• The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
    Price is $300 $250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
    Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.

  • Today marks the 24th anniversary of 9/11. I pray that this nation does not forget the loss of lives from this horrible event. Yesterday conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was murdered, and I worry about what is to come. Please love one another and your family in these trying times - Spark

Chill, Skyline or Zing for semi-Gentlemans knife EDC in office environment?

O

ocnLogan

Joined
Jul 31, 2011
Messages
3,488
Ok, I posted a thread(HERE) in the general section a few days ago about 2-3in gentlemans folders for EDC in my office at work. I had a list of requirements for the blades, and received a huge amount of options from pretty much every manufacturer. Most of the designs that I liked, and were within my budget seemed to be Kershaws, so I thought I would ask this question here, since more of you Kershaw guys traffic this area.

The question I have is mostly a comparison between the three knives in question (Chill, Skyline, Zing). I have seen good thickness photos of the Chill, but nothing similar of the Skyline or the Zing. I've heard lots of good things about the Skyline, but not much (good or bad) about the Chill or the Zing. I am leaning towards the Chill at the moment, because I prefer the slimmer blade design (seems more "gentlemanly", maybe because it reminds me of my grandfathers slipjoint he carried around). I also love the super slim design.

I just want to know how these three knives compare, and also, if there are any photos of one or more of these together, I would love to see them.

As a side note, if kershaw makes something similar to these designs, but in a blade length of closer to 2.5in, I would LOVE to know about it. If the chill came in that size, I wouldn't be making this thread, as I probably would have already purchased it.

Thanks for the help guys, I'm still new here, but I'm loving it so far.
 
Last edited:
The chill is not listed as MADE IN USA (kershawknives.com). It also uses 8CR13MOV (Chinese) steel. Therefore I would choose differently.

The zing and skyline are identified as MADE IN USA, and use the superior 14C28N (Sweedish) steel, therefore I would choose one of these two over the Chill.

my $.02
 
ocnLogan said:
As a side note, if kershaw makes something similar to these designs, but in a blade length of closer to 2.5in, I would LOVE to know about it. If the chill came in that size, I wouldn't be making this thread, as I probably would have already purchased it.

Thanks for the help guys, I'm still new here, but I'm loving it so far.
Click to expand...

od-2 is 2 1/4" blade, flipper, lightweight...
 
Thanks for the help so far guys.

I am still new to knives and the different steels, and I did know that the Chill used a different steel than the other two. My understanding is that the steel used in the Chill is roughly comperable to AUS8, which is "decent". How much better is the 14C28N used in the other knives? Keep in mind this is my knife that I want to carry in the office, and it will not be subjected to hard use.

And I have taken a look at the OD2, and liked what I saw, other than the fact that from the photos it seemed pretty thick for such a small knife. Does anyone have a measurement of how thick it is? I just hate sitting on my knife and feeling uncomfortable (I carry my knives in my RR pocket).

And ncbcymtechie, thanks for that link, that was great! Is there anything else similar to this review featuring the Zing? Anyone own any of these and have any thoughts about what would be better?

Thanks again!
 
Buddy, I feel like I'm doing a lot of the legwork for you. ;) If you Google with the prefix "site:bladeforums.com" it'll search only this site. I find it much more convenient than the forum's search function for tasks like these. Anyhow,

[The Zing is] a lot thicker than the Skyline, though.
Click to expand...
(via here)

So by the transitive property, the Chill is the thinnest of the bunch, followed by the Skyline and then the Zing.

Here are picture reviews one and two of the Zing. Knock yourself out!
 
Hi ocnLogan -

I would recommend the Kershaw 1610 Centofante.

The Skyline is a spear-point flipper. The Zing has a more pointed blade, similar to the Leek, but the Zing I have experience with had striations on the blade, which I did not care for.

The Centofante is assisted opening, and does not have a pocket clip, but my Centofante came with a cool little leather slip-sheath that does have a pocket clip on it, making the knife a sort of "concealed carry" holstered knife, even though it is a nicely sized smaller blade.

I do not have any experience with the Chill, but I have yet fo find a Kershaw that I thought was not a good knife.

best regards -

mqqn
 
Of the three you mentioned there, I'd say the Chill or the Skyline would be your best bet, leaning more towards the Chill. However, I'd second the idea of taking a look at the Centofante-Onion or OD-2 as options, as they're closer to your 2.5" desired length. The Centofante-Onion especially looks fairly gent knife-like, and comes in a handful of styles depending on what catches your eye most.
 
I have a Chill and a Zing.
The Chill is nice and superlight but the Zing is a little sturdier and (along with a Victorinox Spirit) it has been my edc choice for the past two years.
I love the Zing, come to think of it i need to pick up a few spares,lol.
And regarding the Zing's blade striations they actually seem improve the cutting ability.
 
Once again, thank you guys.

Sorry if I'm causing any additional legwork by asking so many questions, and I do realize that some of what I was looking for could be found by searching the forum like that. However, I am also looking for subjective information from people that own them, which is much harder to search for, because the nature of each thread is slightly different as well as the opinions and viewpoints of each blade for each purpose. Hence the thread I guess.

Thank you so much to all of you that have/are helping out with this. I know that these are "cheapo" blades for some, but for others of us, this is what we can afford.

I am still open to the OD2, but I haven't been able to find any info on how thick they are. One of the reasons for this purchase is to find something smaller and less intrusive than the Ken Onion Kershaw I have right now (Might be called the Blackout?... model number 1550ST. Its a nice knife, but its pretty thick (1/2 inch or so), and fairly aggressive looking for the office). Does anyone have one that they could measure?

I'll have to look into the centofante, although the AO makes me nervous. Is it like the speedsafe that my larger kershaw has? That one is great, but when it opens, it opens with a solid "CRACK", that draws more attention than I would like in the office.

Thanks guys.
 
Hi oncLogan -

The Centofante has a smaller blade, and thus less mass to open, and less of a clack when it opens.

That said, you have to be mindful of your surroundings when you open any knife, a/o or not, no matter what size it is.

For instance, I can clack open most of my non-assisted blades fast and loud enough to scare the average "office worker" type.

When I am in the cubicle-farm, I open the knife with more care so as not to cause a fuss.

best regards -

mqqn
 
Not a problem! I'm more than happy to help a fellow knife enthusiast pick the right knife, especially since I'm in the same budgetary restriction zone. :) Whatever I can do to help!

I would stick to a manual, non-AO knife so that you can control how fast you want it to open. Not to mention that should you lend your knife to a co-worker, you won't have to warn them about holding on tight to a flying knife blade. :p With flippers, I've found that I can open the knife one-handed fairly quickly without AO. For some people, AO may be a necessity or even a selling point. To me, it's neither—it's nice to have, but it some cases (like this one, in the workplace) it's even nicer not to have.

I own a Chill myself and just received a Skyline (in red!), and I've never owned or handled a Zing at all. Both the Chill and the Skyline are great! With both you have G10 (whereas the Zing has polyamide scales) for good traction, unassuming pocket clips, flippers, manual opening... The Skyline is thicker and bigger than the Chill, but you also get a bigger blade. The Skyline's G10 is more finely textured and thus provides more surface area for purchase. The Skyline's liner lock is thicker than the one on the Chill. The Chill has two metal liners; the Skyline has only one (if you think it will affect strength). The Skyline is heaver (again a function of size); the Chill manages to shed weight by drilling out holes in the liners.

(I'm really, really bad at steels so I am in no place to comment on them. But from what I've read, 14C28N should be better than 8Cr13MoV at edge retention and rust resistance...)

All this to say that I think both are excellent options. The Chill, being slimmer, smaller, and curvier, is indeed what I would call more "gentlemanly." (The curves also add to ergonomics. The Skyline just doesn't fit the shape of my hand as well. It doesn't fit poorly, it just doesn't fit as well. Both are still exceedingly comfortable.) The Skyline, though perhaps not gentlemanly, does feel a bit stouter, probably because of its increased size. And it's an iconic knife, for good reason: It's the best balance between size and slicing ability.

Should you end up deciding between the two knives, I think you will be quite pleased with whichever one you choose. And if you could stretch your budget by $10, you could buy both! ;)

P.S. Here are some photos of the OD-2 (it looks pretty stout, by which I also mean thick for its size) by mqqn!
 
Last edited:
I am personally leaning toward the skyline. I am giving mine a way becuase i prefer larger knives, and becuase I think it will be a great option for someone else. the 14C28n steel is hands down my favorite steel of all time. it resharpens very nicely, works well, and take an absolutley razor sharp edge. I have no experience with 8cr13mov, but in my opinion the 14c28n is totally worth the extra cost. also, the skyline is very, very thin. it is the knife I carried when I wanted something that would just disappear in my pocket. get it. it has my complete endorsement.

By the way, the blackout is much thicker than the skyline. it is a great knife, but is nowhere close in my estimation.
 
I have a skyline and have no worries about "weakness" due to no liner on one side.
I think the smaller chill looks more like a gentleman's knife, but have not handled one.
(OTOH, I really like the skyline for a slim, lightweight daily carry knife)
 
I carried an FRN spyderco daily for 5 or 6 years -- no liners at all and no problems with handle strength.
yes, I could flex the frn in with effort -- but I've also done that with some metal and wood knife scales, too.
 
What I did was purchase a yellow mini griptilian. Before this knife I was using a Buck 400 with black scales. This tiny knife would get odd looks but the yellow mini griptilian makes everyone feel at ease, like it is safe due to the yellow scales. If you work in an office and you do not want to risk being told not to carry a knife, get a yellow knife. I know it is strange but it works.
 
Slowrid-Der said:
What I did was purchase a yellow mini griptilian. Before this knife I was using a Buck 400 with black scales. This tiny knife would get odd looks but the yellow mini griptilian makes everyone feel at ease, like it is safe due to the yellow scales. If you work in an office and you do not want to risk being told not to carry a knife, get a yellow knife. I know it is strange but it works.
Click to expand...

I'm sure it does, and I'm glad it works for you. But the original post stipulates a $40 price cap due to budgetary constraints, and the Mini-Grip is a wee bit out of budget. :p
 
No, of course not. My mistake.

The most obvious choice of yellow knives that comes to mind are Spydercos like the Pacific Salt, though, and those are still out of budget. Any suggestions? :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top