Craftsman Auto-Load Utility Knife Review

I have a penchant for strange and innovative tools, but unless this is your first visit to ToolGuyd, you probably know that by now. So of course when I spotted this new Craftsman auto-load sliding utility knife in a bin at the local Sears, I just had to buy one to try out.

First Impressions

The Craftsman auto-load slide utility knife has an odd shape, but this gives it a comfortable and secure feel. There are multiple places around the handle where you can place your thumb and other fingers. A large metal loop at the end or the handle is perfectly sized for a small carabiner clip or paracord lanyard.

Blade-Change Mechanism

Craftsman designed (or licensed) an interesting blade-loading design where, after discarding a dull or damaged blade, you can automatically load a fresh new blade. Old blade removal is done by pressing the release button and then pulling the blade. Slide the deployment button to the knife’s “closed” position. A new blade should click into place.

The knife comes with two spare blades, but there looks to be room for a couple of more in the blade compartment.

Performance

The blade-change mechanism was a but clunky on the first try. You can see my surprise in the video below. I expected the auto-blade-change to work perfectly on the first try, and it didn’t. Imperfect blade alignment within the spare blade compartment may or may not lead to the jamming effect.

The knife itself performs reasonably well. The lock feels secure and reasonably trustworthy. The knife has two blade settings – open and closed. That’s not necessarily a bad thing – Stanley’s Quickslide knife, my favorite compact utility knife, also only offers two blade settings – but it’s not ideal.

One more thing I did not quite like – to deploy the blade you must slide the button switch from near the bottom of the knife handle to the top. The long sliding distance means that some users will have to reposition their hands when making a cut. Is this nitpicking? Probably. Will the necessitated shift in grip have any real-world effects? Probably not. But, however mildly, this still annoyed me.

Conclusions

Craftsman’s auto-load utility knife is interesting, but its blade-change mechanism is admittedly a bit gimmicky. Blade changes are often quick enough with modern utility knives that a knife like this, while handy and innovative, is not a game-changer.

It greatly bothers me that the knife jams up sometimes. After I made the video, I went back and put the knife through a few more blade-change cycles. It jammed up in 2 out of 5 tests. Granted the jams were easily cleared by nudging the switch back and forth, but this shouldn’t have been necessary.

In all, I don’t think the knife’s auto-load feature is remarkable enough to really recommend it. If its blade-deployment was a bit smoother and more ergonomic, it might have had a chance to compete with Dewalt’s retractable folding knife as my 2nd favorite compact utility knife. Overall, I found Craftsman’s auto-load utility knife to be disappointing.

I purchased this knife for maybe $6 or $7 on sale.

Buy Now(via Sears)

Video Review