grain structure, the Sting is then heat treated and quenched to achieve hardness, and tempered to arrive at an optimum hardness with excellent strength.  While they are very tough, low alloy steels do not have the rust resistance imparted by the chromium and nickel in stainless steels, so we apply a black non-reflective powder coat finish to stop corrosion.

The spear point blade features two Razor-Sharp™ cutting edges.  The integral handle is contoured to fit the bare or gloved hand nicely and provides heft and balance, with thumb detents for grip. A large lanyard hole is provided, allowing the use of a wrist lanyard, or carry as a neck knife.  We never recommend mistreating a knife, but as a survival knife, the Sting can take more outright abuse than any stainless steel knife we make. You can use it to cut wood, clean and skin animals, and even for those unforeseen digging and prying tasks.   As a personal carry, the Sting is a more hefty knife than our other small fixed blades, which many say adds a sense of security.