ENER-G 2 is here

jujigatame

jujigatame

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Mar 21, 2005
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A package arrived from a certain knife-selling pharmacy with the ENER-G 2 inside. Thoughts? Pictures? Read on...

Let's get right down to brass tacks - how's the opening with the new flipper? Very nice. While these are very early impressions with only a few hours of handling time, I'll say it's right on par with the other manual flippers (JYD, Groove). Takes some practice to find the right grip, finger position and force level for your hand, but once you've got it the blade snaps open fast. Here are some pics of the tab and its positioning when the knife is in open and closed positions. Looks identical to the setup on the custom knives from Lee Williams that use the same system.




I really like the overall profile of the knife, thin and sleek. It feels good in hand.




I think the liner thickness is good, maybe a hair over 1/16", and in line with the profile of the knife. Where the liners are steel, that size is enough that it gives the knife some heft along with a solid looking, and sounding, lockup. Shown next to my Groove for comparison




Continued in the next post.
 
Part two

On to some of the individual parts of the knife. The clip is nice. Not too big or stylized but not out of the standard parts bin. With the positioning of the holes for tip up carry and how much knife is left exposed above it compared to the tip down position, I wonder how folks who prefer tip up will carry it. If you like tip up but also like to have as little knife showing above the top of your pocket as possible it might be a bit of a dilemma.




The soft Trac-tec inserts are nice, but I notice that they are not as soft as the ones on the SG2 Blur I recently got. For all practical purposes I'd say they provide the same amount of tactile grip, but the inserts on my Blur have more tive. I suppose I'd put this down to a possible difference in the thickenss of the inserts on the respective knives, or perhaps differences in batches of that particular material.




The fit and finish between scales, liners and backspacer is good, though not always even. There are no places where anything is drastically out of alignment. The place where there seems to be the most variation between the scales and liners is at the tail end, but it isn't very much.



Regarding the blade, the grinds are very nicely done and I think the finish looks great. It's very clean and fine with no blemishes. Sharpness was excellent. The hollow grind is high and not that deep, so I think this knife will do well as a slicer.

The size of the knife is very similar to other models like the Bump, Groove and Blur, though the ENER-G is slimmer than those three. Here's a few group shots.




One other thing, and it doesn't make any difference to me personally, but I'm wondering if someone from Kershaw can speak to it. This knife is a Lee Williams design, but the front of the blade is etched with "kershaw Ken Onion" rather than having something like "Lee Williams Design". I won't even guess how many more folder blades get etched with the Onion name compared to everything else, so I'm thinking this is just an oversight.



In summary, I really like this one off the bat. It's different than other Kershaws and I love the fact that Kershaw is offering us so many different styles and variations for manual flippers. With what's out now and the RAM still to come, I think most everyone should be able to find one they like.
 
That IS a VERY nice folder, BUT I sure wish that Kershaw would come out with more "lefty-friendly" folders...Especially those with the SpeedSafe.
 
Great pics and great review!

Good question about the Ken Onion logo. Its definitely a Lee Williams design.
 
glockman99 said:
That IS a VERY nice folder, BUT I sure wish that Kershaw would come out with more "lefty-friendly" folders...Especially those with the SpeedSafe.
Click to expand...

My Dad AND my wife are left handed. I tell them, instead of complainig about a right-handed world, wouldn't it be easier to just USE your right hand?:D But I usually want my wife to use BOTH hands! ;)
 
jujigatame, nice write up, and it pleases me that you seem initially satisfied.

jujigatame said:
The fit and finish between scales, liners and backspacer is good, though not always even. There are no places where anything is drastically out of alignment. The place where there seems to be the most variation between the scales and liners is at the tail end, but it isn't very much.
Click to expand...
We are laser cutting parts as of today, so you will see some variances as you describe.


This knife is a Lee Williams design, but the front of the blade is etched with "kershaw Ken Onion" rather than having something like "Lee Williams Design". I won't even guess how many more folder blades get etched with the Onion name compared to everything else, so I'm thinking this is just an oversight.
Click to expand...
Yea this was a big oversight by the engraving dept. I believe 100 or so left the building prior to someone catching it. Our bad.
 
WIll the correct ones just read "Kershaw" or will they have additional text printed?

jujigatame you might want to hang on to that one!
 
nygiantsfan3342 said:
jujigatame you might want to hang on to that one!
Click to expand...

Definitely! It will become a collector's item.
Especially if Thomas can get an exact number that left with the wrong logo. :)

Thanks for the write-up especially. Very detailed and informative. I like that.

mike
 
Great review, Jujigatame! And great pics, too!

glockman99 said:
That IS a VERY nice folder, BUT I sure wish that Kershaw would come out with more "lefty-friendly" folders...Especially those with the SpeedSafe.
Click to expand...

And I wish we didn't have higher accident-related mortality rates than those right-handed freaks, too!

Seriously, though, righty tip-down is very close to lefty tip-up and you can always contact Steve Rice to tap your knives for lefty-friendly carry (or buy Kershaw's stuff designed by Grant and Gavin Hawk and some of the ZT folders).
 
Thanks for the info Thomas. Guess I can call it a Lee Onion or a Ken Williams. ;)

glockman99 - while I'm not a lefty I hear what you're saying. I showed the knife to a friend of mine about an hour ago and he's left-handed. He liked it but said "I wouldn't get it unless there was a lefty setup for the lock." He's got a lefty Sebenza as his EDC, in large part becuase having the lock setup for the left hand is more important to him than which side the clip may be set on. Given that all of the Speesafe models are frame or liner locks (except for the ones that use the Studlock, which is only three models, I think) I see how you may feel left out, no pun intended.

On the manual flippers currently out or in the pipeline only the RAM will be a non-liner/frame lock, but from the custom RAMs I've seen pics of, that lock is only accessible on what would be the front side of the knife for right-handed folks. I believe the Hawk's ZT 0500 is the same in this regard. Perhaps that's not as much of an issue for some folks as I may think if they can manipulate the lock interface with their index finger on the back side of the knife.
 
Future ENER-G's will just have the Kershaw logo, and I don't have an exact count on the laser mistake. As I mentioned, looks like around 100 or so left with the Kershaw/KO logo.

You lefties...
 
The wife is a south paw, and she has never complained.........about a righty knife.
 
Thanks for the write up and pics! I knew I should have ordered one the second they were in stock!

Thomas, are you back from vacation already?
 
Max, the 1740's are right behind the larger one's, probably looking at end of Sept.
 
thanx for the great review and pix jujigatame.... :thumbup:
how would you rate the "ease of flipping" the ENER-G open vs. the Groove....:confused:
My favorite manual flippers are my Junkyard Dog 2 and Groove....but I give a slight preference to the JYD2 ... :)
 
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