This kit is really nice and good quality. It was a birthday gift from my wife. I enjoyed making the knife and look forward to using it. One recommendation - would like to see options for the outside colors. The black is nice but other colors would also be nice - perhaps in a refill package so I could make more knives! Highly recommend this kit for knife enthusiasts.

I got this for my hard to shop for husband for Christmas, and it was by far the best gift. He was actually excited when he saw what it was and couldn't wait to get started! It didn't take an absurd amount of time, but kept him busy a couple afternoons. He was definitely proud and impressed with the finished product. All the other guys in the family have been requesting their own kits for birthdays and holidays!

My wife went TDY for 6 months and left me to play with my balls so she got me this to assemble to be a little more productive. I love this knife! It's as custom as you want to make it and is a great tool. All tools are provided and it was a very enjoyable experience. Now back to boredom...

Got this for my boyfriend for Valentine's Day and he loved it. It took him a few hours to finish and it was so much fun watching him work on it. I officially won Valentin's day with the best gift ever!

My husband loved getting this for Christmas. He opened it and spent the day working on it. It now travels in his pocket wherever he goes. He also impressed with the quality of the blade. On another note, Man Crates has fantastic customer service! I was so impressed with the quality of the item and the customer service that I am getting ready to order another item for his birthday.

My wife bought me this for Christmas. I have to say I'm Knife Nut and have several knifes. But this one has a real true meaning to me, since I was able to assemble and shape the handle to my own custom fit. I'm very impressed with the quality of the Stainless Steel blade and the Micarta scales. Would love to see another version. Maybe something a little slimmer with a spring assist....

My daughter gave this to me for Christmas and l can't wait to put it together. Love the drop point blade and the Micarta scales. Shaping the scales will make it mine. You gotta love it. Read the instructions (that's a first for me) because it was a fun read. I like the construction, not cheap like most store bought knives. Thank you Gabby.

these are extremely high quality products i was very impressed between the sturdy micarta handle and stainless steel blade i am confident that it will outlast me several times over and it holds an edge very well not to mention the pride of constructing and customizing your own knife

I bought this kit for my dad for Christmas and I don't think he could have been more happy!! He's very into knives, building things, and loves to tinker around with whatever. If you have someone that like these things as well, I highly suggest this. He was so impressed with everything in the box from the tools, to the little book mark that was in the instruction manual! I have bought from Man crates a few times and they never disappoint!! I will definitely be a repeat customer.

I thought he'd like this... but he loved it. He says it is one of the best presents he has ever gotten. He loves pocket knives, and is handy, but also loves customizing and personlizing things. He was able to make a personal knife that fits his hand perfectly, and he hasn't stopped telling me how great it is, how happy he is.

I wish I could buy a gift like this for him every time.

Worth every penny, super high-quality material, took him about 18 hours to finish. I bought it for him 3 days ago, haha.

HIGHLY recommend this as a gift to self or any knife lover. Was a gift to me from my son but it became a grandson/grandfather project to finish. How great is that?! An heirloom is born and grandson just got fascinated by it. Had to keep sending him home!
Con
- Too much micarta. Goodness that stuff is hard. Finished one part with rasp and then moved to a Dremel which was perfect. And exactly what does the reference to a disinterested 1960 secretary mean? Ya know how many people have never seen a secretary?
- Get rid of the disposable screw drivers and include real ones. Disposable work but leave a lot to be desired.
- Exploded diagram used to show assembly needs a little more text explanation please. BTW - the thumb studs are never addressed. Had to use common sense! Ouch.
Pro
- GREAT knife. Nice heft. Blade is perfect length and extremally sharp. Sigh, yes she already has a name as drew blood early in process. Follow the instructions to mummify!
- Love the feel in my hand and it's just a kick to know I shaped it that way. Well, I helped.
- Handle shape and size is perfect compliment to blade length.
- Easy to open and locks solid.
- Kudo to folks that figured out the need for a vise and then figured out how to do it. The vice will have many more uses.
- I have some expensive knives. This ranks right on up there with the best. Even better given the process to build. I think it is a fair price.
I would have given a 4.5 if I could have. Just a couple little things to change for perfection.
Go for it!

Man Crates is awesome, they have unique gifts and make the whole gift giving process exciting. I understood that this didnt come in a crate, but what I didn't expect was for the shipping stickers to be stuck to the actual box that is intended to be gifted. It might not be an issue if you are mailing it directly to the recipient, but if you are handing it to them yourself, the gift definitely looks sloppy. A little disappointed because we pay so much for the presentation, now I'll probably end up going out and getting my own box to put everything in.

Got this knife kit for my son on his Birthday, tried at Christmas but sold out. He is a crafty sort of guy,a and collects knives, so he loved it, as I knew he would. Only took him a week or so to make, he said it had great intructions, easy to follow. The only possible complaint he had was something about the screws on the vice loosening, or breaking. His comment on that is that it was a great kit, seems like they could have put out for a more quality vice. Other than that, he loved it, and his hand made knife is quite special to him, as is Mom, because she thought of it.:) Lol, now my hubby wants ro try it, his birthday is coming up soon.

I got this for my husband and overall, he loved it. However, I was super disappointed that it didn't come in a crate. It does say it on the product page so I can't blame the company for it (which is frustrating in itself) but the company's name is misleading. Also, I feel like its totally overpriced. Aside from these two complains, it made a good gift. It took him a long time to complete it but once he did, he loved the results!

I would have liked less handle as it seemed to have much more material than necessary. Also it appears to close the knife you have to remove more handle to be able to push the metal to the side to allow closing. Wondering why you didn't use the bottom close method which most knife makers are now using.

I would have liked less handle as it seemed to have much more material than necessary. Also it appears to close the knife you have to remove more handle to be able to push the metal to the side to allow closing. Wondering why you didn't use the bottom close method which most knife makers are now using.

I got the folding knife kit recently. I must admit, I think this concept is very interesting. Putting the knife together was fairly easy although the instructions could have been a little more descriptive. The main issue with the kit is that the screws that go into the handle to secure it do not fit! I tried every way possible and I could not get them to secure into the liners. I ended up using an epoxy glue and we will see how that goes once I start to shape it. I tried reaching out to customer service and never heard back from them. It is very unfortunate to leave this review as there was so much promise when I originally opened the box. Maybe this can be improved upon for future customers, but only time will tell.

It looks like my son will enjoy this but when your description said the kit came in a box, I didn’t expect you to ship it in that box. So now I have a gift in a torn up box with a huge mailing label on it. I’ve got to put it into something else so it looks presentable as a present. This ruins the whole ManCrate appear and packaging. I ordered 2 kits and hope the other one isn’t as bad as this!

I was expecting an actual wooden crate. It came in cardboard box. I opened it and there were 2 other smaller boxes inside containing the tools for the kit. I was underwhelmed. Sure isn't worth $115! Probably won't purchase again....but great gift ideas for men, just overpriced and the company name is misleading...manCRATES.

Was so excited to gift this kit for Christmas. Read all the reviews about the crappy cardboard packaging and thought “Oh, it can’t be that bad. Mancrates wouldn’t mail out a set like this in substandard packaging after getting feedback about it for literally years.” I was wrong. Mancrates clearly doesn’t read their reviews. The gift arrived like it got into a fight with the forklift. Mancrates, really? If you insist on mailing it out in cardboard can’t you at least use a sturdy kind of cardboard? I texted customer service. 1 hour later, after I prodded them, I got a pre-fabricated text back telling me that I should have read the webpage because it clearly states the set came in cardboard. Yes, I know it comes in cardboard. I even said that in my text. Again, they don’t read, they don’t listen. Buyers beware.

Multiple screws missing and several holes not tapped out

I received this as a gift and it is not worth the money spent on it. The best part of the kit is the bench vise that comes with it and they sell for 24.99 on amazon. I can got a nicer Smith and Wesson knife down at rural king for 20 bucks that is much better than quality this one. Most of the frustration comes from the fact that the screws do tread in to the stand offs like they are supposed to. I had one that went in and the others would not even start going in. I wouldn't suggest buying this for anyone. I would suggest spending half the price this one costs on a really nice knife without any of the aggravation.

I bought this as a gift for my dad and it was missing pieces so he wasn't able to build it before leaving to go back to work. Very we were both very disappointed.

I just bought this for my husband he’s been trying to put it together and first off the detailed instructions are not very detailed so it’s confusing. Second the knife doesn’t go together well after it’s been put together the blade is loose the screws won’t stay in or screw all the way the lock won’t keep the blade up. It’s seems as though they put a bunch of great tools in it and the knife is just cheap. We’re both upset about how it’s got such good reviews and no one has even tried putting it together in them. I’m very disappointed in my purchase.

Got this for a gift, and it will probably be the only gift I've ever been disappointed enough with to want to return.

For the price (assuming you get all the parts) you get a finished product worth about $20 at your local walmater. Don't waste your money. A $40 factory knife could last 5-6 years and is better than this, and a real $130 knife will last you a lifetime.

Where to begin.. Let's start with the fit. Assuming you have all the parts needed for assembly (mine was missing screws) your knife will then require complete disassembly to fix the fact that the blade does NOT engage the locking mechanism do to poor production tolerances. Better find real tools to fix that. My kit's tools broke, so I won't be able to do this without buying a new set off tools.

The grip material is cheap at best, I could make better with a broken branch in my back yard and still have a better finished product with less work.

The tools look and feel like they came from a child's birdhouse kit. They are very poor quality. Worse than the bargain bin at your local retail store.

Overall the metal finish looks okay, so no real complaints there.

I would not trust this knife for anything more than basic rope and box cutting.

The only interesting part of all of this, is the crazy vice that comes in the box. Wouldn't trust it for anything more than filing plastic grips, as intended, but it is a novelty nonetheless.

Final thoughts, go on eBay, spend $20 and have a better kit, because this one is worth maybe $40 for everything that's included to end with a $20 knife.