Kershaw Boot Knife review request...

Mongo

Mongo

Joined
Nov 5, 2001
Messages
8,969
Greetings all, I am looking for info and owner experiences/opinions on the Kershaw Boot Knife. I have handled it, but have not used one. I was a little disappointed with the sheath, I'd like your opinion on how well it holds up to use and carry.
Thank you in advance for your opinions and answers,
Mongo

edited to add: the one I'm referring to is model 4351. It is a one piece drop forged 1.4116 German stainless steel. (whatever that is) The Kershaw site shows it with a harness sheath worn under the arm. I've seen it with a kydex boot-clip type sheath. I believe they called it the "Military" model.
 
I've got one. It's an interesting knife.

First of all, the steel is alright. Takes an alright edge, but it's a pretty soft steel. It would be easy to field sharpen, which is good.

The sheath that comes with it is, well, kind of cheap. It's plastic and the blade rattles somewhat significantly. Also, it has an eyelet, I guess you could call it, on the back that contributes to the sheath being rather thick. I wish I could post pictures to better explain it. It has no fixed belt loop, though it does come with a velcro and nylon loop that one can affix quite easily for either belt carry or as a retention strap for IWB carry. The straps for more exotic carries like on the leg or arm are alright, though not exceptional. 3/4" Nylon straps are pretty much what it comes from. The under-the-coat carry option it has is interesting, but I see it as rather flimsy. Overall, the sheath is alright, but not exceptional. About what you'd expect for the price.

The handle is very skinny. If you have anything bigger than small hands, some kind of wrapping is definitely needed to attain a secure grip. The guard seems alright, but a little shy of adequate on a knife like this, I find. The guard is especially inadequate if the handle is wrapped. It's quite thin, and as Phil says in his review, the false edge is easily sharpened with, say, a Lansky or Gatco setup.

Even with all the criticism, I find it a neat little knife. Sharp and pointy, but a little on the thin side. I hope this helped.

Travis
 
Hi,

I recently researched this knife (on this and other forums) and purchased one quite recently.

My impressions:

Things I liked:

The fit and finish of the knife is superb.

It has a very nice classical shape.

A nice bead blast type finish.

The POM scales are set flawlessly in to the hilt.

It has a really nice feel to it and can be switched really fast between sabre and icepick grip

The steel is good. Mine came shaving sharp out of the box and kept its edge pretty well. I would say its not as soft as AUS6 but not quite as hard as AUS8. Resharpening was easy on a sharpmaker.

you could easily sharpen the top false edge.

The sheath gives multiple carry options. You can wear it shoulder holster style, on the belt, on the arm or leg.

Things I didn't like:

This knife (although according to their website is made of German steel) is made in China and has "China" written on the blade. As I have said the fit and finish are superb so quality control does not seem an issue. I am just a bit prejudiced against stuff made in Taiwan, China etc. This might affect resale if you later come to sell it. It doesn't say steel type on the blade.

The knife was a lot smaller than I thought it would be.

The handle is very thin (And I have quite small hands)

The handle is very smooth. You could cover it with grip tape, but that is going to make it a rather ugly knife IMHO.

The flaring of the hilt before the blade acts as a cross gaurd if you were to stab something (heaven forbid!) it would be relatively easy to slip over this on to the blade. (particularly if in the rain etc.).

The blade is quite fine. You could probably snap the tip off rather easily if using for more utilitarian purposes.

The sheath rattles. It seems pretty secure but is plasticy rather than what you might be used to with better Kydex/Concealex.

I agree the eyelet on the back of the sheath makes it rather thick (the sheath is about 6mm thick, the platic eyelet permanently attached to the back near the tip is another 8mm. Thus overall 14mm thick) . It also seems an obvious weak point.

Overall I can't quite say why, but I really like this knife. It has a certain elegance. The sheath does the job and is extremely versatile. I think the knife would look nicer in a leather sheath or something custom.

For the price (and its cheap even here in the U.K.) a very good buy.
 
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