best budget-priced Kershaw?

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UtahLuke

Joined
Apr 2, 2014
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I'm a newbie here, and new to knives, aside for the double hollow-ground carbon steel knives I use in my work.

I do love knives, and have been very impressed with what I've heard/read about Kershaw knives. I need to stay in the low budget range for now. Kershaw seems to have quite a few products that are very reasonably priced. Any recommendations?

Thanks.
 
Welcome, Luke.

I have several of the Kershaw budget knives, and love them all. It really depends on what you are after. Something like the Oso Sweet is great for a smallish, lightweight EDC. The Blackout is great, and in my view does not get enough love around here. I love the Asset and Compound, and the Tremor is a big, bad mofo for not much coinage (assuming they are still made). Check out Nutnfancy's Kershaw reviews on Youtube.

There is a lot of overlap between these different models, in that many are similar with only slight changes in the design elements. If you just pick whatever floats your boat, you are probably going to think its a good $22 (or whatever) well spent. Rock on.
 
The Chill at about $15 is very hard to beat. And I often reach for the Kershaw Skyline even though I have Benchmade's and Spyderco's lying around. The Skyline is a really cool and useful utility blade in any price range. Once you lube the pivot it whips open as well.
 
Right now my favorite budget Kershaw is the Injection 3.0/3.5. Rexford designed, it has a lot of neat features. A machined thumb stud, 3D machined G10 scales with cut outs, chamfered back spacer, inset lanyard pin, and a nicer pivot screw. The FFG blade is a wicked slicer too!

 
I bought a Thermite based on some positive reviews here. Turns out I hate it and the quality isn't that great for a $40 knife. I had handled a Brawler and kind of liked it and wish I had went with that. I also have a Zing tanto I got for $35 from KershawGuy.com. US made and great Sandvik steel, but the size is only optimal for the hands of a 10 year old as it's not very operation friendly to my medium size hands.

One thing I hate is that most of the Chinese Kershaws don't use a detent. Not only is the detentless Speedsafe weaker by design, it also leaves a freely moving blade usually when it does break.
 
I really like my Kershaw Scallion, designed by Ken Onion. It is my EDC and a fantastic little blade. I work in an office environment and it just disappears in the coin pocket in my dress pants pocket. It comes with a one position clip that I removed. The handle is a bit short for my preference, so I added a piece of gutted 550 cord to make a pinky loop and get great purchase on my grip now. It is an AO blade, so make sure there aren't restrictions on that in your area. I highly recommend.

 
I got this zing for bout 35 bux. seems to be a pretty ok blade. the framelock is def a plus
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Depending on your intended use, the Leek is a great offering by Kershaw. Many versions are available, to say the least, and the tip/blade shape, though fragile in some uses, proves very effective in a variety of tasks.
 
There are so many models it's hard to make a bad choice. I own quite a few but if I had to pick a manual open it would be the Injection, and for assisted a Cryo. Both come in small and large versions, but there are may other good choices as well.


In case you haven't seen it this is a Kershaw catalog with all their knives.

http://www.thekershawstore.com/v/catalog/2014kershawcatalog.pdf

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If you gave a few parameters it might help narrow it down. There are a handful depending on what you like or are after.

Check out kershawguy.com for a good selection and great prices. Dave is a super awesome guy to deal. He ships fast and free! He just hooked up my buddy with a 0350 after years of bugging him to take the jump. He got it in 2 days and for a lot cheaper than other places. I don't think anyone can say a bad thing about him! Click on the link in my signature and it'll take you there.
 
There really are quite a lot to choose from. The Skyline is one of my favorite EDC knives - great slicer, slim and light (practically unnoticeable in pocket), features a great blade steel (Sandvik 14C28N), and really addictive to flip. The Chill is a nice, super-slim manual flipper that can be had for under $20. The Cryo packs a good amount of flexibility (opening and carrying options) and some nicer aesthetic features (Hinderer design, lockbar stabilizer, and even a hollowed-out standoff that doubles as the lanyard hole) in a compact package for under $30.

If you have some specific features (size, blade shape, opening and locking mechanisms, discrete or normal carry options, etc.), that might help narrow down the otherwise very broad range of recommendations.
 
Out of the cheaper Kershaw I would whole heartedly recommend the Clash and the Tremor. They are both under 30 bucks on amazon.com. Both are excellent knives!

Get the tremor if you want a big knife, and get the clash if you want a more reasonably sized edc blade.
 
I was recently gifted an Injection 3.5 folder. It really is an impressive budget friendly knife. About perfect size and weight for EDC. I would highly recommend the Skyline as well. Really just need to figure out what you like best. Kershaw makes many different budget friendly blades for you to chose from. Finding the right one for you is part of the fun. Sell or trade off the rest.
 
Thanks all! I don't want anything too enormously big. I am a bit overwhelmed by the wealth of selections available!

Of all that I've read, the Skyline seems to be especially popular. What features make it so, in your opinion?

How would you compare it to, say, the Clash, Injection, OSO Sweet? The Chill?
 
The Blur is probably my favorite Kershaw of all time. I used to see pictures and think "man that is an ugly knife." Then I handled one and that all changed. Great blade shape, materials, bank vault lockup and flip out your hand speed. Not to mention US made. I would start with this one.
 
oxman198 said:
The Blur is probably my favorite Kershaw of all time. I used to see pictures and think "man that is an ugly knife." Then I handled one and that all changed. Great blade shape, materials, bank vault lockup and flip out your hand speed. Not to mention US made. I would start with this one.
Click to expand...

The Blur is a fine knife indeed, but...Blurs run about $50 though, which is a bit more than what many people consider a "budget priced" offering.

OP, if you can swing it, by all means go for the Blur, but if you mean budget price like most people here seem to(which is usually the $20-30 range), I'm fond of the Oso Sweet myself, it's small, light, and comfortable in hand, for around $20. Though really, any of Kershaw's budget lineup are pretty nice, Clash, Tremor, Asset, Cryo...or if you are willing to go to around $40, you can't go wrong with the Leek or Scallion, either.
 
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