Kershaw blem thoughts

bought a couple knives from kershawguy recently. although he doesn't sell outside the united states, but since i have a US address, I was able to fix that problem. I live halfway across the world. LOL. I bought a Kershaw Skyline and a Kershaw Blur (blem). I vastly prefer the Blur because of the assisted opening but I'm also pretty cool with the skyline for its sheer simplicity and light weight. I'm fine with blems coz when I buy a knife, they are ALL going to be intended to be used. No point in getting something just to display it. Gotta use what you've got.

My blur that was a blem had two small scratches on the side of the blade which is absolutely fine coz like i said, they're gonna get used. So they're gonna get scratched up either way. Warranty service is gonna be a problem since they don't have any. But that's how the cookie crumbles. It's not like i'm gonna beat on these things anyway, they're EDC knives for minor cutting and opening tasks, not fixed blades that you can just spine whack to death.

=D
 
Just got a 350 blem in today from kershawguy. Very impressed! My first ZT, and my first blade of equal quality. Although my KBar blades are top notch steel and blade wise. Only "blems" I see:
-blade is only centered at 90-95% perfectly. Closer to 95% perfect center.
-next to the ZT logo, a silver circle the size of a ball-point pen head or smaller, was stamped on the tiger stripe. Extremely hard to see. But I expect to use this knife, so who cares. I can barely notice.
-grind by the hilt on one side tapers ever so slightly. Didn't even notice after a few inspections, that's how subtle it is.

Mechanically, it's perfect as far as I can tell. My buddy got a CRKT A/O, and this 350ZT dances circles around it as far as:
-ease of operation
-tolerances
-mechanical design

Very impressed! Great, now I have another disease....a higher quality blade related one....
 
I am among the few who can say they could see the "blem" in the knife .My Needs Work blem has a tiny flaw in the grind near the tip and in no way affects the use or mechanical workings of the knife. In fact the lockup was early and strong and the "AO" is the strongest of any of my knives.
 
I got a handful of blems. Most are like folks are saying here, bout perfect. 2 of them not so much. One a bradley bali was factory ground poorly and a good bit of steel was taken away from the blade. It still works though, but I have to remove allot of the thickness to get it to take a working edge. Right now its a practice knife as its too thick to hold a working edge.

The other a zt blem has a lockbar that pops back out when using. Not enough to unlock the knife and make it unsafe per say, but it is annoying. Yea I can bend the lock bar over and try to rid the issue and I will, just want to point out a blem is a blem. Some are about perfect and some are not.

In my case I'm fine with the issues as I bought them as lower cost users and I got what I paid for, blems. I just want to add to this older thread to state, don't expect perfect knife everytime. They are blems after all, and there is a reason the factory sells them as blems not new perfect knives, for allot less money.

That said kershaw guy is the best and does a great job hand picking the best of the blems....that's why most get about perfect ones.
 
In most cases the blem seems to be just the XXXX on the blade.

On a half-related note I once purchased a Buck 119 blem with no other visible blemishes than the FB on the blade, got myself a brand-spanking new Buck 110 a month later and it had a large dent in the brass (non-blem).
 
I've ordered several from Kershawguy, and each time my expectations were exceeded. One of them a "blem" OD-1, not only was mechanically and cosmetically pristine, there was no "XXXX" marked; it's like it wasn't even a blem.
 
I'll join the chorus . . .

Dave is the man. And if you're going to use your knives, his blems are the ONLY way to go IMO. Try them. You'll like them.
 
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