The new Cressi Striker knife puts all the elements together to be the perfect tool for safety and fish finishing during spearfishing sessions. With a great history in knife design, such as the very famous and successful Cressi Killer, the Italian company has a full range of spearfishing knives in its offer. Let’s take a deep look and this new product.
Blade
Material
The blade of the Cressi Striker is made of Japanese quality 420 stainless steel, insuring resistance to mechanical and environmental stress. This aspect is key, permitting to have a long lasting cutting blade and protect from rust and corrosion, and possible breakage of the blade under strong mechanical load.
Design
The two profiles of the blade differ, as one is linear, while the second is serrated with a special profile which alternates narrow and wider curves. This special design is more complex to achieve, but indeed permits greater cutting performance.
The total length of the Cressi Striker knife in the sheath is 22.2 cm, the only knife is 20.2 cm. The length of the blade from the handle to the narrow tip is 9.3 cm, while the width at the base is 2.5 cm. The thickness of the blade is 2 mm at the base and central part.
Handle
The handle is made of glass loaded Nylon, red colour, with two anatomical parts. These can be dismounted unscrewing two Allen screws. Such solution permits to clean perfectly the blade, which, whatever the resistance to rust, will always have to be taken care of from time to time, especially in sea water environment.
Two lateral white glass loaded Nylon dented elements are positioned to improve the grip.
Special tools
Two key systems are present on the Cressi Striker knife, the shaft extractor and shaft straightener. In our opinion, such systems are a must on modern spearfishing knives, as they can save your shaft and your spearfishing session.
Shaft extractor
The shaft extractor system on the Cressi Striker knife is present at the rear of the handle. The latter has in fact a central passage, where the narrow end of the shaft, the one that hooks to the release mechanism, can be inserted. After that, the blocked shaft can be rotated to help free it from rocks of weeds. The systems, by permitting the rotation of the shaft along its axis, generally, in fact, determines also the closure of the barb, and the extraction of the shaft.
Shaft straightener
Having the possibility to straighten the shaft during a spearfishing session can save our days. We could in fact bend the shaft, normally at its tip, at the level of the pin of the barb, where the shaft is evidently less resistant, after a shot ending on a rock. Thsi could lead to the impossibility of continuing our spearfishing session with that shaft and that speargun. The shaft straightener can save the day. A 7 mm diameter hole on the handle permits the insertion fo the tip of the shaft. By levering on the knife the shaft can be straightened to a good level, at least to continue spearfishing.
Sheath
Design and functioning
The sheath is made of glass loaded Nylon. Its design is low-profile and has a sure-lock system, obtained with a deformable tooth which bends when the knife is pulled out. The action is very simple and processable with one hand. Taking hold of the handle, the knife can be extracted pressing with the thumb at the centre top of the sheath, where there is actually a useful indication.
Connection to the diver
The Cressi Striker knife has two possibilities to be connected to the spearo. The first is the use of an included heavy duty elastic strap with Velcro, which permits to position the knife on the arm, for example. The second is to use the same passage of the strap, to position the knife on the weight belt.
A final accessory is a useful elastic band connected to a steel circular extension of the blade on the side of the handle. This solution permits to use the knife without the risk of losing it in the sea, eventually at deep depths, with the risk of not being able to find it or reach it deep down. This ring is also useful for connecting any other line to the knife.
