I have been a long time admirer of Frank Centofante's work.
We have been fortunate that he has had collaborations with various knife manufacturers so that most of us can benefit from his elegant designs. One of the most notable was the Spyderco collaborations - it was nice to see the Centofante touches - but the knives were somehow still very much Spydercos - because of the Spyderco trademark/signature round-hole.
So it's a welcome to see a knife featuring the Wharncliffe blade that seems almost to be a signature of Frank's folders and slim and elegant in keeping with Frank's usual designs.
But this is a collaboration with Ken Onion - so it is a folder with the proven Speed-Safe assisted opening.
The Kershaw Centofante-Onion 1615 has a handle that's finished in glossy black tungsten DLC and features both signatures of the collaborators - with mother of pearl inlaid dots.
Because the knife is a slim and elegant gent's knife - it looks deceptively small. On first blush I would have said it was about the size of the Chive - but that would be both right and wrong(!) -
when closed it looks very close to size of the Chive.
BUT the 2 1/4" mirror polished 440A stainless steel blade is the same length as that of the seemingly much bigger Scallion.
That alone makes the knife pretty special.
It's a liner lock - and on my sample the liner just engages.
I personally prefer liner-locks with more engagement -
although it passes the spine-whack test, and being a gent's knife -
the normal course of usage should be light.
There is another variation on the safety for the Speed-Safe assisted opening - this is in the form of a sliding stud near the pivot which locks the knife closed - it has no effect when the knife is locked open.
Like many other Onion Speed-Safe knives this one uses the thumb-studs flush against the handle ends as the stop-pin.
One of the things one may have noticed unlike the other knives - the Centofante-Onion "Signature" 1615 does not have a pocket clip.... and this is one of its attractive features. No, I have not gone mad....
It is supplied with a very clever and elegant leather pocket clip sheath. So that one can clip the sheath to the pocket and there is enough knife protuding to allow for easy extraction. The clip is well designed in such a way so that the sheath is securely clipped to the pocket, and does not budge when the knife is extracted or replaced - neat!
I really like this knife and feel it's a worthy design that's a great marriage of both collaborator's designs.
--
Vincent
http://UnknownVT2005.cjb.net/
http://UnknownVT.cjb.net/
http://UnknownVincent.cjb.net/
We have been fortunate that he has had collaborations with various knife manufacturers so that most of us can benefit from his elegant designs. One of the most notable was the Spyderco collaborations - it was nice to see the Centofante touches - but the knives were somehow still very much Spydercos - because of the Spyderco trademark/signature round-hole.
So it's a welcome to see a knife featuring the Wharncliffe blade that seems almost to be a signature of Frank's folders and slim and elegant in keeping with Frank's usual designs.
But this is a collaboration with Ken Onion - so it is a folder with the proven Speed-Safe assisted opening.
The Kershaw Centofante-Onion 1615 has a handle that's finished in glossy black tungsten DLC and features both signatures of the collaborators - with mother of pearl inlaid dots.
Because the knife is a slim and elegant gent's knife - it looks deceptively small. On first blush I would have said it was about the size of the Chive - but that would be both right and wrong(!) -
when closed it looks very close to size of the Chive.
BUT the 2 1/4" mirror polished 440A stainless steel blade is the same length as that of the seemingly much bigger Scallion.
That alone makes the knife pretty special.
It's a liner lock - and on my sample the liner just engages.
I personally prefer liner-locks with more engagement -
although it passes the spine-whack test, and being a gent's knife -
the normal course of usage should be light.
There is another variation on the safety for the Speed-Safe assisted opening - this is in the form of a sliding stud near the pivot which locks the knife closed - it has no effect when the knife is locked open.
Like many other Onion Speed-Safe knives this one uses the thumb-studs flush against the handle ends as the stop-pin.
One of the things one may have noticed unlike the other knives - the Centofante-Onion "Signature" 1615 does not have a pocket clip.... and this is one of its attractive features. No, I have not gone mad....
It is supplied with a very clever and elegant leather pocket clip sheath. So that one can clip the sheath to the pocket and there is enough knife protuding to allow for easy extraction. The clip is well designed in such a way so that the sheath is securely clipped to the pocket, and does not budge when the knife is extracted or replaced - neat!
I really like this knife and feel it's a worthy design that's a great marriage of both collaborator's designs.
--
Vincent
http://UnknownVT2005.cjb.net/
http://UnknownVT.cjb.net/
http://UnknownVincent.cjb.net/
