Kershaw Boa Review

TomB · Aug 22, 2001

One of my friends bought a Whirlwind ~8 months ago. I loved the speed safe, so I got myself a BOA two months later. The BOA is a great knife, holds and edge well, comfortable in the hand, slices well, and the action is icing on the cake.

Another of my friends loved my BOA so much that I ended up giving him mine as a gift. Three months later the BOA's speed safe no longer worked. I opened up the knife and found that the torsion bar was cracked at the lower bend. Two weeks later my other friend with the Whirlwind told me that the bar cracked as well, I'm guessing in the same location as the BOA.

Perhaps Kershaw could make the bars out of a stronger spring steel
or beef up the thickness of the bar?

Tom Brown

Michael_Aos · Aug 22, 2001

Originally posted by TomB
Perhaps Kershaw could make the bars out of a stronger spring steel
or beef up the thickness of the bar?

Tom Brown

I'm leary of that as well. I _love_ flicking my Boa out (it even sounds cool!), but I'm worried about wearing out that spring. I guess if I ever did wear it out, I'd have to order a Mid-Tech version from Ken.

Mike

scottsman · Aug 22, 2001

My wife gave me a Whirlwind last spring, and I love mine as well. Quite a surprise it has to be the most confortable handle, and the blade is a surprisingly practical design.

I wanted to follow up on the broken torsion bars. Has any body contacted Kershaw about warranty?

UW Mitch · Aug 23, 2001

Scottsman,

Kershaw will replace a broken torsion bar. A friend cycled his Random Task about 100 times a day until the torsion bar finally broke - he got it fixed no problem. Call them up and they'll get you all set to mail it back.

~Mitch

KenOnion · Aug 23, 2001

We are using the best stuff we have found . I have knives that have cycled 40,000 times without failure. Most of our ss knives will never fail but there are those few . you have to realise the average knife gets cycled 300 times a year but a speed safe knife gets cycled 300 times a day. and some of you guys ... Jesus I have seen knives cycled so many times they wore hardened pivot shafts out and wore the washers to foil.Talk about excessive compulsive. HA! Kershaw's warranty covers any ss failures so if you break it send it back and they will fix or replace it.
Thanks for the feedback I learn alot from you guys/girls

TomB · Aug 24, 2001

Originally posted by KenOnion
Jesus I have seen knives cycled so many times they wore hardened pivot shafts out and wore the washers to foil.Talk about excessive compulsive. HA!

Heheh, when I got the BOA I've cycled it many times a day. I'm not sure how much it was cycled after I gave it to my buddy -- I'm guessing a lot more

. My other friend with the Whirlwind would walk
up to me and suddenly flick out the whirlwind infront of my face, he's also sliced my hand once screwing around with it

. Though he got his when he sliced himself with my KA-BAR 1270. 1/2 inch angled incision (Lucky for him it wasn't straight down) into the fleshy part between the thumb and index fingers

. Knife saftey with that guy is out the window...

Ken, one thing I've always wondered about speed safe -- how is it legal? Is it because it doesn't engage until you move the blade a bit? I thought the law was along the lines of no opening by gravity or mechanical means...

Tom Brown

UW Mitch · Aug 24, 2001

I cannot speak for Ken, but here's my take on Speed-Safe. I think it's because you are not using a button or other release to pop the blade out - instead you initiate opening by pushing on a thumbstud or flipper as on any manual knife. There's nothing really "automatic" about the way it opens.

toothed · Aug 27, 2001

I just got a Chive last week and couldn't stop handling it during the first two days. Great design, high precision, quality materials and a coolness factor of "5 stars" out of a maximum of five. (I'm nit picking here: The safety lock is a little hokey but it works). If you like playing with the Boa, I think you will absolutely love the little Chive. I can't believe how Kershaw can produce it at such a low cost. (I've seen it advertised for as low as $29.95 on the internet but paid more for mine from a dealer). Sorry to have ranted "off thread" but since Ken Onion mentioned it here I couldn't resist commenting.

Edited for spelling.