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The Kershaw Cryo and Cryo II Are Elegant Small Pocket Knives

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Without a doubt, Kershaw makes a ton of interesting knives. Many times they bring in design talent such as Rick Hinderer. I’ve been a fan of Rick’s work for years and own a number of his designs plus I had a huge surprise one year when I happened to meet him on a flight! He was wearing a Hinderer T-shirt and I couldn’t help but tell him while we were waiting to get off the plane that those were great knives. He turned and said “I’m glad to hear that – I’m Rick Hinderer.” We chatted for a bit as we walked through the terminal and he really struck me as a down-to-earth guy.

The Kershaw Cryo 1555TI – a 2.75″ Blade

At any rate, I was surfing and saw the Kershaw Cryo. It’s not a new design by any means – It got Best Buy in 2012 by Blade Magazine. For whatever reason though, it had never caught my eye until that point. Specifically, the 2.75″ model with a Titanium Carbo-Nitride coating did. I was looking for a small light knife and it was affordable enough to simply order one in and I am glad I did.

With the Titanium Carbo Nitride finish, the knife is a nice grey-ish color and the black hardware contrasts nicely.
The clip can be moved around to suit the user.

Boy does it look nice. Right out of the box I was stuck by it being a modern day gentleman’s pocket knife. It was small, light and had a quality look to it.

The Cryo’s Specs:

  • Blade Length: 2.75″
  • Blade Material: 8Cr13MoV – a decent Chinese steel roughly the same as AUS-8. Kershaw blades make extensive use of it and do a good job of heat treating it to a hardness of 58-59 Rockwell.
  • Closed Length: 3.75″
  • Overall Length: 6.5″
  • Weight: 4.1 oz

My Take

I really like it for those cases where you want a pocket knife just in case you need to do something light duty but don’t want it really weighing down your slacks or whatever. Honestly, Amazon has it for a great price.

The Cryo II – 1556BW – a 3.25″ Blade

I actually bought these knives, it’s not like someone asked me to do a review. In this case I bought both the Cryo and Cryo II because I couldn’t decide which I would like more and they are both very affordable.

This is also a Hinderer design and is 20% larger than the original Cryo. The Black Wash finish mutes the shiny grey steel considerably without going completely black.

The Cryo II’s Specs

  • Blade Length: 3.25″
  • Blade steel: 8Cr13MoV – Kershaw makes extensive use of this mid-range stanless steel and heat treats it to 58-59 Rockwell hardness.
  • Closed Length: 4.4″
  • Overall Length: 7.75″
  • Weight: 5.5 oz.

My Take

Yeah, I like this one also. I wind up leaving knives scattered all over so I bet there will be times I am using this one also. It definitely feels beefier than the Cryo but is still very easily carried. Amazon has a good price on them.

Comparison Photos

I figured this would be a great chance to let you visually compare the Cryo and Cryo II to one another as well as my Kershaw Knockout. In the photos below, I tried to be consistent – the Knockout is at the top, followed by the Cryo II with its Blackwashed finish and the Cryo with its Titanium Carbo-Nitride finish at the bottom.

In Summary

I didn’t review the Knockout in this post as I felt it really was for a different intended type of use. The Cryos are lighter and more elegant. I’m glad I have all three and have no reservations in recommending them at their respective price points.

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