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- Jun 8, 2005
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- 4,761
Picked up some Kershaws today, one of which is the mini mojo.
This knife has a 440A 2.5 inch blade, AO, G10 insert and stud lock.
The first thing I notice about this knife is how cool it looks, open OR closed. The Mini Mojo has always been my favorite KO design, at least visually. It's just so essentially KO.
It's actually a surprisingly small knife (especially next to my Bump). It's quite a bit more than one inch shorter than the Dodo (which has a significantly *smaller* blade than the mojo) either open or closed. I like this, because it makes it very thin and pocketable. Also, for an SS handled knife, it has essentially no heft whatsoever. All things considered, it's fairly dimensionally perfect.
The fit and finish isn't quite perfect on mine, although to be fair, this was a display piece in the mall and I was discounted for that. The blade is slightly (very slightly) off centered. I can fix it by tightening up the knife, although it does inhibit the AO quite a bit, so it has to be a delicate balance. But just tightening it up a little makes it so close that had it not been off centered in the first place, I never would have known. Secondly, the stud lock has scraped its travel to shinyness along the spring's side. I doubt any one will notice and I'm sure that's just wear.
The ergonomics for such a small knife are excellent. This is clearly a three finger knife, and while I usually don't like these, there's really not a good way around it while staying this pocketable (ie Dodo). The grip is very solid, I dare say even a bit Spydery, and the G10 inserts, while most likely there to look cool, might help grip when the steel is wet.
I have to say, as a side note, that this is one of the coolest looking pocket clips I've seen yet.
The blade is a 440A recurve. It's gorgeous, and I love recurves functionally as well. However, this is a 60+ dollar knife even at NGK and I would still like to see it moved up to 440C. When I can get S30V for 40 dollars on a bigger knife from a top company, I'm not sure it makes sense to spend so much for 440A. A minor gripe though, really, as I'm not sure how hard a tiny knife like this can be used. I mentioned this idea earlier and it caused an enormous ruckus, so who knows what this thread will soon to degrade to. But to my detractors, allow me this opinion and you can have your own.
The stud lock works very well. I won't bother explaining how it works, just go to the store and try one. It passed a mild spine whack with flying colors and it's very confidence inspiring. It is pretty easy to close the mini mojo one handed with a little practice. I do think the AO necessitates a little more caution, however. I would also like to see spring redundancy in this knife, like the BB and Axis locks. I really doubt that lock integrity is a huge issue on a little knife like this, but on the larger knives, like the Spec Bump, this could hypoethetically make someone have a bad day. On the plus side, you can literally see the lockup so hopefully, in a worst case scenario, the user would notice that it either didn't look right or he didn't hear the click. On the plus side, Kershaw's extensive (and loved) use of flippers provides some protection against lock failure. I really like my knives to have either choils or flippers, very nearly as a rule. The stud lock does rattle a little if the knife is shaken, but it doesn't bother me.
So all in all, a great little knife. I highly recommend it (thus far), although there are much better deals out there if you can do without AO. But, in the knife's defense, it does look much nicer than the FRN knives that populate its class.
This knife has a 440A 2.5 inch blade, AO, G10 insert and stud lock.
The first thing I notice about this knife is how cool it looks, open OR closed. The Mini Mojo has always been my favorite KO design, at least visually. It's just so essentially KO.
It's actually a surprisingly small knife (especially next to my Bump). It's quite a bit more than one inch shorter than the Dodo (which has a significantly *smaller* blade than the mojo) either open or closed. I like this, because it makes it very thin and pocketable. Also, for an SS handled knife, it has essentially no heft whatsoever. All things considered, it's fairly dimensionally perfect.
The fit and finish isn't quite perfect on mine, although to be fair, this was a display piece in the mall and I was discounted for that. The blade is slightly (very slightly) off centered. I can fix it by tightening up the knife, although it does inhibit the AO quite a bit, so it has to be a delicate balance. But just tightening it up a little makes it so close that had it not been off centered in the first place, I never would have known. Secondly, the stud lock has scraped its travel to shinyness along the spring's side. I doubt any one will notice and I'm sure that's just wear.
The ergonomics for such a small knife are excellent. This is clearly a three finger knife, and while I usually don't like these, there's really not a good way around it while staying this pocketable (ie Dodo). The grip is very solid, I dare say even a bit Spydery, and the G10 inserts, while most likely there to look cool, might help grip when the steel is wet.
I have to say, as a side note, that this is one of the coolest looking pocket clips I've seen yet.
The blade is a 440A recurve. It's gorgeous, and I love recurves functionally as well. However, this is a 60+ dollar knife even at NGK and I would still like to see it moved up to 440C. When I can get S30V for 40 dollars on a bigger knife from a top company, I'm not sure it makes sense to spend so much for 440A. A minor gripe though, really, as I'm not sure how hard a tiny knife like this can be used. I mentioned this idea earlier and it caused an enormous ruckus, so who knows what this thread will soon to degrade to. But to my detractors, allow me this opinion and you can have your own.
The stud lock works very well. I won't bother explaining how it works, just go to the store and try one. It passed a mild spine whack with flying colors and it's very confidence inspiring. It is pretty easy to close the mini mojo one handed with a little practice. I do think the AO necessitates a little more caution, however. I would also like to see spring redundancy in this knife, like the BB and Axis locks. I really doubt that lock integrity is a huge issue on a little knife like this, but on the larger knives, like the Spec Bump, this could hypoethetically make someone have a bad day. On the plus side, you can literally see the lockup so hopefully, in a worst case scenario, the user would notice that it either didn't look right or he didn't hear the click. On the plus side, Kershaw's extensive (and loved) use of flippers provides some protection against lock failure. I really like my knives to have either choils or flippers, very nearly as a rule. The stud lock does rattle a little if the knife is shaken, but it doesn't bother me.
So all in all, a great little knife. I highly recommend it (thus far), although there are much better deals out there if you can do without AO. But, in the knife's defense, it does look much nicer than the FRN knives that populate its class.
