$30 knife kicked the Sebenza out of my pocket

notsobrite, thanks for the input.

I'm now deciding between the chill, and the skyline. The Chill seems like a cheaper, slightly thinner version of the Skyline with different steel. Any comparison between the two? I am leaning towards the Chill because the thinner blade (to me) seems more "gentlemanly", which is what I'm wanting it for. The Skyline seems like a great EDC, and its had much more exposure here because of this thread.

Also, I saw the damascus version of the skyline in this thread, but I haven't been able to find where I can get one, or how much more they cost than the normal versions. Are they still being produced?
 
This thread and other factors has swayed my bank out and depleted it one for Skyline. I was very impressed and echo the sharpness comments... it truly could be the sharpest factory knife I have ever bought, out of the box:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:. We got 80 reconditioned football helmets and about 80 pairs of cleats in for our team; I cut up the several large cardboard boxes like butter and still very sharp!

Question: I am not saying one is better/worse and maybe this has been discussed before, does the Skyline show many similarities with the Buck Vantage or vice-versa?

-Buck
 
Well I just bought an orange zing a couple of days ago and now I need to track down a skyline this week.
 
MTguy said:
Well I just bought an orange zing a couple of days ago and now I need to track down a skyline this week.
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A friendly hint...if you keep an eye in the marketplace here, you may just happen to see a nice one appear in the next day or two, just a strange hunch..........:rolleyes:
 
I absolutely love my Damascus skyline !! :D
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Don't mean to throw any cold water on the mighty Skyline, but I'm pretty meh about mine.

I love the shape, feel, weight, etc, but the flipper ain't cutting it for me. Hardly ever can flip it open. I can loosen it enough to do it fairly reliably, but can't live with the horizontal wobble at that point. Tried a shot of CLP in hinge, no affect.

Really surprised me too, since it has such a whopper flipper. My Buck Vantages have a very diminutive flipper, but can pop them open no prob, and with good tight horizontal lockup, too. Only way I can do it with the Skyline is using flipper with a combined wrist flick.

The Skyline really is nice, but not being able to really utilize one of its main selling points is rather a bummer.

- OS
 
OhShoot said:
Don't mean to throw any cold water on the mighty Skyline, but I'm pretty meh about mine.

I love the shape, feel, weight, etc, but the flipper ain't cutting it for me. Hardly ever can flip it open. I can loosen it enough to do it fairly reliably, but can't live with the horizontal wobble at that point. Tried a shot of CLP in hinge, no affect.

Really surprised me too, since it has such a whopper flipper. My Buck Vantages have a very diminutive flipper, but can pop them open no prob, and with good tight horizontal lockup, too. Only way I can do it with the Skyline is using flipper with a combined wrist flick.

The Skyline really is nice, but not being able to really utilize one of its main selling points is rather a bummer.

- OS
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Is the detent holding the blade closed well or is it loose? If the detent is too loose, the knife will not flip well, it will just sort of mush open. If the detent is working properly and the pivot tension is correct (shouldn't have any blade play, but the blade should move freely once it breaks free of the detent), then you are not using the proper technique for that knife. It is possible there is something wrong with the knife but if the detent is holding and the pivot can be adjusted correctly, you just need to adjust your technique. The proper detent tension allows you to pre-load before the blade breaks loose and lets you apply all the force at once. I'm going to sound like a broken record, but try putting forward pressure on the flipper, then suddenly downward pressure (it should feel like you are pushing against something that won't move) and pull back in the same motion. Think about it like snapping your fingers. They don't really snap if they are just sliding across each other, you need to press the tip of your finger to your thumb to get enough friction so you can store up some sideways force. Once you get enough energy to overcome the friction, you get the snap. The tighter you press your finger against your thumb, the more friction, the louder the snap. Flippers work the same way. If you pre-load it enough, you'd be surprised at how much pivot tension you can overcome.

Give this a try, if you already knew all this and it still doesn't work, apologies, and send it in to Kershaw, there's something wrong with it.
 
kneedeep said:
Is the detent holding the blade closed well or is it loose? ...etc
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Appreciate the advice, had already done search, so knew mostly what you suggested.

Have played with pivot tension, doesn't make much diff all the way down to wobbly.

Detente close does seem a bit less than on most of my better knives, certainly less than the only other flippers I have (couple of Buck Vantages, a CRKT, and a SRM) so that may be the prob. I can hold the blade in with finger of other hand, put pressure on the flipper, then release other finger from blade suddenly and it pops open okay. Without that technique, all I can get is the halfway "mush open" you mention unless I really give it big time moxie, which my finger is now too sore to do. :)

Maybe I'll call Kershaw, then ... sigh, what are the odds. My first Kershaw, seems I'm always on the extreme ends of the bell curve of life. :)

I do appreciate your detailed advice...

- OS
 
OhShoot said:
Detente close does seem a bit less than on most of my better knives

I do appreciate your detailed advice...

- OS
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You're welcome.

If you are comfortable with it, you could always try taking it apart and bend a little more tension into the lockbar before you call CS.
 
First post here. I've been lurking for a while but thought I would jump on in. I own a pretty wide variety of knives but the only Kershaw I own is a DAM Skyline. Like everyone else has said it is wicked sharp. This thread made me get it back out of it's box and carry it again:D.
 
kneedeep said:
You're welcome.

If you are comfortable with it, you could always try taking it apart and bend a little more tension into the lockbar before you call CS.
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Well, just tried that. Bent lockbar three or four different times, a little more each time, put back together and tested. Only managed to get it to bind blade tighter in general with proportionally less torque on pivot screw, never found a sweet spot, never actually found that detente held with any more resistance, bent it back to about where it was.

It's really rather mysterious, knife construction is quite simple; if it weren't for all the accolades, I'd swear it was just the "way this knife is". The only thing I can posit is that perhaps the detente "bump" or "nipple" or whatever it's called was formed out of spec, too low or too small.

One other odd thing is that the back rear screw protrudes out past nut in handle, noticed that when I first got it, generally the sign of a less well constructed knife - a minor detail I guess, but wouldn't expect that in a USA Kershaw of any ilk. EDIT: One of the screws is simply slightly longer, it protrudes past nut in either hole.

Bought from one of the big time knife sellers on eBay, otherwise would begin to think the dang thing might be counterfeit or something.

- OS
 
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OhShoot said:
It's really rather mysterious, knife construction is quite simple; if it weren't for all the accolades, I'd swear it was just the "way this knife is". The only thing I can posit is that perhaps the detente "bump" or "nipple" or whatever it's called was formed out of spec, too low or too small.
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It is a small ball bearing or detent ball which has two functions 1st is to hold the knife closed when it sinks into a hole on the blade while the knife is closed. The second which is where I think your issue is occurring is to keep the face of the lock bar from slowing down the blade while opening the knife. A small smooth ball creates little friction compared to what the lock bar would against the blade. An issue with a liner lock is that unless you machine out material on the scale from behind the lock bar the detent ball can not stick out of the lock bar any farther the the thickness of the washer or it will cause the blade to bind against the detent ball when the lock bar can no longer move back. If you take apart you skyline or take a close look you will notice that it has very thin washers creating very low tolerances for the detent ball. I would send it in for service if it was my knife personally.*
 
Hacked said:
... I would send it in for service if it was my knife personally.*
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Thanks, I probably will.

It "works" other than flipping, but might as well have my one Kershaw function correctly. I have knives from $125 Spydercos to $10 SRMs, but all those I keep do indeed live up to their best potential. I recently sent back a $20 Chinese Boker for fix/replacement, 'cause I like the knife and know that the one I got wasn't up to snuff, even for that level tool.

- OS
 
My Skyline dis-engages from its locked position way too easy. I first noticed the problem when I accidentally taped the back side of the blade and the liner lock released. I then tried just gripping the knife tightly and again the lock released way too easy. I think the shape of the back portion of the blade that is engaged by the lock is not shaped properly so the lock slips off with very little pressure. I have taken it out of my rotation because of the danger it poses to my fingers. I guess I can ship it back to Kershaw but I am not sure the shipping costs are worth it. It is a sweet little slicer and if the lock worked properly I would carry it. Sorry for being a bearer of bad news. :(
 
Kershaw has great customer service so I would definitely send it in. Even if you sent it priority mail it would only be around $5.
 
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