How Can ZT Make,

Smaller models for more portability would be welcome. Perhaps the handle could be made more ergonomic by incorporating a compression style lock, such as in the Spyderco Dialex Junior. Also, tighter tolerances and/or rethinking of the design to prevent blade play (a common complaint) would be nice. They're nice knives, but they're by no means perfect. There's plenty of room for improvement.
 
Does a composite blade (CPM-3V and 420J2 or 14C28N) make sense for a folder and fixed blade? Just curious.
 
mesoscopic said:
Does a composite blade (CPM-3V and 420J2 or 14C28N) make sense for a folder and fixed blade? Just curious.
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If it makes the knife cheaper to produce (cost of materials) without compromising function, then sure, composite blades make sense. One of my favorite EDC blades is a CB Leek. It holds an edge as well as my G10 Leek w/ full S30V blade and cost less (and also came as a frame lock). The composite blade might have some other benefits as well, having a harder cutting edge and tougher rest of the blade (not unlike Mora's Triflex). Spyderco does it too (CF Caly 3 has a ZDP189 edge and 420J2 rest of the blade).
 
Well whatever they do, I'll want one. I have two 550s, two 200s, a 350, and I WANT a 300/301. And then I need pockets to carry them all! Lol
 
PC87 said:
I wish they would make a smaller 560, that would be the perfect knife and would boot all other knives out of my pocket and I suspect many others on here as well.
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I like the ZT 0560 the size it is currently, however, I can see ZT making a smaller 0560, even though they keep saying they're not.
 
I am really hoping they build one. I would by 3 of them just to have backups, IMO the blade style and design of the 560 are as good as it gets, it just needs to be about 1" to 1.25" shorter.
 
I would like to see something with a 3" blade (max length for safe and hassle free carry where I live) KVT and a flipper, or speedsafe and a flipper. I carry a 0560 now but I would HATE to see a cop take this knife from me (thats what they do here) because its over 3" A mini 560 would be just fine with me.

Quality seems to be the easiest target for improvement. I work in high volume high precision manufacturing and first time quality is HUGE in our buisness. Our customers DEMAND zero defects. They know its a BS demand but they do it anyway and expect us to meet it. Statistically speaking there will ALWAYS be some poor quality items that leave the factory. Its virtually impossible to avoid, especially on an assembly. Sub-par quality product in the hands of a customer is never a good thing and it typically means one of two things, quality systems are not properly setup and followed or the process itself is not robust enough product quality product with a mangable fall out rate. I work in a differnt (but strikingly similar) world and deal with the same problems on a day to day basis. I've never been to the Kershaw factory or seen them assemble a knife so take the above as just general thoughts and feelings from an engineer. I know we are playing different games but I managed to get over 300 MILLION pieces out of our door last year with a grand total of 76 defective pieces. There has to be some room for improvement.

Regarding composite blades, I have serious doubts that a composite blade truly lowers the overall cost of the knife, especially a folder. Just to stick the two pieces together with the brazed joint adds a handful of steps (cost) to the process. Maybe it doesn't make much difference to them as I have no idea how they buy their raw material or how much kershaw acctually manufactures vs. assembles. I can't see how a more complex product would cost less to produce. It just doesn't work that way. UNLESS the grade of steel you are using is INSANELY expensive (like carbide for instance). D2 is not an expensive steel. In the case of the composite leek it probably would have been cheaper to make the whole blade out of D2 but it would be prone to breakage. To me the advantage of a composite blade is not cost at all. The advantage is having a nice hard steel for a good edge and having a softer/tougher steel on the spine for durability. When I was making die components/tools this was a fairly common practice. Not so much for saving costs but to mate a wear resistance with toughness at a cheaper price than a billet of "super steel."
 
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Easy. Scales of bulletproof glass. And, blade of damascus with my smiling face as the pattern! :)
 
Oregon, that Buck is really cool! What are the scales actually made of, acrylic?

I also can't see a composite blade being cheaper than a one piece due to the extra processes involved; I suspect that they do it just because it's unique. The cost of the blade steel has to be a fairly small portion of the cost of the knife no matter what steel is used.
 
If I mentioned my perfect folder in this forum I may get crucified. So for now I will just say 3V options on 300, 301, 302, 561.
 
MajorLonghorn said:
Smaller models for more portability would be welcome. Perhaps the handle could be made more ergonomic by incorporating a compression style lock, such as in the Spyderco Dialex Junior. Also, tighter tolerances and/or rethinking of the design to prevent blade play (a common complaint) would be nice. They're nice knives, but they're by no means perfect. There's plenty of room for improvement.
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+1

A different locking mech other than a ti framelock would be cool, but it's gotta be robust! I heated and bent the framelock on my 0300 to lock up TIGHT, now it takes real effort to unlock that beast...
 
NeverMore1701 said:
Pretty cool Oregon!
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Thank you kindly. I am amazed every time I look at it.

bad_juju said:
That is sweet.
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I agree. I keep it in the display case so I can look at it often.

RJ80 said:
Oregon, that Buck is really cool! What are the scales actually made of, acrylic?
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It is the coolest scale material. 100% Bulletproof glass (composition of which is secret and proprietary) from scraps in this instance. Field tested with various firearms by the maker of the clear-handled folder Leroy Remer genius/artist/craftsman and a regular guy to talk with.
 
The 561 is at the top of my most wanted list. Everything about the knife screams buy me, except the ratio of the handle to the overall knife. I don't need that large of a handle, plus it digs into me when riding my motorcycle or other activities. The 350 is tough enough to carry when riding, I can't see having anything larger (too much larger :thumbup:)
 
off the top of my head:
They could make some scaled down models of some of their knives for the people that live places with 3" blade limits.
They could make a 550 version with sculpted lock side the way that the 560 lock side is.
 
Thanks Oregon. That is really surprising to me, I would think that bulletproof glass would be really hard to work with but he sure pulled it off!
 
I might be in the small minority on this, but a version of the 560 with much more subtle jimping would be perfect.
 
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