The CJRB Nova is a great knife with one fatal flaw.

Introduction

Some might call me a CJRB stan. They make very good knives in the budget EDC sector. So when I picked up The CJRB Nova in Baby Blue G10, my first thought was, “This is a beautiful knife”. It’s has a classic profile, deep pocket clip, and a gorgeous blade grind. It’s thin and carries well. It’s retail priced at only $66.95 and can be found as cheap as $50 at most retailers online. That’s a really attractive price for a good knife using CJRB’ AR-RPM9 blade steel and a popular baby blue g10 handle. Should you buy it? It has 1 fatal flaw, in my opinion. Lets talk about it.

First Impressions

The first time I picked up the CJRB Nova and looked closely at it I felt like this was going to be another homerun from CJRB. It’s a good looking knife. If you know me at all, you know I am a sucker for the baby blue/cyan/teal colorways. The blade shape is beautiful. It’s kind of a hybrid between a drop point and a tanto with a very nice compound grind. The action is smooth and snappy. It’s easy to flick open whether you prefer a thumb flick or a middle finger flick. The detent is good, not too strong, not too lose like some others in this price range I’ve handled recently.

It looks great open and closed. Simple, good size measuring just under 4.5″ closed. Seemed like a great knife I would easily recommend at first glance. Then I tried to close it…

Specs

Fit & Finish

As usual, CJRB goes above and beyond on fit and finish. Some might say the Nova feels cheap based solely on it’s light weight and thin profile. I disagree. I think it looks as good as any knife offering at this price point. I love the compound grind on what CJRB is calling a tanto blade. I’ve never been a fan of the size of the CJRB logo on the blade but that’s personal preference. It takes nothing away from how good this blade looks. The G10 scales are fit very well. The blade on my Nova is dead center between the liners. The Nova isn’t setting the world on fire with it’s design but for a simple, classic slim profile knife, it’s nice.

Here’s where the Nova falls short for me. If you stack 50 knives side by side and look at the liners and more specifically the liner lock side, you’ll notice most have serrations cut into the liner for traction for single handed closing. Not the Nova. CJRB thought it would be a great idea to not only leave the liner completely smooth, but put a relief cut into it that makes it even more difficult to get a purchase on the liner to push it out of the way. It looks good, functions terribly. The liner is thick and is heavy to push out of the way and you have to push it out of the way.. All the way to the scale. There’s no tolerance here. Push it out of the way so it’s flush with the inside of the scale or the knife won’t close. I have to grab the liner with my thumb nail to get enough leverage to push it out of the way. Might not be a big deal for some but insanely frustrating for me.

I’ll elaborate further in the final verdict.

Carry & Ergonomics

The Nova carries well. The deep carry pocket clip allows the knife to sink way down in your pocket. The clip holds on tight. It’s thin profile allows it to get out of the way and stay out of the way in your pocket. I had no issues with it making it difficult getting my hand in my pocket.

When the Nova is open, like many knives with this shape, it feels good in the hand. It features jimping that extends all the way to a relief cut into the top rear of the blade and a little over a centimeter into the handle that allows for a solid base for your thumb when you need a little extra umph behind your cut. It feels solid. It’s hard to mess up the ergo on this type handle profile. It’s dead simple and just works.

Edge Performance & Steel

The Nova, like a huge assortment of knives in the CJRB catalog sports CJRB’s own AR-RPM9 blade steel. It’s corrosion resistant, retains an edge well, easier to sharpen than some blade steels (D2). I don’t look at the Nova and think this is going to be a daily driver workhorse so edge retention shouldn’t be an issue. Mileage may vary but for me, this knife isn’t screaming EDC. It might for you, in which case I don’t foresee you having an issue with cutting ability or edge retention.

CJRB reports the hardness of the AR-RPM9 blade at 59-61. Of course, we don’t take the manufacturers word for the result of their heat treat. Our friends at Steel Hardness Lab report HRC results of AR-RPM9 at 59.6.

It’ll shave out of the box and open the most ridiculously taped packages. It cuts 550 cord cleanly with no pulling. It’s performs like every other AR-RPM9 blade performs, perfectly well for the average user.

Value

It’s hard to argue with the value of most CJRB offerings, the Nova included. At $50 at most retailers online, it’s priced right considering the cosmetics, performance and feel.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Simple classic design
• Great ergonomics
• Good blade material at this price point.
• Gorgeous grind.
• Carries really well thanks to the pocket clip and slim profile.

Cons

• The liner lock (big sigh)

Where to Buy

• Magnolia Blades Store
• Buy from CJRB

Final Verdict

The Nova is a very nice knife and if you can stand the liner lock that seems to have been designed more for aesthetics and function, I’d say buy this knife and love it. I can’t. The liner lock is a fatal flaw for me. It’s annoying enough that the Nova won’t survive in my collection. I’ll pass it along to someone else at some point. It’s such a shame. I really like this knife apart from it’s one real flaw that disqualifies it from it’s spot in my EDC rotation.

I love the blade shape, the grind, the feel in hand, the baby blue g10, the slim profile. I really like this knife… if it weren’t for the liner lock. Dang it, CJRB!

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