asisted opening

MDQBox , its either gonna be the Piston or Knockout. I really like the Echelon as well. And Im afraid theres a ZT or two in my future as well. The Piston and Knockout will be edc blades for sure. The Echelon I see as a fondling blade, who knows might edc rotate it also.
 
richard thurman said:
why dont you just turn it in and have them fix it for you?? when my leek goes out that is what I am going to do.
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Don't even have to send it in, a 5 min phone all will get one in the mail on it's way to you.

BJ, those are good choices I have a knockout and it's amazing. I also have a piston on the way to me as we speak. Lol if you are even considering a zt in your future then there is no think about it... It's going to happen.
 
richard thurman said:
why dont you just turn it in and have them fix it for you?? when my leek goes out that is what I am going to do.
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Well if he's like me, having it break the first time made me loose faith in it, and that kind of ruins liking it for any reason. The Leek was my first knife with AO. It broke right away (first day IIRC). I got ahold of Kershaw's CS but still had to spend about a week not using my brand new knife while waiting for the replacement bar (they sent it out right away, but Oregon to Tennessee takes mail awhile). It came on a Friday, and that second one broke just a few days later on Sunday, so it was down another week while I waited for a replacement torsion bar. Of course Kershaw's CS is awesome and sent me three replacements the next time, but by then I had no interest in carrying a knife that seemed IMO to too often have a part break in it.

OT from his post, I also think with the 30x's, the AO bar kind of ruins one of it's advertised features: "A 3/8-inch hex head pivot shaft nut makes field adjustments possible with minimal tools". A nut is definitely more serviceable than torx since you can use just about any adjustable wrench on it. However, because of the torsion bar, you can't take out the blade to clean it without taking the whole handle apart, and then you need a torx screwdriver anyway.
 
kreole said:
Well if he's like me, having it break the first time made me loose faith in it, and that kind of ruins liking it for any reason. The Leek was my first knife with AO. It broke right away (first day IIRC). I got ahold of Kershaw's CS but still had to spend about a week not using my brand new knife while waiting for the replacement bar (they sent it out right away, but Oregon to Tennessee takes mail awhile). It came on a Friday, and that second one broke just a few days later on Sunday, so it was down another week while I waited for a replacement torsion bar. Of course Kershaw's CS is awesome and sent me three replacements the next time, but by then I had no interest in carrying a knife that seemed IMO to too often have a part break in it.

OT from his post, I also think with the 30x's, the AO bar kind of ruins one of it's advertised features: "A 3/8-inch hex head pivot shaft nut makes field adjustments possible with minimal tools". A nut is definitely more serviceable than torx since you can use just about any adjustable wrench on it. However, because of the torsion bar, you can't take out the blade to clean it without taking the whole handle apart, and then you need a torx screwdriver anyway.
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As for your A/O troubles you are an exception to the norm.

The part I put in bold in your quote has me a little puzzled. "You can't take out the blade to clean it without taking the whole handle apart."
Do you have folding knives you can take the blade out of without disassembling the handle?
I know Gerber and a couple of others have made knives you can swap blades on but I don't think this is the case here.
I clean my blades without ever taking my knives apart. What do you mean?
 
2brothers said:
As for your A/O troubles you are an exception to the norm.

The part I put in bold in your quote has me a little puzzled. "You can't take out the blade to clean it without taking the whole handle apart."
Do you have folding knives you can take the blade out of without disassembling the handle?
I know Gerber and a couple of others have made knives you can swap blades on but I don't think this is the case here.
I clean my blades without ever taking my knives apart. What do you mean?
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I think my AO knives are the only knives I have to disassemble the handle to take the blade out. With any other knife, you just pop the pivot out, and the blade can be removed; there's no need to take the handle screws out to remove the blade. With the 300, you can't just pop the pivot out to remove the blade because the torsion bar is also attached to the blade (goes into a hole in the blade), and you can't detach it without fully taking apart the handle.

I'm not going to get in a conversation on whether or not you need to take the blade out to clean it fully because that's been discussed back and forth ad nauseam.

edit: Just remembered that Spydercos with the pivot bushing also have to be taken fully apart to get the blade out and clean it.
 
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kreole said:
Well if he's like me, having it break the first time made me loose faith in it, and that kind of ruins liking it for any reason. The Leek was my first knife with AO. It broke right away (first day IIRC). I got ahold of Kershaw's CS but still had to spend about a week not using my brand new knife while waiting for the replacement bar (they sent it out right away, but Oregon to Tennessee takes mail awhile). It came on a Friday, and that second one broke just a few days later on Sunday, so it was down another week while I waited for a replacement torsion bar. Of course Kershaw's CS is awesome and sent me three replacements the next time, but by then I had no interest in carrying a knife that seemed IMO to too often have a part break in it.

OT from his post, I also think with the 30x's, the AO bar kind of ruins one of it's advertised features: "A 3/8-inch hex head pivot shaft nut makes field adjustments possible with minimal tools". A nut is definitely more serviceable than torx since you can use just about any adjustable wrench on it. However, because of the torsion bar, you can't take out the blade to clean it without taking the whole handle apart, and then you need a torx screwdriver anyway.
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then I must be one of the lucky ones. I have been useing this leek for around 10 years and it is still going strong.
 
2brothers said:
Now I see what you're saying.
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I dont get it at all.

How the heck does he line the bushings back up?
I've tried doing that and it was darn near impossible. Much easier just taking the handle off.
Besides, I tend to clean the entire thing anyways.
 
cncpro11 said:
I dont get it at all.

How the heck does he line the bushings back up?
I've tried doing that and it was darn near impossible. Much easier just taking the handle off.
Besides, I tend to clean the entire thing anyways.
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It's incredibly simple and easy :) -- and way quicker than taking the whole thing apart

Put one washer in place,
put the pivot in place and push it in level with the top of that washer (this keeps the washer from moving out of place),
put the blade in,
push the pivot further in but not all the way (keeps the blade from moving out of place),
put in the last washer,
screw it together!
 
I've used some Speedsafe Kershaws a lot for many years (the first AO I got was in 2003 I believe, a grey Blur, which Chester now has) , and they still fire hard on my oldest ones to this day. I've never had a torsion bar failure, but maybe I've just been lucky. It really is strange seeing multiple failures on the same knives that are days or weeks apart.
 
And that Grey was passed on to a buddy on here and it still fires hard as ever... and I'm pretty sure one of his favorite Blurs...alot to be said for a knife thats 10 years old now.. I've never had one fail on the 100+ different kershaw/ZTs I've owned.
 
I thought to myself one day "how could anything be better without assisted opening?" But surely enough it was better. Now we just need a manual made blur or whatever, from Kershaw because they mostly rely on the torsion bar for their detent.
 
It's one thing to dislike AO. It's another entirely to get up on one's soap box and preach they have no place, are a gimmick, safety hazard and unnecessary. All of those reasons I have seen posted here by the self righteous. Even if the bar breaks the knife will, gasp, still open and lock for use. With Keshaw's warranty a replacement bar is an email request away. Whiners, they are never happy.
 
TotalDbag said:
I thought to myself one day "how could anything be better without assisted opening?" But surely enough it was better. Now we just need a manual made blur or whatever, from Kershaw because they mostly rely on the torsion bar for their detent.
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The Blur has a strong detent without the AO :D
 
I prefer manual knives.. my fav being my 0561; but I also appreciate my assisted ones. They have their place.
I prefer manual transmissions; feeling the response of the car in a tactile way.. hearing the revs, and specifically choosing when to shift when I am within the correct torque range according to what I feel, versus mechanical and electronic input factors from sensors and servos. But I LOVE my automatic Trailblazer. It is a beast.
I prefer my pump action shotguns; they have less parts to fail, and are much more reliable than my autos. My bolt-actions and lever-actions are also preferred styles. But I enjoy the mechanical precision of my auto's and semi-auto's. My XD45 is my fav daily carry, and my SCAR is an amazing piece of fluid and smooth workmanship.

I prefer my "manuals" because of the tactility, and reliability; ease of maintenance and serviceability. They have a longer life span, even when it matters the most.

But I'm not a hater of the alternatives. I have and use both. Preference is the point.
 
I don't hate A/Os, but my ZT0350 definitely works better as a manual. I think the the strength of that one was way over done. One little flick swings it open now and it can be closed very easily with one hand. Before it too way too much pressure to open and was dangerous to try and close single handed. For Leeks and scallions I love the speed safe. For the bigger knives as long as they're designed and set up well I prefer manual.
 
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