How to Trade Up for Crafting: Crafting Knives & Gloves in CS2

Could we expect that one day Valve will allow us to craft knives and gloves? Less than a year ago, it was just an absurd idea. Now, it’s just one of CS2’s features and a core part of what many CS2 crafts experiment with daily. Well, not just one, but for newcomers, it still isn’t a big deal, right? However, with a new update, there are new trade-up conditions, specifically for a craft of knife and glove skins in CS2. How can you do it? How many skins do you need to get an outstanding Karambit or Butterfly Knife? Let’s explore these and other questions together in our guide right now!

What is the CS2 Knife/Glove Crafting Update?

As you know, on October 22, 2025, Valve introduced the CS2 Knife Crafting Update. In short, the trade-up contract system, which has been stable since 2015, has changed dramatically. Now, every CS2 player can craft a knife or glove easily. Well, there are some conditions.

For example, the new trade-up system follows the old rules: the number of lower rarity CS2 skins is usable to craft one higher rarity item.

For a better understanding, it looks in the following way:

• 10 Industrial Grade skins to craft 1 Mil-Spec
• 10 Restricted skins to craft 1 Classified
• 10 Classified skins to craft 1 Covert
• No Covert skins to craft Knives or Gloves

With a new update, players can use 5 Covert skins to craft 1 Knife or Glove. The result still strongly depends on the skins’ collections you use for craft. Moreover, if you want to get a knife with the StatTrack system, you also need to use Covert skins with this technology.

Understanding Covert Skins and Their Role in Crafting

As we noticed, earlier Covert skins were not usable to craft rarer items such as Knives and Gloves. The weapon skins were on one side of the item’s “evolution”, and Gold (knife, glove) on the other side. Still, many of the red (Covert) skins were valuable and covetous. Well, they are now too, but with one tiny detail.

It’s no secret that some CS2 Covert skins are cheap. Moreover, sometimes the price of some red items was lower than the Classified ones. After the CS2 Knife Crafting Update, yesterday’s $10 Covert skins became $50 and higher. Of course, the trend with growing prices follows other red skins. And, of course, many users began selling their inventories and reaped enormous profits.

How to Craft Knives in CS2: Step-by-Step

So how do CS2 crafts work? In short, the basic process is simple, similar to an old trade-up system. The single difference lies in the number of Covert skins. Players need to use only five of them for a single CS2 craft. Still, to avoid any misunderstandings, let’s check the whole process below.

Step 1: Choose Your Covert Skins

The first step is to choose the red skins you want to use to craft knife skins in CS2. As with the old trade-up system, players need to use five non-StatTrack or five StatTrack skins to craft standard or StatTrack knives, respectively. Also, pay attention to the Collection they belong to. The reason is that it can increase your chances of getting a specific knife.

For example, the best strategy to get random Shadow Daggers in a single CS2 craft is to use skins from The Shadow Collection. In other words, M4A1-S | Golden Coil and USP-S | Kill Confirmed. To get a specific design, like Doppler or Tiger Tooth, it’s better to use for trade-up contract the following skins: AK-47 | Bloodsport and USP-S | Neo-Noir.

Step 2: Access the Trade-Up Contract

The next step is simple. You already chose the skins you want to use for CS2 crafts. Now open your CS2 inventory. Find the Trade-Up Contract menu. Add the five Covert skins from the left-hand side of the menu to the right-hand side.

The essential detail you shouldn’t ignore is the Collections and the availability of the StatTrack system. The system doesn’t allow players to mix skins with kill tracker, and without it, but for Collections, it all depends on the players themself.

Step 3: Confirm and Craft

Lastly, confirm your CS2 craft and receive a Knife skin instantly. Players can instantly sell or trade CS2 skins after crafting here on ShadowPay or just add them to their loadout. The ROI only depends on your luck. You can get an item at the exact cost you spent on red skins, a loss, or a profit that will cover even a few of such CS2 crafts.

Crafting Gloves in CS2

To craft Gloves in CS2, players need to use the Covert skins from the following cases:

• Glove Case
• Operation Hydra Case
• Clutch Case
• Operation Broken Fang Case
• Snakebite Case
• Recoil Case
• Revolution Case

Such as with crafting Knives, the outcome depends on the Collection player used for trade-up contracts. Still, there is one detail you don’t need to use Covert skins with the StatTrack system, since there aren’t any Gloves with tracking technology. Of course, maybe one day Valve will add it too, but for now it sounds like a fairytale. Ironically, we thought the same way about crafting red skins not so long ago.

Crafting Knives in CS2

To craft Knives in CS2, players have a variety of Collections.

Here is only a part of all cases you can use Covert skins from:

• CS:GO Weapon Case
• eSports 2013 Case
• Operation Vanguard Weapon Case
• Operation Phoenix Weapon Case
• Revolver Case
• Fracture Case
• Shattered Web Case
• Operation Wildfire Case
• Shadow Case
• Chroma Case
• Prisma Case
• Spectrum Case

Just find a Knife or finish you desire, check the cases it comes from, and try your luck with specific Covert weapon skins.

Strategies for Successful Crafting in CS2

The easiest way to understand the approximate result from CS2 crafts is to use third-party tools, such as trade-up calculators. They work simply. Players choose the Covert skins they may use and immediately see the skins they have a chance to obtain.

If you want to obtain a high-value knife, you definitely need to pay attention to top-tier red skins from Fracture, Prisma 2, Dreams & Nightmares, or Revolution cases. Still, remember not to mix too many collections, as it reduces your chances of getting the finish or knife model you want.

Lastly, here is a table with Covert skins to craft a specific knife model:

Wrapping Up!

As you can see, getting a knife or glove in CS2 through a trade-up contract is a simple process. Of course, to increase your chances of getting a specific knife or finish, you need to use certain weapon skins. The outcome of each craft depends on your choice and a bit of luck.

As always, remember to explore other materials on the ShadowPay Blog. Here, we regularly share guides, lists of the best designs for any budget and preference, and esports news. Create an eye-catching loadout and win together with ShadowPay!