When you think about a folding knife, what comes to mind? Most of us are likely to envision a traditional EDC folder, with a blade sandwiched between two flat handle scales. There are countless types of folding knives, but most adhere to this basic framework. CRKT, however, has released a folding knife that goes in a completely different direction — literally.

The CRKT Daktyl is a bare-bones knife designed by Tom Hitchcock, of Bend, Oregon. Instead of folding open and shut in parallel with the handle, it folds in a perpendicular direction. CRKT calls this side-opening mechanism Hole in One, after the previous Hitchcock-designed blade of the same name.

To open the knife, a lever near the pivot point is pushed up, and the blade is rotated outward in either direction until it locks in place. The CRKT Daktyl also features a new addition to the Hole in One mechanism: a Slide Lock which acts as a safety to keep the knife securely in the open or closed position.

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The central hole on this knife also acts as a carabiner for attachment to belt loops or PALS webbing, and as a bottle opener for cracking open a cold one.

CRKT built the Daktyl's 3-inch blade from easy-to-sharpen 420J2 stainless steel. More 420 stainless steel was used for the construction of the skeletonized handle and lock slider. Overall opened length is 6.8 inches, and weight is just 2.4 ounces.

The CRKT Daktyl is available now at an MSRP of $60. For more information, check out CRKT.com.

Written by Patrick McCarthy