Home / Knives / CRKT Returns to Austin McGlaun’s Clever Girl with New Kukri Version

CRKT Returns to Austin McGlaun’s Clever Girl with New Kukri Version

November 4, 2021

Another surprise product reveal from CRKT: the company is expanding the popular, Austin McGlaun-designed Clever Girl line with the Clever Girl Kukri. The change in blade shape brings with it a completely different cutting role than the original Clever Girl while still sharing the visual language and burly construction of its stablemate.

The original, award-winning Clever Girl fixed blade has been a favorite in CRKT’s Forged by War collection for five years; a folder followed in 2019. McGlaun created the first Clever Girl as an aggressive, tactical self-defense tool; it had a 4.6-inch, trailing point style blade designed for piercing and slashing. The Clever Girl Kukri ditches the trailing point, obviously; in its place is a straightforward rendition of the kukri blade shape, measuring 7.75 inches long. McGlaun says that this makes the Clever Girl Kukri is a different beast from its slenderer predecessor. “You can chop firewood, build shelters, cut limbs and stakes, skin game or process game with it, protect yourself…it has more outdoor versatile uses than any other design of mine.”

While the Clever Girl Kukri is not a small knife, McGlaun notes that it’s still a design focused on compressing functionality. “It’ll do any job that an ax will do, but it will also do any job that a knife will do.” This lets the Clever Girl Kukri play two roles for backpackers and general outdoorsmen, who are always looking to minimize their necessary carry. “When you’re looking at backpacking, ounces equal pounds, pounds equal pain,” McGlaun summarizes.

The Clever Girl Kukri in its sheath

It’s on the handle that the Clever Girl lineage is most clearly visible. This is very much the same sinuous, but hand-filling, handle design that we saw on the 2016 trailing point model. The scales are made from striated G-10 here, just as before, but instead of a cable loop, the end of the full tang extends into a blunt impact tool. The Clever Girl Kurki comes with 14.20 oz. and comes with a thermoplastic sheath.

This surprise reveal is the second such reveal in the last month. In the middle of October, CRKT gave us a sneak preview of the 2022 line with the Fawkes, a folding knife design from Alan Folts.

Knife in Featured Image: CRKT Clever Girl Kukri

Related Items