The CRKT Provoke X Folding Axe is essentially a pocket tomahawk, designed to be compact and ideal for camping trips, then rapidly fold out into a hand axe when you need to chop some kindling.
The folding mechanism itself is remarkably clever, and once it’s been folded into an axe it locks securely in place via CRKT’s Deadbolt mechanism. The Provoke X was designed by Joe Caswell of Newbury Park, California and unveiled in 2025, and it’s now become a best-seller for the firm.
The CRKT Provoke X Folding Axe is essentially a pocket tomahawk, designed to be compact and ideal for camping trips, then rapidly fold out into a hand axe when you need to chop some kindling.
History Speedrun: CRKT – Columbia River Knife & Tool
Columbia River Knife & Tool, better known simply as CRKT, was founded in April of 1994 by Rod Bremer and Paul Gillespie, two former Kershaw Knives employees who set up shop in Tualatin, Oregon with a desire to partner with the world’s best custom knifemakers and bring their designs to market at prices everyday buyers could actually afford. It was an early bet on what the industry now calls the custom-to-production model, and it would define the company’s modus operandi for the next three decades.
The first few years were modest, but everything changed at the 1997 SHOT Show. There, CRKT debuted the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Super Simple), a compact folding knife designed by Ed Halligan. The new knife was an immediate hit, with demand reportedly far outstripping initial production estimates and forcing a significant ramp-up in manufacturing capability. The K.I.S.S. went on to win the 1998 Imported Knife of the Year award and it proved that the custom-to-production concept had serious commercial legs.
CRKT’s next landmark design was the M16 series, a family of tactical folders designed by Harold “Kit” Carson, a former U.S. Army Sergeant Major. Introduced in the late-1990s and made in a number of variations, the M16 became one of the most widely carried knives among American servicemen and women during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
The company weathered a major crisis in October of 2000 when U.S. Customs seized a shipment of 80,000 CRKT folding knives worth over $4.3 million, with an inspector retroactively deciding the knives functioned like switchblades despite their having passed every prior inspection. Oregon Congresswoman Darlene Hooley and Senator Gordon Smith intervened, triggering a federal inquiry, and the shipment was released on October the 20th, roughly 17 days later – but not before CRKT lost over $1 million in sales and incurred more than $30,000 in legal fees.
Over the following decades, CRKT built one of the deepest designer rosters in the modern production knife world, collaborating with makers like Ken Onion, Allen Elishewitz, Flavio Ikoma, Lucas Burnley, Jesper Voxnaes, and James Williams.
The folding mechanism itself is clever, and once it’s been folded into an axe it locks securely in place via CRKT’s Deadbolt mechanism. The Provoke X was designed by Joe Caswell of Newbury Park, California ands unveiled in 2025, and it’s now become a best-seller for the firm.
The company also built up a portfolio of proprietary technologies, including the Outburst assisted-opening mechanism, the Deadbolt Lock, and Veff-Serrations, and expanded its materials range to include D2, 14C28N, and CPM MagnaCut steels alongside handle materials like G10, Micarta, and titanium.
CRKT remains independently and family-owned – founder Rod Bremer later moved into chairman and advisory roles, with Mark Schreiber serving as president. In 2024, the company celebrated its 30th anniversary with the release of the Soldotna, a U.S. made fixed blade designed by longtime collaborator Russ Kommer and manufactured in partnership with Vegas Forge and TOPS Knives.
The CRKT Provoke X Folding Axe
The Provoke X is a folding pocket axe from Columbia River Knife & Tool, it was designed by Joe Caswell of Newbury Park, California. CRKT describes it as a first-of-its-kind “morphing axe,” and it was unveiled at SHOT Show 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada to huge customer interest.
The design essentially adapts CRKT’s Kinematic Deployment Mechanism, which was originally developed by Caswell for the Provoke Morphing Karambit, which was released by CRKT in 2019 after raising over $350,000 USD on Kickstarter.
The Provoke X has a tomahawk blade that’s 1.85 inches wide and an opposing spike, both in titanium nitride-coated SUJ2 steel. The handle is stainless steel with glass-reinforced nylon overlays. Overall length is 8.69 inches, weight is 13.2 ounces, and a reversible deep-carry pocket clip allows either left or right-hand carry.
The axe deploys by releasing an ambidextrous safety and flicking the wrist, which swings the axe head into position and engages CRKT’s Deadbolt Lock. When closed, the blade and spike sit fully recessed within the handle and the safety sets automatically.
The Provoke X is a folding pocket axe from Columbia River Knife & Tool, it was designed by Joe Caswell of Newbury Park, California. CRKT describes it as a first-of-its-kind “morphing axe,” and it was unveiled at SHOT Show 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada to huge customer interest.
The production version is the 94th iteration of the design and the result of more than three years of development, with much of that time spent ensuring it was both reliable and safe to use.
It’s now being offered for sale direct from the official CRKT Amazon store here, and it comes with a Limited Lifetime Warranty that covers defects in materials or workmanship.
Images courtesy of CRKT
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