ENER-G 2 is here

I'd put it in 2nd place behind the Groove but ahead of the JYD2. For me the Groove is easier than the JYD2. Not to say the JYD2 was hard to flip open in any way, quite the opposite in fact, but the thinner, pointier flipper on the Groove just works better for me.

For opening with no wrist action at all, I'd put it this way. On the Groove, I can put the pad of my index finger on the top point of the flipper and push from there to open the knife. Alternately, I can put the same finger, from the tip to the first knuckle, on one side of the flipper and pull it back along the top of the frame to open. Either way works fine for me. With the JYD2, I found the most reliable way was to use the second method, what I believe Kershaw describes as the straight line pull in the leaflet that comes with the knives.

On the ENER-G, the flipper tab is not as round as the JYD2 and not as pointy as the Groove. It works very well with the straight line pull, but not necessarily as well with pushing directly down (perpendicular to the frame rather than parallel along it) on flipper. My impression is that having the follow through of the straight line pull is the best method on the ENER-G. It's a very slick system, and it doesn't seem that anything is lost mechanically by having the tab separate from the blade. I may try loosening the pivot a bit on the ENER-G to see what kind of a difference it makes, if the initial force needed to break the detent can be modified while still getting the same opening speed.

Again, this is all for opening with no wrist action. On any of these knives just a slight wrist move will produce a full, solid opening.
 
Nice review, especially useful to all us prospective buyers. :)

I applaud Kershaw for adding another (much-needed, IMO) non-recurve offering to their product line. Also like the tip-up carry option.

One thing that surprises me, maybe Thomas can comment, I was under the impression that the "pseunetic" flipper on the NRG was much more aggressive/positive than the fixed flipper on the JYD2/Groove/Lahar models.

jujigatame, since it sounds like you might be tinkering with this one a bit, I would enjoy seeing some photos of the "innards," not only to see the flipper design but overall fit and finish of parts. When I first disassembled my JYD2 I was pleasantly surprised at the quality workmanship throughout, amazing for knives in this price range.

Also, I thought it was NRG ... ?
 
Dog of War said:
One thing that surprises me, maybe Thomas can comment, I was under the impression that the "pseunetic" flipper on the NRG was much more aggressive/positive than the fixed flipper on the JYD2/Groove/Lahar models.
Click to expand...
The free floating flipper on the ENER-G's has been quite difficult to produce, and Lee has been very helpful in assisting us in dialing the piece in.

Let's face it the fixed flippers designed by Ken, RJ, Tim, and the Hawks work really well. These guys are some of the best flipper designers on the planet. Now we throw Lee into the mix, and wow! His pseunetic flipper works as well or better than the fixed flippers we produce. Like the others it just has a very small learning curve to it, and it just takes the user and his hands a short time to make the blade fire hard. Lee's flipper does create additional "stroke" than the other flippers, so to help eliminate difficulty when opening. I will be interesting to hear customers feedback on this one.

We had to change the name due to a conflict with another factory.
 
Thanks, Thomas. I can attest to the fact that your fixed flippers work very well indeed -- so much so that I find myself wondering if I'll ever be happy with a thumbstud opening folder again.

Actually believe I like ENER-G better. I'll gladly take a little serendipity anytime! :)
 
jujigatame said:
I'd put it in 2nd place behind the Groove but ahead of the JYD2. For me the Groove is easier than the JYD2. Not to say the JYD2 was hard to flip open in any way, quite the opposite in fact, but the thinner, pointier flipper on the Groove just works better for me.

For opening with no wrist action at all, I'd put it this way. On the Groove, I can put the pad of my index finger on the top point of the flipper and push from there to open the knife. Alternately, I can put the same finger, from the tip to the first knuckle, on one side of the flipper and pull it back along the top of the frame to open. Either way works fine for me. With the JYD2, I found the most reliable way was to use the second method, what I believe Kershaw describes as the straight line pull in the leaflet that comes with the knives.

On the ENER-G, the flipper tab is not as round as the JYD2 and not as pointy as the Groove. It works very well with the straight line pull, but not necessarily as well with pushing directly down (perpendicular to the frame rather than parallel along it) on flipper. My impression is that having the follow through of the straight line pull is the best method on the ENER-G. It's a very slick system, and it doesn't seem that anything is lost mechanically by having the tab separate from the blade. I may try loosening the pivot a bit on the ENER-G to see what kind of a difference it makes, if the initial force needed to break the detent can be modified while still getting the same opening speed.

Again, this is all for opening with no wrist action. On any of these knives just a slight wrist move will produce a full, solid opening.
Click to expand...

thanx for the detailed feedback jujigatame.... looks like i'll have to pull the trigga on the ENER-G ... :thumbup:
 
Loosened the pivot a bit today and was able to make the finger pull a bit more comfortable (the ridges on the tab aggravated my fingertip the first few days) and still get the same opening speed. Really, with a few days practice and the opening movement becoming more second nature, I see how well the mechanism works. The effort is rewarded with a very fast and positive opening every time. A lot of fun to play with.
 
Well, well, well, I just got a phone call from one of my friendly knife dealers, and it seems they have found ONLY ONE of the Ken Onion labeled Ener-G's left in the distribution chain. I had called this great dealer and talked with Ann earlier when I found out about the mis-labeled pieces, and she said they had sold all they had.

The phone just rang, and lo and behold, it was Ann. Bless her heart, she had found one that was overlooked and in stock!

The big brown truck is on it's way to my house, with a keeper! It will defiantly go in the gun safe, after I play with it for a while. Perhaps then I'll order one to carry!

SCORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D
 
I like your characterization of the functionality and ergonomics of the Ener-G II flipper. It's language us ergo-geeks can appreciate.
Not having touched one in person, I'm going to hazard the guess that based on the visuals I've seen and your depiction, the Ener-G dynamic may actually be better ergonomically than flippers that require a more 'rearward' positioning of the activation finger! That's great news because in studying the usage of most flippers, I noticed that the natural 'landing' spot for the finger tip is much closer to where the Ener-G flipper places it than with any other flipper mechanism that we've studied! That statement is emphasised for larger hands and longer fingers. Not to bore you with the details , but that means that the necessary repositioning of the grasping hand is minimized. It's a subtle but meaningful improvement. Kudos to the Ener-G mechanism designer. Being lazy, I haven't bothered to find out if these knifes are spring assisted:)

jujigatame said:
I'd put it in 2nd place behind the Groove but ahead of the JYD2. For me the Groove is easier than the JYD2. Not to say the JYD2 was hard to flip open in any way, quite the opposite in fact, but the thinner, pointier flipper on the Groove just works better for me.

For opening with no wrist action at all, I'd put it this way. On the Groove, I can put the pad of my index finger on the top point of the flipper and push from there to open the knife. Alternately, I can put the same finger, from the tip to the first knuckle, on one side of the flipper and pull it back along the top of the frame to open. Either way works fine for me. With the JYD2, I found the most reliable way was to use the second method, what I believe Kershaw describes as the straight line pull in the leaflet that comes with the knives.

On the ENER-G, the flipper tab is not as round as the JYD2 and not as pointy as the Groove. It works very well with the straight line pull, but not necessarily as well with pushing directly down (perpendicular to the frame rather than parallel along it) on flipper. My impression is that having the follow through of the straight line pull is the best method on the ENER-G. It's a very slick system, and it doesn't seem that anything is lost mechanically by having the tab separate from the blade. I may try loosening the pivot a bit on the ENER-G to see what kind of a difference it makes, if the initial force needed to break the detent can be modified while still getting the same opening speed.

Again, this is all for opening with no wrist action. On any of these knives just a slight wrist move will produce a full, solid opening.
Click to expand...
 
I've had my Energ-2 (small) now for about a month, and I am impressed with this piece... I've only stropped the edge and it is probably the sharpest one (out of the box) of my smallish Kershaw collection....
The pseunetic flipper action is "snappy" :p and lots of fun to deploy...it is easier to open than my JYD.....which btw has gotten easier to flip open over the pst 2 months that I've had it.... the top dog for ease of flipping in my Kershaw collection remains the JYD2 with my Groove a close 2nd place.....
I'll have to get the large Energ-2 eventually.......but for now i'm saving up for a Ti JYD2 .... ;)
 
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