CRKT Pilar III Review: Familiar Comfort, Much Smoother Action

The Pilar III is a medium-size knife, with roughly a 3-inch blade and just over 7 inches of overall length. My review figures were 7.25 inches overall, a 3-inch blade and about 2.85 inches of cutting edge. The blade is about an inch wide and 0.15 inch thick, with D2 steel and a flat grind.

The handle combines G10 on the front with stainless steel on the lock side, and the pocket clip is right-hand, tip-up. I quoted a handle thickness of 0.42 inch and a weight of 3.6 ounces. Jesper Voxnaes is the designer, and the brass backspacer gives this version a nice accent.

My May 2021 review price was $51.95. That was the price at which I considered this a solid buy. At the time, the Amazon offer for this exact D2 version was $82.99, and I specifically did not recommend paying that. The 8Cr13MoV option was about $45 then. Those were different offers and steels, so check the current version and price rather than treating them as interchangeable.

Beside the Pro-Tech Malibu and Benchmade Bugout, the Pilar III looks like the Pilar a lot of people had been waiting for. I’ve been getting more interested in small knives, but as someone who already likes larger knives, I really appreciate these Voxnaes ergonomics in a medium-size package.

The Kizer Gemini is very close in overall length, and the SOG Terminus XR LTE provides another useful comparison. This isn’t a large knife, but it is definitely more than a tiny pocket tool.

The biggest difference shows up next to the original Pilar. It looks almost as though someone grabbed that design at each end and stretched it out. I like the original enough that I put a custom scale on mine despite its basic steel. The III keeps much of that appeal and adds reach. Our original Pilar review covers the smaller design in detail.

The blade is described as a spear point, although to my eye it leans more toward a drop point. Whichever label you prefer, I really like the shape. I measured about 0.026 inch behind the edge, which is fairly average geometry, but the factory edge itself was very sharp.

CRKT was a big part of my early knife collecting. The designs caught my attention at accessible prices, even if I didn’t love every knife I bought. I moved away from some of them as I got deeper into the hobby, so I was happy to see this one doing several things well.

One standout is the oval deployment hole. Outside of Spyderco’s round hole, this is about my favorite opening-cutout shape. It is easy to get a finger into, and the chamfering feels excellent. It doesn’t scrape my nail when I flick the blade open.

The forward choil is a very good size, but I wish the blade had that familiar Vox-style jimping farther along the spine. My thumb wants to land right there. I don’t know why it was left off, but adding it would make this even better for me.

The tip has a useful amount of width and material behind it. It isn’t overly dainty, and it still looks like a good cutting point. I like that balance with the rest of this blade.

Compared with the original Pilar, the extra cutting edge is really welcome. It takes the things I enjoy about that smaller design and gives me more blade to work with.

The ergonomics have that familiar Vox feel, and they are very comfortable. I wouldn’t put them quite ahead of the original Pilar for my hand, but there isn’t much to complain about. It feels good as soon as I pick it up.

What surprised me was how slim it felt. I had expected a little more width. With my longer fingers, the inward curve leaves some extra open space in the grip, and I would prefer it to come out slightly more. That is a hand-fit preference rather than something that stops me enjoying or carrying the knife.

The backspacer screws are the part I really don’t like. They spin freely, so working on them can require a Torx driver on both sides and an awkward balancing act to keep everything steady. If the hardware is very tight or has too much threadlocker, that can become frustrating quickly.

I had to send my original Pilar back to CRKT after trouble with one of those screws. That experience put me off buying more CRKTs for a while. Then this Voxnaes design appeared, and I made an exception. I’m glad I did, but I still wish they would move away from this screw arrangement.

Apart from that hardware, the build feels very good around the $52 mark. Lockup feels solid, and I don’t find the frame lock particularly sensitive to the pressure of my hand when deploying the blade. It is a pleasantly well-done knife for the price.

This is where the Pilar III really surprised me. It is extra smooth compared with the other CRKTs I had handled. The detent feels very nice, the blade comes right out, and it closes easily. At that point, it was the smoothest CRKT I’d had.

It runs on IKBS bearings rather than the nylon-style washers in my original Pilar, and the difference in feel is night and day. The action sounds and feels clean. I hadn’t taken this sample apart, so that was an impression from using it, rather than confirmation of what was inside.

I really wouldn’t change the action, especially at this price. I don’t love D2 as much as some people do, but I was happy to have it over the more basic 8Cr option here. Its edge-retention appeal suits a knife that feels this good in my hand and makes me want to carry it.

Overall, I like the Pilar III a whole lot. The free-spinning backspacer screws are my main gripe, with the missing jimping and a couple of personal handle preferences behind that. The design, smooth action, G10 front scale and brass accent give me plenty to enjoy.

At the time of this review, I hoped CRKT would keep moving into better steels and more handle choices. A version with micarta and perhaps 14C28N, or something like S35VN, sounded very appealing to me. I understand CRKT’s budget focus, but this felt like a worthwhile step in the right direction.

Even as it stands, the D2 Pilar III is a very good knife at the sort of price I reviewed it for. I’m happy CRKT kept working with Voxnaes. This one reminded me why that partnership can produce something I really want to use.